Supporting Breastfeeding with the Thompson Method: Insights from Ayla Hartless
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Transcript
Welcome to Dula Tips and Tits, the podcast where we cut through the noise and get real about what it takes to build a sustainable doula business. I'm Kaylee Harrod. I've been a doula informally for 14 years and full time for seven. Around here, we don't sugarcoat stuff. We talk autonomy, owning your worth, creating a business that works for you. No fluff, no burnout, just the honest truth on how to be your own best boss.
Let's get into today's episode. Hello, and welcome back to Dula Tips and Tits. Today, we have another guest with us, Ayla Hartless. She is a birth and postpartum doula child birth educator and a Thompson Method breastfeeding educator based in Virginia, but a little ways away from me. So Roanoke, Virginia. And we're just getting a geography lesson because I don't know where anything in Virginia is. Ayla, thank you for being with us today. And I would love for you to share with our listeners a little about yourself and what the work is that you do. Thank you.
much for having me. I am so excited and proud to be here.
I'm actually a pretty new doula when we talk about like length of time being a doula. I've been a doula since 2022 but I've loved birth work since I was in eighth grade health class. You know like they do that. This is how babies are brought in the world and everybody's like oh that's gross and I thought that is the coolest thing I've ever heard. But you know being eighth grade I didn't tell anyone that. It just kind of stayed on the inside and I tried to figure out what I wanted to do and I went to college for education and that wasn't it and I worked in long-term care and which sounds really weird going from bouncing all over the place. I worked in long-term care doing hospice care and working with Alzheimer's dementia residents and while I did that I was pregnant and these sweet little ladies couldn't remember their names. They couldn't remember their families but they and they couldn't remember my name but they knew they loved me and they would tell me all about their birth stories and they would tell me all about their babies and they would look at my pregnant belly and it would bring back all these memories and so that kind of like reignited that passion of like this is so important. Like this early season of motherhood is what it shapes who we are as women and so that kind of I stopped working there when I had my third during COVID and after that I just jumped in full force and now I am certified labor and postpartum doula and I get to do childbirth education. I've ended up starting an agency which wasn't even part of the plan and I teach breastfeeding education as well through the Thompson method so it's been quite the journey and I'm so so grateful.
Yeah, I love that. How old are your three kiddos?
I have a 12 year old, a seven year old, and a four year old.
Yeah, man, that spans all the hormones.
Yes, we have been busy, but good busy.
Yeah, we have 14, 13, and 11, and it's just like Hormone Central is our current situation, but we've gone through every season kind of in unison, you know, because we're enough grouped together that they are like all toddlers, all elementary, all middle school, all high school. So yeah, we haven't gotten all to high school yet, but one day.
So talk to me about what kind of what has the journey been from when you first started to now in terms of business growth? Like when you first began, were you already certified in all the things that you're certified in now, or did you start with just one service or what did that look like for you?
No, it's definitely been a gradual process. I, it all really started because I struggled so much with breastfeeding, my first two babies, and it ended up finding the Thompson Method online as like, it was a Facebook ad and I clicked it, which is not usually my personality. Usually I just keep going, but I was so desperate to find something that was different, something that I felt like would work. And so I tried the Thompson Method, ended up having my baby and like, it was amazing. I had the best breastfeeding experience.
I had no issues. And so that, like, that combined with the, that feeling at the nursing home was like, okay, like this is the moment to do something different, to do something that I love, to love going to work, to help women. And so when they offered the Thompson Method Academy, I jumped into that and became an educator. And at the same time, I did my dual certification. And so that's really like what I did for the first couple of years. I recently, I started getting clients and people started spreading the word and things just took off, which is a blessing and it's amazing. And so I picked up postpartum and recently I've had other women who've come up to me and been like, hey, like, I would love to be a dual lover. I don't know what to do or how to do it. And I remember feeling that way, like all alone, into little work and not knowing what I was doing and the imposter syndrome and all the things that we struggle with, sorry. And so now I get to help walk these women through the process and help encourage and inspire them. And they encourage and inspire me to do more every day.
Yeah, I love that. That's part of why I started team this year, because I was like, I want to help you get started and also like, I have extra folks that I can't take.
So I might as well, like that runoff might as well go to actual people and you benefit from the fact that like my company is fairly well-known, you know, but also like I can then like mentor you through it and like be kind of a jumping off point even for you to have a thriving business of your own, you know, which is, I really love it. It's an awesome part that I also was not planning on doing.
