For new parents, the lack of sleep is often their biggest concern. Many parents seek postpartum doula support to ensure they get enough sleep. This often leads to parents wondering if postpartum doulas sleep train.
With a variety of postpartum professionals out there, parents are not always sure the role of each. From night “nurses”, newborn care specialists, and nannies, to doulas, who offers sleep training? And is sleep training appropriate?
The short answer to whether postpartum doulas sleep train or not often lies in the definition of sleep training. This varies so much that there is no clear yes or no.
Do Postpartum Doulas Sleep Train?
Depending on the time frame which a doula works with a family, a doula absolutely won’t sleep train in terms of trying to get a baby to sleep through the night. Why? It is important that newborns and young infants get adequate feeds, changes, etc., throughout the night to thrive.
Many postpartum doulas work with families for the first six weeks, three months, and only occasionally six months.
In terms of an infant consistently sleeping six or more hours throughout the night without waking, that is something we rarely see before four months. As many doulas work with families in the early weeks, sleep training is not often involved. That is if we are looking at sleep training in terms of encouraging an infant to sleep six, eight, or more hours without waking and needing adult help.
However, implementing healthy sleep hygiene is something doulas support from the beginning.
For doulas who offer services beyond four or six months, they might offer sleep training support. However, this support is often done in evidence-based ways meant to not interfere with the breastfeeding relationship. Not all methods of sleep training are breastfeeding friendly, and they may not be evidence-based.
What is Health Sleep Hygiene For Infants?
Newborns and young infants have rapid growth and development. This is one of the reasons sleep training or strict routines are not encouraged at young ages. This is not necessarily because they cannot adapt, but rather as soon as parents put in the effort to tackle a routine, their needs will have already changed.
It is also important to remember that normal physiological breastfeeding is dependent on a supply and demand system. We need to give babies the space to demand as their body needs so that the supply can match their needs. Strict early routines can impact milk supply.
That said, healthy sleep hygiene can still be implemented shortly after birth. Flexible routines can also be implemented.
Healthy sleep routines in infants looks like:
- Dim quiet spaces overnight
- Somewhat typical noise levels during daytime naps
- Low stimulation during nap time and overnight sleep
- Something which shows sleep association such as a sleep sack, pacifier, or sleep location.
- Flexible nap and bedtime routines, like a bath or a story or being rocked.
- Reminders to parents that it is OK to feed young infants to sleep.
- Making sure that infants are comfortable, the room is a good temperature and there is good air flow.
- Making sure to meet baby’s sensory needs and nutritional needs in between naps and their overnight sleep.
- If it is a short period between feeding and waking, parents can try an alternative source of comfort before offering to feed keeping in mind that if a baby is truly hungry it is of course important to feed them.
As postpartum doulas it is important that we give our clients the tools to get rest even when we are not there. We do not want our clients so reliant on us that they are without rest and a healthy routine after we are done working with them.
When we work with families we are to educate and support them, so they are prepared for the next stage with their infant. The entire first year of parenting is a time of adjustment. We should use our time with our clients to properly prepare them for these adjustments and changes and encouraging healthy sleep hygiene is one way we can do that.
Can Postpartum Doulas Sleep Train?
Every postpartum doula has a unique business model and the services they offer. Standard sleep training such as the Ferber method are not necessarily included in most postpartum doula trainings including here at IDI.
However, some doulas do go on to take additional training in sleep training and some dollars have a natural propensity for helping families find a healthy sleep routine.
Author: Aliza Juliette Bancoff
Aliza Juliette Bancoff is a well-known doula and doula trainer who has been providing doula services to families for over a decade. She is the founder of Main Line Doulas, a doula group providing doula support in the great Philadelphia area for the last decade, the International Doula Institute, which provides online doula training and lactation training and certification programs and the International Breastfeeding Institute which provides lactation training and certification. She is the co-founder of United Birth, a company devoted to increasing access to doulas across the country to make the perinatal time safer both physically and emotionally. “Every birthing person deserves access to quality doula support. And we are working to make that a reality across the country. The work we are doing to get doulas to every birthing person will decrease the black infant and maternal mortality rate significantly by 2030.” Says Bancoff. Aliza is known for her compassionate and empowering approach to doula work, and she has been featured in numerous media outlets, including United Nations Maternal Health Report, Parent Magazine, CafeMom, theBump and many more. Aliza's journey into doula work began when she gave birth to her first child and felt a strong calling...