“Doula” is an ancient Greek word meaning “a woman who serves.” Learn more about the fascinating history of doulas.

Because you deserve it mama! Release your inner queen as a new mother and let her reign! Our clients align with the philosophy and value of postpartum doula care and view the investment in postpartum doula care as an essential ingredient in promoting their short and long term wellness of the mother, baby and entire family. Our clients desire professional care in their homes.

Our clients are…
• first time parents
• parents with limited experience with newborns
• families with other young children
• parents of multiples (twins, triplets and more!)
• single mothers
• families adopting a baby
• women who want to breastfeed
 and have in-home support
• women giving birth by Cesarean
 needing additional recovery and rest
• women and babies experiencing complications
• families with premature babies, babies with colic or reflux
 or special needs
• families with high anxiety levels
• new parents who recently moved to Boulder County and/or have no or little local family and friend support
• families experiencing pregnancy or newborn loss

If at risk for postpartum mood and affective disorders (PMADs), our clients often view postpartum doula care as preventative care. Research indicates that postpartum care decreases the risk of PMADS. The lack of postpartum care rituals may be causal of PMADs that affect an estimated 20% of American mothers or 1.3 million women annually.

It’s peace of mind to have your postpartum care professionals hired and on board! With Sanctuary Postpartum Doulas, you can reserve our commitment in advance to be available for your home visits once your wee one(s) arrives. At the time of hire, we sign a simple Postpartum Doula Care Agreement and choose from 1, 2 or 3 month care plan options with $500, $1000 or $1500 retainer fee. When your wee one(s) arrives, you schedule your home visits as needed with the retainer fee applied to the initial home visits. You also get first priority when requesting a specific doula or doulas. If you wait until after the birth to hire us, we cannot guarantee our availability.

Congratulations and no it’s not too late! Please contact us to let us know what you need! Since Sanctuary Doulas is a group of postpartum doulas, we can often accommodate your requests for day and/or overnight home visits soon. If we’re not available, we will provide you with referrals to trusted postpartum doula colleagues.

When you are expecting twins, triplets or more, it is essential to build your support system for the unique joys and challenges of parenting multiples. Postpartum doulas are essential to help you create simple routines that make life with multiples easier. We offer our ideas and experience for efficient ways to feed, bathe, dress and soothe more than one baby, as well as organizational techniques to make life with multiples run smoother. We also assist you with breastfeeding and/or bottle feeding your multiples. And don’t forget about your sleep and nutrition – two of the foundations of postpartum wellness that we support by taking care of babies while you rest and by preparing delicious foods for you. Multiples are truly a blessing, but do require extra support and usually more long term postpartum doula care than single babies. Consider our 2 or 3 Month Care Plans.

Sanctuary Doulas cares for families in Boulder County and surrounding communities. Our primary service area is within a 20-mile drive of Sanctuary Healing Arts office at the JOY Collective, 2800 Folsom Avenue, Boulder, Colorado 80304. If you live in our secondary service area of a 20-30 mile drive from our central Boulder office, a Travel Fee of your doula’s hourly rate is added to each home visit. Before contacting us, please put our address 2800 Folsom Avenue, Boulder, Colorado 80304 and your home address into your favorite app to determine if you live in our service area. If you live outside our primary and secondary service area, visit our Resources for a referral to other postpartum doulas in your local area.

There are three postpartum doula care plans to choose from …

#1 One Month Care Plan
$500 Retainer Fee

#2 Two Month Care Plan
$1000 Retainer Fee

#3 Three Month Care Plan
$1500 Retainer Fee

These retainer fees cover the minimum of 1 Day Home Visit per week at our lowest hourly rate. When your wee one(s) arrives, you schedule your home visits as needed with the retainer fee applied to the initial home visits. You also get first priority when requesting a specific doula or doulas.
We offer 2 types of home visits …

#1 Sanctuary Doulas Day Home Visit – 4 Hours (morning, afternoon or early evening) at $30-40/hour

#2 Sanctuary Doulas Overnight Home Visit – 8 Hours (10pm-6am) at $25-35/hour for singletons and $30-40 for multiples

Sanctuary Postpartum Doulas has a tiered hourly fee schedule based on each doula’s wise years of experience, wonderful gifts, credentials and training. You can select the Sanctuary Postpartum Doula who best meets your needs. Perhaps you want the doula who is also a Certified Lactation Counselor® or Educator and has advanced postpartum doula training in caring for families with multiples. If you require a specific hourly rate, please contact us for recommendations of the best doula(s) to fit your budget.

