Birth Doula & Postpartum Doula support in Richmond and South West London
Feel held and empowered in your birth & postpartum
Birth & early motherhood deserve to be approached from a place of calm, understanding and power, not anxiety or fear.
How you give birth and experience postpartum matters, not because there’s one ‘right way’ to do it, but because these experiences will stay with you forever, change you, and affect you and your baby and how you go into motherhood.
Whatever your birth plan, hopes, and circumstances…
Whether you’re expecting your first baby and everything about birth is new to you, or whether you’re hoping for a different birth and/or postpartum experience this time round…
As your doula I’ll provide you with personalised, unbiased guidance, presence and support to navigate birth & postpartum with more confidence and trust, and help you stack the odds in your favour of a positive birth & gentle beginnings with your baby.
Amelie Cresswell - experienced birth doula & postpartum doula in South West London & Surrey
After more than 10 years’ experience supporting families in the perinatal period through pregnancy yoga, active birth preparation, postpartum recovery yoga and newborn care, I expanded my services to birth & postpartum doula support in 2024 to offer full continuity of care to women & families (you can read more about my journey here)
I am based in Richmond, London and serve most areas of South West London, West London, Central London and parts of Surrey, including Richmond, Twickenham, Isleworth, Barnes, Ealing, Kingston, Wimbledon, Westminster, Surbiton, Esher, and more.
I support all types of births including home births, birth centre births, hospital births with or without epidurals, and caesarean births to clients under the care of West Londom ,South West London, Central London and Surrey maternity hospitals including (but not restricted to): Kingston Hospital, West Middlesex hospital /Queen Mary’s hospital, Chelsea & Westminster hospital, Queen Charlotte hospital, St George’s hospital, St Mary’s hospital, St Helier’s hospital, St Thomas’ hospital, as well as private hospitals such as the Portland hospital and the Lindo Wing, or under the care of independent midwives.
I am a Recognised Doula with DoulaUK, am fully insured, and meet the requirements of private insurance such as Carrot & BUPA.
French-speaking doula in London & Surrey
A native French speaker having had my two babies in the UK, I am also able to offer doula support in French, helping you better understand and navigate the UK maternity system and postpartum care, which can be so different from France, and signpost you to French-speaking and French private maternity care options if this feels appropriate to you.
My birth & postpartum doula support includes
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Evidence-based information & antenatal education
Helping you understand key knowledge and facts about birth & postpartum, birth options, guidelines, common interventions and complications, before & after birth, to help you make confident, informed choices at each and every step of your journey.
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In-depth body & mind preparation and care
Using yoga, biomechanics, hypnobirthing, mindfulness, massage and release techniques to support your comfort levels in pregnancy, prepare for and navigate birth more optimally, and actively support your postpartum recovery & well-being and your baby’s comfort and well-being too.
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Advocacy tools & in-person support
Using ‘insider’ know-how, contacts and tools to help you navigate and get the best out of your maternity care, ensuring you feel fully heard, supported and respected in your individual choices & circumstances, before, during and after birth. -
Emotional day-to-day support
From the moment you book me until your baby is a few weeks old, I’ll be here to accompany your journey, offering judgement-free guidance, a listening ear and reassurance whenever you need; and helping you look after yourself and take the time to appreciate/ honour this unique time in your life for what it really is.
What clients have said about Amelie’s doula support
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Amelie’s ability to support us has been nothing short of amazing. When we navigated a change of plans in our birth, she helped us adapt and supported me to trust my instincts whilst also remembering my birth preferences. She made me felt held, even when I was ambivalent about certain decisions, helping me never feeling rushed or pressured. She was upbeat and positive, fierce enough to protect our birth space without causing friction with birth care staff. She has lots of knowledge and deep empathy, and proved to be a strong emotional pillar throughout birth & my early postpartum. I couldn’t be more grateful!
— Charlie
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Amelie was instrumental in helping us to prepare for our son's birth, and supported us to have a beautiful home birth. She helped us to explore our birth preferences and worries through the antenatal planning sessions which gave me the confidence to change my birth plans. She went above and beyond to help us achieve this, even liaising with the midwives to help me move hospital midway through my pregnancy.
I also attended her antenatal yoga classes which were a highlight of my week and helped me to feel physically prepared for birth. On the day, she worked closely with my mum & husband to ensure they felt confident in their role as birth partners, providing guidance & reassurance as needed. We couldn’t have wished for a better birth experience and Amelie was a massive part of making this happen.— Alissa
As a birth & postpartum doula, I believe:
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I support all types of births, including home births, birth centre births, labour ward births with and without epidurals, induced labours, births in ‘high risk’ pregnancies, elective and emergency caesareans, and more. I will never hold any judgement about the choices you make, they are yours and yours alone.
