Doulas have the right touch
For centuries, women have been attended to in birth by other women.
The knowledge, security and comfort that the Doula brings to the laboring woman is priceless.
The word Doula is Greek for "woman servant", but today, the word has come to mean a woman who is trained and experienced in the art of Labor Support. A Doula knows that Birth is a normal and blessed event, and a memory that the family will make and keep for a lifetime. Doulas improve birth outcomes for mothers and babies, and several evidence based studies have been done that show this. Based on 6 randomized studies of over 1500 women, the presence of a doula :
reduces overall cesarean rate by 50%
reduces length of labor by 25%
reduces oxytocin (Pitocin) use by 40%
reduces use of pain medications by 30%
reduces the need for forceps by 40%
reduces requests for epidurals by 60%
These are taken from "Mothering the Mother ....How a doula can help you have a shorter, easier and healthier birth"
by Marshall H. Klauss, MD; John H. Kennel, MD; and Phyliss H.
Klauss, M.Ed, CSW
page 51 Addison- Wesley Publishing Company
Research Statistics on Benefits of Labor Doulas |
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Doula Statistics Information taken from Mothering the Mother: How a Doula Can Help You Have a Shorter, Easier, and Healthier Birth by Klaus, M.D., Kennell, M.D., Klaus, M.D. 1st Guatemalan Study (40 women) | No Doula | Doula | Length of Labor | 19 hours | 9 hours |
2nd Guatemalan Study (225 women)
| No Doula | Doula | Length of Labor | 15.5 hours | 7.7 hours | Mothers using oxytocin | 13% | 2% | Cesarean deliveries | 17% | 7% |
Houston Study (416 women) | No Doula | Doula | Length of Labor | 9.4 hours | 7.4 hours | # of mothers with natural vaginal deliveries | 25 | 116 | Mothers receiving epidurals | 55% | 8% | Mothers using oxytocin | 44% | 17% | Forceps deliveries | 26% | 8% | Cesarean deliveries | 18% | 8% | Infants kept more than 2 days in hospital | 24% | 10% | Maternal fever | 10% | 1% |
Johannesburg Study (189 women)
Infants at 6 weeks of age | No Doula | Doula | Breastfeeding only | 29% | 51% | Demand feeding | 47% | 81% | Feeding food other than milk | 53% | 18% | Feeding problems | 63% | 39% | Average # of days of breastfeeding only | 24 | 32 | Vomiting | 28% | 4% | Colds or runny nose | 69% | 39% | Cough | 64% | 39% | Poor appetite | 25% | 0% | Diarrhea | 33% | 19% |
Johannesburg Study (189 women)
Satisfaction with partner | No Doula | Doula | Before pregnancy | 63% | 65% | During pregnancy | 48% | 49% | Since baby was born | 49% | 85% | Relationship better after the birth | 30% | 71% |
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