If Only Everyone Had a Postpartum Doula

[Daniel E.]

If Only Everyone Had a Postpartum Doula (Published 2018)

When a baby comes, friends and families don’t always know how to help.

www.nytimes.com

New parenthood — during which ordinary people find themselves abruptly responsible for a brand-new and sometimes famished, inconsolable being — is famously harrowing.

It’s good to have supportive family and friends during this time. But increasingly, parents are turning to postpartum doulas, as well.

Unlike birth doulas, who assist mothers during pregnancy and childbirth, postpartum doulas step in when the baby is already born, and throughout the first six weeks after birth. They teach the supposedly natural but actually quite difficult to master skills of soothing, bathing and breast-feeding infants, without any personal baggage...

 

[Daniel E.]

More states adding Medicaid benefit for doula services

Faced with a crisis in maternal mortality, particularly among women of color, at least 17 states - including Arizona - are considering, planning or implementing policies to provide Medicaid reimbursement for the services of doulas.

www.tucsonsentinel.com

More states adding Medicaid benefit for doula services​

Jun 10, 2022​

by Michael Ollove

Faced with a crisis in maternal mortality, particularly among women of color, more states are extending Medicaid coverage to doula services.

Doulas are trained professionals who provide emotional, physical and educational support to women before, during and after childbirth.

According to an analysis by the Georgetown Center for Children and Families, at least 17 states are considering, planning or implementing policies to provide Medicaid reimbursement for the services of doulas.

Advocates in the area of maternal health say access to doulas can help combat the country’s poor record on maternal mortality, which is particularly pronounced among Black, American Indian and Alaska Native women, who are as much as three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related complications compared with White women.

According to the Georgetown analysis, which also relied on work done by the National Health Law Program, an organization that promotes health equity, Virginia this year joined five other states—Florida, Maryland, Minnesota, New Jersey and Oregon—in providing Medicaid reimbursement for doula services.
Additionally, Washington, D.C., and five other states—California, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada and Rhode Island—all plan to apply to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services for permission to begin providing Medicaid reimbursement for doulas.

The Georgetown center says five additional states—Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Louisiana and Washington—are considering adding a Medicaid doula benefit.

The six states that offer Medicaid doula benefits have different wrinkles in their programs, according to the National Health Law Program. For instance, Minnesota covers up to six prenatal and postpartum doula visits with a reimbursement rate of $47 per session and total labor and delivery services reimbursed at a rate of $488, for an overall reimbursement of $770.

Oregon requires that doulas register with the state, after which they can be reimbursed for two prenatal visits, two postpartum visits, and labor and delivery, for a total benefit of $350.

New Jersey reimburses for up to eight visits, including for labor and delivery and provides total reimbursement for $900 per birth. For patients under 19, New Jersey includes an increased reimbursement rate and additional visits.

In Florida, the benefit is available only to beneficiaries in a Medicaid managed care plan. The reimbursement ranges from $400 to $1,100 depending on the rate negotiated by each managed care organization.

 

[Daniel E.]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2022/02/08/the-work-day-postpartum-doula/

Most of my day is spent working directly in the homes of my clients. I typically work with families for two to three months. My services include infant care, breastfeeding support and education, meal prep, laundry, light house cleaning, sibling care, baby wearing and baby massage tutorials, and developmental checks. I also help families better organize their living spaces to make caring for a newborn easier.

And finally, I spend a lot of time listening. Many new moms (and partners!) just need to talk to a nonjudgmental, nonmedical professional about what they’re struggling with, what they’re scared about, what they thought would be easy and isn’t, etc. An important part of my job is just holding the space for them to do that.

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From one of the comments:

"Oh how I wish I’d had your services when I had my beautiful baby girl 50 years ago. It breaks my heart; because I was one hot mess for months. How different and more gentle for both of us it could have been!"

 

[Daniel E.]

Postpartum doulas are the support system all new mothers need

Postpartum doulas are needed to take care of new mothers. Here's how a postpartum doula would benefit new moms and what places in the US are making moves for postpartum care.

www.mother.ly

In America (and other western nations including Canada and Australia) most women who have one are paying out of pocket for postpartum doulas, but in the Netherlands, a remarkably similar service—with the added benefit of medical expertise—is standard, and as Quartz reports, costs families just over $5 USD per hour as the rest is covered by health insurance.

In the Netherlands parents aren't visited by a postpartum doula, but a kraamverzorgster, or home maternity nurse who comes by for a few hours each day for up to 10 days after the baby's birth. These nurses help parents with the basics of babies: feeding, changing, swaddling and bathing, but they can also help mom with lactation issues, screen for depression and do things like bring over food and do a load of laundry.

"All parents deserve support to get through that difficult first week," Linda Leijdekker, a Dutch pediatric nurse who specializes in child development tells Quartz.

 

[Daniel E.]

Why Black Women Need Birthing Doulas Before And After Delivery

Two Black doulas tell us how they support their clients pre and postpartum, why doulas are essential for Black women and the costs to expect.

www.essence.com

“You can read all of the books, watch all of the YouTube videos, and take all of the classes. But reality sets in when it’s your first night home from the hospital with the baby, and you both are staring at each other crying, confused and overwhelmed!”

 

[Daniel E.]

https://www.cbc.ca/parents/learning/view/a-postpartum-doula-is-a-privileged-luxury-most-moms-cant-afford

I was incredibly lucky to have family and friends who showed up with meals, or stayed to help tidy up around the house (with that one exception). I wish this was the case for all new parents and, even more importantly, that it was a natural part of our social dynamic in western culture. Imagine how supported new mothers would feel and how that might benefit the children they were raising.

So, if you know someone who’s expecting, why not plan a meal train with friends of hers for the first month? Or, if you come to visit, offer to fold laundry or do dishes.

 

[Daniel E.]

Doula Medicaid Project

The National Health Law Program’s Doula Medicaid Project seeks to improve health outcomes for pregnant Medicaid enrollees by ensuring that all pregnant individuals enrolled in Medicaid who want access to a doula, will have one.

healthlaw.org

The National Health Law Program’s Doula Medicaid Project seeks to improve health outcomes for Medicaid enrollees by ensuring that all pregnant and postpartum people enrolled in Medicaid who want access to a doula will have one.