Right. It's amazing when life just happens and it all works out the way it's supposed to and you look back and it's like, oh my gosh, just
Yeah. So grateful.
Oh, yeah. Yeah. I had an interview. I was on a podcast like 2023, probably in June or so. And I was like, no, I still do not want to have a team. And I had my first team member in July.
I was like, well, here we are. Like, nevermind. Like, that episode came out and I was like, that's already changed. I talked to you. Yeah.
10 year, like pie in the sky. Like maybe I'll do this in 10 years when I feel established, but I think the doula journey, and I don't know if this is like this for everyone else, but I feel like it was just being brave enough to jump in.
Oh yeah. Keep doing things scared and it's paid off. So to anybody who is feeling nervous, just start doing it.
Yeah, 100%. Well, and I think when you like, it's so easy to have this elusive amount of births or years or whatever, that would make you like experienced enough for something like an agency or something like a team or mentoring or you know what I mean? Yeah, that does not exist. Like that is not a thing.
And I think in a field where we get so little start off help, like in terms of establishing a business and things like that, like we're not it's not like there are like entry level doula positions, really, you know, and so, so we get trained and then it's just like best of luck. So in that scenario, if you've been doing this for one year, you have exponentially more information than that person does, you know, and that can be so valuable, even if you also are new ish to the field, you know?
Yeah. But in the doula, like our, our turnover rate is so high. I think because of that, because, you know, we go into doula work with all this passion and we want, we want to help and we want to serve women and we want to do this amazing thing to help other women or other, you know, help our clients. And then we get bogged down in all the business stuff.
And so really starting with the business, how do we, how do we run a business? It's not as hard as, you know, it doesn't have to be hard. It can be hard. It doesn't have to be hard, but how do we do that? And so I think that is huge because, and then like charging what we're worth. Oh my gosh. Yes. Like, like your time, and I tell my, my doulas that work with me, like your time's so valuable and your service is valuable. And I think, I think a lot of times people do a lot of unpaid work, doulas do a lot of unpaid work because we love it. And because we love our clients, that makes it very unsustainable. Like, yes, I want to do this for the next 15 or 20 years. I want to do this in some respect until I retire. And if I go home feeling resentful or I go home and I've been at a birth for 50 hours and I haven't seen my kids and it wasn't worth it for me. And it wasn't worth it for my kids to not have their mom and my husband, like, yeah. And I think that's huge.
a lot. Yeah, well, and I mean, divorce rates are creepy high for birth workers, burnout is creepy high.
And I mean, I think one thing that one message that's like one of my, you know, probably something I'll say until I die is that like, when you're giving services at no cost, there is a cost, the cost is your cost, like you are paying to give those services away. And there are times when you can afford to do that, right, but you need to live in the space that you're actually paying money to do this, not just not getting paid, like you're, you're in the negative in this sense, you know, and, and I do think we do so much at our own expense, that ultimately, like we cannot sustain doing and we take on burdens that are not ours to carry. Like I, like, I don't know, I, yeah, I don't need to go down that rabbit hole, but
It's so true. But not only that, but then we devalue the work of the doulas around us.
And so we build this culture that it should be free. And while we love for every single client that I come across to have a doula, I feel like everyone who wants a doula should be able to have it. But how do we do that and still value our fellow doulas in their time?
I think that's important. Yeah, well, and I mean, I think the reality is if you're doing it in a way that you are going to slowly burn out or quickly burn out, then you also are one less person who will be helping people in this space, right? And this space is so important to have help and have guidance and have education and have support. And then if we're just like ripping through doulas one year at a time, you know, then it's just like this perpetual cycle of not enough. And then not enough finances to keep it going, you know, which is just not sustainable either.
Anyway, all of my work is because of that. I love it. Like this whole branch of my business is because doulas really suck at sustaining themselves. And because I think we do so much of this by ourselves that we are just constantly second guessing too, right? Where we're like, I don't know, am I doing this right? Am I doing that wrong? Like how will I know? Because I just doula by myself all the time. And so that community piece is also part of what I think is really valuable in a team where like my team gets to see like when an issue comes up with a client, this is how I handle it. And this is what my contract says. And this is how I honor the time that you've put in, right? And get to see like what that can look like in a business rather than just be like, I am making all of this up as I go, you know? Which is exhausting.
And you just constantly live in that fear that you're not doing it right, whether you are or aren't. You live in that fear.
