Hiring A Doula

Finding the right doula for you should not be hard, but as an essential part of your birthing team, you want to make sure you cover all bases. So here’s some guidance on important factors which you may want to take into consideration.

Your doula will be supporting you through one of life’s most powerful experiences, one that is intimate and intense both physically and emotionally. So when meeting a prospective doula, it’s important that you and your partner:

Always

  • Feel secure and understood

  • Know that the doula is there to help you stand at the centre of this experience

  • Trust their knowledge of the birthing process

  • Trust that they are ready to provide you and your partner with whole-hearted support.

Never

  • Feel judged by your doula

  • Feel pressured to make specific choices

  • Feel undermined by your doula’s knowledge or experience

  • Feel like the doula is the most important person in the room

THE HIRING PROCESS

Step-by-Step

Research

Do your research. You can use the Find A Doula feature on our website, ask family and friends who had a doula, or contact local parenting groups and other community resources for recommendations.

Make Contact

Usually the first point of contact with a doula is a phone call or an email. You’d be surprised by how much you can learn about a doula and how you feel about them during a quick chat.

Meet Up

Then you probably want to have an in-person meeting where you can ask them questions, chat about your expectations, and review a contract.

Seal the Deal

Time to sign a contract or choose to sleep on it. But don’t wait too long! Doulas usually give you a few days to make a confident decision, but due to how open they must leave their schedules for each client, they can get busy quite quickly.

Interviewing A Doula

During your initial phone chat, and the in-person meeting, you will have the chance to tell the doula a bit about your expectations, the support you’re looking for, and if interviewing a birth doula, the birth you envision for your baby. This is also your opportunity to learn a bit about them.

To assist you in making a decision, here are a few questions you may wish to ask your doula when you meet them:

  • What training and courses have you undertaken?

  • What is your certification status?

  • Are you a member of an accredited association?

  • How can you help me achieve the birth I envision?

  • Have you attended births at the hospital we are going to (or home births, if applicable)?

  • Can you describe the service that you provide?

  • Do you use a contract?

  • Do you have a back-up doula? If yes, can I meet or have a phone call with them?

  • How many times will we meet before the birth?

  • Will you make any postpartum visits?

  • When do you consider yourself *on-call* 24/7 for us?

  • How early are you available to support me once labour starts? Do we have to wait until a certain stage?

  • Are phone, text, and email support available before I go into labour?

  • What does your fee include? Is there a time limit or added fees if I have an unexpectedly long labour?

Why a DAI Doula?

All members of the DAI are professionally trained (by pre-approved organisations), Garda vetted, and insured.

But there’s more. Not only are each of our doulas strengthened by the professional overseeing body —with all the additional benefits and connections available through the DAI —but our association is essentially made up of an incredibly diverse group of individuals, supported in their unique backgrounds and passion for this work.

We have members with various specialities and areas of interest, as well as services complementary to doula work, which can be found on our Resources page.

Our members range from Irish born-and-bred to people who have arrived on our shores from as far away as Brazil, Hong Kong, and Israel, lending their linguistic skills and multi-cultural knowhow to this field of work.

The DAI is an inclusive organisation, with many of our members undertaking additional training to ensure that they are providing inclusive and full-spectrum support across Ireland.

The Doula Association of Ireland strives to support its members in every way, understanding that each person who chooses to be a part of our community is dedicated to upholding the very highest standard of doula services available in Ireland.

What Clients Say

“What can we say about Amelie? She is such a caring person, willing to go at your pace. This is so important for a new mum or like me, a mum of three. She has always been there to help with my baby, with nourishing food for us and just a kind, helpful, non-judgememtal ear. I wish I had known her on my first baby but her help as a post partum doula has been so special and worthwhile. We all love her!”

Free Doula Support

Have any questions or concerns? Many of our professional doulas offer virtual 30-minute consultations at no charge. Doulas offering this service have it listed at the top of their profile page.

What Clients Say

“To be able to say that my birthing experience of our second baby was one of the most incredible moments of my life is just amazing. My husband and I will be forever grateful to Shelly, for her wisdom, her support and her friendship.

Shelly is the perfect combination of common sense, educated knowledge and emotional intelligence that makes her so excellent at her job; in fact calling it a job is wrong. It is her calling, her vocation and anyone that embarks on this journey I would encourage you to have Shelly be a part of it, no matter how big or small.”

– Tara