Question by tweety: Is becoming a doula a good career move?
I am an LVN and a new mommy, I have decided to stay home with my daughter and I love it but I must admit that I do miss working with people. I always wanted to work in the labor and delivery room so I thought about possibly becoming a doula. I don’t know much about the process however, what kind of education and training does it require, what exactly does it involve, How many times do you see the patient, what does it pay? Thanks for any information.
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Try Aviva Institute – http://avivainstitute.org
They outline the program in fair detail.
The RN above me got to your answer before I could, and summed it up very well.
If you’re looking for bigger money, go into midwifery (which requires a bachelor of science degree).
http://www.dona.org
This website will detail how to become a doula and provide other doula resources. You have to read some books, attend a weekend workshop, assist with so many births, and then you can be certified as a doula.
You don’t see the “patient” since you aren’t a doctor or nurse, it’s not a patient, it’s a client/family. You usually meet with them one to three times prior to the birth to get to know them, create a birth plan, etc. Then you are called for the labor and delivery, and you have to be on-call and prepared to leave at a moment’s notice. So if you have a child you will need someone flexible to be able to care for her at any hour of the day or night. And a delivery isn’t always a nice, neat little 8 hour labor – some women need inductions that can take 2-3 days before the cervix is ripe enough to induce, so are you going to be able to provide support for that entire duration? These are things you need to think about. After delivery, you usually meet with the family at least once, to discuss the birth and everything that happened, to assist the mother with the transition home, assist with breastfeeding if you have experience with that (generally however doulas are not lactation specialists / consultants).
Pay is variable, depends on how many times you see the family. Some doulas create a package of one pre-birth visit, the labor & delivery and immediate postpartum in the hospital, and one visit at home after they are discharged, and a doula could charge anywhere from several hundred dollars to a thousand dollars for this service.
It’s difficult to really make any decent living off doulaing unless you are really unrestricted with your time and have the ability to take on many clients. It’s easier if you work in partnership with at least one other doula so that you can “cover” each other in case one doula cannot attend the delivery.
Try cappa.net — it’s the doula professional organization and should be able to answer all your questions.