I think the best thing, one of the best things that I've done that wasn't intentional from the very beginning was find another doula who was even, she and I kind of started doula work around the same time and she lives all the way in Georgia. But we will talk almost daily, just checking in, talking about like this is the struggle I'm having with my client or here is the victory I just had like with my client or business questions, doula questions, all the questions, we will bounce ideas off of each other. And it's nice because we can encourage each other and cheer each other on and sometimes I feel like in doula work, it gets a little competitive. Oh, totally. Yeah. So like maintaining that like open communication, knowing that like we're only going to benefit from each other, no matter what is going to help each other. That has been the best gift. For both of us.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I joke sometimes about having like a business bestie and a doula bestie. I mean, it's true though, because it, I mean, for one, my business bestie is actually my best friend at this point. But, but she started out as mostly like, we both own small businesses, and we like are in adjacent fields, like she does sleep work, and I do postpartum and birth doula stuff, you know, and even just having someone to be like, Oh my gosh, why email automation is such a pain in the butt, you know, like, just that, like being able to vent with someone who actually understands what you're talking about is huge.
But also being able to be like, how would you handle this situation? If this was happening with your client, you know, and I mean, I have a number of peer doula friends who I can be like, this is what's going on, like, what would you do in this scenario? And they do the same with me. And I think the lovely thing in that is being able to a normalize like, oftentimes, it's like, I would do x, y, z, and they're like, okay, great, I was just making sure I wasn't crazy, like, I've done all of those things, right? But also, there are times where where someone will say, like, well, have you done this thing? And I'm like, Oh, I knew I was forgetting something, you know, like that space also normalizes that none of us are doing this at like, in an isolated way, really well, we do it better when we have some form of community and some form of being able to lift each other up, and help each other kind of get through, in part, because birth work is weird that like, it is always different, right?
Like, it's not a job that you show up and do the same seven things every time. Because each labor, each postpartum experience has different aspects to it. So this it's this constantly fluid situation, you know, that you're just like, kind of investigating as you go, you know? Yeah.
Yeah, we're constantly learning, which is part of what I love about it like it's never boring. It's never the same. We're always learning and growing and yeah, if we have a doula bestie or besties. We make each other better.
Yeah, I really don't think we were meant to do any of this like motherhood parenthood, any of it. I don't think we're meant to do any of it alone. No, never in this culture where we're so isolated and everyone feels like they're lost and like they're not doing a good job and then we have like we have our culture and TV and social media telling us constantly like you're not doing it, you don't, you don't have enough. You need this. You need that to make you're just missing one, one tip. Oh my gosh. We're really, we're kind of set up for failure. So having people come alongside us having a postpartum doula, having a doula, having someone else just in it to tell you, hey, like, you're doing a better job than what you think you are. Yeah. It's so valuable.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Well, I mean, I think when we think about the space of like constantly learning, right? I think that can be really awesome. And it can be such a challenge. Like having a job that is the same every single day, has got to feel like very stable and lovely. And I would imagine incredibly boring for me.
But also like showing up and being like, is this what's happening? Or is that what's happening? Like it's hard, you know, I joke that I'm going to write a book called birth is weird, because there have been some super strange scenarios where I'm like, I also don't know what is happening in your labor right now. Like what is going on? Why is your body doing this? You know, like, I don't know, it's anybody's guess.
And, and I mean, my clients kind of joke that they're going to be like the intro to the book, you know, like, they'll be like, are we a chapter now? I'm like, you are in fact, the chapter of my imaginary book that I will one day write.
I feel like, especially like when we come into this birth workspace, and especially like those first couple of births, we feel like we have to know all the things and we have to have answers for everything. And we don't because it is, birth is weird.
And yeah, these two different things. And yeah, not just the mom or, you know, the birthing parent. Yeah, it's also the baby. And yeah, who knows what the baby's gonna do. Um, yeah, so yeah, it's yeah, beautiful and fun. And yeah,
Bizarre. Well, and I think, I mean, anytime I have a chat with someone who's been doing this for more than a couple of births, right. I'm like, it's so good for newer doulas to hear us say, like we both regular. I mean, I would guess you also regularly have this situation. So we're like, Oh, what the heck is happening?
You know, but because I've done hundreds of births at this point, I don't think like, why don't I know I'm just like, what is going on with your labor? Like what a weird pattern, you know, it's not, it's no reflection of my novice, right. But when you're brand new, so often you're like, Oh, I should probably know about this and I'm like, no, nobody knows about this. Like this is weird. This is not within the range of normal, you know.
