What is a doula?

The word doula (pronounced “doola”) is Greek, and traditionally means “handmaiden”. The idea of a doula has come from the USA, where birth is far more medicalised than it is here in the UK, and women wanted to reclaim the caring, personal side of giving birth for themselves. A doula’s main aim is to “mother the mother”, so that the mother can concentrate on the job of either birthing or caring for her baby.

At Birth Baby Balance Doula Services we help women prepare for their labour and birth and aim to make the transition to parenthood as smooth as possible. We are based in Oxfordshire, but also cover parts of Gloucestershire and Warwickshire, and provide birth and postnatal doula services. Having a doula at your labour, or in the early weeks with your baby, can help to give you confidence in your ability to birth and mother your baby. As your doula, we do not tell you what to do, we support you in the choices that feel right for you.

We run regular classes in breathing and preparing for labour, postnatal stretching and relaxing, and baby massage. We have also produced a CD of visualisations to use for labour

To find out a little bit more about us, please click here to watch a short video celebrating the launch of Birth Baby Balance, and introducing us to you!