What is the difference between a doula and a midwife?
Since approximately 90% of US women choose to birth with an obstetrician, many may not be familiar with the term “midwife” or “doula” or even know the difference between the two. A midwife is a health care provider trained to naturally delivery babies for low risk women. The midwife’s approach to birth is more holistic, and they tend to intervene less and have fewer interventions than a traditional obstetrician.
While the US does not utilize midwifery care much, according to WHO (World Health Organization) midwives are the primary providers of health care for childbearing women around the world (1). If you choose to work with a midwife, she will be the person to see for your prenatal visits and be the provider who handles your delivery and postpartum care.
A doula, on the other hand, is a not a medical professional. The doula is a trained professional who assists the laboring woman with continuous emotional and physical support and can provide childbirth related information. The doula is hired independently of the hospital or birth center and works with the expectant mom or couple ahead of time to help figure out their birth preferences and identify any fears or obstacles surrounding the birth.
The doula will often come to the laboring woman’s home before transitioning to the hospital or birth center with her. The doula stays throughout the whole labor and also helps the mother after the birth for several hours. Studies have shown that when doulas attend births, labors are shorter and occur with with fewer complications, babies are healthier, and new babies breastfeed more easily (2).
Some midwives do work with obstetricians as their back up should the woman require further medical assistance, like a cesarean. In general a women chooses to have either an OB or a midwife manage their care. Regardless of the care provider chosen, a woman can still hire a doula to attend her birth since doulas will work with either an OB or midwife.
Hope that helps to clarify the different roles of a doula and midwife! Happy birthing!
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Debra Flashenberg, CD(DONA), LCCE, E-RYT 500 is the director of the Prenatal Yoga Center. She has spent most of her life performing and was introduced to yoga through a choreographer in 1997. After several years as a yoga student, she decided to continue her education and became certified as a Bikram Yoga instructor. After being witness to several “typical” hospital births, Debra felt it was important to move beyond the yoga room and be present in the birthing room. In 2006, Debra received her certification as a Lamaze® Certified Childbirth Educator. In September of 2007, Debra completed a Midwife Assistant Program with Ina May Gaskin, Pamela Hunt and many of the other Farm Midwives at The Farm Midwifery Center in Tennessee. Drawing on her experience as a prenatal yoga teacher, labor support doula and childbirth educator, Debra looks to establish safe and effective classes for pregnancy and beyond. She is the proud (and tired) mother of new baby boy, Shay.
The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog contributor’s. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Writers may have conflicts of interest, and their opinions are their own.