Postpartum doula care is payable with cash, check, credit card or gift cards. You can easily enjoy the generosity of family and friends by directing them to easy online gift cards and adding doula care on your registry or wish list.

Here’s the math on your investment in postpartum wellness…priceless!
Five Day Home Visits | 4 Hours = $600-$800
Four Day Home Visits | 4 Hours = $480-$640
Three Day Home Visits | 4 Hours = $360-$480
Two Day Home Visits | 4 Hours = $240-$320
One Day Home Visit | 4 Hours = $120-$160

Five Overnight Home Visits | 8 Hours = $1,000-$1,400 for singletons & $1,200-$1600 for multiples
Four Overnight Home Visits | 8 Hours = $800-$1,120 for singletons & $960-$1,280 for multiples
Three Overnight Home Visits | 8 Hours = $600-$840 for singletons & $720-$960 for multiples
Two Overnight Home Visits | 8 Hours = $400-$560 for singletons & $480-$640 for multiples
One Overnight Home Visit | 8 Hours = $200-$280 for singletons & $240-$320 for multiples

Sometimes. Ask your health insurance company if postpartum doula care is a covered benefit in your policy. We can provide some helpful tips as well as a super bill receipt to submit to your insurance. Many families pay for their postpartum doula care with Health Savings Account or Flexible Spending Account funds.

At Sanctuary Doulas, we all love mothers, babies and new families and are committed to exceptional postpartum care for you. We are all trained postpartum doula professionals who artfully and respectfully care for your family during a very sacred and intimate time. You can have additional trust and confidence in us as we have all completed Infant CPR training, have passed all background and reference checks and carry professional postpartum doula insurance. We follow DONA International (DONA) and Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association (CAPPA) Standards of Practice. You can trust each of us to meet your needs. Read “Meet Us” and trust your instincts for the doulas who you resonate with. If you require a specific hourly rate, please contact us for recommendations of the best doula(s) to fit your budget.
One of the benefits of hiring us is that we have more flexibility and resources to offer you as a group. Our families often tell us that they loved having two or more doulas care for their family because of our great continuity of care and the exponential leaps in shared wisdom from their doula team. You can request a specific doula or doulas to care for your family. Just tell us what you need, and we’ll help make the most fabulous doula match for your family. Families who hire us in advance with a 1, 2 or 3 Month Care Plan have first priority for these special requests. Because babies are usually born between 37-42 weeks of pregnancy, we work together with flexibility to meet your needs.

Yes, postpartum doulas are a wonderful compliment to your family’s support. Postpartum doulas are professionals that you can direct to “do your bidding.” We’re trained to work alongside family members and model tried and true postpartum practices for mothers and babies while reinforcing the family’s chosen philosophy of parenting their baby(ies). Family members often say, “I wish I’d had a postpartum doula back in my days” so we weave that longing into all caring for the new family. Also traditional postpartum doula care extends for six weeks to six months so family members and doulas can work together to ensure the family has all the support they wish during this precious time.

You want abundant postpartum support! It’s ideal to have regular daily postpartum doula care in the early weeks. In India, they say “the first 40 days of care impacts the next 40 years of life” so think of it as both a short and long term health care investment. Choose a consistent schedule of 4 hour day home visits and/or 8 hour overnight home visits that support you best. After the early weeks and months and when you feel ready, gently taper off to fewer weekly home visits. Our care agreement is for up to three months and can be renewed for additional time in special circumstances. We’ll flex with your needs.
By medical definition, the postpartum period is the six weeks following the birth of a baby or completion of pregnancy. Many recognize that the postpartum adjustment period or “4th trimester” is not only physical, but emotional, intellectual, relational and spiritual and lasts months (not weeks!), well into the first year and beyond.

Your visit begins with your doula asking your heart’s desire for that day. Your doula weaves together age old traditions with current evidence-based care into nurturing your mothering wisdom, mother care, family bonding and rest, newborn care, soothing and sleeping, breast and/or bottle feeding support and education, newborn equipment demonstration, home organization and management including meal preparation and errand running, and local resource information and referrals. We can also help partners, spouses and siblings adjust to the new rituals and rhythms of the new mother and babe(s) while attending to their needs in the new family mix.

Based on our years of experience, four hours is the “sweet spot” for the perfect amount of daytime support. Also sleep pattern adjustments and some sleep deprivation are common and one of the most common reasons we get emergency “help me” calls for Sanctuary Postpartum Doulas care. Research shows that postpartum depression exacerbated by sleep deprivation can be prevented and turned around in its tracks with four hours of continuous sleep for four consecutive days.

