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You Know It’s Time to Hire A Postpartum Doula When… | Part 2: Roles and Relationships
April 17, 2026 | Kathryn Keener | Newborn Topics, Parenting, Postpartum Support and Recovery, Pregnancy and Childbirth
There’s no getting around the fact that having a baby changes you - and, your relationships. Your relationship with your other children is immediately and tangibly altered. You and your spouse may be navigating changing roles and responsibilities to find a new balance. And, involvement of relatives has the potential to be a true blessing, but also a potential stressor. Did you know that hiring a postpartum doula to both alleviate some of the workload and provide insights for a smoother transition can have a huge impact on these shifts in your identity and relationships? If you’re anxious…
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You Know It’s Time to Hire a Postpartum Doula When… | Part 1: A Smoother Transition
March 27, 2026 | Kathryn Keener | Newborn Topics, Postpartum Support and Recovery
Maybe this isn’t your first baby, and you know you could have used more support the first time around. Or, you’ve just heard from your friends that the best thing they did was to hire a postpartum doula or newborn care specialist to help with the transition to life with a newborn. There’s no doubt that having ample support in the beginning can impact your mental and physical health, your breastfeeding goals if that’s how you’re feeding your baby… even your relationship with your spouse. Finding ways to make this huge transition in your life smoother is one…
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How Many Weeks of Postpartum Doula Support Do You Really Need?
September 23, 2025 | Kathryn Keener | Uncategorized
Parents of newborns will often hire a postpartum doula or newborn care specialist to support them with daytime shifts and/or overnight shifts during the first weeks - or months - at home with their newborn. Some will have the provider space out their visits and do 2-3 shifts per week for a few weeks, to supplement existing family support or other services. Others prefer more full-time help, utilizing 5-7 overnights, or 5-7 day shifts, or a combination of the two. But so often, before the baby has arrived, parents-to-be express uncertainty as to how much support, and for…
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Do I Really Need to Hire a Postpartum Doula So Far in Advance?
June 18, 2025 | Kathryn Keener | Uncategorized
Many expectant parents understandably are reluctant to commit to an exact schedule for postpartum doula support when the reality of birth and the newborn stage still seems so far off and comes with so many unknowns. As an agency owner, I have an insider’s view of the doula community, how they plan and allocate their services, and how families can best ensure they have the right kind of support for their particular needs. This knowledge can help families to avoid scrambling at the last minute or settling for a service provider that doesn’t feel "just right" for their…
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Employee Benefits for New Parents Now Include Postpartum Doulas
May 8, 2025 | Kathryn Keener | Doula Career
More and more, we’re hearing from families who are able to use employee benefits to help pay for their doula services. Many employers started to turn to these programs in an effort to attract and retain employees after the Great Resignation during the Covid-19 pandemic. Some of them cover everything from fertility treatment to midwifery services to lactation consultants. And the fact that so many are now providing reimbursement for postpartum doula services feels like a significant improvement to what so often in our culture is a lack of support for parents after the birth of a baby!…
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The Top Three Reasons for Doula Burnout
March 6, 2024 | Kathryn Keener | Uncategorized
In preparing to speak at the DONA International annual conference last year, I polled an online doula community about what factors either threatened, or ultimately led to, their burnout. Three main areas presented themselves: The income-related reasons had a lot to do with how hard it can be to anticipate income. Postpartum doulas are tasked with finding new assignments every few months, with potential gaps in between, and birth doulas may find the number of births per month varies and can’t always be known very far in advance, for example. There’s also sometimes trepidation about charging “too much,”…
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Preventing Burnout for Doulas and Newborn Care Specialists
February 21, 2024 | Kathryn Keener | Uncategorized
Doulas tend to naturally be giving people. We’re drawn to this work because we want to make an impact during a time of need. Being in a caretaker role can be rewarding… and draining. Many doulas and newborn care specialists have to go back to their own families between shifts and continue in some sort of caretaking role there, as well. And yet they’re reluctant to set the boundaries and put the conditions in place with their work to make sure they can continue in this field without burning out, because it's tempting to be able to meet…
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How (and Where) to Find the Right Doula for Your Family
April 20, 2023 | Kathryn Keener | Newborn Topics, Postpartum Support and Recovery, Pregnancy and Childbirth, Uncategorized
When searching for a birth or postpartum doula, or newborn care specialist, you have quite a few options - so many, in fact, that it can be seriously overwhelming! We’ll outline some potential avenues and strategies here. And, since working with a doula agency could be one option that can help you avoid some of that overwhelm, save some time, and add to your peace of mind… in our next post we’ll go into further detail about Working with an Agency to Find the Right Doula. [A disclaimer of sorts… While the author is an agency owner, she…
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Newborns are temporary – Zoom out if you can
August 8, 2022 | Kathryn Keener | Newborn Topics, Parenting, Uncategorized
Today I put my first born on a plane (yes, he insisted on wearing pajamas because he is 14) for his first solo adventure to see some cousins in Colorado. And while this might not seem related to our work as a Postpartum Doula Agency... I've decided it is. It is because... he was a newborn not that long ago. And I really do mean not that long ago. Not in the cliché way of "blink and you miss it," because it's not that simple - it HAS felt like 14 years in many ways... but instead what…
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Thinking of Becoming a Postpartum Doula? Make Sure You Have These Four Things in Place
April 6, 2021 | Kathryn Keener | Doula Career
We’ve been recruiting and mentoring doulas for over 10 years, and fielding questions from people who are curious about becoming a postpartum doula. If that’s you, start here to make sure you know what to expect and how to set yourself up for success! Relevant Background This work is great for someone who has a background in a relevant field such as early childcare, nursing, nannying, childbirth education, or other caretaking professions. If you don’t have much hands-on experience with newborns, we’d encourage you to dive in with that however you can to build confidence - help out…
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