Explore my Postpartum Services
The Postpartum period is described as the “fourth trimester,” but in many ways it is an entirely new landscape. Whether labor unfolded as you’d expected or asked more of you than you imagined, you may find this transition of caring for your newborn while simultaneously healing and beginning to come back to yourself disorienting at times. To help you through this period, my care is practical and emotionally attuned. I don’t disappear after the birth is over. I remain connected as you adjust to your new life with your new baby and begin to integrate the experience of parenthood and your new identity.
What I Offer
Included in the Root Package:Birth processing
At least one postpartum visit
Lactation or bottle feeding guidance
Pumping support
Weekly postpartum support circles
Nourishing meals, snacks and teas
Ongoing text and phone support
Infant sleep guidance
Maternal sitz herbs and healing support
What Does a Postpartum Doula Do?
After birth, most of your focus will tend to shift towards the baby. A postpartum doula is there to help answer your questions about your baby, help with breastfeeding, bottle feeding or pumping, and help with hands-on tasks such as folding laundry. But the main shift in postpartum doula care comes from our focus on the birthing parent’s healing and emotional and physical recovery alongside each task we perform. Herbal preparations that help heal the perineum after birth, herbal teas that support a depleted system, warming meals, broths and lactation-supporting snacks that are nourishing and easy to digest to allow your body to conserve energy for healing. The ability to normalize complicated or unexpected emotions without dismissing them, to honor the discomfort of the shift in identity without putting silver linings where they don’t belong is the true benefit of postpartum doula support.
Optional Add-ons
Postpartum session– $275
This session is tailored to your needs that day, with a focus on maternal healing including herbal sitz bath preparation, lactation supporting snacks, assessing breastfeeding or bottle feeding needs, learning how to use your pump or bathe your baby, demonstrating extra tools to decipher your baby’s cues or soothe a sensitive baby, preparing nourishing meals, folding laundry or simply processing your emotional needs.
Placenta Encapsulation– $425
Prepared the Traditional Chinese Medicine way, I first wash the placenta, steam it with warming herbs, dehydrate it and grind it into a powder before placing into capsules. Tincture, dehydrated cord and placenta print available upon request.
Infant Sleep Consultation– $275
In this three-hour session, I assess your baby’s cues and give gentle guidance that lays the foundation towards good sleep hygiene for those who hope to avoid more intense cry-it-out sleep training methods down the road. For those wanting to co-sleep, I demonstrate the ways to do so more safely, and discuss how to lower the risk of SIDS in easy and accessible ways.
This is a ritual postpartum bath usually done around 12 weeks postpartum offered for those who want another chance to mark the transition into motherhood in a symbolic way in order to reclaim feelings of being supported, listened to, and empowered.
3 Belly Binding Sessions– $975
We begin with a tea and nourishing lactation-supporting snack, and an herbal foot soak and/or sitz bath depending on preferences. Then we continue with a gentle abdominal massage using oils to nourish and warm your tissues and womb before applying a traditional belly bind to help your bones and organs shift back to their pre-pregnancy position and ease aches and discomforts.
Kind Words from Past Postpartum Families
“I didn’t know I was the kind of person who would want to be in a circle with a bunch of new moms after giving birth, but I’m finding the weekly sessions to be such a vital part of my healing. It’s been a special space that I look forward to every week.”
—Emma
"Her words ended up being incredibly helpful. Dawn is a sleep expert, and we now have a great sleeper thanks to her expertise. We felt supported the whole time and I cannot imagine having gone through this pregnancy, birth or postpartum without her support, advocacy, and knowledge."
–Jennie
"Dawn was an amazing person to have at that very complicated moment. Her knowledge of everything related to newborns is amazing. We can't recommend her enough."
–Aaron
"Dawn's expertise spans so many disciplines and skillsets. Dawn cooked so much delicious, nourishing food for us and taught me different ways to feed, gave me pumping tips, and in all ways was a caregiver to both my baby and me. Every time Dawn left my home I felt more grounded, more "together", and more like myself."
—Lindsay
"I was so grateful for the fact that Dawn's approach is evidence based, ethical and individualized. I knew she was in my corner, supporting my right to choose what I wanted to with without judgment or dogma."
–Sophie
"Dawn made us feel like we had a tribe to help us through this process. She was super responsive and helpful during labor at home and at the hospital she advocated for us the whole way. Her care and expertise during the postpartum period were invaluable. We recommend Dawn to anyone who will listen."
–Kate
“Dawn completely changed our postpartum experience the second time around. Every time she arrives our toddler lights up and my wife is visibly relieved. She taught our newborn to fall asleep and continue sleeping in his crib which, before she started working with him he couldn’t even contact nap on me. She prepares snacks, breakfasts including a stack of really great freezable breakfast burritos and tiny muffins for our older child. She’s also funny and generous with her praise which lifts the spirits on the more exhausting days. It has been such a relief to have someone with so much experience supporting us. We can ask her advice on anything about the newborn or toddler and she always has an honest, empathetic answer or suggestion and lets you know you’re not alone in your struggles. Dawn will keep you sane. She’s the best.”
–Jared
“Dawn came to help us at a time when our lives were spinning out of control due to serious postpartum health issues. She worked to not only support me in feeling more confident as a mother with these challenges but helped me sort out a plan for moving forward. After 10 days she got my house in order, developed a sleep training schedule, and left me feeling like I had found the sister I’d always dreamed of. Her kindness, knowledge of infant care, organizational skills are beyond comparison. She’s a miracle worker!”
–Lauren
“Living far from family, I was so lucky to have Dawn as my postpartum doula. She was like a good fairy in our home, folding laundry, running errands and, ever the caregiver, coaching and supporting me as I learned how to nurse for the first time. Dawn applied her immense knowledge to my nursing dilemma, helping me find my way to a resolution and, just as important, to confidence as a nursing mother. I cannot overstate how key she was to the practical and emotional health of our entire household in those early days.”
–Anna