Your Guide to Scheduling Doula Work for Sustainability and Success

The arrival of babies is nearly impossible to schedule, and this makes the nature of planning postpartum doula work very interesting! I’m passionate about supporting postpartum doulas in developing systems that make this work sustainable and successful. That said, scheduling is one of the key ways to tend to yourself and your business in intentional ways. But how do you do it when birth is unpredictable?!

Often, families hire a postpartum doula before baby arrives. Sometimes they know they’ll have a planned cesarean or induction, but even in these scenarios, baby can arrive earlier. That said, keep reading for my go-to strategies for scheduling.

6 Ways to Schedule Postpartum Doula Work

1. Plan for baby to arrive early, just in case. I always suggest that doulas keep 2-3 days/nights available each week from week 37 on. This way, if baby comes early, the family won’t have a gap in care, and you won’t be stressed about the fact that you can’t provide them the services they so desperately want. It is important to remember that 37-40 weeks is considered “term” in the medical world. Babies who come earlier that 37 weeks will likely spend some time in NICU (meaning they likely won’t come home before 37 weeks).

2. Keep space for clients to extend. It can be helpful to keep the pace of 2-3 open days/nights in the case that a client wants to extend services and you are interested in continuing their support. If you are unable to do this financially, make it clear to potential clients that your schedule fills up and they should book accordingly, as you may be unable to extend. 

3. Gradually decrease the frequency of your care. In order to achieve the above two tips, it can be really helpful to slowly step down your care. You may start to scale back the number of weekly shifts with a family after the first 4-6 weeks, for example. This can also help families not experience as much shock when you have to withdraw services. 

4. Remember to check in with your capacity. Certain seasons may feel easier to take on multiple clients at once, while you require more time and space during other seasons. For example, if you’re a parent, you may have less capacity for work if you have kids home during the summer. 

5. Price your services so that you can thrive. Given each of the above suggestions, it’s crucial that your rates allow you to hold the boundaries you want and need to have in order to sustain this important, fulfilling, and demanding work. If your rates are too low, and you have to work 6-7 days a week to make your income goals, you will likely hit burnout quickly. On the other hand, if your rates allow you to have a few days off per week, this work will be much more sustainable. Plus, you will feel more effective in your role. 

6. Consider teamwork. Doula duos or teams can help create more seamless support for families without causing you to overwork if a client births early or extends. This can be done by developing a doula buddy that you enjoy sharing clients with - you can run concurrent contracts. Or you can look at working with a local agency. (Link to agency blog) 

Let’s Connect

If our work feels inspiring to you, we would love to work with you! ABG offers mentorship and postpartum doula training + certification (virtual and hybrid options). Find out more here.

* Photo credit: 2H Media on Unsplash