Get Nurtured and Cared For

Ikumi Chan, PCD (DONA)

Peace Postpartum Doula, LLC

The image depicts a black and white simple floral and leaf natural design.

Congratulations on your new journey into parenthood! I’m truly honored to walk alongside you during this incredibly special time. As your postpartum doula, I’m here to support, nurture, and care for you, your baby, and your family as you recover from pregnancy and birth. 

With a gentle, non-judgmental presence, I’ll be by your side to help you navigate the early days of parenting with confidence and peace of mind. Whether it’s offering nutritious meals, demonstrating how to take care of your baby, light housework, emotional support, answering questions, or simply being a calming presence, my focus is always on your well-being.

I lovingly serve families in Hillsborough, Durham, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Mebane, and Morrisville.

Your care is just as important as your baby’s. My heartfelt goal is to support your family as you bond with your newborn, help you feel rested, reassured, empowered, and deeply cared for during this beautiful transition.

Services

  • A family of four sitting on a couch having a conversation with a postpartum doula, supporting and caring for birthing family.

    Postpartum Care

    Providing physical, emotional, and educational support, nurturing the parent-baby bonding, caring for mental well-being, cooking nutritional meals for recovery and lactation, taking care of your baby while you recharge with essential rest

  • Baby's tummy time. A young girl with dark hair lying on a blanket, watching a colorful toy and a wooden piece, in a cozy indoor setting. A DONA certified Postpartum Doula taking care of an infant.

    Education

    Providing guidance on newborn care essentials, supporting lactation/feeding, offering tips on how to sooth your baby, introducing tummy time, teaching Baby's First Massage class

  • Postpartum Doula Ikumi Chan smiling and holding a newborn baby while sitting on a couch in a living room.

    Other Support

    Supporting siblings during birth, helping with bathing your baby, cleaning dishes, helping with laundry, tidying up living spaces

Get in Touch
DONA certified Postpartum Doula Ikumi Chan profile picture. Friendly. Caring. Advocate for women and children. Support Postpartum mothers.

Ikumi Chan

PCD (DONA)

Ikumi (she/her) is a Certified Postpartum Doula, supporting families since 2020.  Originally from Japan, she now lives in Hillsborough, NC with her husband and their three children. 

Ikumi’s passion for postpartum care was born from her own experiences with Perinatal Mood Disorders. Through her personal journey and healing, she felt a deep calling to support birthing families—so that others wouldn’t have to navigate those challenges alone.  

She believes that with compassionate, informed support, the postpartum period can be a time of healing, connection, and joy. Her goal is to help families feel nurtured and empowered as they recover and grow together.

Outside of her doula work, Ikumi enjoys walking local trails with her dog, taking care of her houseplants, and exploring international cuisines in the kitchen. She is deeply committed to ongoing learning and continues to expand her knowledge through reading and professional development in postpartum care.

Credentials

Adult and Pediatric First Aid/CPR/AED certified by Red Cross

2025

Postpartum Support International, Advanced Perinatal Mental Health Psychotherapy

2025

Baby's First Massage BFM CNMI

2024

HUG Your Baby Trainings

2021

Postpartum Support International, Perinatal Mood Disorders Training

2020

DONA International certified Postpartum Doula

2020

Testimonials

  • “Ikumi-san is a super-doula, a wise, kindhearted, capable, and generous friend who is a true pleasure to have as a pillar of support during the birthing process and postpartum period. She goes far beyond the job requirements to make the birthing process smooth and more enjoyable. She provided us with two services. She took in our 4-year-old for a couple of nights when we were in delivery. He loved his experience at her home with her wonderful family and still asks us to take him back to her house. After the birth of our daughter, she provided us with postpartum doula services. She cooked the most delicious and nutritious food, took amazing care of our baby, and offered wise advice whenever needed. We bonded quickly, and having her in the house seems as natural as having a close family member. We cannot recommend her more enthusiastically and hope we’ll have her involved with our children for years to come. Ikumi-san is truly exceptional! Her dedication, warmth, and expertise make her an invaluable part of our lives. We are incredibly grateful for her support and friendship and for providing us “peace” during the journey of adding a new life to our lives.

    Naomi & Sina

  • “Ikumi has been tremendously helpful when we had our baby girl. She supported us for 4-5 weeks and showed us how to feed/bath/play/sleep/massage… etc, all the necessary things that first time parents should know. She is very passionate for doula work and supportive to mothers from her own experience. I also could rest a couple of hours while Ikumi takes care of my baby – she is in good hands!! I would say Ikumi is the best trustworthy person if you need your baby looked after. Ikumi also supported cooking, clearing dish washers, laundries – she is quick learner and very efficient. AND very kind to our dog! We were very lucky we found her. Thank you so much!!"”

