The Virtual Doula Changing How Modern Families Prepare for Birth

When Charlotte Butterworth-Pool launched The Smart Doula  nearly two years ago, she didn’t set out to reinvent what birth support could look like. However she did want to help a few expectant parents navigate the confusing tangle of maternity guidelines in the UK. What she didn’t expect was that her approach, entirely virtual, deeply evidence-based, and available by WhatsApp, would quietly begin to shift how busy families prepare for birth.

For many of the parents she supports, especially those working right up to their due dates or juggling older children, the appeal is obvious: fast answers, flexible timings and support that fits around real life, rather than a diary full of appointments. 

“Even when people are unsure about virtual support, they quickly realise how flexible it can be,” Charlotte says. “It gives them almost immediate access to support rather than waiting for appointments, and it can easily fit in around busy schedules and other children. The busiest time of the day is often past bedtime, which works for me, as my children are also in bed.”

But behind the convenience is a deeper story.

A Researcher First, A Doula Second

Before Charlotte ever considered becoming a doula, she was a researcher. The kind who doesn’t accept “that’s just how it is” as an answer. It wasn’t until after the birth of her first child, a low-risk pregnancy that spiralled into what she describes as “a traumatic hospital birth via a cascade of interventions”, that her professional instincts kicked in.

“My husband and I were left thinking we couldn’t possibly go through that again,” she says. “We were going to be one and done.”

But when the couple later decided they wanted a second child, Charlotte returned to the details of her own birth with a forensic eye. What she discovered shocked her. Many of the interventions she had been told were necessary were, in fact, optional. 

“A lot of the things that happened to me that were presented as done deals were actually choices I could have made differently,” she explains. “Had I known the facts and the evidence, I would have been very likely to make different choices.”

Then came the revelation that pushed her over the edge: a study showing that only 9–12% of Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ guidelines are based on high-quality evidence. “My mind was blown,” she says simply. “It all began to make sense, the guidelines were based on the experience of those skilled in medicalised birth – not the type of birth I was looking for.”

Healing, Advocacy, and the Birth That Changed Everything

Charlotte’s second birth experience could not have been further from her first.

“My second birth was empowering,” she says. “Both my husband and I successfully advocated our way through a few situations that were presented as non-negotiable. It was a healing experience.”

That birth became the catalyst. Still breastfeeding a one-year-old and caring for a five-year-old, she knew she wasn’t ready to offer in-person, on-call support as a doula. But she also knew she couldn’t wait any longer to share what she’d learned. 

Charlotte founded The Smart Doula as a simple Instagram account – a space to share evidence, resources, and reflections. She then trained formally as a doula with The Red Tent and began shaping what would become her signature offering with a unique delivery method: fully virtual doula support.

Support at the tap of a button

Today, clients can sign up to one of her virtual packages at any point in pregnancy, whether at 12 weeks or 38, for the same price. The earlier a family joins, the more cost-effective the support becomes; her entry-level package works out at roughly £10 per week for someone who signs up in the first trimester.

All packages include WhatsApp support throughout pregnancy, birth and the first two weeks postpartum. They differ only in the number of 1-1 calls included, from introductory chats to full birth planning sessions exploring common interventions and what-if scenarios. The highest tier includes a virtual on-call period, offering families 24/7 access during late pregnancy and birth. “I am available for immediate and unlimited responses,” she says, “whether that’s messages, calls or video calls.”

Her clients also receive templates, resources, relaxation tracks, colouring pages, evidence-based reading lists, birth rights information and hypnobirthing tools. These touches, she says, can make a profound difference.

“The best part of this job is hearing people’s birth stories and how they’re transformed by them,” Charlotte says. “Families clearly identify the difference my support has made, whether it’s a crucial piece of information that helped them make a choice, or the emotional support that gave them the confidence to trust their instincts.”

One client reflects: “I first hesitated to get someone helping me entirely online, but I think it was the best decision I made. Charlotte was amazing at replying to any of my queries really quickly, from finding info on what particular options are available in my local hospital to designing affirmations for colouring to calm me down at a challenging time.”

Life as a Virtual Doula: Freebirths, Peanut Balls and Midnight Calls

If virtual support sounds detached, Charlotte’s anecdotes suggest otherwise. “I love going on call virtually for families as I never know what to expect,” she laughs. “I can track the progress of labour through who is messaging and what they’re asking about.”

Once, she went to bed after a text from a mum who said things were “ramping up but still manageable.” An hour later, she woke to a phone call from the partner: “We’ve left it too long, she’s having the baby. What do I do?” In the background, unmistakable sounds: pushing. The baby arrived just as the ambulance did.

Another time, a dad quietly passed her instructions on to the midwives: positioning, peanut ball techniques and epidural-friendly movements. The midwives praised him for his knowledge. “He then told them he was talking to a virtual doula and they thought he meant AI,” she says.

Sometimes her clients need less during the birth itself than she expects. Preparation, she explains, is the point. “More often than not, families feel confident and empowered to go it alone during birth because of the preparation we’ve done beforehand.”

A Modern Solution to Modern Pressures

Charlotte believes virtual care will remain a central part of her work, even when her children are older and she begins offering in-person birth support locally. There is, she says, a growing need for accessible, flexible and lower-cost options. “Online care makes doula support accessible to a wider variety of people,” she explains. “It is less expensive than conventional support.”

At Pregnancy Pal, we are inclined to agree. Doula support empowers so many who have access to the funds to secure it, but so many families across the country deserve to feel empowered and to feel informed about their birth journey. Charlotte’s model proves that this can be accessible on a whole new level to what we have typically seen in the UK over the past 10 – 15 years. 

Charlotte’s longer-term vision is to support more families, expand her birth preparation and postnatal services and continue challenging the assumption that informed consent and evidence-based care are built-in parts of maternity systems. In her experience, they rarely are.

If her own journey proves anything, it’s that clear information, unbiased, evidence-driven information can change everything. And that for many families navigating pregnancy in a world of long commutes, late-night emails and overstretched services (and isn’t that everyone now?) the doula who shows up on WhatsApp at 10pm might just be the one they need the most.

Charlotte’s services can be found at www.thesmartdoula.com 

You can also follow her on Instagram @the.smart.doula