Compensation for backup doula?

[Mama Coltrane]

I am a backup doula for a busy doula. I started wondering if people get paid or some kind of compensation for that . I travel an hour each way just to meet the clients at times. I am trying to figure out how to do this.
Any ideas?

[April422]

Originally Posted by Mama Coltrane

I am a backup doula for a busy doula. I started wondering if people get paid or some kind of compensation for that . I travel an hour each way just to meet the clients at times. I am trying to figure out how to do this.
Any ideas?

Is the backup more of a formality?
Meaning for the most part she's doing all the on call work and you're just backing her up when she has known times when she's gone and you might actually get to attend one of her births?

Or are you expected to live the "on call" life so that if she needs you at any moment, you're there?

If it's the first then the arrangement I have with backups is that if they do the birth in my place, they get the balance due, plus a fee for the prenatal visit.

If I expect them to be on call because my schedule is so unpredictable then I'd have to discuss what they thought was fair for their "on call" time.

There are also mutual backup arrangements where I don't pay the backup for her on call time because I also back her up when we've both got clients and are both living "on call". In that case we take the balance due if we attend the birth of the other doula's client.

[Mama Coltrane]

There are specific dates throughout the month that i am on backup and I live the in call life for those dates. That part isn't getting me down. I am wondering about the visits with the clients and such. Does your back up doula meet every client and is there reimbursement for that? I am trying to figure out was is reasonable. The doula charges $400 for her services. I really like doing the backup and having the opportunity to perhaps go to another birth, but the extra driving and phone calls to the clients feels like work and I am starting to feel I need compensation , but I cant quite figure out the numbers

[MidwifeErika]

I don't get paid for back-up, but at the same time, I don't pay her for when she is backing me up either (unless time is spent at the birth). However, if I was always the back-up and never needed her to back me up and spent a whole lot of time going to meet with clients, I would only think it was fair to be paid a little bit for your time. It is a big plus to her business to have a back-up and to let the mothers meet the back-up before the birth. I don't know what amount would be fair.... $30/meeting? $50? I am not sure..... what were you thinking?

[tlcdoula]

Originally Posted by Mama Coltrane

I am a backup doula for a busy doula. I started wondering if people get paid or some kind of compensation for that . I travel an hour each way just to meet the clients at times. I am trying to figure out how to do this.
Any ideas?

When I work with a back up we usually do reciprical work so do not ask one another to compensate unless the birth is attended. I honestly never have my back up doula meet my clients, but one woman I work with does ask me to meet her clients. I do so when it is convenient to me - for example the other day she wanted me to meet a client so I scheduled it when I would already be in that area otherwise it would have meant driving 40 minutes for me.

[rnchrista]

We don't usually meet each others clients unless there is an increased chance that the other will be called to the birth (i.e. high volume of births that month, going out of town, etc). If that is the case, we attend the prenatal appointments together and split the fee for that. Whoever attends the birth gets the birth fee.
We are attending more and more appointments together though and it seems like it is going to work out really well. The clients are starting to see us as interchangeable which is going to give us more flexibility in our personal life.

[Defenestrator]

I have a couple of friends I back up for doula work and I tend to do everything by barter with them -- if I can't get them to repay me by doing a birth, then they might through childcare or some other favor.

With the other doulas in my community, though, I usually charge $50 for a prenatal and then $30 per hour (up to the doula's fee) for the birth. I used to pay and offer to pay half of the birth fee for backup work, but I charge more than many other doulas in my area and so it wasn't entirely equitable. Also I have found the very few times that I have used backups that I usually only need a few hours until I can get there, so half the fee would probably not be fair.

[Sarahfina]

One of the doulas here offers $50 if you are working back up for her, just for "being on call." If you attend the birth, she gets the $50 and you get the birth amount (so the full amount minus the $50.) This has been adopted by most doulas in town. In my opinion, we make so little as it is here, and offering backup exchanges seems so much nicer that taking money from one another. However, everyone else seems most comfortable with the $50 back up rate, and so it is....

Sarah

[Mavournin]

Originally Posted by Sarahfina

One of the doulas here offers $50 if you are working back up for her, just for "being on call." If you attend the birth, she gets the $50 and you get the birth amount (so the full amount minus the $50.) This has been adopted by most doulas in town. In my opinion, we make so little as it is here, and offering backup exchanges seems so much nicer that taking money from one another. However, everyone else seems most comfortable with the $50 back up rate, and so it is....

Sarah

This is how it is around here too. Only in our area, doulas are able to charge more so the backup rate is about $200.

[Mama Coltrane]

Lots of good ideas, thanks.

[Maggi315]

I've done backup for other doulas (when I was a doula, I don't take clients now) and also had backup. We never exchanged money, but I think if I had to travel that far, I would ask for some compensation, at least for gas and time.

[Amydoula]

In my area, the back up birth doulas get 50 dollars just to be the back up. If they actually attend the birth they get half the full fee. I do postpartum only so this isn't an issue for me as much. I do have someone who will do back up for me if needed but usually my clients just wait for me to get back from being sick or on vacation or whatever. When I have used my back up she just makes the full amount I would have made that day. I don't take anything out of it, I'm just grateful to have her.