We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Raynetta Irish a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Raynetta , appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear about the best advice you’ve ever given to a client? (Please note this response is for education/entertainment purposes only and shouldn’t be construed as advice for the reader)

The Best advice I give to all my clients is to set an atmosphere that will help them be most successful. What I mean by that is we as humans know what our stressors are, just like we know what will calm us back down. Once you know the difference you make sure the elements that create stress won’t be present as much as possible. That piece of advice has proven to work like a charm time and time again. For those try to conceive, it’s found helpful so they won’t get discouraged during the preparation phase. For those in labor it has cut the labor time down tremendously and has strengthen confidence. For those who are in postpartum stage it has helped them establish boundaries and learn whats helpful and what is harmful to the journey. For those breastfeeding (especially for the first time) they build long lasting goals that mostly are always met.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Hello everyone my name is Raynetta Irish, but I am known as Doula Ray of Sunshine on all of my social media platforms. I am Happily married to the love of my life (celebrating 7 years of marriage this year) Michael Irish Jr. and I am the mother to our amazing 2 year old son Michael Irish III (Mikey). Helping establish strength in confidence and spread education to others is the very reason I became a Doula. Family is everything to me, so helping others expand and grow in numbers and knowledge is a dream come true. I am the Founder of Sweet Baby Buddy LLC. The primary goal of having a doula present is not to take the place of a care provider such as a OB/GYN or Midwife but as a doula we give a necessary sense of support to the families that hire us (Physically, Emotionally, and Mentally)

Here at Sweet Baby Buddy LLC We service:
1.Families who are trying to conceive and need doula support.
2.Families needing doula support during pregnancy and birth.
3.Families needing doula support during postpartum stage.
4.Families needing doula support during breastfeeding stage.
5.Families looking to expand in knowledge and want prenatal lessons.

I am most proud of the ability to help families experience the birthing experience they desire. I have had the pleasure to see families come together in team work and find strength they didn’t know they possessed inside, and bring forth beautiful babies into the world. Each birth brings it own beauty and I am always honored to be apart of the triumph. I have been gifted the title of “Pregnancy Bestie” a number of times =)

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

A lesson I had to learn early in my career as a doula is that I can treat every family the same, you ABSOLUTELY can not. Every family is different just as every pregnancy is different. I can not take one experience and think my next will be the same. One birth can be as fast as 2 -3 hours (which has happened and truly amazing to be apart of) however another birth process can be slower and need interventions to get it going and keep it going which can cause for more intervention down the line. They ALL are different and give a different lesson. With that I always enter with fresh eyes ready to learn and conquer!

Training and knowledge matter of course, but beyond that what do you think matters most in terms of succeeding in your field?

Outside of the many trainings and material learned, what makes a doula most successful is the love, and passion for the experience. I am wowed every time at how strong women truly are and how beautiful a baby being born (whether vaginally or via C-section) is. It honestly feels like the first time every time. Having that level of love and interest in something will make work never feel like work.

Contact Info:

• Website: flow.page/sweetbabybuddy
• Instagram: @sweetbabybuddy
• Facebook: Raynetta Deshawn Irish
• Other: TikTok: @sweetbabybuddy

Image Credits
Photocred: Pairfectfit Empire