Recently I had the exciting opportunity to interview Juan Irby II. Juan is a postpartum doula for dads. Here’s an excerpt from our conversation together.
Juan, tell me a little bit about how you got started as a postpartum doula.
I am Juan Irby. I am a postpartum doula for dads and also for families. I'm located in the North Carolina area--the Charlotte/Concord area. I started my journey with my first son, my first child. I went through postpartum depression and anxiety. You know I was having those feelings, okay, I'm not getting enough sleep. Is he okay? My life is changing; my life is not normal anymore.
And as a man, we're taught, “Don't cry. You're okay. Man up.” Things like that. But it's okay for men to cry. It's okay for men to seek help. Seeking help does not mean being defeated at all. And so, when I looked at go seek help there was no help in my area.
So, years go by, a friend of ours came over for Memorial Day, and we started talking about being a postpartum doula. So, I looked into it. I signed up that the next month. And in June, I became a certified postpartum doula and my business is called From Dad to Dudla. So you can find me on Instagram at dadtodudla and my website is www.dad2dudla.com, and I provide services for families, for dads. If you just want to talk and have one-on-one connection, you can share your story; I can share my story. And we can just chat, and go from there. But, my background is in business.
How much do you work in person versus virtually?
So I haven't done any in person yet. I've just done more virtual. I've had a few clients in Seattle, and one in Arizona, and we talk on a weekly basis just to get to know each other and also for me to see where their head space is. I want to make sure that, as a dad that they are not being forgotten in the fourth trimester, and because most dads are forgotten either in the birth or after birth, and I want to make sure that they are not forgotten because they play a great role in their child's life.
What are some of the challenges that dads often face?
Some of the challenges that I've seen, were dads being afraid of not having that one on one bonding time with their child or children. And what I would totally recommend is skin to skin contact. Skin to skin contact is very important within these first few hours of the child's life. And because having skin to skin contact is having your child listen to your heartbeat so it's going to regulate you and also going to regulate your child. It's going to catch on to your hormones, and it's going to calm you down, and also going to calm your child down as well. And just having that skin to skin contact is also going to regulate your child's temperature as well. So just making sure that that contact is there, that's going to start the bond of you and your child and you can do it from an hour, two hours, three hours, as long as you want to.
I love that so much. What else do you like to focus on when you're working with families?
What I like to focus on is the mental health of mom, dad, brother, sister, and everybody that want to be involved in that family. I know most people don't talk about it but I like to prepare a postpartum plan. And by having a postpartum plan, that lets you know, okay, who is going to be allowed to come into my house? Who's going to be allowed to touch my child or children? Who can, you know, do this and do that? And by having that plan and posting it on the refrigerator, or whatever, that gives them, Okay, this is what we need to do. If a baby is crying, okay, why is the baby crying? Is it hungry? Does it need to be changed? And just making sure that all of those options are there on that plan, so that mom can know, dad can know, because we have a lot of first time parents, and they really don't know how to do those things or how to change the diaper how to babywear, and I'm a huge fan of babywearing also.
Do you have any tips about babywearing?
I love the Moby Wrap classic. It's a large sheet of fabric. And I would use that for my skin that skin. So I will take off my shirt, wrap my son up in the Moby wrap, And he will be up against my chest, and also allowed me to get housework done, because he would fall asleep in the Moby Wrap. So while he's still asleep I was able to get things done, and have a sense of normalcy, while he was sleeping. And there tons of wraps out there. You have the Moby Wrap. You have the Katan. There's so many out there and I do recommend babywearing as skin to skin contact. Or just open up your shirt, put him in a blanket and just hold him close.
Do you have any favorite resources that you like to tell parents about?
I do actually, I like to tell people about Postpartum Support International, and being a PSI coordinator for dads. I like to recommend dads to come to the support groups that we have at Postpartum Support International. And they can share their story. They don't have to talk. But if they choose to talk, it's a group of men in there who share their stories. We come together. We have a whatsapp outside of the meeting that we have every month. And so, we check on each other. We say hey, has anybody gone through this yet? Or has anyone tried this? Or has anyone tried that? And that's how we as dads can communicate amongst ourselves. And so that way we can support each other, even though we may not be there in person. We can be there to support them and give them advice via that app.
How would somebody find that and get involved in Postpartum Support International?
So you would go to www.postpartum.net and or just type in Postpartum Support International, and there are a ton of resources on there from therapists to doctors to doulas to postpartum doulas, and there are coordinators that help you find someone located in your area with PSI.
