We felt so lucky to have Lidia Colindres as our night doula after the birth of our daughter. She…read moreis incredibly nurturing and knowledgeable about babies - as first time parents this was a huge help and confidence boost. My wife and I were able to fully rest because we knew that our daughter was in good hands when we handed her over to Lidia for the night. She also has lots of experience working with preterm babies. We always looked forward to nights when Lidia was coming, knowing that she would take such amazing care of our little girl and we could get some much needed sleep!

Doula Lidia Colindres has been truly a blessing for me and my family. She was my post-partum night…read moredoula for three months, and took the absolute best care of our little one, and me too! As a first-time mom with close to no experience with babies, I had a lot of anxiety going into the process. Lidia was an incredible help and guide every step of the way. Her warmth and kindness were immediately apparent, and she was so good at soothing our baby. She has a ton of experience, and a wealth of knowledge and tips if you need them. For me that was essential. She helped me understand how the mother-doula-baby relationship can work, and we figured out a schedule and rhythms that worked for all of us. In the early days, as I was struggling with breast-feeding, she would sit with me and offer me comfort and tips, in between soothing, burping, and sometimes bottle-feeding the baby as needed. She was encouraging and amenable when we had to switch to an every-2-hour feeding cadence (on the pediatrician's recommendation) to help my milk production and make sure our baby was gaining weight, and she helped me navigate the stress and complexities of nursing, pumping, and formula. I learned so much just from watching her interact with our baby, which gave me confidence in what I was doing the nights we didn't have her. On top of that, she was incredibly professional -- responsive, reliable, reachable during off-hours, and literally never once late. Having a doula means sharing some of the most intimate, personal and emotional moments with a stranger, so the person you pick is such an important decision. I would highly recommend Lidia!!!

I cannot say enough good things about Lindsey and her postpartum care. She has a wonderful…read moregrounding and calming presence. My husband, babies and I all felt immediately comfortable with her. The oil massage, pelvic steam and food she provides are all so nourishing and healing. She is an excellent cook and her food is truly delicious. I could honestly eat it year round. It also makes it easy to get enough to provide for baby, which can be difficult in the early days. Everything is not only tasty but provides those essential nutrients to help with milk supply, building iron levels and caloric intake. We hired her for both of my babies and it's so worth it! If we're lucky enough to have more we would 100% work with her again!

I am so glad I added Lindsey's offerings to my birth journey!…read more I rented her birth tub which was such a good pain relief method for my unmedicated birth. Pick up / drop off and deposit / payment stuff was a breeze. The abhuyanga massages were such a boon to my physical and emotional well-being. When you have a newborn to care for, even when you know how important self-care is, you can find yourself rushing through things like showering etc. It was so great to have one hour where I couldn't rush things, I just had to relax and enjoy. So grounding and centering at a pivotal time in your life. Also my hair and skin were fabulous from the sesame oil which smells amazing. Lindsey has a warm, nurturing and calming presence which is important when inviting someone in to your home during such a delicate time. She always had such a helpful and never judgmental perspective on questions we had about newborn parenting. Be good to yourself and choose Lindsey, she's awesome.

Agree that I could have tried working with TND before public Yelp humiliation. But we had such a…read morerough night with TND, by 2am (halfway through) I really wanted to throw her out, but stuck with it til the morning. As a new mom, I apologize for not having the patience to work through these issues privately. But that's as much compunction as I can muster. Here's my response to the TND response. Incidentally, my initial email to TND referencing my earlier review was prefaced with the following: "It is with great pain and sadness that I am writing this email. I'm not sure if there is anyone who leads the TND group and manages constructive criticism or feedback on behalf of the organization, but if there is, I wanted to let you know about our recent experience with TND. It is posted in a Yelp review. I made best effort to respect privacy, to be objective, and to be fair. The content of my review is copied below." --Response to Anna M.-- Re: unrealistic expectations with a 4-day old, I don't fault TND for my baby's cluster feeding night habit. I do fault TND for sitting around doing nothing while I fed him for a total of 4 hours over the course of the evening. Re: breach of contract response, I believe it's breach of contract on the part of our TND, and not us, when she did not perform a large majority of the tasks marketed on your website, reiterated during the "meet the doula's" session my hubby attended two months before the birth of our baby, and that our specific TND assured us she would do during the 1 hr interview in advance of hiring her. Re: extra bonding time, perhaps you should put that information on your website so you don't mislead parents who think a TND will be helpful during the first few days with a newborn. Re: taxes, I'm not an accountant, but I'm pretty sure under-reporting income is illegal. Our TND admitted during the first night that the reason she wouldn't provide her SS# is to under-report income. Post-partum doulas can be paid for using DCAP, and DCAP requires SS#. The only reason to not provide it is to evade taxes. If your policy is to not make DCAP payments possible, this information should be provided on the website as well. You are not cheating "the system" - you are directly taking more money out of your customers' pockets by shielding your own tax liability while increasing ours. Unhelpful and unsympathetic response from Anna M. came after what was intended to be constructive criticism and a chance for them to make right. Unrealistic expectations? I only expected the doula to provide the services as advertised. If only she did one of the many things she was supposed to...

