Caroline Zwierzchowska-Dod

About Me

Doula Mama Baba celebrates the partnership between parents and their doula to help support the birth and care of a new baby. Doula Mama Baba – with you every step of the way.

My name is Caroline and I live in Cambridge and have another base in North London. As a doula I believe that there is no greater privilege than supporting families as they welcome a new life into the world. I love to provide families with continuity of care and carer through this amazing transition to parenthood or to enlarging their family. I have supported families at over ten births, in London, Essex and Cambridge and over fifteen families postnatally.

I enjoy constantly learning about birth, breastfeeding and infant development and am a keen advocate of research-based practice. As a mentored doula, I have access to a Doula UK mentor for support and advice and to debrief after attending births or postnatal work.

I enjoy supporting families of all kinds through the experience of childbirth and beyond, and can offer particular assistance with helping other children to participate in welcoming the new arrival as well as tips on ensuring family pets are happy and ready to meet baby.

I combine emotional and practical support with evidence based information for new parents and families.

My role as your doula is to support you as you make the transition to motherhood or as you grow your family. This involves offering social, emotional and practical support, as well as giving ideas of where to look for information to answer your questions. What I don’t do is offer clinical care for you or your baby, or give you advice on how you should labour, birth or parent – I will try to help you to understand the options available to you, so that you can make informed decisions that are right for you and your family.

Things I might do as your birth doula:

• Stay with you from the time you call me until after the baby is born and you are settled at home or in hospital. No matter whether your labour is 40 minutes or 40 hours, I will stay with you constantly to support you.
• Give you information that helps you to clarify your birth wishes and preferences
• Reassure you and comfort you
• Support you to try different positions for labour
• Ensure you have the information you need about choices in labour
• Offer a light massage or other soothing techniques
• Help your partner or birth partner if you have one to support you

Things I might do as your postnatal doula:

• Support you in feeding your baby
• Help with light household tasks
• Make sure you are looking after yourself
• Help with older children so you can have time with the baby(ies)
• Help with the baby(ies) so that you can have time to yourself or with older children
• Walk the dog or feed the cat
• Help you to learn how to care for your newborn by yourself

Things I don’t do:

• Offer clinical or medical support
• Advise you on how you should labour, birth or parent

Birth Support:

I will be on call from 38 weeks to support you from when you call through to after you meet your baby. Whether you want to birth at home, in a hospital or whether that changes during the birth, I will be there to support you and your family, to ensure your voice is heard. I will not offer clinical advice or medical care, that is the job of the midwives or other health professionals. I am there to ‘mother the mother’ and to help ensure your birth is how you want it to be. I can use my knowledge and experience to offer suggestions, options and practical help for you and your family. I will work with you, your partner if applicable and your healthcare providers to ensure that you and your baby are at the centre of all decisions made to help facilitate an amazing birthing experience, whether vaginally or by caesarean, at home, in a birth centre or hospital.

Postnatal support:

If you feel that you would like to have support in the first few days and weeks of parenthood, then doula postnatal support may be right for you. I can help you to adjust to motherhood through offering practical support and emotional care tailored to suit you. As your postnatal doula I can help by giving you time with your newborn by making you meals, caring for your other children or helping with light housework. I can also provide care for your baby whilst you rest or overnight or 24 hour support. I can support you to feed your baby, and help signpost you to services you may find useful. If needed, I can work with children or pets to help them adjust to life with the new arrival too.

Training and qualifications:

Doula training with Developing Doulas

Maternity Nurse training (Level 4) with Babyem

Breastfeeding Peer Supporter, trainee Breastfeeding Counsellor

Waterbirth study day

VBAC supporter training

Tongue tie study day

Closing the Bones massage

First aid

Enhanced DBS police check

Food Handling Level 2

Previously a foster carer

Public Liability insurance to £5 million

Bachelor and Masters degrees in Education

Testimonials:

“What a wonderful, knowledgeable, helpful and supportive doula! I couldn’t have asked for anything more, Caroline was amazing went above and beyond to help me through the last stages of pregnancy and labour offered expert advice and support and made me feel completely comfortable and relaxed during my quite traumatic labour constantly reassuring me and comforting me. Her ongoing support and aftercare is fantastic also. Would highly recommend this lady I can not sing her praises high enough for all she has done for me and my newborn.  Thank you Caroline xx”

Sam, 4th time mum

“I highly recommend Doula MamaBaba! Our doula has made a huge impact in our household! it’s like having a baby expert, trusted childcare, household support, and executive assistant all in one!

We engaged our doula post-natally, and within a very short time, she’s really helped us to have much more quality time together, to feel more comfortable and relaxed in our daily family life. It makes a huge difference — rather than worrying, juggling, and troubleshooting, I feel like we are enjoying early parenthood far more!”

Vivian, new mum

Caroline was an absolute life-saver as our post natal doula. We first contacted her when our baby daughter was a week old as we were desperately struggling with the sleep deprivation, troubles feeding, generally not knowing what we were doing and particularly exhausted after a difficult labour. She came for an initial 4 nights and we found her so helpful we asked her to come about 3 nights a week for the next 3 months or so! Caroline stayed overnight with us and helped me breastfeed so I could sleep between feeds. She took full charge of our baby (so winding, settling, changing nappies, working out when to feed etc) as well as supporting me with breastfeeding itself, but most importantly she helped us establish a sustainable way of handling the nights so we learnt a good rhythm and some good habits for when she wasn’t there. Having someone in your house overnight is very intimate so it was a relief that Caroline was so friendly and easy to get on with it. I also found Caroline to be extremely well informed with lots of experience and having read lots of research but she was also very non-judgmental and supportive- being able to ask her all sorts of questions and having her reassurance has been a great source of help and comfort as a first-time mum! My only regrets are that we didn’t contact her sooner and that we didn’t have her as a birth doula- if there is a next time we shall be asking to book her immediately.

Ellen, new mum

Caroline is everything I imagined I would want from a doula: supportive, caring and knowledgeable. She really went that extra mile beforehand to ensure we were totally comfortable and prepared for the home birth of our first child, taking the time to know our birth plan, understanding our wishes and I 100% trusted her to be on hand with support and expert advice on the big day.
Our baby came 11 days early and Caroline was there with us immediately, honestly I can’t imagine my labour without her, she knew exactly what to do and because the midwives came quite late it was Caroline who me and partner leaned on literally for everything from the start of my labour, communicating with the midwives and up to tucking us up in bed with our beautiful baby boy in the early hours.
I couldn’t recommend Caroline enough, I felt like I’d known her for years and that made me feel so comfortable and am so glad she was there for our birth. Thank you! xx

Gill, first time mum

“As a first time mom, I had my twins at 32 weeks and they spent a long time on the NICU. Caroline’s steadfast support and encouragement was absolutely invaluable, both in terms of practical help and helping build our self-confidence as new parents to two tiny babies who came home on feeding tubes and had no idea how to cope. We couldn’t have done it without Caroline’s help!” Mareike, mother to twins