    Shino & Derek

  • “Ikumi was such an essential part of our postpartum recovery. I had a c-section that was difficult for me to recover from and Ikumi provided much needed care and support for our family. When I was unable to cook for us, Ikumi prepared healthy and delicious meals. She even came up with recipes to work around my baby’s milk/ soy allergy since I was breast feeding. She is extremely knowledgeable about breast feeding and helped me find a great lactation consultant. She also accompanied me to my visit. Since I was originally on the fence about wanting to nurse or formula feed, I don’t think I would have been successful at breast feeding if it wasn’t for Ikumi’s support and encouragement. She was gentle and loving to our baby and I never had to worry whether he was being adequately cared for. This enabled me to get much needed rest to recover. She is easy to talk with and provided us with education on the different stages our baby was going through. She was also a wonderful emotional support and has experience in postpartum psychiatric challenges. Ikumi kept the baby’s room very clean and organized. We appreciated how she always wore a mask and had excellent hand hygiene. She is a wealth of knowledge on all things baby and as new parents we couldn’t have asked for a better doula to support us. We hope to work with her again in the future!"

    Carolyn & Tom

  • “My husband and I are so happy we hired Ikumi as a postpartum doula for our first child. She provided great support emotionally and physically from the moment she came to our home. She also followed health protocols that made us feel safe: proof of up to date vaccinations, wore a k94 mask in the home at all times, and used excellent hand hygiene. With Ikumi’s support, my husband and I felt more comfortable and confident as we transitioned to our new role as parents. She helped us with breastfeeding, paced bottle feeding, meals, light cleaning, and provided much needed time for us to rest and rejuvenate. From the moment she would arrive at our house she was ready to work. She would do a friendly check in with us and with our daughter, identify the needs of the day and then get to work until the minute her time was up. If she ran out of my list of things to do she would continue to clean, meal prep or fold laundry. She consistently went above and beyond in her work ethic. Ikumi’s cooking was fantastic. I mostly enjoyed her cooking her own recipes and occasionally had her make some of mine. Her food was always delicious, nutritious and EASY (so I have incorporated a few of her recipes into my own weekly rotation of meals to make!). We are so grateful for Ikumi’s help and would enthusiastically recommend her to anyone else considering hiring a postpartum doula."

    Teresa & Howard

  • "We were new parents with twins and were struggling with the transition to parenthood. Ikumi was an amazing resource for us for support, knowledge, and care for our children and us. She helped us organize our house better and implement better routines for caring for our twin infants. She was incredibly intune with assessing our mental health and helping the new mom deal with postpartum challenges. We would recommend Ikumi to any family whether it is their first child or not. She is organized, excellent at communicating, extremely caring, and easy to welcome into your home. "

    Audrey & Will

  • 「サービスを利用させていただき、本当に助けられました。まず、出産当日に上の子を預かっていただけたことがとてもありがたかったです。育美さんのおうちで楽しそうに過ごしている様子や写真をこまめに共有していただき、安心して出産に臨むことができました。また、アメリカでの新生児のお世話の方法や、上の子を含めた育児全般についても豊富な知識を教えていただき、日々の育児に役立てることができました。いつでも相談しやすい雰囲気だったのも、とても心強かったです。さらに、上の子をお散歩に連れて行っていただけたのも大変助かりました。妊娠・出産期は外に連れていくのが難しいことも多かったので、子ども自身もとても喜んでいました。作っていただいたお食事も栄養満点でとてもおいしく、心も体も元気になりました。栄養価の高い食材や調理の工夫も教えていただけたので、その後の自炊にも役立っています。何より、子どもたちの様子を丁寧に観察し、成長や変化を教えていただけたことで、自分では気づけなかった子どもの成長に目を向けることができました。このような手厚いサポートと温かいお言葉のおかげで、体力的にも精神的にもとても安定した日々を過ごすことができました。本当に感謝の気持ちでいっぱいです。」

