Parent to Parent Mentor Program: American Indian Doulas
Doula support for pregnancy, birth and beyond.

What is a Doula?
Our Doulas
What is the Parent to Parent Mentor Program?
What can a Doula do?
Doula Benefits
Interested?

What is a Doula?

A Doula is a woman experienced in childbirth who provides continuous physical, emotional, and informational support to the mother before, during and after childbirth.

A Doula

• Recognizes childbirth as a key experience the mother will remember all her life.
• Understands the birth process and emotional needs of a woman in labor.
• Facilitates communication between the woman, her partner, and clinical care providers.
• Perceives her role as nurturing and protecting a woman’s memory of the birth experience.

My fiancé continuously says “we couldn’t have done it without her”, to which my response is that I’m sure we would have, but we wouldn’t have wanted to! I only hope that my Doula will be available to be present at my next birth.

Our Doulas

• Trained to help families during their pregnancy, birth and new baby period.
• Can help families in their home after the birth of their baby. Examples include: light housekeeping, meal preparation and a kind ear for listening.
• Trained to help those wishing to breastfeed get a good start.

I was pretty scared of what would happen at my birth. The Doula helped me know what it would be like, and kept so calm that I wasn’t scared. The birth of my baby was a day I’ll always remember as beautiful and not at all scary.

What is the Parent to Parent Mentor Program?

• Mentors are American Indian community members with experience in birth and parenting, who have also received specialized birth and postpartum support training and certification by Doulas of North America (DONA).
• Mentors receive specialized training in peer breastfeeding support through the Fond du Lac breastfeeding program.
• Doula support you and your family when you’re pregnant, during your birth, and after you birth your baby.

My Doula is an awesome birth helper and woman with a spirit both kind and strong. I wish every Indian woman could have this help.

What can a Doula do?

A Doula Can:

• Remain with you throughout your labor and birth.
• Provide physical, emotional and informational support.
• Offer help and advice on comfort measures.
• Assist your partner and family by offering suggestions.
• Provide continuous emotional reassurance and comfort for you and your family.
• Help after birth for first weeks by offering emotional support, light housekeeping/meal preparation.
• Assist you with breastfeeding by offering information and support.

A Doula Cannot:

• Perform clinical tasks or diagnose medical conditions.
• Offer a second opinion.
• Give medical advice.
• Make decisions for the you.
• Project own values or goals.
• Cannot speak to medical professionals instead of you regarding matters where decisions are being made.
• Baby-sit or take care of infant without parents present.

My Doula was a great support during my labor and preparing me for my labor. My family was extremely pleased to have her assist me (and them!). She helped me stay focused and was very encouraging.

Doula Benefits

• Use of a Doula decreases interventions used in childbirth, such as caesarean sections and medication use.
• Mothers express more satisfaction with their birth experience.
• Higher occurrence of successful breastfeeding and bonding experience.
• Any woman can benefit from doula care, however, women with special life circumstances report even greater benefits.
• The doula’s goal is to help the woman have a safe and satisfying childbirth as the woman defines it.
• A doula can help make the transition into parenting a bit smoother and more satisfying.
• A doula can help a family start out breastfeeding well, and breastfeed a bit longer.

Interested?

Call the Fond du Lac

Public Health Nursing Department today!

Danielle Le Bon Gort, RN PHN MS

218-279-4109

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