What matters to me is that you can make these choices from an informed place, out of power rather than fear. To help you work out and experience birth in a way that feels right to you & your baby, sharing ways and need-to-know information to stack the odds in your favour of making this happen, and to ensure you feel held, heard and grounded along the way, even if birth needs to take a different path.
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However you’re planning to give birth, understanding birth & postpartum physiology - how your body and your baby work during and after birth - is key to help you navigate your birth planning, decision-making, actual labour & birth, and immediate postpartum, in an informed and empowered way.
This is one of the key elements of our preparation together. So you can understand how best to support this physiology (and what can be done when it is disrupted) to the best benefit to you and your baby.
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Understanding the maternity system you’re under the care of, how it functions, your rights in it, and what options are (really) open to you (maybe some you didn’t even know you had) is critical, however you’re hoping to give birth. And especially so in the current climate of birth in the UK.
I’ll give you tools and knowledge to best navigate it, and advocate effectively for yourself and your needs, before, during and after birth.
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Birth is first and foremost a physical and emotional process. Proactively helping you prepare and look after your body-mind is a central part of my unique approach as a doula, both prenatally and postnatally.
My support & extensive resources integrate my expertise in pregnancy & postpartum yoga, pelvic floor health, birth biomechanics, hypnobirthing, mindfulness and nervous system support.
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Birth is such a big milestone, it’s very easy to bring all of our focus on it. Projecting past it can be hard, especially as first time parents, or after a difficult first birth.
But once your baby’s here, it often feels like it’s actually just the beginning. So much to learn and get to grips with, so much to manage and navigate, on often very little sleep, with a recovering body.
This is a vulnerable period but also an extremely potent one, when receiving care, guidance and practical support can transform how you feel physically and emotionally, and your connection with your body and with your baby, not just at the time but also as you move forward into motherhood.
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These are not ‘separate’ events but unfurl from one another. Your journey to this point will always affect to some degree your pregnancy, birth and/or postpartum experience.
I have experience supporting women & families after a long conception journeys, including loss and IVF, or difficult first births, and can share extra tools to support you.
Birth Doula support packages
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- Essentials -
the basis of all my birth support packages
1 hour initial conversation (in-person or online)
2 antenatal sessions to explore birth preferences, decision-making, and tools, tips & techniques for navigating birth
On-call support from 38 weeks until you give birth
Support at your birth from whenever you need me until baby has arrived and you’re all happy and settled
1 postpartum visit at your home or in hospital, to check-in, nourish you, support with baby feeding and anything else you want to talk about (about 2 hrs)
Extensive resources to help you with birth planning, preparation and decision-making
I have a TENS machine, Yuula balls and a peanut ball for use to use during labour
WhatsApp / phone support whenever you need me from booking time until 2 weeks postpartum
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- Complete -
birth support + body, mindset and postpartum preparation & recovery
All elements of the Essential package, plus:1 biomechanics & hypnobirthing private workshop, with extensive home practice resources
1 postpartum expectations & planning session to help you feel equipped for the first 6-8 weeks after birth (or one extra postnatal visit)
Online pregnancy yoga & birth preparation course and library to complement your preparation (or 4 in-person classes if local to me)
Online postpartum yoga for recovery course & resources (or mum & baby nurture course if local to me) to support your healing & well-being after birth
WhatsApp / phone support whenever you need me from booking time until 4 weeks postpartum
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- Full Journey -
full birth preparation & support with extended postpartum support
All elements of the Complete package, plus:15 additional hours of postpartum support, spread over 3 or 6 weeks after birth, blending
- bodywork for recovery
- feeding support (breast &/or bottle)
- baby care guidance & support
- mother care physical & emotional support, including nourishment & restdesigned to soften your landing into motherhood, actively support your initial postpartum recovery, and gently grow more confident with your baby and as a mother/parent in your fourth trimester
Includes email/text/phone support until your last postpartum support session.
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- Elective cesarean birth -
a package tailored to those planning for an elective c-section
2 antenatal sessions to explore and put together your birth preferences, prepare for and navigate your cesarean with calm, and make plans for your recovery and early postpartumIn-person support on the day, including waiting for your cesarean, being with you in theatre and supporting you immediately after in recovery/high dependency unit and/or postnatal ward
1 visit on the postnatal ward the day after your birth
1 visit at home once you’ve been discharged, covering essential scar care, early movement and daily tips to support you and baby
1 visit at home round 6-8 weeks to walk you through scar massage techniques and progressive movement for recovery
Extensive support resources
WhatsApp/ phone support whenever you need me from booking time to 6 weeks postpartum
Postpartum Doula support services
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Postpartum Doula Care Bundle
15 hours of support designed to accompany your immediate postpartum, blending bodywork, postnatal recovery movement and exercise, feeding support, essential baby care, nutrition and education, designed to soften your landing into motherhood, actively support your initial physical postpartum recovery, and gently grow more confident with your baby and as a mother/parent in your fourth trimester.
