What is an Ayurvedic Postpartum Doula?
 Mughal Birth Image, source unknown. I have found a few references to this painting as a miniature but no sources are reliable. Nevertheless, it is an exquisite and unique example of birth and care, as women once experienced it.
An Ayurvedic Postpartum Doula is someone who has been trained in postpartum care that includes physical and emotional support of the new mother and baby, but with a specific emphasis on utilizing traditional Ayurvedic practices and techniques as a framework for that care.
Postpartum doulas have grown in popularity in the last several years, filling a void of care that is crucial during the six weeks following birth. It may be a shock to learn that here in the U.S., the six week postpartum period is generally a time where both mother and baby are generally left to figure things out by themselves. In fact, most health care providers offer NO formalized care at all in these crucial weeks after the birth of the new baby. This can be a |
shock to the new mother who has been seen regularly and consistently by her OB/Gyn or midwife, sometimes weekly, in the months leading up to her labor and delivery. Hence, feelings of abandonment and overwhelm, even in the midst of the joy of the new baby, are a common postpartum outcome here.
Yet, when we look at cultures outside of the U.S. there is wide evidence that postpartum care of the mother is the accepted and practiced norm! There are longstanding, traditional rituals, care protocols and practices that are joyously adhered to during the transition to motherhood in almost ALL non-Western societies, and these provide both needed guidance and social support while the mother adapts to her new role. If and until postpartum care is made more available within our failing health care system, an Ayurvedic Postpartum Doula is a sensible, nurturing and affordable option to help ensure greater wellbeing for the new mother. Utilizing the ancient wisdom of Ayurveda to deeply nourish and care for the wellbeing of the mother - "Mothering the Mother" - during the 42 days postpartum leads to better outcomes for mother, baby and family. These six weeks are crucial, and are considered the "Sacred Window", where the mother and baby are given help and support to:
Click here to learn more about why and how postpartum care has been forgotten here in the U.S. |
What does an Ayurvedic postpartum doula DO?
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An Ayurvedic postpartum doula is one answer to the general dearth of postpartum care, and she can help fill the gap that clearly exists within the healthcare system for new mothers.
In most cultures outside the U.S., postpartum care of the mother by other women within the family or community is the norm. In India and in other ancient cultures that have remained intact despite the advent of colonization, it has always been this way. The Ayurvedic methods of postpartum care have a long history of helping new mothers, new babies, and new families thrive and find greater wellbeing after the birth of the baby. As a student of Ayurveda for close to 15 years, and someone who has personally benefitted from its deep and ancient healing wisdom, I feel called to offer a higher level of postpartum care to mothers and families who understand they need more support after their baby is born, who acknowledge that they need more help. I was introduced to Ayurveda through my yoga practice almost 20 years ago, and have been practicing an Ayurvedic lifestyle for well over a decade. I continue to be an avid student of Ayurveda: recently, I completed my Foundations of Ayurveda I&II courses with Dr. Robert Svoboda and Dr. Claudia Welch in 2021, and also completed her Women's Health and Hormones course in 2022. I recently graduated from the Ayurvedic Postpartum Doula Certification Program of the Ayurvedic Center of Vermont in the Spring of 2023, and I am currently enrolled in Kripalu's 650-hour Clinical Ayurvedic Health Counselor program through May of 2024. I am passionate about the deep and ancient healing wisdom that is shared through Ayurveda - and passionate about the need to change the culture around the care of women - especially mothers and baby's postpartum - here. I am honored to study, practice and share this wise, ancient and beautiful Indian knowledge system of Life with you, to help empower all women, especially new mothers - offering the means to cultivating wellbeing, joy and vitality for themselves and their families. |
You can choose from amongst a wide variety of In-Home Doula Services, or packages, which include:
Most or even all of these treatments and services can benefit women at all stages of our lives! So, I offer these services to mothers many months or even YEARS post partum, AND to perimenopausal and menopausal women, too! (For example, I use hot castor packs for self-care around digestion issues or back pain - and I didn't experience belly binding or vaginal steaming until I was in my early 50s during perimenopause, almost a quarter century after the birth of my son! Yet these treatments had a profound effect on my wellbeing as I transitioned into the wise woman stage of life.) Contact me for details and to set up a consult today! |
Do I really need a postpartum doula?The short answer is, YES. It is incredibly difficult to both manage and care for your baby and for yourself with little to no support during the postpartum window. And Ayurveda offers a profoundly effective, gentle, wise and integrated program of postpartum care that anyone can ultimately learn, integrate and do for themselves with guidance and support. Our culture here in the States has lost similar women's knowledge - it has been eradicated from our collective ancestral memories. And so, we must humbly turn to this knowledge that has survived intact to this day, regardless of efforts to eradicate it as well.