How did you get started being a coordinator with Postpartum Support International?
I was in a doula group on Facebook, and someone reached out to me and said, I think you would be a good fit for this right here. So I did some research on being a PSI coordinator, and I emailed the manager. I was like hey, I would love to do this. My name is Juan Irby. I'm a postpartum doula for dads. I specialize in dads. I want to make sure that they're okay. If I need to lead a support group I can, and go from there. And so she emailed me back and was like, I love this. This is fantastic. I really need you on board ASAP. So, I went through the training, and I am now a PSI coordinator, specialized for dads, and we have a dad Zoom call. It's once a month right now, but we're gonna open it up to maybe once or twice or maybe three times a month. So dads can come in, express themselves and just get things off their chest, and we also have a support group for moms as well. And we also have a support group for women of color, BIPOC, and everything else. Anything you could think of, PSI has it.
Do you have any thoughts on teamwork for new parents?
I do actually. I am a huge advocate for parenting as a team. I would suggest that before you bring the baby home or right when you know that you're pregnant, come up with a plan on who's going to be doing what at home.
Are you guys going to breastfeed or bottle feed? If you do bottle feed, who's going to clean the bottles? Who's going to prepare the bottles? Who's going to make sure that the bottles are sterilized? That plan needs to be put in place because it's okay if one person does it and it's okay if both people do it.
But if we have that plan already, then we can say, "Okay, I'm gonna go down here to warm up the bottle if you can go get the baby." Or, "if you can go and get the baby, I'll go take care of the bottle," and we can tackle this together. And if and when baby does poop or pee then dad can change the diaper while mom gets the bottle, or mom can change the diaper while dad cleans the bottle. Just having those small conversations about that can really benefit the whole entire team. Who's going to take the first shift? Who's going to take the night shift? Who's going to take the day shift? Who's going to take the nap time?
When the baby sleeps, everyone should sleep, and I truly truly recommend that if the baby's sleeping, you need to get some rest as well.
I will also suggest hiring a postpartum doula. Because, while the baby is sleeping, the doula could be doing some laundry. The doula could be preparing a meal or doing those small things that you normally do on a daily basis. Until you guys get back into a routine with this new person, we're going to hire someone to help us out to just do the things that we normally do, because mom just gave birth or just had a c-section, and can't do a lot of going up and down the stairs or walking or things like that.
Dad is here. Dad can go up and down the stairs. Dad can do the laundry. Dad can do this, but dad also needs to rest. Dad also has his own birthing experience. And dad also has his own birthing story. Mom has her birthing story and dad has his birthing story. So I think it's very important for those things to be talked, those things to be expressed to one another, because communication is a big factor when it comes to parenting. And you have to communicate with each other in order for these things to get done.
Have you heard of the Gottman Bringing Baby Home program?
Have you heard of the Gottman Institute and their Bringing Baby Home program? I think it would be like so right up your alley. So the Gottman Institute studied marriage for many years, and they found they can predict, divorce, with like 90-some% accuracy. And so then they studied what happens to marriages when a baby is born. And they found that two thirds of the couples they studied experienced significant amounts of hostility. They created the Bringing Baby Home program to help with that communication that you were talking about, and the teamwork and asking questions, similar to what you're saying about creating a plan around what you're going to do for feeding. There are all kinds of activities in there about what kind of plans you need to make together as a team, and managing conflict and building friendship and intimacy skills. It's one of my many favorite things I like to teach. It’s been a good tool in my toolbox. It has a whole section about why dads are important. In general, dads tend to be super playful, and that is one of their superpowers. The play and the soothing are both things that dads can be really great at. And that's really powerful for the relationship as a couple, and for equality and both parents feeling confident and capable. You’re so right up my alley that I feel like I could just keep talking. But I also was totally hear what you have to say, so anything else that you want to add or anything else that comes to mind, I just love everything that you've. I love your work and and all the stuff I want to thank you so much for being here even, I don't know how much you want to say about where you are right now but congratulations.
Thanks so much for sharing your story with us, Juan! I can’t wait to chat again soon!
Resources
Find Juan Irby on Instagram at dadtodudla and www.dad2dudla.com
www.postpartum.net
Find Bringing Baby Home at little-elf.org/bbh or The Gottman Institute
Watch Juan’s interview here: https://www.facebook.com/placerbirthconnection/videos/557183272376797
