[00:00:00] Renee: Knowledge is power, and we are all about empowering the mamas of the world. In each episode, we will unravel and interpret the latest research and evidence-based practices for pregnancy, postpartum, and motherhood. As mums and researchers ourselves, we have experienced firsthand the overwhelming complexity of information myths and those classic old wives tales.

[00:00:27] I'm Dr. Renee White, and this is The Science of Motherhood. Hello and welcome to episode 167 of The Science of Motherhood. I am your host, Dr. Renee White. Thank you so much for joining me today. We have got one of our check-in Tuesday episodes, and I have to say serendipitously, we are airing this almost on World Doula Day, which is so, so exciting.

[00:00:58] And of course that is going to be the topic of today's check in Tuesday episode. Obviously we speak to a lot of experts, uh, on the podcast, but when I am not speaking to those experts, I am running Australia's first Doula Village here out of Hobart, where we have doulas across the eastern side of Australia, in Sydney and Melbourne, Brisbane, Newcastle, Geelong, and obviously Hobart where I am.

[00:01:30] And so I wanted to give you a little insight today as to the four types of people who need to hire a doula. 'cause so many people are like, oh, I might have heard of this doula concept. What is it? And do I actually need one? Well, I'm gonna walk you through today the four types of people who absolutely need to have a doula.

[00:01:54] And I'm talking about a birth doula. I'm talking about a postpartum doula. Here we go. Kicking off number one, the first person who needs to hire a doula is typically, it's a first time mum. I have these conversations with people all the time on the phone. They are first time mums. They always say, I've got a really supportive partner and family, but there's a couple of things that they're really missing.

[00:02:23] The first one is, they always say to me, they're feeling really overwhelmed about the unknown. They just want someone to hold their hand and walk alongside them. They have a real desire to be competent and to be really confident, um, as a new parent. Um, some people might have like a bit of a fear of, of judgment o of, of not knowing the right answer, um, which is, you know, that kind of, oh, well I just wanna know if that's normal or not with my baby.

[00:02:58] And I wanna be able to have someone who I can call on who is a bit of an expert in this field who's maybe not their best friend, or their mum or their mother-in-law. They just want that non-judgmental kind of support. Typically, people come to Fill Your Cup because we are very evidence-based, and so those people are looking for more modern and practical guidance.

[00:03:24] And the other thing that we're really good at is protecting boundaries. So we're really good at providing tools for, you know. Protecting relationships and families. Often I have conversations where people are like, I just want my mum to be the grandma, not the caretaker of me and so that's why I wanna have a doula, and that is perfectly fine.

[00:03:48] That is actually the most textbook scenario for why you would wanna have a doula looking after you, either in birth or in postpartum. And so I guess the benefits of us, um, for someone like that is that, you know, at the end of our journey with you, you are gonna feel so empowered and capable as a parent.

[00:04:12] You are probably gonna have strengthened relationships with your partner and your family. You are absolutely going to be confident in how you navigate. Your motherhood and newborn care. That is my number one thing when it comes to our services. We actually wanna put ourselves out of a job. It sounds crazy, but that is my ultimate goal.

[00:04:36] And overall, it's that kind of relieved anxiety about what's normal, what's not normal. We really don't want you jumping on Google and diving into Facebook parenting groups, getting all spiraled and anxious that's where you jump into our chat and you can message your doula and you can get really good quality information that's evidence-based.

[00:05:02] Alright? So that's person number one. First time mums. The second person who really needs a doula in their life is a second or third time parent juggling multiple kids. Now, the amount of times I've had a conversation with someone and they've said. Wow. It was really hard the first time. I'm not sure how I'm gonna cope with a toddler in tow and I get it.

[00:05:30] I totally get it. You're exhausted about the idea of like having to manage multiple kids um, toddlers have got really high energy and you are supposed to be having low energy with recovering. You might feel a little bit guilty about, not giving your older child enough attention. I, I've heard from mums where they're like, I just, it feels like I'm having to split my heart in two to be able to cater to everyone in the household.

