Benefits of Doula Care

Doula support has been well-documented to improve health outcomes, enhance care engagement and satisfaction, and reduce spending on unnecessary procedures and avoidable complications. The benefits of doula care are supported by consistent, high-quality research. Cochrane systematic reviews have reported the positive effects of continuous labor support since 1995.

In 2017, the most recent review analyzed data from 26 individual studies involving more than 15,000 women. The review found numerous benefits to continuous labor support and no known harms of such care, including:

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• 39% reduction in the likelihood of cesarean births

• 15% greater likelihood of a spontaneous vaginal birth

• 10% reduction in the use of pain medications

• Shorter labor by an average of 41 minutes

• 31% reduction in reporting a negative birth experience

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Other studies have found that community-based doula support that begins during pregnancy and continues through childbirth and the postpartum period is associated with lower rates of preterm and low birthweight births and postpartum depression, while increasing breastfeeding initiation and duration.

In the Safe Prevention of the Primary Cesarean Delivery, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine (SMFM), the preeminent professional associations for obstetric care, report that continuous labor support by a doula is “one of the most effective tools to improve labor and delivery outcomes.”