I would like to recommend our night doula, Emma. She was basically a Godsend. She came and watched…read moreour baby the night I had to go back into the hospital for complications. As a brand new mother, although I had read a lot and attended classes, I was basically clueless. Emma gave us the practical knowledge and information we needed during the critical initial weeks home. Watching Emma bath and swaddle the baby was the best class I ever took. She taught us things about sleep and feeding that we would never have figured out on our own. To this day, our baby sleeps through the night, and as soon as she was over 11 lbs! Our friends told us that it was the best money they ever spent, and although it wasn't cheap, they were right. I had major issues with breastfeeding/latching, so our baby had to be fed formula initially. Emma helped implement the lactation consultants' advice. I couldn't have done it without her. The beauty with Emma was that she was completely supportive and reponsive to our wishes. Even now, once in awhile I have questions. Emma is always a text or email away. We could have done it without her, but boy we would have had a far far far harder time. She's an Irish blessing:)

I can't imagine going through my childbirth experience without having a doula, and Collective…read moreHearts was absolutely wonderful. Here are some of the reasons why I considered not getting a doula, and why I'm really glad I ignored those and got one anyway: - What if I get an epidural, will the doula be useless? I wasn't planning on getting an epidural, but I had back labor and I was in labor for 48 hours. Shannon helped me so much throughout that time. I probably would have gone to the hospital after 4 hours of labor and been sent home if not for her. 100% because of her support, I was able to labor at home for the first 24 hours. And Shannon continued to be an amazing source of strength, advocacy, and support over my next 24 hours at the hospital. - My husband can be my birth partner and support person, why do I need a doula? My husband has never been through labor before, and had no idea what to expect going into it. We read books, took online classes, etc., but there is really no way to prepare for something as intense as labor. Because of Shannon, my husband felt so much more confident about knowing how to best support me. Also, I needed someone to be angry with during the worst contractions, and if Shannon wasn't there I think I would have been angry at my husband. Having her there is what allowed it to be a really positive and beautiful experience in our relationship. - Will it be awkward if some other person is just hanging around the whole time I'm in labor? I'm slightly introverted and my husband is VERY introverted, so I was a little worried that having someone new around would be awkward for us. But this wasn't the case at all. Shannon has a sixth sense about when to step back during the labor process; since my labor was 48 hours long, there were times when she asked us if we preferred that she leave for a few hours and come back later, and we took her up on it. Her ability to intuit the right times to ask this was amazing.

This review is so long overdue! Alli was the doula for the birth of our daughter, Ellie. Ellie is…read morenow 5 years old. And still I think of Alli often. Her presence at the birth was invaluable. Her knowledge and experience guided both me and my husband through some tenuous medical decisions. Her easy going, caring and loving support got us both through the rest. (And thank goodness she had Altoids on hand when my husband was trying to comfort me.) When I first told my husband that I wanted a doula when I was pregnant, his response was "Why? I can be the doula.". Very sweet, but having been through a birth now, he is the first to say to all our friends, "You need a doula. It's worth every penny and more."

I feel incredibly grateful to have had Yula as our doula. I have very high healthcare literacy and…read moreknow I already had the tools to understand decisions related to my labor/birth and advocate for myself, so I was a little on the fence about working with doula at all. However, I also valued labor/birth as a potentially transformational experience and wanted in support in having an unmedicated birth if possible. After talking with Yula--whose calm and pragmatic demeanor left me also feeling calm and pragmatic--I decided she could help me prepare physically/psychologically for birth and serve not only as an advocate for me but also as a support during a time when both me and my partner would likely be in an altered state. This was beyond true and I cannot imagine my labor and birth experience without her. First, Yula was diligent in understanding my birth preferences. She offered evidence-based information and shared past experiences, but I NEVER felt like she had any agenda other than to support me and help me have the experience that I myself wanted. Second, she was very thorough in helping us prepare for labor. She had 3 meetings with us before my due date to talk through options we might be faced with, help us solidify our birth preference sheet that we would share with our healthcare providers, and practice hands-on ways to cope with labor. I especially appreciated guidance she gave us on perineal massage as well as exercises she offered to help me figure out ways that I personally best coped with pain/uncomfortable sensations. And finally, her support during my labor was invaluable. She offered extremely helpful hands-on counterpressure during my contractions, served as a very calm presence and helped ensure my labor room in the hospital stayed peaceful for me, repeatedly reminded our healthcare team of my preferences and ensured these were enacted so that I could focus on the incredible work I was doing to birth my baby. She provided support in a way that also allowed my partner to support me--she supported our connection rather than interrupt it. When I was doubting myself, she met my doubt with unwavering confidence in me and this helped me find more reserves (the energy gummies she gave me helped too!) Yula has an impressive fund of knowledge to share, yet always centered my experience. She is pragmatic, and also understood and supported the mystical/transformational experience of birth that I desired. I could not recommend her more highly.

