When did you look for a doula?

[whiddle]

At how many weeks pregnant do people normally look for/hire a doula?

[EricaDoula]

Well, I'm a doula so I'll share my opinion! You should began looking around 12 weeks or so. Meet with a few doulas and decide which one you really click with best. For women who wait until 20-30 weeks, you might miss out on the doula you really want, because that doula may have other clients already booked for around your due date! Hope that helps!

[neonalee]

We just booked ours last week at 27 weeks. We starting contacting and interviewing at 22 weeks. I think we were definitely at the tail end of when the decision should be made. A couple of things that worked in our favor were living in a big city with a strong doula presence, and we ended up going with a company that many doulas contract with. I spoke with the admin about what we were looking for, she supplied 2 names that were not yet booked, we interviewed them and actually liked both. If neither of them had clicked the admin would have happily worked with us to setup additional interviews.

[evjolin]

i started early, around 8-10 weeks. we have tons of doulas in our area, so read their info on websites, talked to several on the phone, and then the first one we met with we loved and that was that! been meeting once a month ever since. good luck!!

[texasfarmom]

I started looking at around 12-14 weeks. There are not many doulas in our area, I think only two. We were lucky that we really liked her and she was available for our due date!

[sere234]

We started looking around 12 weeks but didn't decide until 20 weeks!! It was hard to decide between my two finalists since they both seemed great!