Alice Chau-Ginguene, CD(DONA) PCD(DONA) 

Hi I am Alice, a babywearing consultant, a doula, a cat behaviourist, a writer and of course a mother!

I am a Certified Trageschule Babywearing Consultant, DONA International Certified Birth Doula and Postpartum doula. I am also a First Aid Responder, and I am gardai vetted.

I was born in Hong Kong where pregnancy and postpartum care are treated very differently from most of the western world. Pregnant people and new parents are being pampered by friends and families.

New parents are to enjoy their ‘golden month’ where they can rest. They don’t do any housework, their only duty is to rest, take care of their own recovery, and take care of the baby. Everyone else has to wait on them and take care of the house for them. Traditionally, new parents will have a ‘companion woman’ to take care of them. In my culture, getting the right ‘companion woman’ is of utmost importance! We spend months to choose one! That’s usually the rest thing parents spend on, before prams or any other gadgets. The ‘companion woman’ used to be the mother’s mother, sister, auntie, neighbours or friends. But since most of these people have full time employment these days, parents nowadays tend to hire a professional to do the job. I never knew there is a name in English – the postpartum doula.

Babywearing is also a lot more common in Hong Kong. Growing up being carried and seeing all the babies around me being carried, I never imagined that not being the norm in other parts of the world!

After being in Europe for 17 years (5 years in France, 13 years in Ireland), and now being a mother, I treasure my culture more than ever. I hope I can help parents in Ireland to start their parenting journeys.

I am also a cat behaviourist and you can find out more about my cat behaviourist work here.

*I can speak Cantonese, English, French and Mandarin and am able to service families in these languages. I also have Level 1 Irish Sign Language. If you are Deaf or hard of hearing, even though I know I don’t have enough ISL to communicate with you, I would love to work with you, please be in touch.*

Other trainings I have taken:
– Positive Birth Conference
– Supporting the Expressing Mother workshop by Doula Care Ireland
– Féileacáin workshop for health care workers
– Holistic Sleep Conference UK
– Hand Hygiene, Health Management Institute of Ireland (HMI)
– Infection Prevention and Control, HSE
– Digital Postpartum Doula, 100% Doula