No. And I think it's important to talk to clients about that too. Like, I think it, like, we can feel intimidated, like, especially on prenatals, if we're like, well, you know, I don't know everything, but that's good. Like, we don't need to act like we know everything. None of us do.
And so, like, just being honest and not to build trust. It doesn't feel like it would build trust, saying, I don't, I don't know everything. But whenever I say, hey, I don't know everything in the prenatal, and then we're in birth and something funky happens. And I'm like, I wonder what's going on. This is a little, you know, this is a little different, but we can navigate this. And these are the things that we can do to walk through this. And we don't have to know everything, but we can still be confident in leading and guiding and so being able to calm in the unknown. Yeah, totally.
Totally, totally. So I want to chat a little bit about the Thompson method because I think it's less known.
And so I would love for you just to share what even is that so that people listening have a sense of what we're talking about.
Yeah, so the Thompson method is, it's a method of breastfeeding. Usually in the United States and around the world, there's like a traditional hospital model of breastfeeding education. And it's, for anyone listening, it's probably exactly what you've heard of. It's exactly what we've all been taught. And there's nothing necessarily like wrong with that. This is just a different approach.
It's a more gentle approach. It's more instinctive, which is part of what I loved about it. I remember with my first two babies, I struggled so much with like nipple trauma and supply issues. And these are the same issues that I've seen client after client after client struggle with. And every friend I've ever had who's had a baby, like they've all struggled with these same things. And so Dr. Robin Thompson is the founder of this method. And basically she saw all these same things too and thought, hmm, I wonder why? I wonder why women are struggling so much with breastfeeding to the point that like their breastfeeding journeys are really ending before they're even started. And so she ended up doing a ton of research, got her PhD and that PhD was the foundation of the method. And it focuses on painful nipple trauma. What causes it? How do we avoid it? And it's actually super simple. So super simple. It's a little fine tuning. It's just like how we bring baby to the breast. A lot of times with traditional breastfeeding education, we have a lot of extra hands in there. Like you've just had your baby and you're in the hospital and everything may have gone according to your birth plan. When we talk in birth classes, we talk all about the cascade of birth interventions and how do we avoid complications and how do we avoid unnecessary intervention? But we never talk about that for breastfeeding. And your birth will impact your breastfeeding journey. And so that's a lot of what we talk about in the classes that I teach that the Thompson method is how does your birth impact your breastfeeding journeys?
What are the myths that are actually setting you up for failure? How do we navigate that within a hospital system? How do we help you be successful? We talk about the three golden hours after birth instead of the one hospital golden hour. It's really not that much of a golden hour because you're during that golden hour you're trying to bond with your baby but you're also birthing your placenta. They're checking for tears. All the lights are on. There's tons of people in and out of there and it's not calm. You can't really focus on bonding with your baby. It's a little chaotic and that's just the nature of it. And by the time that everyone leaves here, it's really about 45 minutes into your hour. And they're- At least, yeah. Moving you in.
For a few minutes, I'll be back to weigh the baby.
Right. And so, you know, really, you waited nine months to get to bond with your baby. And you, you expect it to be one way, and then it's not like that. And so a lot of times that first breastfeed is also like, you don't know what you're doing, you feel lost. And you're doing the best you can.
Or the, you know, the pediatrician or lactation consultant comes in and they grab your baby and they shove your baby on your breast. And you're like, Oh my gosh, like, I didn't see this coming. And a lot of women even report like feeling violated. Yeah. And in no other situation, would we ever walk up to another person and grab their breath and grab them? Yes. Oh my gosh. But that's what we do.
like aggressive too. It's not just like touching like it's like sandwich this baby and shove it in your kid's mouth. I'm always like oh
Yes. And it doesn't have to be that way. And so that's what we talk about in the classes is like, how do we do this gently? How do we put the parent in the driver's seat? And how do we do this in a gentle way where they feel empowered? They feel encouraged.
But they also understand the basics of breastfeeding. They understand how milk is produced. They understand how milk processes through their baby's gut so that we can avoid a colicky upset baby. We can avoid reflex issues.
And I'm like, I'm not a lactation consultant. I never claimed to be. Yeah, I'm an educator. And so but by educating, we can set these parents up for success.
Totally. We can decrease postpartum depression and anxiety because they're armed with information. And then we also offer like postpartum complications or consultations, not complications we offer. We offer postpartum consultations. And we do this all over like, via zoom. You know, we don't even have to be in person because we're not going to touch your baby and we're not going to yeah, we're going to empower parents.
