Overnight Doula FAQs
How much does this cost?
Our overnight doula services are $60/hour and each shift is 8 hours long. We do offer the option to extend a shift to 9 hours upon request. Shorter shifts are not available as we really see that to be not as helpful to families. If your budget is tight, doing less frequent shifts for the full 8 hours is our recommendation.
How do we schedule this care once we sign the contract?
We will reach out to you via our text-line as your due date nears to open up communication. When you know what days you'd like, simply send us a text letting us know and we will do our thing and line up the best doula for your needs. You will get email notifications when the shifts have been booked and reminders the morning-of each shift (because post partum brain is a thing). You can schedule weekly as your needs change or you can tell us at any point that you know you want specific nights per week for a set number of weeks.
And then you come to my house to help take care of the baby at night?
That is a light description of what we do. We arrive at your home at 9pm ready for our 8 hour shift. We settle you into bed for the night and handle as much of the baby needs as planned while you (and any partners) sleep.
I had a hard delivery, what type of care do you offer me?
We are very well versed in all forms of support for birthing parents. As we also work in the birth doula field, we can help you process your birth story and offer guidance and insight if your delivery was intense. We also use the Edinburgh scale of perinatal mood disorder screening (it's a self assessment tool we provide to you) and we are always watching for signs of perinatal mood disorders. There are also tips and tricks for recovery from either a vaginal delivery or a cesarean and we offer all of that support to those who are freshly delivered. We are there for all areas of post-birth recovery.
I'm planning to breastfeed though, so will this even be helpful?
Absolutely yes. We are passionate about supporting the feeding plan your family is aiming for. For some families that looks like your doula bringing the baby/ies to you when it's time to feed, or we are happy to bottle feed during the night. This is a very individual plan and our expertise in lactation comes in very handy here. We support ALL ways of feeding an infant, be it breast or bottle, supplemented with formula or donor milk... you get to decide and we are here to help you sort it out.
Do you work with twins?
All the time! Twins are our specialty. We also will work with triplets and if you have quads we'd create a plan with two doulas.
Do you take insurance?
I wish. We can take HSA cards for overnight services and we can give you an invoice that acts as a SuperBill so you can attempt insurance reimbursement, but it's never a guarantee. We do work well with Carrot Fertility members, crafting a plan that assigns 1-2 primary doulas to your contract so you can submit for pre-approval before the birth.
What else?
We are also there to offer support to you and your partner. This looks like so many different things like answering questions about baby care or offering tips on soothing. We can help you navigate breastfeeding and pumping, when to introduce a bottle and even help planning your return to work. Having someone in your home that can answer all of the random questions new parents have is so nice.
Okay so if I'm breastfeeding, I just feed baby and then I go back to sleep?
Yep. In the earlier days when breastfeeding is getting established, we encourage feedings to be at the breast. When things are smooth-sailing, we are happy to help craft a pumping routine during our nights with you that often have the lactating parent waking only once to pump while we do the bottle feeds and keep your baby on the same schedule as your breasts so we don't interfere with your daytime plans.
Then what happens? You chill with the baby? What do you *DO* for the rest of the night?
There is not usually a lot of downtime between the feeding, diapering, burping, soothing, etc. If you are pumping in the night, we will come and get the milk and all pump parts after you are finished expressing. We then store your milk and wash all of the pump parts, replacing them by your bed for the next pumping session. Like a non-creepy milk ninja. Our goal is also to start establishing good sleep habits with your baby so we don't like to have a lot of lights or screens on around the sleeping baby. We often will bring our own tablet, cross stitching, or a book. We do ask that families provide a space near the baby (or near a monitor) for the doula to rest or nap during their shift if the baby allows it!
I think we will need some help with housekeeping tasks, can I ask the doula to do that?
No. As we are night doulas and the only person available during our shift to care for the infant, we do not do housekeeping tasks. The AAP directs infants not to sleep alone at night so we do like to remain in the same room as the infant during our shift. Daytime Postpartum doulas will do light housekeeping because they often have someone else to hold the baby or quickly reach them if they cry. Tasks like scrubbing pots and pans, preparing meals and vacuuming are loud and disruptive and run the risk of the doula not hearing the infant. If there are things that need to be cleaned in order for us to do our job (pump or bottle parts) we will do those by hand. We are happy to bring a recovering parent a snack, refill a water bottle or make a cup of tea in the middle of the night, as the baby allows us.
What if I have questions about random baby things?
Just like with our birth clients, we give all of our postpartum clients access to our 24/7 call line. You can use this at any time to text or call with questions related to baby, postpartum recovery, infant feeding, etc. If it seems like the question is out of our scope to answer, we will direct you to the appropriate care provider.
Do you charge extra for twins?
No. It's not your fault you grew two... and our time is our time, no matter what we're doing.
How soon after birth can we start?
Day 1! We can usually have a doula available for you the first night home from the hospital or the day of your delivery. Well... as long as you tell us when you go into labor... or as close to that as possible.
How often do you come?
That is up to you. We will discuss this more in the interview with you but we have families that range from once per week to up to 7 nights per week. This will heavily depend on your needs and your budget. As you start to feel more rested and like you are ready to handle more of the nights, we taper off our time with you in a way that is gentle and paced to the needs of your family.
What if I plan for the worst and somehow get a dream baby who sleeps 4 hours at a time?
Then we roll off your contract sooner! We are flexible and wait to really craft our plan with you until we know your baby.
What happens when your shift is over?
Ideally if we are bottle feeding, we have structured the night so the last bottle happens right before the end of our shift. This allows us to extend your sleeping time as we will tiptoe into your room, place the baby or the baby monitor in your room and let ourselves out. All notes from the night will be sent via text at that time as well. If we are feeding at the breast, we try to have the baby ready to feed at or around the end of our shift, in a fresh diaper and a swaddle so you can hopefully just feed and roll back to sleep!
My baby was already born and I'm really struggling... is it too late to book?
No! The beauty of our Concierge service is that we usually always have a contractor ready to work. More often than not, this request is met with, "Actually one of us had a cancellation and can come tonight if that works?"
Will you sleep train my baby?
We can discuss the tactics with you and go over the current guidelines and recommendations, but we will not sleep train a baby.
My [random family member] will be coming to stay with us to help out but they are not vaccinated for covid. Will you still work with us?
Nope.
I have an older toddler who might need some care in the middle of the night as well. Will you help with them?
No... we likely will never have met them so that would totally freak them out. We are newborn specialists, not toddler-wranglers.
So you're basically like "The Babysitters Club" for overnight doulas?
Yes. Exactly. Kate is Kristy and Jane has a Stacy vibe.
Our overnight doula services are $60/hour and each shift is 8 hours long. We do offer the option to extend a shift to 9 hours upon request. Shorter shifts are not available as we really see that to be not as helpful to families. If your budget is tight, doing less frequent shifts for the full 8 hours is our recommendation.
How do we schedule this care once we sign the contract?
We will reach out to you via our text-line as your due date nears to open up communication. When you know what days you'd like, simply send us a text letting us know and we will do our thing and line up the best doula for your needs. You will get email notifications when the shifts have been booked and reminders the morning-of each shift (because post partum brain is a thing). You can schedule weekly as your needs change or you can tell us at any point that you know you want specific nights per week for a set number of weeks.
And then you come to my house to help take care of the baby at night?
That is a light description of what we do. We arrive at your home at 9pm ready for our 8 hour shift. We settle you into bed for the night and handle as much of the baby needs as planned while you (and any partners) sleep.
I had a hard delivery, what type of care do you offer me?
We are very well versed in all forms of support for birthing parents. As we also work in the birth doula field, we can help you process your birth story and offer guidance and insight if your delivery was intense. We also use the Edinburgh scale of perinatal mood disorder screening (it's a self assessment tool we provide to you) and we are always watching for signs of perinatal mood disorders. There are also tips and tricks for recovery from either a vaginal delivery or a cesarean and we offer all of that support to those who are freshly delivered. We are there for all areas of post-birth recovery.
I'm planning to breastfeed though, so will this even be helpful?
Absolutely yes. We are passionate about supporting the feeding plan your family is aiming for. For some families that looks like your doula bringing the baby/ies to you when it's time to feed, or we are happy to bottle feed during the night. This is a very individual plan and our expertise in lactation comes in very handy here. We support ALL ways of feeding an infant, be it breast or bottle, supplemented with formula or donor milk... you get to decide and we are here to help you sort it out.
Do you work with twins?
All the time! Twins are our specialty. We also will work with triplets and if you have quads we'd create a plan with two doulas.
Do you take insurance?
I wish. We can take HSA cards for overnight services and we can give you an invoice that acts as a SuperBill so you can attempt insurance reimbursement, but it's never a guarantee. We do work well with Carrot Fertility members, crafting a plan that assigns 1-2 primary doulas to your contract so you can submit for pre-approval before the birth.
What else?
We are also there to offer support to you and your partner. This looks like so many different things like answering questions about baby care or offering tips on soothing. We can help you navigate breastfeeding and pumping, when to introduce a bottle and even help planning your return to work. Having someone in your home that can answer all of the random questions new parents have is so nice.
Okay so if I'm breastfeeding, I just feed baby and then I go back to sleep?
Yep. In the earlier days when breastfeeding is getting established, we encourage feedings to be at the breast. When things are smooth-sailing, we are happy to help craft a pumping routine during our nights with you that often have the lactating parent waking only once to pump while we do the bottle feeds and keep your baby on the same schedule as your breasts so we don't interfere with your daytime plans.
Then what happens? You chill with the baby? What do you *DO* for the rest of the night?
There is not usually a lot of downtime between the feeding, diapering, burping, soothing, etc. If you are pumping in the night, we will come and get the milk and all pump parts after you are finished expressing. We then store your milk and wash all of the pump parts, replacing them by your bed for the next pumping session. Like a non-creepy milk ninja. Our goal is also to start establishing good sleep habits with your baby so we don't like to have a lot of lights or screens on around the sleeping baby. We often will bring our own tablet, cross stitching, or a book. We do ask that families provide a space near the baby (or near a monitor) for the doula to rest or nap during their shift if the baby allows it!
I think we will need some help with housekeeping tasks, can I ask the doula to do that?
No. As we are night doulas and the only person available during our shift to care for the infant, we do not do housekeeping tasks. The AAP directs infants not to sleep alone at night so we do like to remain in the same room as the infant during our shift. Daytime Postpartum doulas will do light housekeeping because they often have someone else to hold the baby or quickly reach them if they cry. Tasks like scrubbing pots and pans, preparing meals and vacuuming are loud and disruptive and run the risk of the doula not hearing the infant. If there are things that need to be cleaned in order for us to do our job (pump or bottle parts) we will do those by hand. We are happy to bring a recovering parent a snack, refill a water bottle or make a cup of tea in the middle of the night, as the baby allows us.
What if I have questions about random baby things?
Just like with our birth clients, we give all of our postpartum clients access to our 24/7 call line. You can use this at any time to text or call with questions related to baby, postpartum recovery, infant feeding, etc. If it seems like the question is out of our scope to answer, we will direct you to the appropriate care provider.
Do you charge extra for twins?
No. It's not your fault you grew two... and our time is our time, no matter what we're doing.
How soon after birth can we start?
Day 1! We can usually have a doula available for you the first night home from the hospital or the day of your delivery. Well... as long as you tell us when you go into labor... or as close to that as possible.
How often do you come?
That is up to you. We will discuss this more in the interview with you but we have families that range from once per week to up to 7 nights per week. This will heavily depend on your needs and your budget. As you start to feel more rested and like you are ready to handle more of the nights, we taper off our time with you in a way that is gentle and paced to the needs of your family.
What if I plan for the worst and somehow get a dream baby who sleeps 4 hours at a time?
Then we roll off your contract sooner! We are flexible and wait to really craft our plan with you until we know your baby.
What happens when your shift is over?
Ideally if we are bottle feeding, we have structured the night so the last bottle happens right before the end of our shift. This allows us to extend your sleeping time as we will tiptoe into your room, place the baby or the baby monitor in your room and let ourselves out. All notes from the night will be sent via text at that time as well. If we are feeding at the breast, we try to have the baby ready to feed at or around the end of our shift, in a fresh diaper and a swaddle so you can hopefully just feed and roll back to sleep!
My baby was already born and I'm really struggling... is it too late to book?
No! The beauty of our Concierge service is that we usually always have a contractor ready to work. More often than not, this request is met with, "Actually one of us had a cancellation and can come tonight if that works?"
Will you sleep train my baby?
We can discuss the tactics with you and go over the current guidelines and recommendations, but we will not sleep train a baby.
My [random family member] will be coming to stay with us to help out but they are not vaccinated for covid. Will you still work with us?
Nope.
I have an older toddler who might need some care in the middle of the night as well. Will you help with them?
No... we likely will never have met them so that would totally freak them out. We are newborn specialists, not toddler-wranglers.
So you're basically like "The Babysitters Club" for overnight doulas?
Yes. Exactly. Kate is Kristy and Jane has a Stacy vibe.
