Why are Doula fees so high?

It’s a fair enough question, when you see a fee between $1000 – $2000 it seems astronomical. So I am going to break it down for you.

Your Doula is committed to your care from the moment you hire her, which means she will call you, email, text and visit you. She must make herself available to you when you require, sometimes that means anything between 2 – 5 visits to your home, which can be 1 – 3 hours in length each.

Most Doulas have families of their own, they must pay for childcare/ babysitting for your visits, both antenatal and postnatal, as well as labour and delivery.

You may have a relatively short 6 hour delivery, or you may have a labour that is 24+ hours. Your Doula commits to that time when you sign the contract to engage her services.

Your Doula is on call from 3 weeks before your due date until you deliver. This means that she takes on no other clients, works no other job, has her phone handy, does not organise nights out, trips away, and will be ready to fly out the door at a moments notice.

Your Doula typically will carry massage oils, snacks, labouring aides, and sometimes even sanitary products such as bluey’s, sterile gloves etc. in case of emergencies.

Most Doulas have their preferred work clothes and footwear, I wear scrubs because they are comfortable, easy to move around in, and launder well. We get many a bodily fluid on our clothes over the course of a birth.

If we break it down into a list at minimum wage:

Home visits: Average, 1.5 hrs x 6 = 9 hours = $135
Labour and delivery: Average, 8 hours = $120
Phone calls, text, email: Average, 6 hours = $90
Fuel: $20 per visit, 6 visits = $120
Babysitting $15 per hour x 17 hours = $255
Snacks/food(during labour and delivery) = $15 -$20
Hospital parking & Tolls: Average = $25
Labouring aids/ Sanitary supplies = $15
Uniforms: Annually = $100
Advertising = $120

Total = $1000

Without adding uniforms and advertising, my take-home fee is around $225.

When you look at it in this perspective, it is not a large, profitable business, but that’s not why we do this job.

Being a Doula is probably the most rewarding labour of love work I have ever done.

We do it for the love of it, the honour of being invited into your lives and sacred space. To support women, empower them, give women a voice and autonomy over their own bodies. To watch a woman bloom and grow into a mother, to be able to educate, so that women will advocate for themselves and their babies. To show women that they are designed to give birth, to take away fear and replace that with confidence.

We gladly and happily sacrifice sleep and time to be the doula you wished for.

The doula that you deserve.

Have you considered working with or have you worked with a Doula in the past? Share with us below.

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14 Comments

- - mom160421 said
  - 30 Oct 2017
    12:44 pm
We didn’t use a Doula. I was happy with the care we received from my doctor and the hospital staff.
- meedee replied
  
  09 Dec 2021 , 11:08 am
  I was the same with all 3 of my kids. I had zero complaints about the hospital staff.
- - mom94125 said
  - 29 Sep 2017
    1:13 am
no i wouldn’t use one but i would prefer being in the safest setting possible

- - ella12 said
  - 21 Feb 2017
    4:11 pm
It is not something I would consider.

- - mom81879 said
  - 10 Jan 2017
    8:57 am
I had never heard of a doula until I found MoMs. Not something I would have used. They seem expensive too

- - rovermum said
  - 31 Oct 2016
    10:15 am
It’s all about choice and having options. If a Doula is your thing, you’re obviously prepared to pay for the service.

- - robyn_smithwick said
  - 28 Oct 2016
    11:22 pm
I do like the concept of home births unless they are in a hospital setting. I HAVE SEEN a lot of complications that occur and if they were at home there would have been disastrous consequences. Is a doula a qualified registered midwife?
- robyn_smithwick replied
  
  28 Oct 2016 , 11:25 pm
  I MEANT TO SAY IN MY PREVIOUS COMMENT THAT I DONT LIKE THE IDEA OF HOME BIRTHS UNLESS THEY ARE IN A HOSPITAL SETTING WITH ALL THE FACILITIES TO COPE WITH AN EMERGENCY ETC.
  - mom134803 replied
    
    29 Oct 2016 , 3:18 am
    
    Home-births in a hospital setting ? don’t think you can call that a home-birth anymore
- - june11 said
  - 05 Oct 2016
    10:28 pm
A patient should be obligated to cover advertising costs.
Surely trained midwives can follow your birth plan if you give them one.
If you live in the outback where there is no hospital nearby you should move to a town where this a good hospital available. Make sure they can administer aenasthetics in case you need a C-Section. It can make the difference between life and stillborn for your baby if there is a problem. I know of one such case.

- - mom101628 said
  - 25 Sep 2016
    11:55 pm
So pleased I never had to worry about this. Public system to have my children and everything went well.

- - nealsq said
  - 20 Sep 2016
    10:05 pm
every professional has fees, you want their services you have to pay

- - mom160421 said
  - 20 Sep 2016
    10:56 am
I never considered having a Doula as I was happy with the care I was receiving from my GP and maternity staff.

- - mom134803 said
  - 18 Sep 2016
    3:35 am
No, I never considered working with or have you worked with a Doula in the past.
And my time to get children is over, so it’ll never come to that either.