Meet The Doula Night

The dictionary defines DOULA as "A woman who assists another woman during labor and provides support to her, the infant, and the family after childbirth."  For any family who has actually had the opportunity to experience childbirth with a doula, it can mean so much more.  In 1993, according to Klaus, Kendall & Klaus, laboring with a trained birth doula resulted in:

• 50% reduction in the cesarean rate
• 25% shorter labor
• 60% reduction in epidural requests
• 40% reduction in oxytocin use
• 30% reduction in analgesia use
• 40% reduction in forceps delivery

With a success rate like that, it's amazing that doulas only attend about 1% of all births in the United States.  As if that isn't enough, there are also POSTPARTUM doulas.  According to Debra Pascali-Bonaro, some of the benefits of having a postpartum doula assist the family are:

Increases success of breastfeeding

Facilitates parent-infant bonding

Decreases incidence of postpartum depression

Encourages appropriate well-baby and mother care

Increases parents' confidence in their parenting skills

If you or someone you know is interested in finding out more about doulas in Rhode Island.  Come to Meet the Doula Night hosted by DoRI (Doulas of Rhode Island) on:

Monday, February 28, 2010
Rochambeau Library
708 Hope St. Providence
7:00 pm to 8:30 pm


Be sure to RSVP here.  Hope to see you there.