Frequently Asked Questions
Your 'at a glance' guide to our postpartum doula services.
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Postpartum doulas provide care to both birthing and non-birthing people with emotional, physical and educational support. Postpartum doulas provide daytime, overnight and live-in family-centered support.
Although a postpartum doula has some professional training regarding newborn care, a Newborn Care Specialist has newborn and infant specific training in order to provide baby-centered care most commonly in the form of overnight or around the clock support.
Globally, the term Baby Nurse is used interchangeably with night nanny, postpartum doula and newborn care specialist. In the United States, the term Baby Nurse can only be used for caregivers licensed as an RN or LPN.
Many of our team members are dual trained as postpartum doulas and newborn care specialists providing new parents with both the whole-family and the baby-centered approach to care.
Ready to learn more? We provide a complimentary consultation to talk over your "wish list" for care, your budget, and develop a personalized plan.
Our philosophy: the more consistent your care, the better. In order to provide continuity of care, we limit the the number of caregivers working with your family. If there will be more than one person providing your support, we have a behind the scenes system of communication so you don't have to share your routine, needs, or preferences over and over again. Our doulas communicate with each other to come up with a plan to provide the best possible care for YOU.
If a doula is unable to make a shift due to illness or an emergency, instead of reaching out on social media or their friends list, they reach out to our fully vetted doula team to fill their shift. We don't love the idea of a "mystery doula" showing up for a shift, so our office gladly sends you a picture and the contact information of your fill-in doula.
Absolutely not! We understand that family budgets can vary, along with the type of support you need. We have also experienced that most expectant parents are unsure of the type or amount of care they will need most when they get home with their new baby. That's why we take the time to get to know you, talk out a plan, and then let you determine if you want 4 hours or 400 hours, or months of care for that matter. We offer customized support for all of our services; however, there are minimum requirements for live-in or travel doula support.
You tell us the number of hours you want (or what fits in your budget) and we iron out the details together with you on how we can best provide them.
Planning early is KEY! By adding postpartum doula support to your gift registry or having your friends and family purchase gift certificates to offset the cost of your care, you may be able to extend your support beyond your initial budget. Services start at around $200 for a short, daytime shift packed with education, emotional and physical support. A lot can get accomplished in a few short hours.
For local to Portland, OR families, on average a budget of $3000-$5000 will provide you up to 6-8 weeks of comprehensive support that covers daytime and overnight care. Families living requiring a travel/live-in doula should budget $10000+ for approximately 2 weeks of care. for We recognize that this can be a bit of a sticker shock for families so suggest planning as far in advance as possible....and crowdfunding!
We provide a complimentary consultation to talk over your "wish list" for care, your budget, and develop a personalized plan.
Absolutely. Our postpartum support packages are completely customizable, meaning our doulas can provide around the clock care throughout your baby's first year. If you’re considering live-in care, it’s best to reserve your doula as soon as possible. Subject to availability.
Yes! We have a select team of postpartum travel doulas who can live-in and provide either around the clock care or 6-7 overnights per week as soon as your baby arrives. It’s important to book this kind of care early in order to guarantee your doula’s availability and to accommodate the doula’s travel schedule.
From day one, our doulas and newborn care specialists provide a gentle, cue-based approach to guiding your baby (and you) into healthy sleep habits, eventually leading your baby to be able to sleep longer stretches and through the night.
If your baby is over 4 months old, we have a Virtual Sleep Consultant on our team! You can schedule a complimentary consultation directly with Amy through our Contact page!
There is no limit to how much care you can request during your first year postpartum. Most families find it helpful to begin immediately after their baby’s birth with 100-300 hours being the average request. All our support packages have room for you to extend your contract as long as we have a doula available who can offer their services.
Nannies are childcare workers whose primary focus is the infant or child in their care. They are employees of the family. Postpartum doulas, however, focus on the well being of the entire family unit and provide guidance and support to those who are making the transition into parenthood. Many doulas on our team are also newborn care specialists, which means they’ve undergone extensive training on how to properly care for your baby in the safest way possible.
Our doulas come from a wide variety of backgrounds from all over the country with varying degrees of experience. All of our doulas have received professional postpartum doula training and are infant CPR certified. Our doulas are committed to continuing their education by taking additional training in the areas of Babywearing, Newborn Care, Sleep Strategies, Postpartum Mood Disorders, and Infant Feeding.
Yes, you’ll be connected to your doula through email, from there you’ll be able to set up a time to have a video or phone call with them or potentially meet them in person depending on your location and if scheduling allows.
Postpartum Doulas are professionally trained to provide unbiased support. This includes the feeding of your baby. We happily guide new parents with all AAP approved forms of infant feeding...including bottle feeding.
Family Tree Doula Services does not offer labor doula support. We want our new parents to have our undivided attention, without fear that we will need to leave mid-shift because we've been called to a birth. We happily refer your labor doula requests to our hand-picked list of local providers.