PostPartum Doula

When every new baby is born , so is a new mother. As each and every pregnancy, every labour, every birth, every newborn, every new Mother is totally different. Let’s be honest, giving birth and caring for a newborn is possibly the hardest work a woman can do.
Sharing your story and receiving support from an unbiased, unopinionated carer is paramount to bonding with your new baby, developing an established feeding pattern (breast or bottle – no ‘mum guilt’ here!), honing in your new skills, learning to identify babies subtle cues, settling into a routine and nourishing yourself to allowing healing to occur are all roles that a postpartum doula can assist you with.

Typically, the word “postpartum” refers to the position of the mother, whilst “postnatal” refers to the position of the baby. I much prefer to specialise my care for mothers for them to then provide their love, care and attention to their new baby. I see you, Mumma!
This is our new tradition of postpartum care.

During pregnancy, and after baby arrives there are multiple appointments focusing in on the development and wellbeing of the baby, and often quick checks upon the mother. As precious and important our new babies are, the birth of a new mother is not to be diminished, she is the backbone of all families and she often leaves the care of herself until last on the list, leaving herself to often go unnoticed, unsupported and malnourished. So often, a new mothers true wellbeing is overlooked, and the reality of that is that leaves a huge shadow over her new life as a new mother.
This pattern can often lead to postnatal depression, issues with infant feeding to name a few and leaving the mother with multiple nutrient deficiencies, a slow recovery and leaves her susceptible to a list of possible health concerns in the future.

As a mother of four myself, I see you. I feel you. I know how tired you are, how desperate you are for someone to ‘hear’ you and guide you to the answers you’re so desperately seeking.
You’d love for someone to feed you.
Real food that will heal you and nourish you from the inside out.
To hold your babe while you shower, or to give you a moment of peace, or to help you with anything medical.
To help you discover the amazing, strong and empowered new you.

Our carefully constructed care visits and care packages combine the best of our abilities, skills, education, life experience and compassion. We come to you.

What EXACTLY can we do for you:
• Be a helping hand and assist you with any light chores to lighten your load,
• Assist with care of other children,
• Running local errands (grabbing some essentials or groceries on our way to your visit, etc),
• Listen to you, support you, encourage you and assist you, always,
• Meal preparation for you in your own kitchen,
• Assistance with newborn care (bathing, comforting, swaddling, etc.),
• Infant feeding support (advocates for both breast or bottle),
• Provide emotional and/or physical recovery post-birth,
• Support with baby – soothing, sleep support, etc,
• We visit you at a time convenient to you (additional costs for late evening or overnight stays),
and so very much more…

Additional perks of us being a highly qualified nutritionist are that I can also:
• Conduct a thorough postpartum welfare check from our perspective as a nutritional biochemist & clinical nutritionist (see all that we can do here),
• We can identify any existing nutrient deficiencies, hormone imbalances, or anything else that may be concerning you, such as sleep or energy levels (as would be done in a nutrition consult) and can make dietary recommendations and/or provide a prescription of practitioner-only grade supplements to correct the deficiency, if necessary,
• Assist you to ensure ALL of your dietary needs (and there are plenty more postpartum!) are met,
• Nutritious meal preparation for you in your own kitchen,
• Snacks prepared and set aside for when they’re required,
• Referrals can be provided to a range of providers should additional care be required (pediatricians, lactation nurses, psychologists, psychiatrists, etc).

“How old does my baby have to be?”:
If you have a newborn or a young baby you are NOT out of luck, we offer postpartum doula support up until your babies first birthday, and often continue a provider based relationship beyond that if you enjoy the perks of our support and ongoing healthcare.

PRICES:
We schedule all standard postpartum doula consults as 3-hour home visits to ensure we can of as much assistance to you as possible during our visit. We can extend these if necessary, especially for those lucky enough to secure overnight bookings to get a full nights sleep! Please contact us if you require these as they require a fair amount of prior planning.
We aim to be as flexible as possible and offer packages to ensure great value.
* We can setup a gift voucher system for those wishing to incorporate it into their baby showers or friends/family gifting*.

Locations & Travel:
We are located in Wallan, Victoria (50mins north of Melbourne CBD).
We allow 30km of travel (each way) within the listed visit/package price per scheduled visit. There is a small fee incurred for every 10km travelled outside of that distance, for more information please email us at hello@nutritionista.com.au or call us on 0417 737 823 for an accurate price prior to purchases.

1 x casual 3hr postpartum home visit $270 – to be used within 4 months of purchase,
3 x 3hr postpartum home visits $765 – to be used within 6 months of purchase,
6 x 3hr postpartum home visits $1,440 – to be used within 9 months of purchase,
12 x 3hr postpartum home visits $2,700 – to be used within 12 months of purchase.

Our full terms & conditions and cancellation policies can be viewed here.