We are Lou & Sarah, highly experienced, warm and friendly POSTNATAL doulas.
We hope to support new parents with our wealth of practical skills, qualified infant feeding support, empathy and non-judgement. Our mission is to help you gently adapt and feel confident during the first days and weeks with your new baby.
Please read our Google reviews to see what parents have said about our support.
Please note: we usually can’t take on clients who live more than an hour away from us by public transport. Most of our clients are in West, Central, North West or South West London.
We have a flexible range of options - scroll through the packages shown below
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Get Me Started
Now we’ve brought the baby home, what do we do?
Instant postnatal doula support session - no ongoing contract required and all you need to know to feel confident.
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Postnatal Doula
The postnatal doula does everything the mum needs to feel comfortable. Normally booked in advance but we sometimes have unexpected availability so it’s always worth contacting us.
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Womb to World Newborn Sleep support
Be thoroughly prepared for the mad world of fourth trimester sleep patterns and have a reassuring four weeks of continuous support from qualified sleep counsellors and postnatal doulas!
Contact us for your session straight after your baby arrives - or get ahead of the game and book the Lullaby session during pregnancy.
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Classic Doula Plus
Everything you get in the Classic Birth Doula package plus discounted postnatal doula hours.
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Breast/bottle feeding support
Our breastfeeding support is evidence-based and woman-centred. The team includes NCT breastfeeding counsellor Sarah Miller, who has supported thousands of mothers. In addition Sarah Johnson is a qualified ABM peer supporter and both she and Lou will be qualified NCT breastfeeding counsellors in late 2024.
Please click on the banners below to contact us straightaway.
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Find out now if we are available when your baby is due
〰️ Find out now if we are available when your baby is due
Scroll down the page to learn more about our philosophy.
If you have just had a baby click here
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If you have just had a baby click here 〰️
Sarah and Lou of The Baby Experience….
Lou Toosey
Birth & Postnatal Doula trained with NCT and University of Worcester
“Lou has been a constant source of loving guidance since before we even had our baby. She has dispensed invaluable practical advice and crucial bits of encouragement in equal measure. She has been on speed dial for us and we trust her implicitly!”
I have supported many women and their partners through their birth and/or the early weeks with their baby. Having a baby brings a rollercoaster of emotions and decisions, and I believe a doula’s role is to look after parents and help them navigate their individual path, so that they can actually relax and enjoy the journey.
To me, partners and fathers are integral to the whole pregnancy, birth and parenting experience, and my role is to support them to feel empowered and entirely involved.
I have a calm, gentle but practical approach and a keen sense of humour. I am resourceful and diplomatic, but will also be assertive if it means getting the mother what she wants/needs.
As your doula I offer my unconditional support in whatever way is required before during and after your baby is born. I will be there for you emotionally to listen and where needed help you practically, and offer evidence based advice, loan of anything from my extensive kit bag and my experience with positions & techniques to optimise the best possible experience for you at this special time in your lives.
I try to attend many workshops and study days to update and extend my knowledge and practical skills for pregnant women and also in baby care, including Blossoming Bellies Pelvic Dynamics with Brittany Sharpe, Biomechanics for birth with Mollie O’Brien, Rebozo with Nicola Nelson and the Brazelton Newborn Observation Course.
Sarah Johnson
Doula UK Recognised Birth & Postnatal doula
Postnatal training: Nurturing Birth
“Sarah was amazing. When I got home after my baby girl was born she made me feel so at ease. She showed me how to take care of my baby girl. Her patience answering all my questions is admirable. She made sure that I am taken care of and took a big load off me to ensure I eat and sleep correctly...Needless to say my baby girl loved her. I am not sure how I would have coped with out Sarah!”
I have been a doula since 2004. The transition to parenthood is one of the trickiest and potentially most difficult rites of passage we ever experience, yet it is also a vital building block to a happy world.
I’m passionate about helping families make this journey. I believe the postnatal doula’s objective is not to be told “I can’t manage without you” so much as to hear the client say: “I think I can can manage this now!”.
