Picking the Best Austin Postpartum Doulas: What to Look For
Austin has a unique postpartum doula culture. Each city differs in their standard of care, price, certification entities and availability. In this post we will discuss what to look for specifically in an Austin postpartum doula.
Price:
Austin has a high demand for postpartum doulas, specifically overnight care. Overnight care can be more expensive than daytime care given the time commitment and lifestyle a doula has to adopt to work overnight. We are currently seeing rates for newer doulas to be around $40/hour and more experienced doulas up to $60/hour.
While price isn’t always a determining factor in quality of care, doulas in high demand typically charge more. This can indicate a high word-of-mouth referral rate.
It’s important to also look at your whole family’s health, as well, including budget. You can still get amazing support from newer doulas. Don’t let a smaller budget keep you from getting support. Due diligence will be your friend and there is the right postpartum doula out there for you. However, make sure you consider an Austin postpartum doula’s price as a factor in assessing their level of care.
Experience:
Austin postpartum doulas have a lot of experience. There are many doulas who have been practicing for 10-20 years! Austin being a health-conscious city has allowed an early adoption of postpartum support. While there are a lot of newer doulas, support has been around for decades. This allowed parents to have the luxury of being choosy.
Some cities have a newer postpartum doula scene and have a wide-range of only inexperienced doulas. This can cause a variety of experience, price, etc. Thank you, Austin, for being such a welcoming space for postpartum doula support for years and years!
Another good thing to consider is how many families a doula has support instead of the number of years. Some doulas support a dozen families a year, gaining experience more valuable than a doula working part-time with one family.
Do your due diligence and know you have a choice.
Classes and qualifications:
A postpartum doula’s initial education isn’t always everything. Certification programs in particular can be arbitrary and at worst, harmful, because of lack of inclusion or outdated information. However, there are great ones, as well. But, I wouldn’t hinge your choice of doula on their main certification status or program.
This is because Austin postpartum doulas have access to a variety of postpartum classes in the city through other perinatal professionals like IBCLCs, physical therapists, occupation therapists, sleep coaches, etc. Some of the best doulas I know arent done with their main certification but are constantly filling their brain with new information from local experts. This is another perk of Austin’s birth culture - we all feed off each-others expertise.
My advice is to look at what continuing education they have pursued. With the variety of opportunities, Austin postpartum doulas should have a plethora of knowledge adopted by their peers. Ask the doulas you talk to what classes they’ve taken lately and which one they would like to take next.
Science-based:
Because Austin is a college-town and a booming city for high-level jobs, there is a culture of science-based thinking. The latest research supports attachment-based care. Attachment-based care is the practice of responsive care where infants are attended to when they cry. Infants are highly connected to their caregivers and experience dysregulated nervous systems. They will develop most of their neuropathways in the first years of their life, making it critical that the science of infant care is known and followed.
Biologically, newborns are supposed to wake up at night. It’s a safety mechanism that helps prevent SIDS, or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. They are also unable to self-soothe, which is why practicing responsive care is the safest way to care for a newborn and their growing brains. If a doula promises they will sleep a certain amount of time by a certain amount of weeks, they are not educated in newborn brain development. Your baby will be cared for outside of the most up-to-date guidelines.
Austin has a unique educated culture as a major and growing city, so make sure you’re inquiring about their research practices.
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These are a few things to consider when speaking to Austin postpartum doulas. Not all cities have a wide range of prices, opportunities for years of experience and access to additional resources and a culture of higher education. Austin is a unique city with a unique scene and luckily you’re now versed in hiring support! I truly believe Austin is set up to have some of the best postpartum doulas in the country. Now, go pick a great one!
Austin Infant Care has always valued postpartum doulas who meet all of these requirements. On our team, we have postpartum doulas who were attorneys, are licensed Social Workers, are certified RNA’s and more. They are given stipends for continuing education and are vetted for their view on the latest science to make sure they’re constantly keeping up. Lastly, they’re paid competitively. Not only because they expect it when their level of practice, but because they deserve it. I truly believe we have some of the best postpartum doulas in Austin.
Reach out today if you’d like to explore hiring a postpartum doula from our team.