DOULAS by the BAY LLC, El Cerrito CA

I had the pleasure of working with two post-partum day doulas through Doulas by the bay, Leah Hartog and Emily Pulsfus. Both were fantastic, and I am so grateful to have had them support me and my family during the first six weeks postapartum. Leah was my postpartum doula for the first three and a half weeks after the birth of my third child. She was warm, nurturing, and caring. It felt amazing to have someone so focused on the well being of myself and the baby. For example, she made sure I was well fed with whole some and nutritious lunches, and made tasty and healthy snack plates so I'd have something to eat in middle of the night while I was breast feeding. She always encouraged me to get the rest that I needed (especially as I was recovering from a c-section), and was so great with the baby! We also worked with Emily for about 2 weeks - she was equally amazing. She was incredible with the baby, and was always willing to pitch in and help to make our lives so much easier during the hectic days with a newborn and two toddlers.

Our journey through pregnancy, induction, labor, and postpartum was made incredibly special and comforting, all thanks to the remarkable support provided by our doula, Pontsho Tsiane. From the very beginning, she enveloped us with tenderness and care, making our experience truly unforgettable.

As first-time parents, my husband and I were navigating uncharted waters, and having Pontsho by our side was an absolute blessing. During the induction process, she was a calming presence, offering guidance and encouragement that helped ease our worries. Her expertise was evident as she walked us through each step, ensuring we were informed and empowered to make the best decisions for our family.

What stood out most was Pontsho's genuine compassion. Her unwavering support and dedication went above and beyond our expectations. Throughout labor, she was a source of strength, providing comfort techniques and emotional reassurance that carried us through the toughest moments. Her presence allowed my husband and me to focus on each other and the new life we were bringing into the world.

After the birth, Pontsho continued to demonstrate her remarkable commitment. She intuitively understood the importance of giving us time to rest and connect as a family. Her thoughtful visits provided us with the opportunity to recharge, knowing that our precious newborn was in capable hands. Her postpartum check-ins were a lifeline, offering guidance, reassurance, and a listening ear during those early weeks of parenthood.
My husband and I can't thank Pontsho enough for her instrumental role in our journey. Her tenderness, care, and unwavering dedication have left an indelible mark on our hearts. If you're seeking a doula who will support you with kindness, expertise, and genuine care, Pontsho is an absolute gem. Our gratitude knows no bounds, and we wholeheartedly recommend her to anyone embarking on the beautiful journey of parenthood.

I also had the opportunity to meet with Brandi for a lactation consultation beforehand. Her session was incredibly informative and helpful in understand the feeding journey and expectations. Her session is informative without being overwhelming and provides you with all the information you need.

I cannot recommend DBB more highly! We used them to find an outstanding postpartum doula who spent 18 nights with us over ~6 weeks. DBB was super communicative throughout the process and provided us several doulas for us to interview with. We settled on Cassilde who could not have been more amazing and became one of our family over those early week of our son's life. She provided my wife and I invaluable overnight relief and insights into how to handle our son and his early development. Additionally, DBB provided outstanding resources on birthing and the early life of our child.

This review is for Desola, a night doula with Doulas by the Bay. The agency is really great at lining up doulas, after speaking to a few I immediately connected with Desola. She was so nurturing and caring right from the beginning even before I signed up. Once our baby came, she was simply amazing. I don't know how she does it staying up all night and giving care and love to a newborn baby. She was flexible about the days and we did not have to schedule ahead of time, some days if I needed a few extra hours, she would be there for me. As a recovering mom with another toddler in the house, having Desola was the perfect thing. My husband did not need to help much and got his sleep which helped made our days much better. Additionally she went above and beyond to take care of not just baby but us, be it rock and hold the baby for hours so mom could get sleep or helping cut some fruits so mom is well fed while breastfeeding. She also acted as a great support if the days were going harder.
I have recommended her to friends now and they all love her. Please ask for Desola when you talk to the agency:)

I worked with Genevieve as my postpartum doula and she was absolutely incredible. She was amazing with my baby, was super knowledgeable about every question i could think of asking her and was an incredibly huge help to me when she was with us. I cannot recommend her enough.
Doulas by the bay is a great company, easy to work with and even better that they have women like Genevieve in their ranks.

Doulas by the Bay helped me create an amazing home birth experience! It was a completely restorative, supportive, loving experience. I delivered (successful VBAC) my beautiful 8lb 9oz baby boy in a calm environment where I felt empowered and in control. I highly recommend Doulas by the Bay. My Doulas were Samsarah and Priscilla and they were my dream team!

I can't rave enough about Brandi, my lactation coach from Doulas by the Bay. She really helped me with overcoming breastfeeding challenges in a way that made me feel good about myself. If you need/ desire lactation support, do not hesitate to hire Brandi. She's absolutely amazing!

Words can't express our gratitude for having Esther by our side for the first 12 weeks of our baby's life. Esther was absolutely amazing and we couldn't have asked for anything better in a night doula. Esther is patient, kind, knowledgeable, loving, and has a good sense of humor. Her years of experience as a mother and breastfeeding helped earn my trust quickly to take care of my baby during a very new and delicate time. Thank you Esther for all that you do. Any family would be lucky to have her.

I absolutely loved my time working with Damaris and Martha. As a new mom, they were very supportive in teaching me about motherhood (how to use my breast pumps, different feeding positions, if a certain behavior is normal, etc.). They both were very nurturing to me during a time that was new and scary and for that I will always be grateful! I highly recommend working with them.

We have had a really positive experience working with Bose for postpartum nighttime support for our daughter. From the interview process to welcoming her to our home, Bose has been very prompt, professional, and invested in caring for our daughter. Bose was quickly able to get our daughter acclimated to her crib and into a sleep routine (5-hour stretches, yay!) as a newborn. My husband and I were able to get abundant sleep while feeling secure that our daughter was getting the best care. We also feel like we have a solid sleep/feed foundation so that when our contract is up and we return to work, we can easily transition to full-time night care ourselves. I would recommend Bose to anyone seeking a doula, especially those with newborns and premise.

This is a review for doula Leah. She has been the most amazing support we could have asked for in the first two months navigating parenthood. Her calm demeanour and wealth of experience in everything from lactation to baby care is second to none.

She taught us so much as first time parents: everything from the best way to soothe a fussy baby; how to deal with the dreaded diaper rash; even using baby signs! Her guidance and hands-on help have made all the difference to our journey.

Overall we are very happy with Doulas By The Bay and the services we received. Definitely recommend!

We hired a night doula, Bose to help us with our 1st child. She was great with the baby. He grew very fond of her. She also helped me figure out nursing techniques, answered my new mom questions, and was a caring support person for me (helping with laundry, nighttime snacks, etc.). We looked forward to the nights she was with us.

I also worked with Brandi for lactation support. She met with me before the baby came and was an ongoing support throughout nursing. She made a home visit during the first couple of weeks and was on call via email and phone for any additional support/questions. I had a ton of nursing and pumping questions and she patiently answered them all. She helped my nursing journey get off to a great start.

Thank you DBTB! So glad we found you.

I had a fantastic time working with Doulas by the Bay and absolutely loved my experience with our night doula, Desola Amos - Desola was instrumental in our baby's first milestones and I'd highly recommend working with her as she's extremely caring and reliable.

DBB introduced me to three doulas and I immediately felt a strong connection with Desola. She was amazing throughout the care process, including prior to giving birth, during the birth, and for postpartum support. For example, Desola regularly and proactively checked-in with me in the weeks leading up to birth, providing helpful stretches and techniques for relaxation. Post-partum, she showed great care not only for the baby once he was born, but for all family members, including checking-in with our elder son on how he was adjusting to being a new brother - we thought her approach was very considerate and another example of how she always went above and beyond.

Desola brought solid experience and expertise in newborn/infant care and provided various levels of support: this ranged from providing guidance on breastfeeding/pumping, helping me navigate postpartum challenges, training our baby to sleep, and establishing a schedule for sleeping with our baby. She always brought high-energy, a positive demeanor, and demonstrated genuine care for our baby - she provided us with comfort that she was fully invested in detecting and monitoring our baby's cues for feedings, sleep, and any discomfort (e.g, reflux).

Finally, Desola not only provided exceptional care for our son, but also helped us with bottle prep, laundry, and other care items for our boy - this saved us a lot of time. We are grateful to Desola for helping us peacefully sleep at night and would highly recommend her as anyone would be beyond lucky to have her support!

In advance of the birth of our second son, we knew we would need some extra support and sought out Doulas by the Bay for part-time night and day support in the first few months of his life. This was one of the best decisions and made all the difference in easing the transition from 1 to 2 children and reducing stress for me and my husband.

We got to know a few different doulas very well so I'll take this opportunity to sing their praises individually:

- Genevieve helped us out a few days a week for the first couple of months and she is an absolute pro baby whisperer angel helper. We were so sad when it was her last day, every time she came over we breathed a sigh of relief. She had so much wisdom to impart about baby development, feeding, napping, etc. She helped us troubleshoot issues, helped get our baby to take long naps in his Snoo, and generally was a kind listening ear for a tired, somewhat anxious new mom of two. When baby was sleeping she anticipated so many of our needs whether it was folding laundry, organizing pump parts, helping out sometimes with our toddler (who also loved her). I cannot recommend her enough, she has the best gentle kind energy and is SO amazing, reliable and hard-working at her job. Thank you thank you Genevieve!
- Rufina helped us with night support for the first few months and is also amazing. Similar to the above, whenever Rufina arrived we were so happy. She has a kind, warm energy and took such great care of our baby during the nights - making sure he was warm, fed, and happy. She is steady, reliable, and has a quiet, calm confidence that makes her perfect for this work. We would highly recommend her to anyone.
- Damaris - we only had her for a few days but she had the same great energy and loving care that we experienced with the other doulas.

Highly recommend all of them! Doulas by the Bay is a great service that takes the guesswork out of finding help when you can least afford to be spending time endlessly researching and reference checking. I felt a lot of confidence and peace of mind using their services and highly recommend to any postpartum mama or family wanting extra support - it is so worth it.

We had Damaris caring for our baby for 3 blissful months, 3 times a week. It was amazing! She was enthusiastic, kind and very reliable. She always showed up 10 minutes early and genuinely seemed to care about our baby. She helped us at the 4 month mark teach our baby how to sleep through the night. Could not recommend Damaris more highly! You would not regret having her help at night. Also we were very Covid careful and she was as well. She always wore a mask in our home.

Doulas by the Bay was also great about checking in to make sure things were going smoothly. And they provided several people to interview so that we could find the right fit for us. We are so happy we picked Damaris but all the options seemed good.

As a first time mom I was very nervous regarding labor as well as the entire pregnancy experience. My amazing doula Coral Jeanne Smith was instrumental in providing emotional support as well as recommendations for everything from nutrition to exercises to turn a sub-optimally positioned baby. Coral is well versed in Hypnobirthing, Spinning Babies, massage, and other nonpharmacological interventions that contribute to a more comfortable birthing experience. Coral is supportive and nonjudgmental. She makes recommendations, but does not push an agenda onto her clients. Thanks to Coral's calm presence and advocacy, I was able to cope with the stages of active labor, transition, and ultimately safely pushing out a sunny side up baby, which can be challenging to say the least! The transition from pregnancy to postpartum has been tough due to sleep deprivation, but Coral has provided consistent guidance and reassurance with breastfeeding and other aspects of newborn care.

Shakila is worth her weight in gold! Shakila has the most calm and sweet demeanor and walked us through every question we had as first time parents. Shakila has our son sleeping through the night in 2 1/2 months and continued to give us support through some of the tough months after her assignment was over. Our first months of being new Dads were better than we could have imagined. Our son is now 15 months old and has been taught to self soothe and continues to sleep through the night because of Shakila. The education and peace of mind that has come from having in our home is priceless. I can't say enough good about Shakila and her group!

Munira was our night doula for three months and boy is she a treasure! Before our son was born, we were on the fence about hiring a doula. But from the very first night that Munira spent with us, we knew it was the right decision. Her warm, kind and calm personality made it easy to welcome her into our home and trust her with our son. As new parents, we were anxious and exhausted. Munira taught us so much about caring for a newborn and gave us expert advice on things like nursing, bathing, swaddling, bottle feeding and diapering. Her guidance was exactly what we needed and we quickly became more at ease and confident with her help.

Our baby was especially gassy during the first couple of months and the massages Munira gave him were the only thing that comforted him. She also took the time to teach my husband and I how to massage him.

Munira allowed us and our son to get more and more sleep with each passing week. Our baby became a great sleeper, and at 3 months he was already sleeping up to nine hours a night.

Any family who gets to work with Munira will be very, very lucky!

A great experience from start to finish: Shakila listened to my needs, gave me the opportunity to interview several doulas, and made payments and contracts extremely easy to complete. We chose Maria Rivera as our birth and postpartum doula, whose expert, nonjudgmental, holistic and caring support before, during, and after labor has felt crucial to our positive birth and postpartum experience. Can't sing high enough praises for our experience with DBB and Maria!

I was looking for a sibling doula and reached out to Doulas By the Bay just a month before my due date. It's strange I found them so late, given that I had spent several months looking for.a birth and postpartum doula as well. Shakila was super responsive and I had a great initial consultation with her. Around the same time I had found a few nannies and sitters that were willing to commit to being a sibling doula to my son but I felt more comfortable going with DDB as I felt I could depend on them and wouldn't be left in the lurch last minute. As it happened, Shakila quickly lined up 4 excellent choices for me. Our sibling doula arrived for a couple of play dates with my son and showed up promptly at 1.30 a.m. The morning my labor began. When we had a small hitch in the weeks preceding my labor, Shakila was able to offer a solution that made our lives at a stressful time so much easier. So glad I found and chose DDB and I highly recommend them. It's a collective with many doulas, there may be an occasional mismatch but know that you're working with an honest and reliable backend team led by Shakila.