The Tribune

By AVA TURNQUEST

Tribune Staff Reporter

aturnquest@tribunemedia.net

STRENGTHENING the innate bond between a new mother and her infant could be the answer to the country's perceived disconnect with the younger generation.

Driven by her own passion for child care, and a holistic perspective on postpartum services, Markera Dupuch has engaged international experts to host two doula certification workshops in the Bahamas.

"I was interested in becoming a certified doula and looking at the cost, and including accommodations to attend the workshop, it wasn't feasible at the time. So when I spoke to the trainer, she told me that if I could find a group of ten she would come here," said Ms Dupuch, a 31 year old mother.

"I don't know if it's unheard of [in The Bahamas], but it's mainly those who could afford to go and were interested, they went. I never thought to get [trainer] to come here. I realised maybe it's time to open up the Bahamas to it."

Translated from ancient Greek as 'a woman who serves', a doula is a trained caregiver who assists a woman before, during, or after childbirth. Nonmedical physical assistance, emotional support and educational awareness are afforded to the new mother, her partner and family, during the birth and after. Studies have documented increased maternal and fetal health as a result of the support. Over the years, what was once a traditional cultural practice has been modernized into a professional service.

Hosted by Betsy Schwartz of The Tenth Month, the first workshop to be held later this month will provide training for postpartum doula services.

Mrs Schwartz, who is based in Florida, said: "No woman should really be doing birth and after [care] on her own. We're not supposed to do it that way; we're supposed to have a family member or a neighbour. It really does take a whole village."

"To have the availability of someone to come in and ease that transition into motherhood makes a huge difference, including bonding with the baby, breastfeeding, and lowering the incidence or severity of postpartum depression. There's a lot of impact that it can have on a new mom or families."

The second workshop will be hosted by Rae Davies of The Birth Company, and will provide training for birth doula certification.

Both experts are affiliated with DONA International, a stringent regulator of the profession and the largest doula association in the world. With over 7,000 members, DONA's doula certification programme is a two-year process.

Mrs Dupuch said: "I was part of a breastfeeding group when my son was born in 2005. It was an online breastfeeding group, and one of the mothers in the group was taking the course and when she described what it was it interested me.

"At the time I had only heard of the birth doula and that wasn't something that I was interested in at all. I became a nanny last year, and for the first time I discovered I was really interested in postpartum care."

As a wife and mother of three, two of whom are living, Mrs Dupuch said she is confident that participants will reap immediate social benefits from the invaluable experience even if they decide not to pursue certification.

Mrs Dupuch said: "I think it's a concern for me because I know especially with teenage mothers sometimes it's a cycle where the mothers aren't that much older than the teen that's having the child, it would benefit them with the transition.

"In the Bahamas it was always the mother and the grandmother who welcomed the mother home and helped with the transition. It doesn't seem to be that way anymore as much, the public nurses come around at least twice after you have the baby to make sure everything is ok medically but it's not the same, you're just one of many mothers they have to attend to.

In a recent documentary, DONA International founders Dr Marshall and Phyllis Klaus explained that their movement was incited by a desire to nurture the breastfeeding practice and a need to reunite mothers with infants.

During the 1990s, Mrs Klaus said post-natal treatment had become increasingly isolated with babies placed in fancy nurseries with little emotional support afforded to mothers. Entitled 'Essential Ingredient: Doula', the documentary provides commentary on statistics which show that the rate of caesarean sections has skyrocketed to more than 30 per cent in the US despite data indicating that there has been no resultant decrease in maternal or infant mortality. The rate stood at 5.5 per cent in 1970, according to the documentary, which reported that the World Health Organization has stated there is no justification for a rate in excess of 15 per cent in an industrialized country.

Dr Klaus said he and fellow founders stumbled across the benefits of a birth doula accidentally through their research, which indicated that women assisted during and after labour had a more memorable and pleasant experience. The realisation tapped into a timeless cultural practice that had been exercised in communities across the world but estranged by modern society.

It's one of those things where it has kind of gotten lost over time," Mrs Schwartz said.

"It really varies geographically, there may be in certain cultures where there is more support but I think we still are lacking. I think that we still view women as able to give birth, go back to work and get on with it and I don't think we recognize the significant impact and time in that family's life."

She added: "It needs to be viewed differently, as sacred, as special, as something that should be nurtured that whole time period. Even if there is family sometimes they don't always know about breastfeeding and how to support that, so still having someone that is knowledgeable and steers you in the right direction can make a big difference."

Mrs Schwartz's Postpartum Workshop will run from June 21 -24, and the Birth Doula Workshop with Rae Davies is scheduled for August. Interested persons can contact Mrs Dupuch at 601-3501 for more information.