DONA International Organization Details For Childbirth Newborn Nursery Intensive Care For Sick Baby

Drs. Marshall Klaus and John Kennell, Phyllis Klaus C S W , M F C C , Penny Simkin, PT, and Annie Kennedy, all renowned experts in childbirth and newborns, founded DONA, an International Organization, in 1992.

While running the neonatal intensive care nursery at Stanford University in 1967,Marshall Klaus realized that many parents of premature and sick infants were facing difficulty adjusting to their newborns. At that time, mothers were not allowed into the nursery until just before discharge.

Marshall, along with John Kennell, studied bonding, which proved helpful in opening up nurseries to parents. Their studies also showed that parents of normal, full-term infants were comfortable with their parents during the first moments after birth. They realized the importance of continuous emotional and physical support from another woman to women in labor. This prompted them to coin the word doula, a woman who serves another woman.

Doulas are a new group of professionals who strive to help women and their partners
have a satisfying childbirth and postpartum experiences. They support childbearing families emotionally and help them feel comfortable and cared for. Doula care has been studied thoroughly in scientific trials and it has been seen that there is remarkable improvement in physical and psychological outcome for both mother and baby.

Dr. Klaus, along with his group of researchers, has piloted research projects in South America and eventually brought them to North America. They founded the international doula organization called Doulas of North America, the acronym for which is DONA.

They wanted to promote the importance of emotional support for mothers and their partners. Their goal, hence, was to promote doula care – continuous emotional and physical support for women during labor and early postpartum. The aim of DONA is to provide training and certification opportunities for doulas of different cultures, educational backgrounds and socio-economic levels.

It also aims to educate health care providers and the public of the benefits of the presence of a doula during childbirth and postpartum. The training ensures that doulas are well prepared for their important role. Research has shown that doulas make a lot of difference – likelihood of caesarian is reduced, forceps use or assisted delivery is lowered, and need for pain medication by the mother is decreased. A trained doula helps in normal labor and childbirth.

A doula with a DONA International certification ensures that they have had the best education and training available. They, also, have a strong sense of professionalism and integrity. A list of names of DONA International doulas can be obtained by using online doula locator. It would be a good idea to meet doula candidates to decide if they are compatible with the family. A postpartum doula is also available to help through the transition into parenthood and family. DONA has grown so rapidly, both, in terms of members as well as geographically, that in 2004 the name was changed to DONA International. It is an international, non-profit organization of doulas that strives to provide the best in more than 20 countries. DONA