[00:05:59] And I get that. I totally get that. Um, maybe you had a bit of a bumpy journey in that first. Um, postpartum or birth with your, with your older children. And so you're really looking for something a bit smoother, something with a bit more handholding. You might have a fear of burnout as well, and overall you just need that emotional and logistical support of handling the household.

[00:06:26] You need an extra set of hands, absolutely, that's perfect, perfect for a doula to step in and help you. And so our overall kind of outcomes for those would be that you would feel a real sense of relief that you wouldn't be overwhelmed and stressed about the mental load of the house. Um. There's great opportunities.

[00:06:49] If you've got your toddler at home and you've got your doula there, we can absolutely hang out with your toddler. We do lots of cooking, and so I have kind of made all of the recipes super easy, particularly the snacks where little kids can get involved and they can help with measuring out ingredients and helping the doula.

[00:07:10] Conversely, if you wanna spend some one-on-one time with your toddler, your doula can hang out with your baby and make sure that they're well looked after, and so you can have some quality time with your older children. The other thing that I hope that our mums receive is that real kind of confidence in balancing their attention between children, but overall, having that opportunity to really rest and recover even though you might have more than one child in the household. So that's the second person, second or third time mums.

[00:07:47] The third person that we typically, um, look after here are those with preexisting mental health challenges and many mums come to us again because we are very evidence-based. We've got great relationships with allied healthcare professionals, particularly in the counseling and um, psychology sphere.

[00:08:09] And so they would get a recommendation typically from their counselor or psychologist, you know, maybe you should think about having a doula just to kind of, you know, stave off that anxiety because generally those people have a fear of postpartum mental health relapse. Um, we know from the research that if you already have depression and or anxiety, like someone like myself, you are more predisposed to having postnatal depression and or anxiety after the birth of your baby.

[00:08:43] And so, there's this kind of real need for proactive mental health management, and that is where a doula is perfect to step in and help you out with that. We are all about prevention rather than treatment here at Fill your Cup and so having a doula is, um, an amazing opportunity to kind of get on the front foot with that.

[00:09:04] We don't want you overwhelmed. We want you to be able to balance that fine balance of self-care and baby care. And so we are all about nurturing mamas and so we can help you, um, do that as well. So overall we wanna be looking at kind of mitigating your risk of postpartum depression and or anxiety. We want you to have that real peace of mind that we are with you every step of the way, and that we are creating opportunities for self-care because we know from the research that mothers who take 30 minutes per week of self-care are three times less likely to develop postnatal depressive symptoms. And so a doula is a great opportunity to be able to create time and space for you to do that. That self-care can look like anything it can look like putting on your headphones and listening to some great music. It can be taking your shoes off and walking out into the grass and just feeling the nature around you. It can look like, you know, going and lying down and doing some yoga nidra, whatever it is that you need to fill your cup in that moment, that is what you go and do, and a doula is a fantastic person to be able to help you with that.

[00:10:24] Okay. Now the fourth person that we typically, uh, engage our services with, are a little bit left of centre.

[00:10:37] Parents in a small businesses, so it could either be mama's got a small business, or the non birthing person has a small business and what happens typically in those scenarios is that parental leave is not really able to be taken extensively. They're still running a business, they're still leading that charge, and so you know, the finances for the house and all the things around them are typically reliant on that small business and so in that regard, there is seems to be like, you know, a real stress around work and parenting and managing the house. Um, there could be, um, a bit of anxiety around the lack of the partner being able to support one another.

[00:11:29] And overall just this desire to have that consistent and trustworthy kind of help because we do see that some partners get, sometimes there's like a bit of guilt and resentment around not being fully present, but we totally get it because they're kind of having to keep the business going while they're having a family.

[00:11:54] And it's this real kind of tricky juggling act, and again, this is perfect scenario for where a doula can step in and provide that real, reliable, consistent care during that newborn period. Ideally it's just like, you know, peace of mind. You've got an extra set of hands, someone's making some meals when things are getting really, really tricky, you know, in the household.

[00:12:18] So that is, that is our fourth person who really, really needs a doula. And I guess overall it would be remiss of me not to talk about why you wouldn't pick Fill Your Cup as your doula service, now, as I said at the beginning, we have doulas across Australia on the eastern kind of coastline of of the country.

