Application
Process

1. Scope of Practice; The immediate postpartum period is the first three months after birth. This is also known as the 4th trimester. The full postpartum period is one year after birth. Postpartum Doulas work with families anywhere within this first year. As a postpartum doula, your primary objective is to create a safe space for the primary carer to recuperate from birth (if applicable), to support their journey in learning how to become a parent and family, and help them learn how to interpret, understand and anticipate their baby's cues. To offer physical and emotional support. To care for the newborn. You achieve this objective by using evidence based care, nonjudgement, and active listening, as well as instruction, education, and quality resources as needed. Your secondary objective is to maintain a semblance of normalcy and routine within the household. You achieve this objective by completing household tasks during your time with the family. This includes, but is not limited to, dishes, laundry, trash and recycling, meal-prep, snack plate creation and nursing station maintenance for primary carer, tidying of living spaces, and care for siblings and pets. The final objective as a Postpartum Doula is to encourage and promote clear communication between the new family and their health care team, encourage informed decision making as well as informed refusal, self-advocacy and advocacy for their newborn. The role of the postpartum doula in this context is to support and empower the family's choices, provide non-clinical care, and offer quality resources when they become aware of situations that require medical attention or support.

1. Postpartum Doulas Do Not; Diagnose medical conditions, interpret medical results or diagnoses. Prescribe or administer treatment of medical conditions. Perform clinical procedures, including taking temperatures and/or administering medications to either infant or primary carer. Make parenting or infant care choices or decisions.

Questions 30, 31 & 32

One of the most common, important and useful tools you'll share, daily, with your families are resources that help them make informed, educated, science based decisions regarding themselves and their newborn. As a professional and expert in your field, it is absolutely essential that the resources you provide for your clients are reputable and reliable. Because of this heavy responsibility we want to make sure you have a list you can refer to that you're confident will provide trustworthy and correct information. For questions 31 and 32 go through these tutorials to understand how to identify credible resources. How do I know if my sources are credible/reliable? And Evaluating Information - Savvy info Consumers Then, come back here and write your answers to questions 30, 31, and 32. Hint; credible = Kellymom, University of Notre Dame, Ask Dr Sears, Cleveland Clinic, etc.. Not credible = Babycenter, Parents.com, Babylist, WhatToExpect. Use your own researched resources and not the ones listed here.

Questions 45-49

Watch is video and then answer the following 5 questions (45-49) about newborn cues: (We've selected the relevant sections of the video for each question but this video is excellent both for Doulas and for new parents and so we highly recommend keeping it in your tool box, sharing with your families, and referring to it often.)