Whatever Gets You Through the Night: Overnight Postpartum Support
For new parents, the struggles that come with lack of sleep are *real*. The simple fact is, newborns have a survival instinct to wake every few hours, and they need to be held and comforted back to sleep for the first weeks (and often months) of life. This means constantly interrupted sleep for parents, which takes a huge toll on their mental, physical and emotional state. It’s a double whammy to be healing from birth while simultaneously coping with little sleep. As an Atlanta-area postpartum doula for many years, this is something I see every client struggle with.
“Sleep now because you’ll never sleep again.”
Every expectant parent hears this, but it does little to help relieve anxiety, and it’s certainly not a viable solution. Two Doulas & You offers a way to help you sleep while ensuring your newborn’s needs are met: Hire a postpartum doula for an 8-hour nighttime shift.
So exactly what is overnight postpartum support?
As with daytime support, it’s tailored to meet the unique needs of each family. For exclusively breastfed babies, the doula can bring baby to the parents to feed, then take baby back to change the diaper, soothe them and help them get back to sleep. With bottle-fed babies, the overnight doula can do the feeding, allowing parents to sleep (or allowing the nursing parent to pump). It might be a combo of expressed breast milk and formula, or one or the other. Regardless of how you choose to feed your baby, our goal is to help you get some much-needed rest while supporting your feeding goals with compassion, professionalism and skill.
We routinely take notes through the night on baby’s feeding, diaper changes and sleeping, plus any soothing techniques we use. We share these notes with the family to help them establish a routine as baby grows.
And that’s not all!
Unlike a baby nurse, an overnight postpartum doula supports the *entire* family without judgment. We can wash bottles and pump parts, assist with laundry and prepare meals for the next day, as long as these tasks are not disruptive to baby’s needs. We can make sure your house is orderly and there’s a hot breakfast and a pot of coffee waiting for you in the morning.
Our business model is based on a team of two doulas serving each client when availability allows. This helps us better meet our client’s scheduling needs and ensures that each client gets a fresh, rested doula every visit. The doula team shares notes from each visit and discusses particulars to make sure the transition between doulas is smooth and the family has consistent support from night to night.
A priceless gift.
Do you have friends or family wondering what to give you as a shower or baby gift? Whether it’s one, two or several nights per week, we can’t think of a more useful, loving gesture than the gift of more sleep.
Contact us for details.
Here’s to more sleep—and a happier family!