[00:12:41] And so there's a few things that really set us apart. Obviously we are Australia's first doula village, so there is, there are a number of us across the country. It doesn't matter whether you are getting your doula service in Brisbane or Sydney or Melbourne. It is going to be the same excellent standard of care.

[00:13:02] All of our doulas are, uh, trained to the same standard and the systems and operations we have in the background in, nor like just in order for us to. The systems and operations that we have in the background ensure that we are able to provide that real consistent care. There's a few other things that set us apart here at Fill Your Cup.

[00:13:26] Those are, I guess, because of my science background as a biochemist, I like to think that we are the service where science meets support. So as the founder, I've had over 16 years of experience in health and medical education, and so that ensures that we are delivering a nurturing, caring service backed by evidence-based practices.

[00:13:53] The second thing that sets us apart is, um, what I like to call our Nourish, Replenish and Restore, we are very well known for our Fill Your Cup Mama menu and by that I mean the fact that we have scientifically curated, um, our postnatal menu. It's designed specifically to replenish all those lost micronutrients, um, that our body needs, um, during pregnancy and helps you recover, recharge, and kick that postnatal depletion to the curb.

[00:14:25] We are very intentional about the ingredients that we have put into our recipes and what we pair them with other ingredients we want the most bang for our buck, um, in all of our meals. Um, the third thing that really sets us apart, and no one else does this in Australia, we have what's called our personalised research briefs.

[00:14:49] So we have, our answers are really and truly backed by science. So parents come with questions, lots and lots and lots of them. So what we ask is that you submit your toughest challenges and we'll provide a personalised science backed video response and so you can make a really informed decision with confidence.

[00:15:10] I go and look in the scientific literature, uh, with the, for the answers to those questions, and then provide a 10 minute video that you can watch it's all fact-based, there's no opinion, and you do what you like with, um, that information. And finally, I think one of the most important things is that we provide seamless continuity of care.

[00:15:33] And so what I mean by this is that, you know, life happens, but your care shouldn't stop. So our doula village model ensures that your primary doula, becomes unavailable a trained replacement steps in seamlessly to provide uninterrupted support. So there's really no need for you to repeat your story because of all the systems and operations that we've got on in the background.

[00:16:01] So, as a bit of a recap, the top four people that need a doula are number one, first time mums who have a really supportive partner and family, but they're feeling like they're lacking a bit of confidence in that area. The second one are second or third time parents juggling multiple kids, these are the parents who really acknowledge that life is tough and they're exhausted, and they're not a hundred percent sure that they're gonna be able to make it over the other side.

[00:16:35] With a new newborn in their life, so they need that extra set of hands, or they're feeling a little bit guilty about sharing the love around the household. We are a perfect person to come in and provide that extra set of hands for them. The third type of person are parents with preexisting mental health challenges, it is all about prevention is better than treatment. And so with that, we are able to provide our families with an opportunity to really engage in some valuable self-care and recovery, hopefully mitigating any of that risk to postnatal depletion and or anxiety. And the fourth type of person are parents who have a small business, and they're worried about that juggle of maintaining the financial side of their life as well as juggling newborn and parenthood life.

[00:17:30] All right everyone. Happy World Doula Day. I will see you next week for one of our biggest episodes that we've got. It is an amazing episode, very, very big guest. Tune in. It is someone who is releasing a new book all about the fourth trimester. She is an I-B-C-L-C. She's a midwife, she's a sleep specialist, and now author, so stay tuned for that episode next week.

[00:18:02] Alright everyone. Bye. If you loved this episode, please hit the subscribe button and leave a review. If you know someone out there who would also love to listen to this episode, please hit the share button so they can benefit from it as well.

[00:18:19] You've just listened to another episode of The Science of Motherhood proudly presented by Fill Your Cup, Australia's first doula village. Head to our website ifillyourcup.com to learn more about our birth and postpartum doula offerings where every mother we pledge to be the steady hand that guides you back to yourself. Ensuring you feel nurtured, informed, and empowered so you can fully embrace the joy of motherhood with confidence.

[00:18:48] Until next time, bye.