Welcome!
We are Julia Larson and Erin Chapman, a birth, postpartum, and lactation support doula partnership based in Berkeley.
We offer:
Birth Doula Support
Postpartum Day Doula Care
Postpartum Night Doula Care
Comprehensive Lactation Support
Extensive Postpartum Meal Planning & Preparation
Sleep Consulting/ Shaping
We share an immense passion for both the transformational value of birth and the sacred, very tender freshly postpartum period. We enjoy supporting clients through both of these very important but often very different transitions.
We are seeking clients that are intentional about their birth and postpartum preparation and seeking an engaged and experienced doula duo to amplify their efforts and preparation.
We believe in maximizing the impact of our care with our clients, not minimizing the time we spend together— this often looks like more frequent and thorough prenatal visits, more pre and early labor support, and more robust postpartum contracts that can span 4 or more months after birth.
Unlike other doulas that may be on call for 5 or more births at a time, because we work with only one to two families at a time we offer both guaranteed birth attendance and plentiful immediate postpartum support availability.
We enrich our support by also being an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant (IBCLC Erin) and soon to be IBCLC (Julia). We are able to weave in comprehensive feeding support into both our prenatal preparation and postpartum support contracts. Having daytime and nighttime advanced lactation providers at hand (medical grade weights, latch and positioning help, feeding plans) is rare in the doula support world and something we see that really sets apart our partnership.
We are looking forward to getting to know you more to see if we might be a good fit!
through the questions and planning of pregnancy, to the intensity and miracle that is birth
through postpartum and early parenthood, from the first latch to the 3rd blow out diaper of the day
through sitz baths, foot rubs, and 2am cups of tea for all the laughs, cries, joys, and firsts of welcoming a new life into the world
we are with you
Shared Offerings
Birth Support Package | $3600
(booking priority given to those clients also looking to add postpartum care (day/nights/both)
at least 4 prenatal visits
1st: getting to know one another, creating a birth plan, aligning on birth goals, childbirth education Q&A
2nd: prenatal breastfeeding education and preparation
3rd: comfort measures, creating a partner support tool kit, creating an early labor plan
4th: postpartum planning, 30 min neck and back massage, movement & balancing for optimal fetal positioning
Continuous birth support upon labor & delivery
at least 2 postpartum home visits
1st: “Welcome home” postpartum visit within first week of life (lactation support, newborn care, swaddling, sleep, soothing etc.)
2nd: Special, unique closing visit, 1 month after birth to pamper birthing person with herbal bath, and hold time to reflect on birth from greater distance
Unlimited email and phone support throughout your pregnancy
Guaranteed birth attendance
Free TENS Unit rental
iPhone Birth Photography
In home postpartum 30 mins photography session w/ Julia between delivery and 6 weeks of life
up to 20 digital images and prints as desired
Postpartum Day or Night Support | $85/hr
Day Doula Support
Newborn care, tips, and guidance
Physical & emotional support for the birthing parent(s)
Extensive handmade, nourishing, and delicious meals
Household tasks (dishes, laundry, & keeping home)
Massages, meditations, conversations, laughs, cries, and so much more
Day shifts are usually 4-8 hrs in length and concentrated M-F
For contracts with more than 80hrs of day time care, our contract includes a custom postpartum menu to plan our food preparation around your tastes and dietary needs
Night Doula Support
Newborn care while you rest (diapering, burping, soothing baby)
Breastfeeding, bottle feeding, or pumping support
Helping to create a nurturing & quiet environment to support the whole families rest
Extensive sleep consulting and shaping (many of our clients see 6-8hr long infant sleep stretches by 4-6 weeks of life)
Night shifts are usually 8hrs from 10pm-6am and concentrated during M-F
Note: This add-on includes an additional home visit with both Julia & Erin for a tour of your home/kitchen, a discussion on your priorities for postpartum support, and a sample day or night schedule walk through
Let’s work together.
Interested in working together? Fill out some info and we will be in touch shortly! We can't wait to hear from you!
Erin and Julia were the best support team we could have envisioned and hoped to have for our family. A warm, professional and highly skilled duo, they brought an outstanding quality of care to me as a first time mom, my partner, and our baby. I felt surrounded by family every time one of them walked into our home. Their holistic, 360 degree care approach and ability to anticipate our needs is exactly what we were looking for and could not find anywhere else.
I felt deeply cared for and respected by Erin during my prenatal visits with her, and I was so well prepared for my birth.
The postpartum care and lactation support provided by Erin and Julia, including nourishing meals, back rubs and words of encouragement meant the world to us.
The newborn expertise both of them brought to the table was instrumental in making us feel confident, and their night support was essential in giving us the rest we needed to be the best parents we can be.
Birth and postpartum are such vulnerable times for a family, with Erin and Julia we felt truly at home throughout the entire experience. We wholeheartedly recommend them and feel so fortunate to have them in our lives.
—- Vera, Rafa, & baby Rada
Testimonials
We met Erin while admitted to the hospital 8 weeks before our due date, and she and Julia became a critical part of our postpartum journey once we brought home our 6-week premature baby. Erin and Julia have brought so much care, light, joy, and warmth into our lives; they seamlessly integrated into our home and our lives at a particularly difficult and vulnerable time. Their holistic, all-inclusive care allowed us to truly enjoy our experience as first-time parents. They created countless opportunities for relaxation, nourishment, and growth, from teaching us how to be more conscious and present parents to encouraging us to continue doing what brought us joy before birth.
Erin and Julia were very intentional about centering the mother postpartum, ensuring that I was taken care of physically, mentally, and emotionally. They provided massages, head rubs, herbal baths and steams, and laughter and comfort as each situation required. They integrated this care while still performing countless other tasks around the home and caring for our baby. This care made me feel seen at a time when first-time mothers can frequently feel overlooked and overtired. Julia also offered to take stunning film photos of our family, allowing us to encapsulate and truly celebrate this time in our lives.
Erin and Julia are excellent cooks and made countless nourishing meals throughout their time with us. They seamlessly integrated into our home and kitchen, frequently helping us use up ingredients and bringing their own ingredients to create nutritive and truly delicious meals. We felt like we had family cooking for us, and we truly underestimated the nourishing nature of a warm, home-cooked meal served to us while they took care of our baby.
We thrived with Julia and Erin's care, guidance, and nourishment – so much so that we extended our contract. We look forward to seeing them through the years and cannot wait to work with them again should we be lucky enough to rely on their support for another child.
— Deeva, Michael & Baby Sameer
Erin & Julia provided the kind of care to my little family I didn't know *existed* in this country.
Our UCSF birth was complicated, but Erin & Julia are one of the reasons we reflect back on it with gratitude and agency. Once we were home from the hospital, every early week was dotted with a meeting with Erin & Julia and they were like mini-meditations in that newborn era: lessons on how to do it and the feeling, as they departed, that we could.
Everything we know, we learned from Erin & Julia -- from how to breastfeed, bottle feed, how to pair the two in a way that supported our goals and our baby's health. Their home visits and hands-on teaching were invaluable, and always swiftly documented with an email our sleep-deprived parenting brains could re-read for reference. Their advice on low milk supply always centered my well-being with my baby's.
Without Erin & Julia’s instruction, it would have been easy to feel occasionally scared or at a loss -- but we're coming to the end of our parental leave feeling closer than ever as a family. That feeling wouldn't be possible without Erin & Julia.
— Caroline, Corbin, & Baby Lucius
Just a few more amazing examples of Julia’s film photography — black, white, or color film photography in home or hospital, capturing any part of your journey, including pregnancy, during labor/birth, newborn focused or of the whole family postpartum.
