doula

noun

dou·​la ˈdü-lə 

plural doulas

: a person trained to provide advice, information, emotional support, and physical comfort to a mother before, during, and just after childbirth

Research shows that childbirth does go more smoothly with a doula: labor is 25 percent shorter, the need for epidural pain relief is 60 percent less and the Caesarean section rate is reduced by half.

—Susan Gilbert

Examples of doula in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Luckily, a doula was also stuck in the traffic jam and helped the family deliver the baby girl while emergency crews were on the way, the family said in a statement shared with American Medical Response on Sunday. — Megan Fahrney, ABC News, 21 Sep. 2026

Anna Carpenter, a nighttime nanny who is trained and certified as a postpartum doula and newborn care specialist, has seen firsthand how much overnight support can ease the demands of those early weeks and months. — Tereza Shkurtaj, PEOPLE, 14 Sep. 2026

Falchuk is part Oprah Winfrey, part death doula, part celebrity Grim Reaper. — Michael Schulman, New Yorker, 5 Sep. 2026

Patients, doulas, and physicians are often responding to different versions of the same birth. — Debra Eluobaju, STAT, 3 Sep. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Modern Greek, female helper, maidservant, from Greek doulē female slave

First Known Use

1969, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for doula

• beulah
• chula
• gula
• hula
• kula
• ula
• betula
• blastula
• fistula
• radula
• regula
• scrofula

Medical Definition

doula

noun

dou·​la ˈdü-lə 

: a woman experienced in childbirth who provides advice, information, emotional support, and physical comfort to a mother before, during, and just after childbirth