This is how you do it. And even like the partner. Yeah. Help with breastfeeding. Can you Hey, can you just make sure that like everything is lined up and symmetrical and like let them know if we need to do any math. So that they also feel involved in the breastfeeding journey, which is huge.
How do you you know, how do you support your partner? Can you make sure that they have a drink and a snack? Just little things like that. So everyone feels involved. Everyone feels included. We talk about milk volume, because that is a big stressor. Yeah, it was for me, like and I had a baby during COVID. And I remember being so grateful when I went through the Thompson method, so that I had a healthy supply. And I didn't just press when there was no formula.
Yeah, no my gosh, I had so many clients freaking out. And we were like searching everywhere for food for their babies. And that's like, That's like your worst nightmare as a parent. Yeah, oh, absolutely.
Yeah. And so like, we've even seen that more recently, like where, you know, certain brands have gone out and things like that. And it's so stressful and you're already stressed, you're already overwhelmed, you're already exhausted. Yeah. We don't need anything extra to worry about.
So I love the Thompson method. We also, even though I'm not a lactation consultant, I never will say that I am. So if there's anything out of my scope of practice, I have a whole team of lactation consultants that are trained in the Thompson method. We have a whole team of midwives and Dr. Robin herself that will give us a call and like work with clients. There's free, like ask the midwife calls. If you sign up with the program, you can just hop on and chit chat during pregnancy as part of them. So you have support too. It's not just a one and done class. Like yeah. It is a community of people that are there to support you, which is what we've been talking about.
Yeah, I love that. I mean, part of why I wanted to talk about it is that I like doulas to also know like what does it look like to add skill sets and add things to their repertoire, right? And we, I mean, I think, I know when I started, I was like, okay, I'm doing birth. And then like, I guess I should do postpartum. And someone was constantly harping me to do a placenta encapsulation, which I do not want to do, nor do I ever plan to do. But like lactation, I mean, I think eventually I wanted to be an IVCLT, but also like that process is long, you know, and so when you're thinking through, and I mean, I'm a child birth educator, so like layering on your services, I think one thing that can be really powerful is finding something you believe in and love teaching and love like supporting folks in that. It widens your reach, right? But also it's not something that people call you at 2 a.m. to do a Thompson method class, you know? So it's one more way that your body can like show up for this work without being on call, without being exhausted, you know?
And so when we're thinking about like doing this sustainably for a long time, eventually the physical labor is going to be something that we phase out a bit more because we have to, you know, as our bodies get older, as like life gets more demanding, right? Like whatever that looks like. And something like being a child birth educator, breastfeeding educator is a huge piece that you can also rely on in your business. I will also say for newer doulas that are listening to this, I think you have got to have some kind of foundation and early latching. And one of the things that I have seen consistently is that in a hospital setting, they have like, you know, I mean, the nurses are on a timetable, right? And so it's not their fault that they're like, hey, baby should last by this time. Like we should weigh the baby by this time, right? Like that's part of their actual protocol in their job. So I don't fault them for that. That's how that system is set up. And it's not set up for bonding. It's not set up for early latching, going smoothly, et cetera. But what I consistently see is most babies are not trying to latch until 30 to 40 minutes postpartum. Like they're not coming out latching immediately in most cases, right? Also, if a baby is not earnestly looking, like searching for a nipple, they're not ready to latch. And so if we shove them onto a nipple, they're just gonna literally sit with it in their mouth. Like, and then we're like setting up our clients to think that they can't do it. Something's wrong. Their baby doesn't know how. I'm like, no, she's just like still pissed that you shoved her out of you, right? Like she's not ready. And when we give them time to actually start searching, and if we're assisting at that point, we also set up the success rate to be so much higher. And like you said, like set up our clients. Like I can't tell you the number of clients who've said to me, we saw the lactation consultant in the hospital, but like basically like we breastfed with sick hands while she was here and then she left and we don't have sick hands.
And so we don't know how to do that. If we don't have a third human with us, right? And I'm like, yeah, that's the problem. Is that like she did it on your body, but you don't know how to do it on your own body and you have to do it every couple hours. You know, like this isn't something, you can just wait till you see her again.
You know, like, no. Anyway, we could get a lot of soap boxes.
Well, and another tough thing is a lot of times when someone else is manipulating your breast into your baby's mouth, that nipple ends up somewhere weird. It ends up in a gum line, it ends up up in the roof of your baby's mouth, and then we get horrendous nipple trauma. And then you end up going back to the lactation consultant, then you end up with nipple shield, then you end up formula feeding. And like, this is that cascade of breastfeeding interventions that we, we talk about, and it doesn't have to be that hard. All of those things are 100% avoidable. 100%.
