What is a doula?

Experienced doula Adela is also a trained midwife and homeopath. Since 2002 she has been working exclusively as a doula and childbirth homeopath.

How can a doula help with childbirth?
A doula is a supportive birth companion, usually a mother herself, who offers continuous emotional and practical support to women and their families throughout pregnancy, labour and the post-natal period.

She doesn’t take part in any medical or clinical care, but stays with you through the birth experience and can act as your representative, at a time when you are not necessarily in the best frame of mind to voice your needs and stick up for yourself.

Childbirth is one of the most challenging yet potentially fulfilling events you and your partner will ever face.

Towards the end of your pregnancy, thinking about the actual birth is bound to become more of a preoccupation. Ensuring you are properly prepared for labour can make all the difference towards making it a positive birth experience for you, your baby and your partner.

That’s where a doula can help. Research shows that with continuous one-to-one support from an additional birth supporter through labour you are:

• more likely to give birth gently
• more likely to enjoy your experience of birth
• less likely to ask for pain medication
• less likely to need oxytocin to speed up labour
• up to 50% less likely to have a forceps or caesarean birth
• more likely to enjoy continued breastfeeding
• less likely to suffer from postnatal depression

 For more information about Adela Stockton, visit her Birth Consultancy Services website www.birthconsultancy.org.

To find out more about doulas generally, visit Doula UK www.doula.org.uk.

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