Why Every Mother Needs a Doula, Even With a Doctor in the Family

Despite your extensive training and the unique, holistic support you provide to mothers and families as a doula, you may sometimes find yourself overlooked for a variety of reasons. Now, let’s discuss a challenge that you face all the time. You may find yourself denied opportunities to serve families, not because of a lack of understanding or appreciation for your role, but because potential clients are choosing to utilize the support of friends or family members who, despite their best intentions, may not have the qualifications or expertise to provide the same level of care.

While friends and family members who are nurses or doctors can provide valuable support and guidance, they may have different perspectives or opinions on how to approach pregnancy and birth. They may not be aware of or respect several aspects of your craft that make you necessary. However, having both a family member in the medical field and a doula as part of the birth team can complement each other and offer different types of support and expertise.

A family member who is a nurse or doctor can provide certain medical advice and assistance if their specialty is in this field, while you as a doula can provide so much more especially emotional and informational support and advocacy. Working together with their family member can provide comprehensive support to mothers during pregnancy, labor, and postpartum if the collaboration is right.

Of course, there may be challenges. Differences in opinions or approaches to pregnancy and birth may arise. However, effective communication and collaboration can help overcome these challenges. As a doula, you have unique expertise and insights that can benefit both the mother and those who support them.

One way to overcome these challenges is by effectively communicating your value and expertise to potential clients. This can be done by highlighting your training and experience as a doula, as well as the unique support you provide to mothers and families. You can also share testimonials from past clients who have benefited from your services. Strategically, it’s important to include your value over a family member before even hearing that they have a friend or family member in the medical field. Assume the hurdle and overcome it within your presentation! If they thought about bringing it up as a reason to not hire you, that reason is now defeated before it became a problem.

Another way to overcome these challenges is by collaborating with the friend or family members in the medical field. This can be done by establishing open lines of communication and working together to provide comprehensive support to mothers. The key point here is to get a jump on the situation and sell yourself like you are not threatened by this situation, but instead you already have a plan in place in which you both reside. In your plan, by combining your expertise as a doula with the knowledge of family members in the medical field, you can provide mothers with the best possible care. It’s all about how you spin it and present a potential problem as it’s apart of your plan. Regardless of how you feel, they need to make sure they believe that you have value in addition to who they know that will be their initial go-to person for support.

In conclusion, don’t let the friend or family member squeeze you out of an opportunity to land a new client. Working together with family members in the medical field can be your friend instead of a foe if you do it right. As a doula, you have the power to make a huge impact on families and what they need is someone with the confidence and the knowledge to give them what they need even when their verbalized perspective is that they don’t need you. All you can do is educate and strategically inform them of the reasons why you are crucial to the birth team.

I hope this post inspires you to continue making a difference in the lives of mothers and their families. Remember that your unique expertise and insights are valuable and can benefit both the mother their entire support system. Please share this with your peers in the industry. They might need this information before their next consultation!