And then we have moms that are at home with their babies, and they're recovering and they're resting. And if they have a question, they can give us a call. They, they have been empowered, so they usually don't have as much support. But like you were saying earlier, I want to go back to like the diversifying your stuff, if that's okay. Yeah, yeah, of course. Like, you don't have to do it through the Thompson method, but I would highly recommend like, lactation educator correspond some kind of lactation education and learn for yourself. I would recommend maybe not going through like the more traditional methods, like for something that's instinctive based, something that's gentle, because the hospital can offer the hospital model of education, but it's not to work. Yeah, unfortunately. So there are there are other methods. I mean, I love the Thompson method, not always promote it, but there are other methods so that you can show up best for your clients. And support them in those early hours.
Yeah, yeah, no, I agree with that 100%. I want to wrap us up just because we're gonna get super long otherwise.
Wonderful. Thank you so much for taking the time to hang out with me today and share all this beautiful knowledge with the folks listening. Is there a last thought that you have? Like when you're thinking about your newer days as a doula? Is there something that you wish someone had told you?
I think it would be to find community, honestly. I think that will make or break us as doulas.
Get out there and be brave. Get to know your hospitals. Get to know the other support providers in your community. One, they're gonna send you referrals. If you build a relationship, they're looking for people to connect their patients and their clients with, so why not have that be you? But also, they are support resources for you also. To build community. So that would be my recommendation is be brave and just go do the thing.
Yeah, I love that. Thank you so much for taking the time to hang out on the podcast. All of Ayla's information is in the show notes. So if you want to connect with her, you can do that. Look in the show notes and see her social media and her website. And I will see everyone in the next episode.
Thanks, Kaylee. Thanks for joining us for this episode of the Doula Tips and Tits podcast. If you learned something today or had an aha moment, we'd love for you to share that on Instagram and tag us at hiradoula so we can celebrate alongside you. If you found this podcast helpful, we would so appreciate you taking a second to leave a rating and a review on your favorite podcast app. That helps other doulas find us as we do this work together. This podcast is intended as educational and entertainment. It is not medical advice or business advice. Please consult your own medical or legal team for your own needs around your health and your business. We'll see you again soon.
As we chat with various doulas about their experiences I love showcasing different ways people come to this work and also different ways they do this work! Ayla Hartless is our guest today and she’s sharing her own experience with breastfeeding and also how she has supported her clients!
Quote from Ayla:
“I've been a doula since 2022 but I've loved birth work since I was in eighth grade health class. You know like they do that. This is how babies are brought in the world and everybody's like oh that's gross and I thought that is the coolest thing I've ever heard. But you know being eighth grade I didn't tell anyone that. It just kind of stayed on the inside and I tried to figure out what I wanted to do and I went to college for education and that wasn't it and I worked in long-term care and which sounds really weird going from bouncing all over the place. I worked in long-term care doing hospice care and working with Alzheimer's dementia residents and while I did that I was pregnant and these sweet little ladies couldn't remember their names. They couldn't remember their families but they and they couldn't remember my name but they knew they loved me and they would tell me all about their birth stories and they would tell me all about their babies and they would look at my pregnant belly and it would bring back all these memories and so that kind of like reignited that passion of like this is so important. Like this early season of motherhood is what it shapes who we are as women and so that kind of I stopped working there when I had my third during COVID and after that I just jumped in full force and now I am certified labor and postpartum doula and I get to do childbirth education. I've ended up starting an agency which wasn't even part of the plan and I teach breastfeeding education as well through the Thompson method so it's been quite the journey and I'm so so grateful.”
Meet Ayla Hartless
In addition to being a wife and mother of three wonderful kiddos, Ayla Hartless is a certified birth & postpartum doula, Thompson Method Breastfeeding Educator, and Childbirth educator. Ayla is dedicated to empowering and supporting women on their motherhood journey. With a background in education, social work, and person-centered care, she founded Born Motherhood LLC to foster a community of personalized support for expecting families.
CONNECT with Ayla:
https://www.bornmotherhood.com/
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Doula Tips and Tits is produced by Kaely Harrod of Harrod Doula Services
It is sponsored by The Doula Biz Blueprint Self-Paced Class for Doulas Launching Successful and Sustainable Businesses!
Music by Madirfan: Hidden Place on Pixabay