Your doula helps maximize sleep for the whole family with baby care and sweet soothing during nights while mama and family rest. Upon arrival, your doula checks in with mama to make a plan for the family’s evening of sweet slumber, then a brief, quiet wrap up of necessary housekeeping before settling into sleep and baby care for the night. Mama can sleep through the night, have “room service” with baby brought to her for a feeding, or your doula can bottle feed the baby while the rest of the family slumbers. Your doula simply needs a bed or sofa to rest near your baby or babies while they sleep. Research shows that postpartum depression exacerbated by sleep deprivation can be prevented and “turned around in its tracks” with four hours of continuous sleep for four consecutive days.

Home visits are scheduled once your baby or babies are born by calling 303.570.7942 to schedule your initial home visits. If you have a 1, 2 or 3 month care plan, you also have access to convenient online scheduling. You may also schedule directly with your doula(s) at home visits. Doulas are available on a first-come, first-served basis so advanced scheduling is recommended. Sanctuary Doulas requires 48-hour cancellation notice prior to the start of a scheduled home visit with exceptions for sudden family illness or emergency.

Sanctuary Doulas follow DONA International (DONA) and Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association (CAPPA) Standards of Practice. We provide exquisite day and overnight postpartum care in your home with professional expertise, weaving age old traditions with current evidence-based care into the nurturance of your mothering wisdom, mother care, family bonding and rest, newborn care (singletons, twins and triplets), baby soothing and sleeping, breastfeeding and bottle feeding support and education, spouse/partner support and sibling adjustment, newborn equipment demonstration, home organization and management including meal preparation and errand running, and local resource information and referrals. Sanctuary Doulas do not provide clinical or medical advice or tasks, sleep training for newborns, transportation of family members in a vehicle, heavy housework or babysit while parents are away from home for the duration of the home visit.

Postpartum doulas care for mothers, babies and families. We foster each new mother’s maximum self determination to care for her family through nurturing care, guidance, education, assessment and referrals to professionals and resources. We “mother the mother.” Sanctuary Doulas are trained professionals following DONA International (DONA) and Childbirth and Postpartum Professional Association (CAPPA) Standards of Practice. Sanctuary Doulas do not provide clinical or medical advice or tasks, sleep training for newborns, transportation of family members in a vehicle or heavy housework. Nannies and baby nurses are solely caretakers of newborns and children and may or may not have professional training. Most families benefit from postpartum doula care in the initial weeks and months and then transition to nannies and night nurses thereafter.

Our Sanctuary Postpartum Doulas Care Agreement is completed online and outlines our services, scope of practice, online resources, communication, confidentiality, fees, payments, home visit scheduling, cancellation policy, duration of agreement, independent contractor status of our doulas, non-circumvent, limitation of liability and termination. Upon completion, you receive an emailed copy for your records.

We recommend reading all the information here including “Meet Us” about each of our wonderful and wise postpartum doulas. You have the option to schedule a phone and/or in-person interview with our founder, Michele, to share more about your needs and make a great doula match. If you already know we’re a great fit, contact us to request our Postpartum Doula Care Agreement.

Postpartum doulas come to the profession through their love of nurturing families. Loving babies and being passionate about supporting women becoming mothers are prerequisites for all postpartum doulas. Sanctuary Doulas are exceptional people selected and known for their …
• professionalism & integrity
• confidence in their skills, compassion and artistry as servant leaders
• emotional intelligence & great listening ears
• independent thinking & decision making
• curiosity and space holding for the inner dimensions of human experiences including challenges as growth opportunities
• commitment to continued development of their knowledge, skills and artistry
• honoring our families as our best teachers
• self awareness, sweet self care practices and hobbies that bring balance to a livelihood in service to families

Professional postpartum doula training builds on these passions and essential qualities with the foundation of basic skills used every day in postpartum doula service. To ensure consistent quality training, knowledge, skills, scope of practice and safety, all Sanctuary Doulas…
1) Apply for a postpartum doula position with their letter of interest and resume
2) Upon request, provide proof of
• completion of one or more professional postpartum doula trainings including DONA International, CAPPA, Childbirth International, Sacred Postpartum (certification is preferred, but not required)
• Infant CPR training certificate
• current professional postpartum doula liability insurance
3) to finalize hire, have clean background and reference check and sign our Independent Contractor Agreement.