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May is Maternal Mental Health Month, and in this episode of How Long ’Til Bedtime?, Allison sits down with postpartum doula and maternal health advocate Kristin Revere to talk about a type of support that can make a profound difference for new families: postpartum doula care.

While many parents are familiar with birth doulas, postpartum doulas are often less understood. Kristin explains what postpartum doulas do, how their role differs from night nurses or newborn care specialists, and the wide range of ways they can support families in the early weeks and months after bringing home a baby.

From overnight newborn care and feeding support to helping parents process their birth experience and build confidence, postpartum doulas provide both practical and emotional support during one of the most vulnerable transitions in life.

This conversation also explores the connection between sleep, support, and maternal mental health, and why having the right help in place can be truly life-changing for new moms.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
— What a postpartum doula is and how they support new families
— The difference between a postpartum doula, night nurse, and newborn care specialist
— The types of services postpartum doulas may offer (and how they vary)
— How postpartum doulas support maternal mental health
— Why sleep support plays a critical role in emotional well-being
— How doulas help build confidence in new parents
— What to look for when hiring a postpartum doula
— Why asking for help is not a luxury, it’s essential

Support in the postpartum period isn’t a luxury. It truly is a critical part of maternal well-being. Having the right support system in place can ease the transition into parenthood, improve sleep, and make a meaningful difference in a mother’s mental health.

Learn more about Kristin Revere and Gold Coast Doulas at their website or on Instagram or check out Kristin’s book: Supported: Your Guide to Birth and Baby

May is Maternal Mental Health Awareness Month. Each of the ten episodes we have dedicated to this important subject offers a slightly different perspective. Listen in and help spread the word by forwarding an episode or two to a new mom in your life.

Episodes:
29. My Postpartum Anxiety Story
30. How to Keep Reaching for the Light with Britt Davis
31. Sleep Makes Such a Difference with Caroline Vasquez
32. Where Did I Go with Ellen Jones and Holly Kennedy
82. The Postpartum Journey from the Perspective of Three Husbands with Mike Vasquez, Alex Grant and Todd Kennedy
84. Planning for Your Mental Health Postpartum with Kayce Hodos
135. Maternal Mental Health From The Perspective of an OB/GYN with Dr. Nicole Rankins
136. Maternal Mental Health From The Perspective of a Pediatrician with Dr. Stephanie Grice
137. How Postpartum Support International Supports Parents with President and CEO Wendy Davis
138. Maternal Mental Health: What I Want Every Parent To Know

Looking for expert guidance on your child’s sleep? Allison offers two free age-specific guides to help you discover how much sleep kids need to thrive—at any age. Get your free copy now: 0-2 Years Old or 3 to 10 years old

From baby sleep to toddler sleep, daycare naps to sleep training—How Long ’Til Bedtime? is the podcast for parents who want practical, guilt-free sleep tips they can actually use.

Hosted by pediatric sleep coach Allison Egidi, each episode delivers real solutions for every stage—from navigating newborn sleep struggles and weaning night feedings to helping your 3-year-old fall asleep independently (and stay asleep!). Whether you’re trying to make sense of daycare sleep patterns, craving your evenings back, or simply need a working mom podcast to keep you grounded, you’re in the right place.

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Scroll down for a full transcript of this episode.

238. How Postpartum Doula Support Can Protect a Mother’s Mental Health with Kristin Revere
Allison Egidi: Hey there, Allison here. Welcome back to How Long ‘Til Bedtime. May is Maternal Mental Health Month, and each year I like to highlight this incredibly important topic because one in five expecting and new moms will experience a maternal mental health condition. Today I’m talking to Kristin Revere about a service I really wish that I had known about when I had my girls, and that is postpartum doula care.

Kristin is the owner and founder of Gold Coast Dulas in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She is an elite certified birth doula, a newborn care specialist, a childbirth educator, and an elite certified postpartum doula. She is also the co-author of Supported: Your Guide to Birth and Baby, and the host of the Ask the Doulas podcast. She’s a mom of two and a bonus mom to one.

Hey Kristin, welcome and thank you so much for joining me today. May is Maternal Mental Health month and I’m really looking forward to talking with you about a type of support that can make an enormous difference for new moms, postpartum doula care. Before we dive in, I always love to start by asking my guests what inspired you to pursue this vocation?

Kristin Revere: Thanks, Allison. What a question. So I actually worked in political fundraising and advertising sales before having children. And I had my daughter later in life and developed preeclampsia. As a planner who thought I could have the perfect birth and postnatal phase, I took all of the classes from Lamaze to breastfeeding, prenatal yoga, and thought that I could have the ideal birth with nurse midwives, unmedicated and then all of a sudden at 37 weeks I developed preeclampsia, was on bed rest and induced. My daughter was in the NICU, like all of the things. So breastfeeding challenges with a NICU baby led me to become more passionate about maternal health and supporting mothers in a different way. I was passionate about getting women elected to office and feel confident raising money prior to having kids. And now I feel like maternal health is my calling.

