Stéphanie Vuylsteke - Doula and haptonomy

Stéphanie is a Belgian mother of three, who initially studied Political sciences and International relations. She worked for several years for Unicef Belgium.

When she got pregnant and gave birth to her first child, she discovered a whole new world and a passion. This passion for the area of perinatal care grew with her two following pregnancies and even more with the doula training Stéphanie followed in 2015.

Stéphanie has now been accompanying mothers, babies and fathers as a full spectrum doula for 4 years.

From 2015 to 2019, she additionally followed a 4-year training of ‘Préparation affective à la naissance’, which could be translated as ‘Emotional/affective birth preparation’. It is a slightly different way of practicing prenatal haptonomy. The aim is to create a strong bond between the baby and her/his parents during pregnancy, via touch. The parents learn to communicate via touch with their baby to give her or him security and affection and build a strong team of three in preparation for the day of birth and beyond. ‘Préparation affective à la naissance’/Prenatal haptonomy is specially appreciated by the fathers, who get to know their baby better before birth.

Stéphanie has also completed an in-depth training in human lactation and breastfeeding.

Stéphanie sees her prenatal meetings with parents as “a pause, a quiet moment in a world which goes way too fast”. It is important to her to give parents the time to speak out about how they experience the pregnancy and how they want to prepare for birth and beyond.

During birth, Stéphanie wants to be a “calming, inspiring and discreet presence, so that the mother in labour feels safe and quiet and the father can take his full place next to the mother”.

Postnatal accompaniment is for Stéphanie a way to support young parents and help them find their own answers to their questions about their baby’s needs. She strongly believes in the parent’s capacities to know what is best for their own baby.

She collaborates with her colleague Audrey Laviolette. If parents so wish, they offer a duo support, according to their specificities and respective trainings. Some parents appreciate this complementarity. It is also sometimes reassuring for parents to know that two doulas take turns in standby to join them during childbirth.

Every Friday morning, Stéphanie and Audrey offer you consultations at the CHIREC clinic of Sainte-Anne Saint-Rémi (Anderlecht), with which they have a unique partnership. They are also accredited with the CHIREC hospital in Braine-l’Alleud and CHIREC Delta hospital in Brussels.

They also accompany births in other hospitals (Sainte-Élisabeth Brussels, Ixelles hospital, Saint-Pierre Brussels, Ottignies Hospital etc.).

Stéphanie is member of the Association Francophone des Doulas de Belgique (AFDB) and the Association pour la Préparation affective à la Naissance (APAN).