Laura offers daytime postpartum doula care.
About
As the oldest of 4 siblings, I started my caregiving journey early in life and it’s evolved in wonderful ways. I started my professional life in social work, and my experiences in that field include a hotline work, community organizing and education, inpatient mental health care, and support group facilitation to name a few. After my kids were born, the lack of postpartum care and support our society provides became painfully clear to me, and I felt strongly that I needed to be part of the solution. Baby carriers helped me a great deal as a parent, so I started teaching babywearing lessons, and attended professional babywearing educator training. Shortly after setting up Wear Your Little One, I met a postpartum doula who graciously told me all about her magical job. Her work felt so significant that I got trained straight away, and now over a decade has gone by! I’ve served over 70 families with over 80 babies as a postpartum doula.
In addition to providing direct support, I teach part time at the University of Pittsburgh School of Social Work. Since 2018, I’ve been trying to influence new social workers to consider the importance of perinatal health. I’ve served on the PA Maternal Mortality Review Committee since 2024.
I believe that parents need a tremendous amount of nurturing in the early days of child rearing, but they are seldom given that level of support, and doula care can have a profound impact on those early days. I believe that simple, gentle postpartum help with eating, sleeping, emotional care and baby information are all essential and that our doula role bridges fills in gaps left by other systems.
Testimonials
We are an immigrant family with both of our families being on different continents and friends scattered all over the country and the world. Having Laura with us in the first months of our son’s life was absolutely lifesaving. She kept us sane and made us confident in taking care of the newborn. Her calming voice, fantastic sense of humor, zero judgment, and what most important: baby whispering skills;) made a whole difference difference in the way we started our parenting journey. She helped us to see the world through the baby’s eyes and grow compassion to this new human that is figuring out our loud and messy world.
Among many things that I’m going to list below, Laura helped us to understand how to divide the baby care efforts between mom and dad when it’s only two of us, we just returned from the hospital, mom had an emergency c-section and our baby was going onto cluster feeding marathons.
And now onto the list of practical help we received from Laura!
– we learned how to understand our baby cues fast and easily
– mom was getting time for naps, mastered baby wearing, was supported physically and mentally (I’m pretty sure that one two many times I accidentally turned Laura’s visits in a therapy session:))
– baby was rested and entertained, we remember zero fussing or crying, hence we started calling Laura a baby whisperer
– we still make pumpkin bars and peanut butter chia balls (3+ months after Laura’s visits, her recipes are the best in flavor AND simplicity!!!), laundry was folded, dishes were done, water bottles were refilled, and I am sure many more types of help was provided by Laura that got lost in the brain fog of the first months!
Needless to say that we miss her and would recommend Laura as a postpartum doula without any hesitation! We want to specifically highlight that she is very intelligent, data-driven, and empathetic!- Yulia & Cesar
Tl;dr You should work with Laura!
I didn’t even know postpartum doulas existed, but someone recommended Laura to me when I was looking for a doula to support my birthing process. After speaking to Laura and learning about her postpartum services, I realized that this was actually more important to me.
As a first-time mom, I especially appreciated having the support of someone with extensive experience caring for newborns and their families. The first few weeks after giving birth are a blur, and Laura helped unblur them. She simply showed up and took care of things — without taking over things. She manages to be supportive without being intrusive.
I don’t think I could have even articulated what I needed, but Laura somehow figured it out and took care of it. This includes simple things like making sure I was fed and hydrated, but she also provided great advice on baby care issues.
A major bonus is her babywearing expertise. I never thought I’d be able to figure out those wraps, but thanks to Laura it feels like second nature now.
Anytime I tell friends with kids about my experience, they say they wish they had the same. If I ever had another kid, I would still work with Laura because I know her support would be useful no matter how many times you’ve done this.- Alex
I cannot recommend Laura highly enough as a postpartum doula! From the moment she stepped into our home, her gentle and reassuring presence made a world of difference. She provided invaluable guidance, empowering us to trust our instincts and encouraging us every step of the way.
My husband and I both see Laura as a role model for the kind of parents that we aspire to be. Her warmth and wisdom shone through as she taught us practical skills, including babywearing. We feel that babywearing was hugely beneficial in helping our baby develop core strength and head control early on, but more importantly became a special bonding experience for my husband and daughter. Even now, at six months old, he continues to babywear, creating precious moments together.
Navigating the early days of breastfeeding was challenging, but with her support, I was able to find success with breastfeeding in a way that worked for me. Beyond the practical advice, Laura created a safe space for us to recharge. She was always there to answer our questions, no matter how small, and made us feel confident in our parenting choices. Her encouragement to listen to our intuition was invaluable, helping us grow into the parents we wanted to be. I am so grateful for my experience working with Laura. I will never forget it!
Thank you, Laura, for your unwavering support and guidance during this transformative time. You have truly been a blessing in our lives!- Brynn