Lea Mara Postnatal Doula
About me
Hi my name is Lea Mara and I am a postnatal doula, I Live in South Chailey, East Sussex with my partner Sunni and our two boys, Felix and Huxley. And of course our tiny dog Bonnie and big dog Rupert.
We Love being outdoors, exploring, foraging mucking about!
I don’t like to put a label on myself, if I had to, I would say I parent in an attachment/Gentle way, in a trying my best kind of way. We are doing our best to live in an eco friendly way where possible for us. I want a safe and happy future for my children!
I am half German, half Brazilian. I sadly do not speak Portuguese, I do however speak German. I grew up in Germany until I was 12, at which point my mother and I moved to the UK. I have lived in Sussex ever since. I attended the Brighton Steiner School and then attended BHASVIC for 3 years. In the last year at BHASVIC I did an apprenticeship in Health and Social Care, this apprenticeship, as well as my godmother and my partners mum being midwives, is where I found my passion for working in maternity settings.
I love learning, I am curious about other traditions and ways of doing things. I am always on the look out for courses and workshops.
I am currently completing the Breastfeeding London Course, which is taking longer of course due to Covid19 and not being able to do lessons in person. I love learning anything and everything about Infant feeding. I am extremely passionate about providing infant feeding support and supporting everyone to be able to breastfeed successfully.
However, I would like it to be clear that I have no preference in how a family feed their infant, as long as an informed choice has been made that is best for the infant and the caregiver. Sometimes there is no choice either. So please feel safe in the knowledge that I am here to support no matter how you feed your infant.
Before I became a mother myself I worked as a Maternity Care Assistant on the labour and postnatal ward in Brighton. I quickly became passionate about supporting families in the postnatal period. This passion increased when I moved working into the community here in haywards heath as a Maternity Support Worker and then again when I became a mother myself.
Becoming a mother for myself was an amazing and terrifying, wholesome and confusing experience. It showed me even more how incredibly vital good postnatal support is, not only to the mother but to the whole new family! It sounds cliché but a new and growing family really does need a village. Someone bringing meals, doing chores in the house, simply listening and helping with older children or pets can make a huge difference to new parents. Allowing parent/s to simply enjoy their baby, have time to bond and process. It takes time to get to know one another as a family and learning to trust their own gut.
I have worked as a cleaner in my first job, since then I have always worked with families either as a Maternity Care Assistant, a Maternity Support Worker, Personal Support Worker and a Support Worker in a safe house. I have loved my past experiences and am so grateful for everything I was able to learn through these different roles. I am extremely excited about being a Postnatal Doula and feel honoured to be allowed to support new and growing families in my community.
My Experience and Training
I did my postnatal Doula Training with Younique Postnatal, Victoria Greenly in September 2019. Since March 2020 I have been working as a mentored Postnatal Doula. Doulas do not need to be mentored, however I would like to be part of Doula UK. Families I work with will have contact details for my mentor, so they can make contact with my mentor at any time and if I need support I am able to make contact with my mentor.
I have done training Holistic Sleep Coaching (mini) course with Lyndsey Hookway to support families with infant sleep, in a gentle way, with attachment at the forefront at all times.
I have completed the level 4 OCN Infant Allergies, Colic & Reflux Training with Babyem. I am able to support you with Colic, Reflux and Cow Milk Protein Allergy and Lactose Intolerance.
I am trained in the 3 step rewind technique, I am able to support you with unwanted feelings and thoughts stemming from your pregnancy, birth or postnatal period. The training was done with Mark Harris, see Birthing Awareness Training
I have done the Peer support training to volunteer as a breastfeeding peer supporter within the NHS.
I have been giving infant feeding support as part of my various roles since 2009.
In September 2021 I completed my Infant Feeding Coach training with Dee Bell, Birth Baby and you, I love learning anything and everything about infant feeding. I am extremely passionate about providing infant feeding whatever the situation. I have completed Postnatal Recovery Massage training with Sophie Messager and Teddy Brookes.
My Experience Of Becoming A Mother
Please bare in mind that this is only a very brief reflection of my own experience. With both my pregnancies I suffered with Hyperemesis Gravidarum. This made the pregnancies not a nice experience at all. With our first one, I was separated from my son for the first 4 hours of his life due to him grunting. We struggled with breastfeeding for the first 3 months. This was extremely difficult, not only because it is extremely upsetting to struggle with feeding but also because I thought I would be ok, seeing as most of my job in maternity settings was spent providing breastfeeding support. Becoming a mother was an emotional roller coaster for me. I suffered with postnatal depression and anxiety.
I vowed never to get pregnant again as the hyperemesis was so debilitating. However, along came our second son 🙂 The pregnancy was horrible again, however much better controlled due to my previous experience, a great GP and the pregnancy sickness charity, www.pregnancysicknesssupport.org.uk
Sadly when he was born he aspirated meconium. He had what the doctors called good “old fashioned meconium aspiration”, something that does not happen very often at all anymore. He was ventilated, medically paralysed, sedated and cooled. We were not able to have our first cuddle until he was 1 week old and we were only able to initiate breastfeeding once he was 2 weeks old. You would not believe it as he is an absolute boob monster, had no trouble feeding at all and he is now a complete tank, full of life and love!
Reviews
Lea is the loveliest person, she is kind and will help and support post natal ladies with empathy and always going above and beyond. Lea has lots of experience and anyone who has Lea as their post natal Doula will have made a fantastic decision!
Lea is a wonderful person and a fantastic doula – she helped my family out so much during the first few weeks of my sons birth. She was knowledgeable about breastfeeding and bonding and her help was instrumental in providing a calm environment to me and my baby. I would recommend her to anyone
Trust worthy and reliable in tough times . Lea is knowledgeable and calming.x