Frequently Asked Questions.

On average, our families invest between $10,000 and $15,000 across the six weeks. Some invest more when care extends past six weeks or when both add-ons are included. Some invest less. 

Because the right package depends on your family. The number of overnights per week, whether you want add-ons, whether you’ll extend past six weeks, and how your benefits cover things all change the math.The inquiry form walks you through the range for your specific situation — start there.

We don’t bill insurance directly. However, many of our families are reimbursed through their HSA or FSA accounts, or through Carrot Fertility or Maven or another employer sponsored benefit program. We can help you figure out if your employer offers one. Many people don't realize they have doula benefits until they ask. 

50% to retain your spot on our calendar, the remaining 50% due by 34 weeks.

A nanny and a postpartum doula both provide invaluable support to families, but their roles are very different. A doula is a trained professional who provides emotional, physical, and informational support during pregnancy, birth, and the early postpartum period. Their focus is on supporting the family—baby, parents, and siblings when applicable—through the transition into parenthood.

A nanny, on the other hand, is a long-term childcare provider who focuses primarily on caring for the child. While a nanny manages daily childcare tasks, a postpartum doula supports recovery, feeding, bonding, and parent education in the early weeks. Nanny's provide care independent of parents - doulas provide care alongside and for parents.

Most cheaper options are a different product, not the same product at a discount. A few specific differences worth knowing before you compare on price:

• Coverage that holds when life happens. A solo doula can get sick, have a family emergency, or be overbooked. When that happens, families are often left without coverage or a back up doula who they've never met and may not be a good fit for their family. Our model works by assigning 2-3 doulas ahead of time to know and work with your family, so that no matter what comes up, reliable and quality coverage is available.
• Six weeks is the minimum effective dose. A two-week package delivers triage. A six-week package delivers transformation. The value of overnight care compounds — by week three the doula is anticipating needs before you articulate them, and by week six you’ve actually learned. Families who under-invest often end up paying for a sleep consultant, extra lactation help, or perinatal therapy after the fact, to fix what didn’t get stabilized in the early weeks. That cost rarely shows up in the original comparison.
• Quality control by an actual employer. A matching service introduces you to an independent contractor and steps back. We employ every doula as a W-2 employee, set and pay for her training, supervise her performance, and stand behind her work. If a shift isn’t right, we fix it. With a contractor model, a bad fit is your problem to solve postpartum.
• Operationally ready for your actual due date. Babies don’t keep appointments. Our schedule shifts automatically based on your real delivery date. With a solo doula, an early baby often means coverage gaps and urgent decisions during the most vulnerable window.
• Labor and postpartum are different specialists. Many cheaper options offer one doula for both — in practice, a doula on call 24/7 for labor cannot reliably staff postpartum overnight shifts. We deliberately separate the two roles and bridge them with a written hand-off.

A lower price on a different model is not a better deal. It’s a different product. We are a fantastic fit for someone who is looking for quality and reliability all in one. 

For postpartum, your second trimester is ideal — that gives us time to match you with the right team and run a planning session before you deliver. We do take later inquiries; space available, we just have less flexibility and may be booked up completely. 

Yes. While we do typically fill up in advance, sometimes there are last minute openings due to the unpredictability of due dates. Fill out a contact form ASAP and the office will call you to let you know if we have space.

Employees. Postpartum doulas are W-2 employees with set hours, paid administrative time, paid sick time, and continuous training. We are not a matching service.

You’ll have a small dedicated team — usually two to three doulas — so you always have a familiar face and we always have coverage when life happens. We have an intentional process to find the best fit doula for your family before your doula arrives and you will meet them before your baby arrives. 

No. Our labor doulas and postpartum doulas are different people, and that’s by design. Two reasons. First, logistics: a labor doula is on call 24/7 for clients in active labor and her priority is being present at births — that schedule is not compatible with being the person a postpartum family counts on for a 9 p.m. Tuesday overnight shift. Second, specialization: being an excellent labor doula and being an excellent postpartum doula are different skill sets. We let our doulas pick a lane and go deep, so you get a labor specialist and a postpartum specialist — not a generalist stretched across both. Your labor doula briefs your postpartum team in writing before they arrive, so the people walking into your home 2–3 days after birth already know your birth story. Different people, same team, no hand-off gap.

Every doula completes Pro Doula certification — rooted in evidence-based, non-judgmental training. Every doula maintains current CPR and First Aid credentials. Every doula is fully background-checked and reference-checked before joining the team. We also require every doula to disclose her vaccination status annually for four vaccines: flu, Tdap, COVID, and MMR. We don’t impose a single universal vaccine requirement across the team — instead, we hold the data and match families to doulas based on the vaccination preferences they share with us on the inquiry form.

All postpartum packages are six weeks long. The only thing you choose is how many nights per week your team is in your home: 2, 3, or 5. The investment scales with that single variable. Everything else — the dedicated team, the pre-birth planning session, the two seats in our classes, the Birth Plan Writing Course, the daily Doula Connect shift notes, and the in-home 6-week follow-up — is included in every package, at every tier. Add-ons (labor doula, daytime hours) are layered on top of any package;  spots are limited each month.

We figure that out together on the discovery call. We’ll ask about your parental leave timeline, whether you’ll have any other help (family, day staff), your baby’s situation (singleton, twins, NICU, etc.), and how you prefer to recover. Most first-time families with two-parent leaves land on 3 or 5 nights per week. Families with twins or shorter parental leaves usually go straight to 5.

No. We don’t have a feeding agenda. Our team is trained in breastfeeding, bottle-feeding, combo-feeding, supplemental nursing systems, and pumping, and we work closely with San Diego IBCLCs when specialized help is needed. Many of our families end up combo-feeding by week four or five. Our job is to help you understand your options and protect the rhythm you’re building, not to push a plan.

Yes. Every doula on our team is trained in perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs). We can help you understand the difference between baby blues and something that may need clinical attention. We’re also trained in physical recovery triage — what’s normal postpartum bleeding, signs of infection, pelvic floor concerns, and when something warrants calling your doctor before your six-week visit.

Yes. Many of our families do — to align with a return-to-work date, navigate a slower physical recovery, or because the rhythm is working. Extended plans are tailored on the discovery call.

Every shift. Through Doula Connect, our care-coordination app. You wake up to a written log of feedings (with ounces), diapers, sleep stretches in minutes, and anything noteworthy.

You don’t have to, but we do waive the fee for our families who purchase a package. Most of our clients use them. Public registration is also available without booking doula services.