Labor support doulas are trained and experienced labor support persons who attend to the emotional and physical comfort
needs of laboring women to smooth the labor process. They do not do clinical tasks such as heart rate checks, or vaginal exams
but rather use massage, aromatherapy, positioning suggestions, etc., to help labor progress as well as possible. A labor support
doula joins a laboring woman either at her home or in hospital or birth center and remains with her until a few hours after
the birth. In addition to emotional support, doulas work as advocates of their client’s wishes and may assist in communicating
with medical staff to obtain information for the client to make informed decisions regarding medical procedures.
A doula provides kindness and comfort to a woman who is in labor. This is an especially important job, because this
friendly care-taker encourages and provides support to a woman when she is giving birth, one of the most vulnerable times
in a woman's life. Although doulas provide services first time parents will appreciate, many women who have already given
birth one or more times find the addition of a doula to their birth team an invaluable support.
Community doulas play an important role for women at risk for poor birth outcomes and those who face barriers to prenatal
care. These doulas will combine the roles of labor support and postpartum doulas to offer continuous encouragement and reassurance
to pregnant women with little social support. In order to form strong, trusting relationships in a social support network,
it often benefits a pregnant teen to participate in both group discussions and receive individual attention. In this way,
community doulas can encourage self-advocacy, teach parenting skills and motivate a teen to feel in control of her pregnancy.
Goals of social support models like the Community-based Doula Initiative, include preventing subsequent pregnancy and increasing
the quality of the mother-infant bond directly after birth in order to increase the chances of secure mother-infant attachment
throughout early childhood