I first chatted with Yula at a "Meet the Doulas" event (which she moderated) at Natural Resources…read morein SF. She was 1 of 2 doulas who started out by smiling and asking how I was doing, letting the conversation flow naturally, vs launching into a monologue about herself. I also liked her science-based approach (citing data and studies) and calm, no-nonsense demeanour (check out her website FAQ if you don't believe me :-)). All good signs. My husband and I had just one (3-hour!!) prenatal meeting with her at home to talk about hospital and medication logistics before my water broke (excellent timing!) In the days that followed, Yula sat down with us to formulate a birth plan and talk through pain management, helped us advocate for ourselves against the hospital-recommended induction, AND brought us yummy lemon pistachio cake from a nearby cafe. When I finally went into labour a few days later (no induction!), Yula helped calibrate my early contractions over text, then showed up at 4am and stayed by my side for the next 10 hours. She did whatever it took: applying firm yet gentle counterpressure when my back hurt, negotiating with a crabby nurse, singing with me as I chanted through the pain, guiding me through decision-making, and encouraging me with words of support at every turn. Best of all, when I ran out of steam about 12 hours in, she miraculously produced sachets of delicious marathoners' goo, which I sucked on to get me through the next 3 hours of pushing. She took some really incredible photos of the actual birth, too. We've been in occasional contact over text message in the weeks since, her checking in on me and the baby, me sending her questions and photos. I wish we could see her more often! She is warm, smart, and pragmatic -- a fantastic combination. As a first-time parent, I would highly recommend engaging a birth doula; if I could give Yula a 6-star rating, I would!! Thank you Yula for everything you did to ensure my birth experience was beautiful and safe. We love you :heart:

Carmen helped care of us postpartum and our newborn with the utmost compassion. She helped us…read moreadjust to our lives with our little one. Would highly recommend her if you're looking for support!

Carmen is the best of the best. I can't imagine a person better suited for doula work than Carmen…read more She's a true wealth of knowledge and made my time postpartum significantly more peaceful. She constantly went above and beyond for our family and we can't say enough good things about her. Our baby basically melted into her arms and stopped crying the moment she picked him up. I'm still not sure how she does it! If you're looking for doula care don't look any further :).

Mei was an absolute lifesaver for us, we cannot recommend her enough. She helped us a couple…read morenights/week until our baby was 8 weeks old and was an invaluable resource on all things feeding and sleeping. More than once, Mei's suggestions saved us from a lot of trial and error (and exhaustion). She also expertly stretched our baby's night feeds so that by the 8 week mark he was consistently sleeping for 6hr stretches! She was gentle in her advice and always asked about our preferences first. Most importantly, Mei was always kind, patient, and bubbly with our newborn; you can tell she loves babies and treats them as her own. As people who debated getting a night doula in the first place, we are so happy we did and that we had Mei. The nights she was with us we went to bed relaxed, knowing our baby was in great hands and we could get some actual rest. Those restful nights gave us the energy to fully enjoy our time with our baby the next day, time that we will always treasure. Added bonus: If you're pumping, she washes all the parts and has them cleaned, dried, and set out for you ahead of every pump session; very appreciated at those 3am pumps!

Mei was with us from the very first night we brought our baby home, and having her there during my…read morerecovery was such a relief. She always had great suggestions, whether it was which bottles to try or what products might help when things weren't going smoothly. She was there for us every step of the way, and I didn't want to let her go! Mei is awesome, I trusted her completely.

Claudia was an incredible doula all the way through. - Since we met, she gave me and my husband…read moreconfidence and made sure we "knew we were and were going to be taken care of". During birth Claudia made me feel safe, and that helped me tremendously through the change of plans and the whole birth experience. Moreover, Claudia took care of my husband making sure he was in his best shape to be with me. During birth, Claudia brought a combination of her knowledge as a doula, as a nurse and as a Spinning Babies expert, bringing in an outstanding support combo. She just knew what to do and when. My birth was a wonderful experience, and I would have Claudia again in a heartbeat.

We hired Claudia as our birth doula and had an amazing experience with her. Her prior experience as…read morea nurse, as well as her training as a doula really solidified our confidence in her and her abilities to support me and my partner during pregnancy, labor, delivery, and postpartum. She coached us beforehand, setting up visits to discuss what to expect, go over our birth preferences, and showed us some stretches to do to help prepare me for the labor and birth. She checked in frequently to ask how I was doing, and was attentive, professional, and caring to our needs and birth preferences. The day of the labor and delivery, she provided reassurance, information, and solid on call support for over 24 hours! She was right there at the hospital encouraging and helping me through and after my delivery, anticipating what I and my partner needed and providing it in a non-intrusive and warm way. She also has been checking into see how I and baby are doing postpartum, touching on many aspects of care and recovery for both me and baby. I would highly recommend her!