A little more about me...

My name’s Beth, though I often go by Betty, and I am a qualified birth and postnatal Doula living in Penge, South East London. As the youngest of five girls from a large Mediterranean family, I have grown up surrounded by strong, inspirational women and, in turn, a fair few babies!

When I was 7 years old I proudly told my parents ‘I don’t care what my job is or where I live, when I grow up I just want to have babies- loads of babies’ and, whilst I may have only had the two, it was having children of my own combined with a desire to not only work with, but support, nurture and empower women and birthing people that lead to me becoming a Doula and founding Born New.

So what is a Doula? The word ‘doula’ comes from the Ancient Greek δούλα meaning ‘female slave’, however, since the 1960’s, Doula has come to mean someone (not necessarily a woman) who supports, cares for and provides comfort and safety to a person during their pregnancy, birth and the postnatal period. As a Doula, I see myself as an advocate for the mother/birthing person and someone who is there to build confidence and bring out the strength and power you have inside you, even when you doubt yourself! Both pre and postnatally, my approach balances warmth with pragmatism, informed and evidence-based expertise with kindness and calm with strength.

I work closely with families of all shapes and sizes to create a bespoke service to meet their needs and respect their choices. I am a keen advocate for increased inclusivity in birth work to ensure all people feel seen, heard and empowered. As such, I will always ask for preferred pronouns and you shall see phrases such as ‘breast/chest feeding’ and ‘birthing person’ used in my work.

Being a Doula is a huge honour and it would be a privilege to work with you and your family as you go through one of the most awe inspiring, love-fuelled, dizzying and transformative experiences life has to offer.

“There is no perfect birth, just the one that belongs to you”
— Ina May Gaskin 

Services

For full information on the various services I provide, please visit the Services page of my website, however, here is a brief overview to get you started. Please note, I do not list prices on my website as I prefer to offer families a bespoke service and am always keen to be as inclusive as possible, removing barriers to those wanting to access the very best for themselves and their little ones.

Birth Preparation

You find out you’re pregnant. Great! But what next? The overwhelming joy of finding out you’re going to have a baby can be quickly followed up by an overwhelming amount of information, ‘must-have’ (often expensive and unnecessary) products, gadgets and apps. Let’s find the calm in the information storm with these focused, guided sessions that leave you feeling prepared, self-assured and informed.

Birth Doula

First, I wish to share my gratitude with you for allowing me to be present at the birth of your baby/ies and, in turn, your own becoming a parent. How you and your partner (should you have one) wish to approach this process will very much be lead by you, but I will be there to advocate for you, educate, care for and ground you, keeping you calm throughout your unique, beautiful birth.

Postnatal Doula

As your postnatal Doula, I aim to instil in you a sense of calm confidence and the feeling that you are in control and able to manage the, often overwhelming, transition into parenthood or life with a new born, even if they’re not your first. As with all my services, but particularly with postnatal support, the work I do is very much lead by your needs and lifestyle, however, my work includes (but is not limited to) birth debrief, breast/chest/bottle feeding support, caring for the baby whilst parents sleep/rest/bathe, safe-sleep guidance, meal preparation (including an additional meal delivery offer), support with older siblings and light housework/tidying.