After training as a birth doula with renowned obstetrician Michel Odent, I trained as a postnatal doula with Nurturing Birth, the highly respected doula training programme founded by Sophie Brigstocke. Ever since then, I’ve carried on adding to my expertise with new families with courses and study days with professional bodies. You can read about my childbirth preparation credentials on our Birth Doula page but here I’d like to tell you a bit more about my work with new parents and new babies.
My very first breastfeeding training as a doula was with the legendary and inspirational Pam Lacey, in whose name the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers set up an annual award after her death. I was inspired by her down-to-earth, evidence-based approach and some of her phrases still echo in my head. I followed up with the Association of Breastfeeding Mothers peer supporter qualification and now (2024) I am on course to qualify as a breastfeeding counsellor with the National Childbirth Trust.
I’m always ready to listen to clients’ feelings about their birth and parenting experiences with empathy and without judgement. My focus is to support you in the way YOU want to start your journey and also to signpost you to evidence-based information and above all to build your confidence.
But being a postnatal doula involves many skills and I love nothing more than going on another well-respected and accredited course - here are a few of the many I’ve taken:
Babycalm - the early parenting course devised by the internationally renowned author and parenting expert Sarah Ockwell-Smith
Happiest Baby (fourth trimester) - run by Dr Harvey Karp, the inventor of the Snoo
Vegan Cookery - Leith School of Cookery
Holistic Sleep Coach level 6 - taught by Lyndsey Hookway
I live in Shepherds Bush, West London with my husband and dog (I’m very fond of animals and get on well with most people’s pets!).
What about the older generation in your family? Are they up to speed with changes in advice and research around babies? Book your relatives onto my Grantenatal Workshop to help them refresh their wisdom! See the Grantenatal page for details.
Insured by Holistic Insurance
DBS
Vegetarian
Non-smoker
Pet-friendly
Still not quite sure what a doula is or does? Scroll down the page.
A note about doula fees
Birth and postnatal doula fees are calculated differently. A postnatal doula is engaged by the hour. A birth doula is on call for one client only, 24/7, and cannot take on work that would conflict with her availability for that client. We take this responsibility very seriously.
The birth doula fee is not affected by how long the mother was in labour for or what mode of birth she has.
Hiring a doula in London is expensive, so we devised our Doula to the Door and Doula in Your Pocket packages to enable more families to benefit, and our Get Me Started session is often all the new family needs! We keep our fees as low as we can and are very happy to discuss payment by instalments for all our doula packages.
What is a Doula?
Doulas are ‘trained or experienced lay women who provide social, emotional and practical support to other women during pregnancy and birth’.
A birth doula traditionally gets to know her client before the birth and stays with her throughout.
A postnatal doula comes to the home to support mum in practical ways and also should have good listening skills as well as evidence-based knowledge around newborns and birth recovery.
International evidence shows their ‘involvement is a cost-effective method to improve outcomes for mothers and infants’, and they can have an impact beyond the birth process itself’.
(Steel et al., 2015, cited in McNeish and Redshaw 2018:53), (Gruber, Cupito and Dobson, 2013:56).
And why should you have one?
Doula support in labour makes it 39% less likely for labour to end with a Caesarean birth.
Having a doula increases the likelihood of a spontaneous vaginal birth by 15%, and can result in 10% decrease in the use of any pain relief medication. On average, labours are shorter. The baby is significantly more likely to have a good Apgar score after birth.
Mothers supported by doulas are significantly more satisfied with their birth experience.
Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2017 Jul 6;7:CD003766. doi: 10.1002/14651858.CD003766.pub6. Continuous support for women during childbirth. Bohren MA1, Hofmeyr GJ, Sakala C, Fukuzawa RK, Cuthbert A. evidencebasedbirths.co.uk
Making padsicles! Lou shows how we make these soothing, healing must-haves for new mums.
If you are looking for something to give a mother-to-be, forget the cuddly toys.
Give them a Baby Experience Gift Voucher - to exchange for practical support & evidence based advice.
Find it in our shop via this button: