We recommend that families contact us in the second trimester but we can help with less time too. Just like most exciting adventures, it takes some planning.

Bridgetown Baby specializes in helping families create a postpartum plan that will provide the perfect amount of physical, emotional, and informational support for your family so you can fully rest, heal and bond with your baby, and start your parenting adventures strong and with confidence.

Simply fill out our Inquiry Form and we will schedule a free consultation & interview with our Founder, Merriah Fairchild, to get you started.

Bridgetown Baby affiliated doulas and lactation consultants are special. As a team, we reflect the diversity of our community. We are passionate about providing the highest quality, coordinated care for the families we serve while expanding our training, critically examining our biases, and actively creating social change.

Unlike a typical ‘baby nurse’ or ‘night nurse’,we take care of the whole family by tending to the physical, emotional and mental wellness needs of everyone.

As much as we would love to stay with your family forever, our goal is to work ourselves out of a job by helping you grow with strength and confidence. Of course we always want to keep in touch!

At the beginning of each visit, your doula will help you prioritize 2-4 goals for the visit. Examples include: a shower, a nap, help with nursing, cooking a pot of soup for dinner, giving the baby a bath together, and/or completing laundry. We can also accomplish a lesson on babywearing, provide you with time to return a few phone calls, and/or a sitz bath. We can also spend one-on-one time with the partner/papa/grandparent to focus on bottle-feeding, swaddling or simply answering newborn questions. Daytime visits are typically 5 hours in duration between 9am and 5pm.

The main goal for an overnight doula visit is to maximize the opportunity for families to sleep. A postpartum birthing parent may require considerable rest for physical recovery. And partners may also be running on empty and desperately need sleep so they can be present and available during the day. We encourage parents to stay in bed and let us do all the moving about. Our night visits are typically 9 hours (9pm-6am) but they can be adjusted to be 8-12 hours long. Your doula can assist with nighttime feedings by bringing the baby to you to nurse and return when you are finished, or bottle-feeding so that you can sleep. They can also help with light household support such as doing laundry or preparing a meal while you sleep. It’s modern day magic!

Our goal is for you to feel ready to parent with minimal doula support by four months postpartum. Typically by that time, you will feel emotionally settled and confident in your new routine. Essentially, our goal is to work ourselves out of a job.

Currently, most families welcoming singletons use frequent doula services until the baby is 4 months old. Single parents and families with multiples, premature or medically fragile babies, or family health concerns tend to use frequent doula services for six to eight months.
We often continue to provide periodic support up until the child’s first birthday.

All of our doulas are professionally trained and certified by a third-party organization (Birthingway, DONA, CAPPA), CPR-certified, and insured. Additionally, Bridgetown Baby offers its doulas ongoing continuing education and mentorship to further and develop their skills.

All of our doulas are trained to provide basic support and tips to help with latch, positioning, pumping, and newborn feeding behaviors. For many new nursing parents, this may be all they need and can be combined with daytime and overnight doula support.

Several of our doulas are also International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLC). They can provide a lactation consultation specifically focused on nursing support/troubleshooting, in the comfort of your home. This includes bringing a scale to your home, doing a full assessment, pre- and post-feeding weight checks, and creating a care plan that can be shared with your primary care provider and doula team.

Once nursing is established, we can make a unique feeding plan for each visit. During our overnight visits, we can bring your baby to you when s/he wakes. Then, we’ll get them back to sleep back when you are done nursing so you can spend the whole night in your bed! We can also discuss if, and when, you want to incorporate bottles as part of your overall feeding plan.

All of our doulas can help safely bottle feed with formula, pumped milk, donor milk, or a combination of all — without judgment. We can also assist with things such as correct positioning and cleaning of bottles and pump parts.
Where additional support is needed, our International Board Certified Lactation Consultants can advise on feeding plans that involve exclusive bottle feeding, transitioning from nursing to bottle, transitioning from bottle back to nursing, or bottle feeding in combination with breast or chest feeding.
At the beginning of each doula visit, we will help you make a unique plan for feeding to meet your goals for our time together. For overnight visits, we can take care of all the feedings if your goal is to maximize your sleep. We can also help teach family members and other care providers proper bottle feeding positions and techniques.

We are proud to partner with the following women-owned, local businesses to help you get exclusive discounts:
Full Circle Sleep: $50 OFF for packages $500 or more.
Birth First Doulas: $100 OFF for packages of $800 or more
Avyn Nursing Bras: 20% OFF
Sauvie Shrubs: 20% OFF
Fit4Mom: $20 OFF
PDX Waitlist: $25 OFF Childcare search.
HootNAnnie: Resale Boutique $5 OFF
Ready Set Grow Classes: One week FREE
Milk Run Farm Food Delivery: $15 OFF your first order. Plus free delivery.
Portland Pediatric Acupuncture: 25% OFF Initial Visit
Natalie Broder Photography:10% off Birth & Newborn Photography

We prioritize the health and wellbeing of our team, clients and their newborns above all else. If a doula or any member of their household is sick or symptomatic within 24 hours prior to their visit, we will find a substitute or reschedule the visit. Especially during the pandemic, we are being extremely conservative and erring on the side of caution.