Four reasons why doulas (like me) make the best antenatal teachers…
Every single antenatal teacher comes to this work with different experiences, priorities & biases. Understanding these differences is vital if you’re to choose the right antenatal course for you…
I’ll hold my hands up: when it comes to good antenatal teaching, I am really biased…
… and not just because I have I have over 15 years of professional teaching under my belt.
The truth is that the antenatal teacher that guides you through your preparation for birth has the potential to be a total game-changer for the experience you have.
I know this from first hand experience. Let me explain.
During my first pregnancy in 2019, I took two antenatal courses when I was pregnant the first time around: a local free one delivered by a health visitor and an NHS midwife, and a private one delivered by a local birthworker.
Honestly, neither one was useful to me in the long run. That’s not a statement that comes from the benefit of hindsight; I knew during those sessions that the courses were a waste of my time and effort for one simple reason:
In both cases, we were talked at not educated.
As a result, when the ‘big day’ came and I went into labour, neither my husband or I really remembered or used anything that we’d been told. It hadn’t stuck so it couldn’t have ever helped me.
But the problem was not the content of the courses…
… it was the way the courses were delivered, presented and ‘hosted’ that caused the issue.
All three of those ‘teachers’ (the midwife, the health visitor and the birthworker) saw us (the parents-to-be) in the same way: as an audience to deliver to. This approach has its own time and place: information sharing, instructions, things like that.
This is an excellent way of telling people what you want them to do, or what is expected of them.
What it isn’t, is a good way for people to learn.
This became very evident during my first labour. Despite this massive investment of time and energy, I felt lost and confused during my (very long) labour… a feeling that, I now know, could have been totally the opposite.
What makes a good antenatal teacher?
Thankfully, this is nice and simple…
Research shows that good quality antenatal courses support more positive birth experiences. Studies have shown that attendance at an antenatal course is associated with…
A greater sense of confidence about birth
A greater sense of confidence about their own abilities to give birth.
A better understand of the stages of labour & when to go to hospital
Increased abilities to make informed choices during labour.
But what makes a good course? Further research suggests that if an antenatal course is to help individuals get those lovely benefits listed above, they need to:
See themselves as an individual not a generic patient on a particular pathway.
Help the parents-to-be to do their own independent learning
Help them to question and make balanced choices around medical offerings and policy
And so much of this comes down to the person delivering it.
Think about it. If the person delivering the content of the course…
see’s themselves as the one in charge, then will they be able to prepare the people in front of them to make their own choices?
is reading a script provided to them, will they know where to help individuals find the independent, unbiased information that’ll help them to go deeper by themselves?
works for a policy-based organisation or national company (and is contractually obliged to support their views), will they be able to help people figure out how to genuinely navigate their own path through birth?
And this is why doulas (like me) make such great antenatal teachers…
Four benefits of a doula-led antenatal course…
The thing with doulas is this: we work for you. Not the NHS. Not a nationalised antenatal company. Just for you.
And that simple fact is what gives the antenatal courses we teach their game-changing qualities…
It goes without saying that all doulas are different, but we do all tend to have these three things in common. And it’s these three things which allow us to deliver the three pivotal elements of an antenatal course that make a real difference to the families we serve.
We work with individuals:
Our job is to personalise everything: we are used to questioning, adapting, suggesting alternatives and digging deep into the facts to make sure our clients get what they need to feel good. There is no such thing as ‘standardised’ care to a doula: it’s just not part of our vocabulary.
This is great because… Even when I am working with a group, I see a room of individuals. I have the knowledge and experience to help them find their own ways through their journey from pregnant to parent without an ounce of institutional bias.
We work with the full journey:
Midwives and health visitors see snapshots of this journey, but a full-spectrum doula like me sees all of it. Often working with people from the very early days of pregnancy up to their baby’s first birthday, our working knowledge of the peaks and troughs, challenges and opportunities is extensive. But more than that, we see the long-term effects of choices that others may not.
This is great because… when it comes to decision making, this long-term appreciation is absolutely key. Seeing these effects in reality, year after year, helps us to help our clients understand the depth of the choices they’re making for their baby, themselves and their family.
We are used to not making decisions:
It is never in a doulas remit to say what the right thing to do is. All we ever do is listen, signpost and act as a supportive soundboard as our clients find their way to the decision that’s right for them. And that is a very different position to a more medical mindset who is expected (and perhaps expects) to know what the right answer is.
This is great because… we are so used to showing our clients how to ask their own questions, do their own research and support them to come to their own decisions. At every doula consultation (and antenatal class), I remind my clients that this is their rodeo, not mine & am really skilled with helping them to find comfort with that.
We are always independent:
There’s a reason that doulas like me resist the idea of regulation: it’s not because we’re dangerous mavericks who live in a land free of rules or obligations. It’s because our job demands complete flexibility: we adapt to our clients needs on an hour-to-hour basis, suiting their preferences and wishes - something we could not do if bound to the policies and procedures of a large organisation.
This is great because… while I can’t speak for all doulas, for me this translates into my courses: I adapt my course content to the needs of the people on it. No single course is ever the same as I weave and bend to the priorities my clients tell me they have. I am able to do this because I’m independent of policy.
Someone once told me that, when I am teaching I am not a doula. I disagree completely.
When I teach antenatal courses - either privately or in groups - I am using every ounce of who I am as a doula: my knowledge, my insights, the way I support people to find their own sense of value and confidence. It’s all there & I’ll never apologise for that.
So why does all of this matter? Well, if you’re looking for an antenatal course where you can just show up, sit down and tick ‘birth prep’ off your to-do list, I am probably not the antenatal teacher for you.
But if you want to do an antenatal course with someone who is going to help you find that fire, the confidence and give you the skills to feel calm, confident and in-control of your birth experience then you might want to check my antenatal courses out…