It is an honor to be able to share these incredibly wise and gentle teachings that come to us intact from India, and through their practice, to help shift our cultural neglect of new mothers. It is this neglect that most definitely contributes to postpartum overwhelm, postpartum depression and to maternal and infant mortality here - and this is especially obvious when we compare U.S. statistics to similarly "highly developed" health care systems in countries that do provide robust postpartum care. In India, Ayurvedic postpartum care of mothers in general is part and parcel of the birthing process - even to this day. A woman's family, extended family and village comes together to help make the transition from pregnant, expectant mother to new mother and to welcome the baby into its new family. The nourishing, rejuvenating, revitalizing care necessary during the sacred postpartum window can't be self-administered! It must be provided to you, so that as a new mother, you can focus your energy on getting the rest and rejuvenation you need to better focus on the loving care of your new baby - and your growing family! |
Can I afford an Ayurvedic postpartum doula?Everyone, regardless of income level, should have access to these life-giving services, so I will be offering them upon a sliding scale, through either full packages OR via a la carte pricing - so that you can create your own postpartum care plan with as much or as little of my help as you need.
Pricing details tba soon! Sample packages include: Mini Postpartum Care Package: -Postpartum planning and organization of meal train in the weeks before L&D -Guidance on appropriate postpartum recipes/menus to be shared with for friends and family who wish tobe part of the meal train -Mini Abhyanga (head/face/shoulders, hands/arms, feet, three days postpartum) -Mama's first postpartum home meal -Herbal lactation promoting tea blend -Herbal soothing tea blend -Belly binding training -Swaddling training -Help and guidance with the transition into life at home with a newborn -Emotional Support Full Postpartum Care Package: -Postpartum planning and organization of meal train in the weeks before L&D -Guidance on appropriate postpartum recipes/menus to be shared with for friends and family who wish tobe part of the meal train -Full Body Abhyanga (three days+ postpartum) -Mama's first postpartum home meal -Herbal lactation promoting tea blend -Herbal soothing tea blend -Belly binding training -Swaddling training -Emotional Support -Baby massage training -Family meal prep -light housework -Ayurvedic postpartum recipe book. |
Reach out to me to learn more.
When Mamma does better, the whole family does better.
My own birth and postpartum experiences:
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I experienced first hand the lack of formalized postpartum healthcare with the birth of each of my three babies, and can attest to feeling lost, frustrated, numbed, exhausted and alone during the very fragile, tender, confusing yet vitally important weeks after the birth of all three of my children.
I gave birth to three thankfully healthy children, and together with my husband James, we worked hard (laughed harder) and, through thick and thin, raised these beautiful souls to adulthood. (And hopefully someday they will also welcome their own babies into this world! In the meantime, I hope to support other new mothers!) Within less than an hour after the birth of my first child, my daughter Kiki, I was given 5 minutes of confusing instructions on breastfeeding, by a harried RN who snapped at me when I held my breast incorrectly and gave up, exasperated by my confusion. When I got home a day later, sore and traumatized by the entire birthing process, I had no idea that my daughter wasn't getting enough breastmilk, as my colostrum hadn't come in yet. She became dehydrated after a day or so, and jaundiced, and she was returned to the NICU to replenish her fluids and recover from the jaundice. If someone had been there who understood lactation, and how the baby needed supplemental fluids, I do believe the stress of returning to the hospital would not have occurred. My second daughter, Brigid, was born via a C-Section. This is major abdominal surgery, and while a standard phenomenon here, still has a wide variety of risk factors postpartum. Within a few days of returning home, I developed a high fever and chills. Not knowing what was causing it, I drove myself and my infant daughter to my GP, and, standing in front of the receptionist's desk asking for an emergency appointment, shaking and feeling ready to pass out, was told I needed to go to my OB/Gyn, who was fortunately able to see me that afternoon. They soon determined it was mastitis, due to a blocked milk duct. 
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Finally, although a veteran mother by the time of my birth of my son by VBAC (vaginal birth after C-Section) and though I thought I knew how to take care of myself postpartum fairly well, my husband was not given any time off to help me care for my newborn son and his two sisters, ages 18 mos and 6 respectively.
So, there I was, alone at home with an infant, along with two other small children, and I had to care for all of us with little help. To top it off, my second daughter was still nursing at the time! I was soon exhausted and depleted. Still, I simply soldiered on as I had been conditioned to do - made both docile and stoic by what my culture expected of me as a mother. Although my Mom and Mother-in-law, and other family members came by to help a little by watching my older children and coo over my son, they, too had been conditioned to let me and my husband "figure it out" on our own. And truthfully, I didn't expect, nor ask, for their their longterm help: I had been conditioned to handle things on my own, to not ask for help, all of my life. In fact, I would have welcomed and been overjoyed to receive any offer of consistent help and support from other women after birthing my babies! It is no surprise to me that so many women experience postpartum depression here! After the birth of my son, I felt alone and depressed. But, fortunately, the greater wisdom of my body helped me recall the benefits of the few yoga classes I'd taken years before. It's at this time that I began doing yoga, within a few months of my son's birth. And, within a few years, I started learning and doing these vital Ayurvedic self care techniques, too. The story of each of my three births, which aptly outlines the dearth of postpartum care here, is not unusual. It's a story that most mothers here in the States have lived as well - regardless of the well-intentioned loving care of their partner, friends or family members. Most mothers are abandoned here - full stop. We need to work together to change this damaging, unhealthy culture that has existed far too long for new mothers. |