Postnatal Support
"Being a first time mum, especially the overwhelming responsibilities of having twins, was frightening in the beginning, but thanks to Justine, I felt stronger and reassured that I can do it."
From the moment you touch your new baby for the first time, your world has changed.
It’s an exciting, challenging, emotional, rollercoaster of a new time for you. Aside from the practicalities of learning how to meet your new baby’s needs, there are the emotional and physical challenges which you face.
How I can support you
I can be there to be on ‘your side’, encouraging you and providing you with the support and information you need to make the choices that work for you and your baby or your twins.
I can support you as you and your baby learn to breastfeed and be there to listen and talk through your concerns, questions, challenges and excitements. Or I can help you as you work out combination or formula feeding.
I can also help you with the practical side of adjusting to life with a baby – so can help you do the jobs that are important to you around the house or getting out of the house. Or I can simply hold your baby or twins while you have a long bath or a sleep. I can be there for you – as an extra pair of hands for practical support or I can just be there to listen, encourage and support you.
Sometimes this type of support is all that a mother, parents and the whole family, needs to grow comfortably, naturally and enjoyably into parenthood.
Postnatal support £28 per hour. Minimum booking of two hours.
Infant feeding support
As your postnatal doula, I can support you as you work out the important job of feeding your baby. As you get to know your baby, you will want to have independent, evidence-based support and information so that you can make the choices that work for you. For more information about how I can support you with breastfeeding see here:
I can:
- Work with you to help breastfeeding get off to a good start
- Help you to feed your baby with a cup, syringe, finger feeding or bottle if breastfeeding is taking a while to get going smoothly
- Help you to express and work out an expressing plan if your baby isn’t latching
- Support you to bottle feed your baby, helping you work out the important logistics of preparing infant milk in the safest way
- If your baby is gaining weight slowly, we can work out why together and come up with a plan to help your baby get all the milk he or she needs.
- Help link you with other local specialist support for you and your baby if needed.
As your baby grows
After the early days as your baby grows, I can offer continue to provide you with support and information about:
- Sleep and what’s normal infant sleep
- Starting solids and introducing your baby to family foods
- Returning to work
- Stopping breastfeeding
For older breastfeeding and toddlers, I can also support you in your breastfeeding journey for as long as you and your baby want it to continue. That’s your decision.
What doulas do
Doulas support women and families in all kinds of situations, who have different kinds of births and make a wide range of parenting choices. The services offered by a doula vary greatly according to the needs of the women, couple or family that she is working with.
Doulas do not take a clinical role and work alongside midwives and doctors. They do not advise, but can support a woman to find balanced information to make informed decisions.
Postnatal doulas, like Justine, provide flexible practical and emotional support postnatally for new mothers and families in their own homes.
For more information about Doulas, please visit:
