Delhi Doulas explain the difference between a doula and a midwife and whether you need them or not. Do check it out.
Now there’s a misconception about doulas that can replace midwives or other health professionals closest being midwives because people look at midwives as natural, birth caregivers, and doulas as well. So I’m going to ask, invite Neha to talk about what is the difference between a doula and a midwife and why you should and can have both.
Um, yes, I think there is a lot of confusion between what a midwife and a doula do. And, um, there is a difference. Trained professional midwives are medical care professionals and are skilled in ensuring, the safety of the mother and the baby and intervening as required. Um, medically, however, doulas are not medical professionals.
We are trained in supporting the mother and baby through birth and offer, um, emotional support to the mother, understand what the mother might be going through. So there is a subtle difference in the two, um, You’re saying that we would not perform clinical tasks. We’re also not giving medical advice.
Well, when we say we give informational support, we can offer you the research. We can offer you a sounding board to answer your questions, but we cannot tell you specifically, in your case, what could be a medical step forward for which we would need a medical care provider. In most places that would be a doctor, but midwives are very well qualified to offer that support, to give that information, to give that advice, and take the next few steps, whether it is going physiologically or needs in medical intervention.
Also given that we do not have too many professionally trained midwives in India, we have daies, but, um, the professional training of midwifery isn’t currently available in India, we have doctors and which is why I feel that the role of doulas is even more important because, um, we are able to uh, give you that missing element in what you need in your birthing space.
The doctor offers you the safety net. Um, they make sure that, um, if things are going, uh, into a risky zone, they intervene as required, but within the safety net, doulas are there to help you feel safe so that your birth progresses as naturally as it should. And, um, it’s, uh, I think I’ve seen. Um, the role of doulas in a medicalized environment is far more important, you know in a hospital setting cause they allow you to have that, um, more, a natural kind of experience within a hospital setting.