I so relate to that because prior to switching careers, I was also a fundraiser. A lot of my listeners are going to relate to your story because I, my story is very similar of being very type A. I plan and I like to say that becoming a parent from the moment of going into labor, even being pregnant, is a very humbling experience for a person who is a planner because it will, you will really have to check your ego at the door. When you think I can prepare and I have all of this down and then you realize, no, no, I do not. I can make all the plans in the world and then baby, your own body, everything has its own plan.

Exactly. Birth is unpredictable. Early parenting is unpredictable. So it’s great to have support options like a sleep consultant or a postpartum doula to help navigate the big changes, whether it’s baby one or baby four.

Absolutely. So you all provide birth and postpartum doula support and I think many women are familiar with birth doulas even if they haven’t used them, the concept of a birth doula, but some aren’t as familiar with postpartum doula care which is what I was hoping to highlight today. So can you just start with the basics? What exactly is a postpartum doula?

A postpartum doula supports the entire family in that transition after baby arrives. And there are different trainings and scopes of postpartum doulas. Some postpartum doulas are trained more in that recovery support and mothering the mother and of course supporting feeding and doing daytime support only. And others are trained in more infant care like my team is and we focus more on overnight newborn care. So I have a mix of newborn care specialists as you mentioned I am one as well and our postpartum doulas have part of their training covering infant care. So we’re able to focus on that whether a client hires us for live-in support, for overnight care, or for the daytime support. And we work through the first year. Some postpartum doulas are focused on the first eight weeks only and a lot of household tasks. So could be light meal preparation or cleaning up around the house and feeding other children who are home, running errands and then of course supporting breastfeeding and bottle feeding, pumping and all of the recovery support and feeding support for the mother.

Okay, that’s interesting because my next question was going to be what are the services? But it sounds like there could be a wide range depending on the postpartum doula that you are trying to work with or that you contact, which I think is important. So if someone is listening to this and thinks, maybe I want to look into this, I guess now my question is how does someone start to look into it locally, given that some are going to provide certain services and some aren’t. Do you have guidance on that?

Absolutely. So look at their background and you can find that if the doula has a website, not all doulas do. In their bio as far as what their passion, their other trainings would be and then interview doulas and ask questions. If you want a lot of newborn care or overnight, then that doula should have specific training. And there are related specialties like newborn care specialists. They’re not focused on the entire family. They’re hired only for the baby and that term used to be night nurse or baby nurse and newborn care specialists have replaced that term and have become a profession of their own with their own credentialing.

Interesting. I was curious the difference between a night nurse and a postpartum doula.

So a postpartum doula would be focused on the entire family. The night nurse or night nanny is hired just for baby care.

So. Okay.

Not necessarily answering breastfeeding questions or pumping questions, not trained in supporting perinatal mood disorders and may not be able to give referrals the way a postpartum doula could to experts in the area like breastfeeding support groups, dad groups, pelvic floor physical therapists, mental health therapists with different specialties. One of our roles as birth and postpartum doulas is knowing all of the resources both in the community and nationally.

Amazing. And I’m curious, do you think that is the expectation for all postpartum doulas across the country? Or is it something that your practice makes sure that you prioritize? I’m just curious what people should expect if they’re in Charlottesville, Virginia and contacting a postpartum doula. Are they all going to have these resources or does that vary as well?

I feel like every doula training program does have them do research, even if it’s a brand new doula on all of, they may not have the personal experience I do working in the field of 13 years, when someone is asking me for a physical therapist or a therapist. have those personal connections where new doulas might just be researching and looking at websites or making phone calls to complete some of their certification requirements.

Okay, interesting, but it is part of the training to get that knowledge. Yes. What are some of the most valuable things that you think a postpartum doula can do that maybe parents don’t even realize could be helpful in this first year of having a baby?

I would say setting up systems and structure and really we customize similar to what you do as a sleep consultant to the individual goals of the family and the goals can be different every day. I have my team of doulas go into a family and ask them how they can be helpful in that day or if it’s overnight, know, client may have a list of things that they want to focus on or any concerns. And our clients tend to utilize apps to communicate back and forth and be able to track wake times and feeding and any issues. So if there are multiple caregivers, everyone’s able to be on the same page.

Amazing. So obviously I think that postpartum doula care can be really helpful when it comes to maternal mental health. And I’m curious with your experience working with families, what are some of the biggest emotional challenges that you think new mothers are facing in those early weeks and months? And what do you all see when you’re in their home working with them?

I would say being there and fully listening, whether it’s to the birth story and processing any trauma or just like to say that doulas are, we’re holding space for the mother especially, but the entire family and helping them to feel confident in the role. So if there are some concerns with feeding or some guilt, with going back to work and preparing for that transition. We are there to listen without any judgment. I feel like our family and our friends are well-meaning and even our spouses, but to be heard without having any agenda or any personal opinions. We are there as experts and it is as long as things are not unsafe. Of course, we promote safe sleep and we’re going to, you know, not hold back food and, you know, do what is safe with car seats, for example. So we do focus on safety. But other than that, we have no opinion about how our clients feed our baby, how they parent, and what their individual goals are because everyone is unique.

