tell me about doing pp work

[supportingmom]

what do you *do* ?
What do you charge?
Could I do it without training...other than being the mom to four kids?

I'm thinking it might be a good thing to get into until I am sure where I will be living next. I like the idea of having a schedual of now.

[tlcdoula]

I basically do everything for the mom that her own mother might do if she was there caring for her. I teach infant care, teach mom postpartum care, clean the house, take care of the baby (and siblings if there are any) so that mom can rest and shower, do laundry if needed, make sure everyone is fed, am there emotionally for whatever mom needs. I am pretty open to doing anything that mom needs me to do in order to help her transition be as smooth and easy as possible.

As far as needing training - I think it depends on you and how much experience you have had. I know you have had four children and depending on how your pp period went, how much contact you have had with other mothers, how much self education you have done, etc will determine whether you need a training or not. I can honestly tell you that when I took mine I didn't learn anything new that I didn't already know. However, that could have been based upon the trainer too - not sure. I am going to be taking another pp training hopefully this summer so I will let you know then if I learned anything new

[sacredma]

everything michelle does!
i really do a lot of breastfeeding support. i think it is more useful to take a good breastfeeding training. i have been doing pp for 15 years. i got into it after i did my childbirth ed and labor assistant trainings. i am the mother of 2 boys and i often found that women would ask me questions about birth, breastfeeding, baby care, etc. i love to help others and it just seemed like a natural calling for me.
when i first started out, i found i did a lot of cooking, washing dishes, laundry and holding the baby so mom could take a shower. now i find i do a lot more breastfeeding help and baby watching and confidence building.
my doula partner did the dona pp training and said that she found it helpful, although it didnt help her to be a better pp doula. i think it gave her confidence to get started , as she could say she is a dona certified pp doula. so i guess it depends on you.
as far as what i charge, it is $25 hour and if i have a distance limit, so if i go beyond it i charge $30 per hour.

[supportingmom]

thank you. I do have lots of breastfeeding experience...9 years of my own and running a breastfeeding support group for my old midwife. I am also planning on taking a breastfeeding class through the state in april. I think I can do a great job with pp work but it is nothing I have ever concidered before so it helps to have someone tell me what they do, etc.

[tlcdoula]

Quote:

Originally Posted by sacredma everything michelle does! i really do a lot of breastfeeding support. i think it is more useful to take a good breastfeeding training. i have been doing pp for 15 years. i got into it after i did my childbirth ed and labor assistant trainings. i am the mother of 2 boys and i often found that women would ask me questions about birth, breastfeeding, baby care, etc. i love to help others and it just seemed like a natural calling for me. when i first started out, i found i did a lot of cooking, washing dishes, laundry and holding the baby so mom could take a shower. now i find i do a lot more breastfeeding help and baby watching and confidence building. my doula partner did the dona pp training and said that she found it helpful, although it didnt help her to be a better pp doula. i think it gave her confidence to get started , as she could say she is a dona certified pp doula. so i guess it depends on you. as far as what i charge, it is $25 hour and if i have a distance limit, so if i go beyond it i charge $30 per hour.

Forgot to mention that I do breastfeeding eduction and assistance too - I kind of lumped that in with infant care and postpartum mom care

[Amydoula]

Hey there,
I found my training to be very useful. I learned a lot about starting a business, grief management, etc. that I didn't already know. I would say it was a very valuable class. If you go to my website in my sig you can see exactly the kinds of services I provide. I do a sliding scale depending on distance that I need to drive, fees are also listed on my site. I think doing a lot of reading is a great way to catch up on any areas that you feel you are weak in. DONA has a great list of required books that you could check out.
Amy

[arlenesro]

I am a mother of 4 and grandmother of 2. I found the training for PP very helpful and learned things I wish I had known.... I also got certified by CAPPA, which seems to help with clients. I charge 25-28, depending on location and travel time.