    Nao & Hiroaki

  • 「最初は母乳育児のメリットを知らなったり、なかなかうまく母乳が出なかったりしましたが、育美さんに母乳育児の重要性や母乳育児を行うために必要なステップについて教えて頂き、またラクテーションコンサルタントも紹介して頂いたおかげで、無事完全母乳育児を行うことができるようになり大変助かりました。自分たちだけだったらきっとすぐ母乳育児は諦めていただろうと思います。また育児の考え方について会話したり本を貸して頂いたりする中で大事なことを多く学ぶことができたのも良かったです。特に鈴木正美先生の本は、子供に向き合う上での基本・土台となる見方・考え方を学ぶことができました。あと毎回作って頂く料理が産後の母体回復に効果的な食材を使って頂くなど体に良いもので、味もとても美味しく、食事の時間が育児生活の楽しみの一つでした。もし夫婦だけだったら忙しくて毎日冷凍食品ばかりになっていたはずなので、健康にも精神的にも全く違っていただろうと思います。」

    Hisae & Takashi

  • 「両親は渡米できず、サポートを頼めなかった状況でしたので、ドゥーラのサポートを受けられ、 とても心強かったです。特に、英語でのドゥーラサービスは多いものの、日本語でサポートを頼めたのは、言語に自信がない身としては有難かったです。1人目の子供の時は、どの両親も赤ちゃんに対する知識がない事は当然ですが、その時に頼れる存在があると言うのが精神的に心強かったです。ほとんどの家事を代行して頂き、両親共に積極的に休める時間を確保出来た事も大きいです。母親の産褥期から回復し、子供の世話に慣れるまでの期間、この期間のサポートがなかったことを想像すると、両親共に乗り切る事が出来なかったと思います。産後直後の大変な時期を無事に乗り越える事が出来た事大変感謝いたします。ありがとうございました。」

    (匿名希望）

  • 「育美さん、あっという間の1ヶ月でしたが、異国の地で出産、育児に不安をかかえる私を助けて下さり本当にありがとうございました。産後ドゥーラという言葉を知ってはいましたが、依頼するのは初めてで、今回育美さんにお願いをして産前から産後まで、本当に心強く、支えていただき、育美さんにご依頼をして本当に良かったと思います。渡米間もない状態で出産を迎えることになった私は準備不足にとても焦っていましたが、出産前から丁寧に打ち合わせしていただき、産後の食事準備としてミールトレインがあること、保険で購入できる搾乳機があることをはじめとして米国の出産事情について細かに教えて頂き、出産準備を順調に進められました。ミールトレインは友人らに迷惑がかかるかな？と不安がる私に、産後食事の準備があることの大切さ（自分の体力回復や子供との時間確保）を教えていただき、後押ししてくださったおかげで実施に踏み切り本当によかったと思います。産後、自分ですべての食事を準備することはとても困難だったと思います。また、出産直後には、思いがけずお祝いの電話をくださり、これはとても嬉しく、精神的にも支えられました。さらに、育美さんに特に感謝しているのは、母乳育児について不安になっていた私を激励し、完母で育児できる状態にしてくださったことです。当初母乳の出が良くなかったり、上の子の育児も大変そうだなとおもっていた関係で今回はミルク育児でいいかなと安易に考え、弱気になっていましたが、電話やテキストで母乳育児の重要さや母乳育児のためにすべきことを事細かに教えてくださいました。母乳コンサルタントやドナーミルクの存在、スポイトやシリンジ、紙カップで乳首拒否にならぬよう授乳すること、夜間頻回授乳がより良いことなどは、今回の出産で初めて知り、実際に実践することで2人目も完母にたどりつけたとおもいます。自宅での産後ケアにおいても、授乳の体勢や食事、メンタル面についても丁寧に指導くださいました。さらに上の子との育児の関係や夫との協力体制の構築のポイントまでケア頂き、出産直後は大変ではありつつも家族仲も良好な状態をキープできたと思います。自宅の掃除や美味しいお食事の準備などの家事全般も非常に助かりましたが、上述のような育美さんのたくさんの知識に驚かされるとともにわたしの産後の回復がとても順調にいったとおもいます。米国での2人目の出産という私の人生の中でも大きなイベントは、育美さんの手厚いサポートがあってこそなし得たと思います。深く感謝申し上げます。」

    Atsuko

  • 「初めての子育てで不安が大きかったため、利用しました。事前の打ち合わせから母乳育児や産後の身体の変化、ミールトレインについて詳しく教えていただき、出産と育児に対する不安が軽減されたと思います。授乳に最初は苦労しましたが、事前知識があったことで入院中、退院後のラクテーションコンサルタントの指導をスムーズに理解することができました。訪問時には赤ちゃんのお世話だけでなく、家事の手伝いをしてもらい、そのあいだに仮眠を取ったりシャワーを浴びたりして、身体も気持ちも休めることが出来ました。パートナーも一緒にお世話の仕方や遊び方を学ぶことができたことも、とても良かったです。育美さんのサポートにとても感謝しています。」

    Ikumi & Yuuki