Ideally taking place in the first 6-8 weeks post birth.
Includes message/phone support through your support period, and access to many resources.
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Ad hoc support hours
For ad hoc support, either remotely by Zoom, or in-person if you are local to me (minimum 3 hours per visit).
I am always happy to create bespoke doula packages and offer payments plans,
so please to get in touch or arrange a connection call to discuss your needs and options.
“We are so grateful for the incredible support we received from Amelie. She was a calm, reassuring presence throughout pregnancy, birth, and postpartum, and made the whole experience feel so much more manageable and positive.
Her knowledge, encouragement, and ability to listen without judgment helped us feel confident and supported at every stage. Even just talking with her made such a difference — we always came away feeling lighter and more prepared.
We can’t recommend her highly enough. She truly brings together compassion, knowledge, and steady support in a way that makes all the difference for new parents.”
- Kaley & Jack
“What an absolute angel Amelie was. Coming from the US, we were looking to find consistent, one-to-one support throughout our entire birthing journey, and Amelie gave us the dedicated, individual care we had been longing for.
From the beginning, she truly listened to our needs, hopes, and the birth plans we were aiming for. She shared a wealth of evidence-based information in ways that felt clear and empowering, always offering guidance without a hint of judgement.
Most importantly, she gave us confidence; in our decisions and in ourselves. Her calm presence and steady support made everything feel less daunting or overwhelming.
Thanks to Amelie, we had the birth experience we had hoped for — and we will always be so grateful for her care.”
- James & Nancy
“I knew early in my pregnancy that I would elect to have a caesarean. It was maybe unconventional to decide on a doula for my second birth, but I firmly believed it could offer the support and grounding that I deeply needed, which is exactly what turned out to be, and so much more. There truly aren’t enough words to convey the light she brought to my birth and postpartum experience.
From the moment we met, Amelie provided us with a unique balance of empathetic and knowledgeable, trauma-informed support. Her expertise while working on our birth plans was invaluable and ultimately shaped my birth experience. She stayed with us in the hours following surgery, answering my many questions, supporting breastfeeding, and advocating as necessary with my medical team.
I hadn’t planned for postnatal doula support initially, but I am so glad I pursued this with Amelie.
If you’re considering Amelie as your birth and/or postpartum doula, working with her would be giving a gift to yourself.”
- Lauren
get in touch
arrange a free 30min discovery call
for us to connect and discuss your needs
Not sure you need full doula support?
Need help on a particular topic or to navigate a specific issue?
I also offer birth preparation sessions and ad hoc doula consultations.
Stand-alone antenatal preparation and doula consultations
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Birth options & birth planning session
a 2.5hours session dedicated to exploring birth planning / mapping, and navigating birth choices and care options (the one you know about and the ones you may not).
We also cover fundamentals of birth & postpartum physiology and approaches to decision-making, to help you make fully informed decisions that feel right for you.
Includes access to many resources.
Delivered in-person at home or online via Zoom, and redeemable against full birth doula support.
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Practical birth skills session
A 2.5hrs session designed to help you and your partner better visualise what labour & birth might feel & look like on the day(s), and help you navigate each phase with more ease and confidence, whilst supporting and protecting the birth process.
We cover key need-to-know about birth physiology, body & mind tools (including breathing and positioning), release and support techniques (massage, rebozo, use of props), as well as tips & tricks for transfers, labour stalls, epidurals, etc and advocating for yourself.
The session will be tailored to your needs & wishes (for example, planning to have an epidural, an induction, birthing at home, etc).Includes access to many digital resources including videos audios, and printables.
Delivered in-person at home or online via Zoom, and redeemable against full birth doula support.
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Postpartum expectations & planning session
A 2.5 hour antenatal session designed to help you understand what to expect from the postpartum period (from your body, your baby, your daily life, and more), and prepare for a gentler, more supported 4th trimester and transition into early motherhood/parenting.
You will receive a journal-style handbook and supportive resources to use both before and once your baby has arrived.
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Doula SOS consultation
One hour with me (via Zoom or phone, or in-person if local to me) to explore any questions/worries on your mind, either antenatally or postnatally, or see if doula support might be helpful to you.
Navigating birth choices or ‘curve balls’, understanding situations (GBS, gestational diabetes, big baby, small baby, breech baby etc) and navigating recommendations that have been made to you (including induction), tips to resolve ‘sub-optimal’ baby positioning, and more. Literally anything you need to talk through and would like more balanced, non-judgemental, non-biased guidance around.
Sounds like what you need?
Do get in touch to arrange a free 30min discovery call
for us to connect and discuss how I could support you achieve the birth & postpartum you’re after