I love that. And listening to you, makes me think of something I often say that becoming a parent, so if we just take our first time parents, becoming a parent is like becoming the CEO of a business in an industry where you’ve never worked before.
And as I’m listening to you talk, I think, what an amazing gift because it’s almost like you can bring this expert in not to tell you what to do. You’re still the CEO, but they have industry experience and they can answer your questions. And so it seems like you could be an amazing confidence booster for parents and help reassure them. Yes, you’re doing the right thing. You can take this step, like this is okay, or just to answer kind of basic questions because we are not born knowing how to do all of these things.

Exactly. And I find that some of my clients don’t hire us for overnight support until they go back to work or their partner does because they have a lot of help from family and friends. Initially, their partner may have extended paternity leave. And so since we work through the first year, we may just be supporting that transition of back to work. Or if our client is traveling or the partner is traveling on those nights, that they need additional support, especially if there are other children at home that may not sleep all through the night.

Yeah, so obviously on this podcast we talk a lot about sleep, including how deeply sleep can affect a parent’s mental health. And I think that’s especially true in that first year, although I struggled for two years, so it can certainly go on longer than that. But how do you see kind of postpartum doulas having an impact during the night? I’m curious if you see the positive benefits of helping a working parent get sleep.

Yes, so certainly the lack of sleep can increase the risk of perinatal mood disorders. So knowing that someone is there caring for your baby, our clients are not going to wake up to every normal grunt or baby noise knowing that they have an expert there who is hired exclusively to help them sleep and to help with sleep shaping. We are not sleep consultants as postpartum doulas and so we can help implement a plan that a consultant like yourself creates, but we do focus on sleep shaping.

And I also think my mom was here for maybe about 10 days after I had my girls and I felt guilty. Like during the night when she’d say, I’ll get up or I’ll do something. And I kind of felt this guilt about it. Whereas if I had known about a postpartum doula and that is literally your job and why you were in my home, I think I would have slept more soundly because I wouldn’t have that, oh gosh, I should not make my mom get up every 45 minutes. And so I do think there’s something empowering about having someone there that you don’t really carry that guilt of even a friend or a grandparent trying to help you.

Exactly. And a daytime doula can help, our clients could nap during the day when a doula is over. They can run a vacuum and do some of the tasks that you’re not supposed to be doing during that recovery phase and again help create those systems. And so even if you’re hiring daytime only, it still helps with mental health and knowing that you’re being cared for because you know, after birth it’s all about baby and the mother also needs support.

Absolutely. And I’m sure every practice is different, just like every sleep consultant practice is different. But do you typically have to commit to a certain amount of weeks together or nights in a week? Or can it be a little more one off? As you mentioned, like a spouse is traveling for work and you might need help for this three day period. I’m curious how you guys structure that and if there is a typical format for postpartum doula care.

Yes, so for my agency, 10 hours is a minimum contract. So that would be three short daytime shifts or one overnight. Now other doulas or other doula agencies may require a 40 hour minimum contract, for example, or multiple weeks or months. And so that would vary based on the doula and that would be another question to ask during an interview. And we have clients try out a night or some day shifts and then add on. And we again are open to a client ending service and then calling us two months later as long as baby is still under the one year mark.

Awesome. Yeah. I’m curious if you could change one thing about how we, and I say we, let’s say in the United States, that we support mothers in the postpartum period. What do you think it should be?

Extended maternity leave 100%. And I am thankful for benefits that cover doulas through employer work plans, especially the fertility benefits like Carrot, that depending on the plan allows up to six weeks of a birth doula and a day and or overnight postpartum doula.

And there’s Maven as well as Progeny that offer a set dollar amount for that care, whether it’s birth or postpartum, you choose how you use that. And then Health Savings and Flex Spending have covered. So I am thankful that workplaces are identifying the need and supplementing general insurance to not only retain their employees, but have more productive employees because when you have support, that transition back to work isn’t as challenging.

100 % and you’re, we could go down a whole rabbit hole on this, but your employee is going to be so much more productive and happy when they can get extra support. I just think it pays off tenfold when we can support them through this transition.

Absolutely.

So if a new mom is listening to this while holding their baby and maybe they are feeling exhausted and overwhelmed, what would you want her to take away from this episode?

You are superwoman. It’s okay to ask for help. I feel like doulas are seen as a celebrity accessory or a luxury item. And I believe that it’s important to budget for professional support and it’s okay to ask for help.

I could not agree more. Well, Kristin, this has been great. Thank you so much for the work you do to support moms and families. I think it is critically important and can be life changing slash life saving. Can you tell my listeners how they can find you and learn more about what you all do?

Sure. So you can find me at GoldCoastDoulas.com. We are all over social at GoldCoastDoulas between Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Pinterest, and I do have a podcast, Ask the Doulas that you have guested on. So listeners will have to check you out there. And then I have a book, Supported: Your Guide to Birth and Baby that is available in paperback, hardcover, and also audiobook format.

Amazing. Well, I will be sure that we link to all of these things in the show notes and thanks again for joining me today and I hope our paths cross again soon. Bye for now.

I would love that. Thanks, Allison. Bye.