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Photo of a couple and a doula. Text: Meet Earlyn, a doula in East Bronx. New Yorkers can access quality services at low to no cost to make pregnancy, birth and infancy easier.

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Doula Care

Doulas provide non-medical support to pregnant people and their families before, during and after childbirth. This support can help families handle the physical, emotional and practical issues that surround childbirth.

Learn about no-cost doula services through the new Citywide Doula Initiative.

Studies have found doula support leads to better labor and birthing experiences, as well as better birth outcomes. People giving birth with support from a doula are less likely to:

  • Have an instrumental vaginal birth or cesarean section
  • Have their labor induced
  • Receive pain medications

They are also more likely to:

  • Have a shorter labor
  • Initiate breastfeeding earlier and breastfeed for longer
  • Have positive feelings about their birth experience
  • Have better mother-baby bonding

Types of Doulas

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Birth Doulas

These doulas meet with you before and after childbirth to help prepare you for birth, breastfeeding and parenting.

During labor and birth, birth doulas can help you stay comfortable by providing comforting touch and guidance on breathing, relaxation, movement and positioning. Immediately after birth, they can show you how to maintain skin-to-skin contact and breastfeed your baby.

Birth doulas can also help you with hospital policies and encourage respectful communication between families and hospital staff.

Postpartum Doulas

These doulas begin their work with families in the first few days after childbirth. They can provide evidence-based information on physical recovery from birth, emotional well-being, infant feeding and parent-infant bonding. They can also help with cooking and other household duties. This support gives you the time you need to rest and focus on your baby.

A postpartum doula can also help you understand what you can expect from your baby and provide infant-soothing and coping skills.

Community-Based Doulas

You can get free or low-cost support by using a community-based doula. These doulas are trained to focus on the needs of specific communities that historically have had worse birth outcomes. They often share the same background, culture and language as their clients.

Community-based doula programs conduct home visits and offer a wider array of services and referrals for people who need more support. The relationship that develops during home visits can be particularly helpful for clients looking to expand their social support network.

These doulas are trained to address all the needs of their clients, including referrals to food pantries, housing programs and sources for free diapers.


Finding and Paying for a Doula

In New York State, doula care is now a covered benefit under Medicaid. A list of doulas who accept Medicaid, by county, is available in the New York State Medicaid Fee-for-Service Doula Directory.

Some private insurance companies cover at least part of doula costs. To find out if your insurance covers doula support, speak with your insurance provider.

If you have a pre-tax account, such as a Healthcare Savings Account or Flexible Spending Account, you may be able to use it to pay for doula support.

Several doula programs in NYC also provide free or low-cost services.

Many doulas practice independently, but some are also part of a doula organization. These groups may offer services at various prices, based on the amount of experience the doula has or the client’s income.

Several organizations host online directories that may help you identify a doula to meet your needs. To suggest a program for the lists below, or to request a correction, email CDI@health.nyc.gov.

Programs Offering No-Cost Doulas

Bronx


Brooklyn

  • Healthy Women, Healthy Futures
    Brooklyn Perinatal Network
    718-643-8258, x21
    dwest@bpnetwork.org

Manhattan

  • Healthy Women, Healthy Futures
    Caribbean Women’s Health Association
    718-826-2942
    CWHAdoulas@cwha.org

Queens

  • Healthy Women, Healthy Futures
    Caribbean Women’s Health Association
    718-826-2942
    CWHAdoulas@cwha.org

  • HoPE Doula Care Program
    For people receiving care at H+H/Elmhurst or Queens Hospitals
    In partnership with Family Connect, Caribbean Women’s Health Association and Ancient Song Doula Services
    646-619-6721
    You can also ask your prenatal provider for a referral to the HoPE Doula Care Program

Staten Island


All Boroughs

The following two programs also offer paid services on a sliding scale:

To suggest a program for this list, or to request a correction, email CDI@health.nyc.gov.

Additional Doula Organizations in NYC

The following organizations have provided information about their services to the Health Department. For more details, see Appendix D of The State of Doula Care in NYC 2024 (PDF). Note, this is not a complete list of organizations providing doula services in NYC.

Doula Directories

To suggest a program for this list, or to request a correction, email CDI@health.nyc.gov.


How to Become a Doula

If you are interested in becoming a doula, there are several local programs that offer training and apprenticeships. For more information, contact the below organizations directly. Many national organizations also offer doula training.

Once you are trained, you may work in private practice or reach out to one or more of the programs listed above about joining their team.

Programs Offering Doula Training


Correcting Racial Inequities

Doula support is a promising way to reduce racial inequities in birth outcomes. Currently, babies born to Black and Puerto Rican mothers in NYC are three times more likely to die in their first year of life than babies born to non-Hispanic White mothers. Further, non-Hispanic Black women are eight times more likely than non-Hispanic White women to die from pregnancy-related causes.

Research shows that families in a community-based doula program are less likely to have a preterm or low-birthweight baby, which means they have a lower risk of infant mortality.

Supporting Doula-Friendly Hospitals

Supporting organizational culture change to build anti-racist healthcare systems can increase access to doula support. The NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene employs this strategy through the Citywide Doula Initiative (CDI) and the Maternity Hospital Quality Improvement Network. The Health Department partners with community-based doulas to support maternity hospitals in developing and implementing doula-friendly policies and practices.

The Hospital Doula-Friendliness Guidebook (PDF), Sample Doula-Friendly Fetal Monitoring Policy and Procedure Manual (PDF), and Principles of Doula Support (PDF) outline steps that hospitals and doulas can take together to improve hospital doula-friendliness.

State of Doula Care in NYC

The NYC Department of Health produces an annual report describing the state of doula care in the city. The report reviews challenges for patients in getting doula support and outlines the Health Department's plan for expanding access.

Additional Resources

More Information