POSTPARTUM

Most critical period in mother’s life

Most pregnant are focused on their delivery only and they don’t really prepare for what’s coming afterwards. As a result, they often unknowingly sabotage their own postpartum recovery, which can make their recovery last much longer. Therefore, in this article, we are going to discuss some ways in which most women sabotage their own postpartum recovery and what you should do instead.
Let’s face it: now that you have given birth to your baby, everybody thinks that you are fully operational again and what people often don’t realize is that there is a reason why it’s called “postpartum recovery”. In fact, we like to compare this phase with coming back from an injury because like many injuries, a delivery of a baby involves blood loss. And if you had an injury, people would most probably treat you in a different way, no matter if it’s your partner or your visitors.
But people normally don’t look at you that way, after a delivery. Your family wants you to make lunch and dinner as usual. Your visitors want to eat cake and have a good time while handing around your newborn. And if that means that it’s mostly you who will do all the work, in particular, if you are a person who is trying to please everyone, your postpartum recovery almost certainly will last longer.
A much better approach would be to stay in bed at least during the first week of your postpartum recovery, bonding with your baby as much as you possible can, i.e. skin-to-skin. If that’s not possible, try to stay in bed for at least two to three days right after your delivery, whereas during the first 6 weeks, only close family members should be allowed to visit, meaning, our parents and our siblings.
But they had to leave their kids at home and if they wanted to come, they had to help somehow, like for example, prepare dinner. Now you know why no one wanted to come. During the postpartum period, try to focus on yourself and don’t try to please everyone. Of course, it is only natural that women want to lose baby fat as soon as possible after birth. And there is nothing wrong with that.
However, the postpartum period is not a time for exaggerated or unhealthy diets because they can unnecessarily slow down your recovery. In fact, it is very important that you eat and drink properly in the postpartum period. And here is why:
If you don’t eat a balanced diet, you are more likely to be constipated after your delivery. And constipation is what you really want to avoid, in particular, when you have stitches or when you had a C-section. Not only because straining can be very painful but it can make the healing process more difficult. It can also make piles worse, which is a problem women often suffer from during the days and weeks after a delivery.
The other thing is that your body requires a lot of energy when you are breastfeeding which is why you are most likely going to feel very hungry when you are breastfeeding. And that hunger will increase even more if you are sleep deprived. And so, if you deny your body what your body demands, then it will add to your exhaustion which makes it even more difficult for your body to recover.
Because of that, it’s very important to eat a balanced diet, containing lots of fresh fruit and vegetables and products which contain lots of fiber, particularly, if you find it difficult to pass stools initially. And of course, please don’t forget to drink plenty of water in order to avoid dehydration. One of the biggest problems which always slows down the postpartum recovery is ignoring the warning signs of your body.
And it’s easy to see why, because if a medical problem is not being diagnosed early enough, then it often leads to even more complications which unnecessarily prolong the recovery phase. So, during the first six weeks after your delivery, it is very important to closely observe your body and any signs that could be a reason to worry, in particular, regarding your bleeding.
If you are soaking more than one pad in less than one hour, if you are losing blood in large clots, or if your bleeding is accompanied by symptoms like fever, tenderness, pelvic pain or strong headaches that don’t go away, please call your doctor. Most of the times, people only talk about the physical aspects of postpartum recovery.
However, postpartum recovery also refers to healing emotionally. And unfortunately, this is something that is often being ignored. About one third of all women experience what is called birth trauma. Birth trauma is basically distress experienced by the mother either during or after a delivery, for example, because of a very difficult delivery. Birth trauma can be physical, but very often, it is emotional and psychological, which can result in all kinds of emotional issues, and in the worst case, postnatal or postpartum depression. But whatever it is, the problem is more or less the same. Emotionally, you feel very bad. In fact, women who go through such a phase, are often confronted with very negative thoughts. They can range from just feeling very unhappy, to more extreme cases which can involve hurting themselves or the baby. At the same time, they feel very ashamed that they have such feelings about their baby. However, it is important that you don’t blame yourself for those feelings.
The first step is always to accept them. Acknowledge the fact that they are just the result of your birth trauma. Also, keep in mind that your hormones during that phase don’t make your life particularly easy either. If you are in a dark place after birth, then it is important that you don’t ignore these warnings signs and that you get professional help. It’s the fastest and in most cases, the only way out. If you find it difficult to connect with your baby, if you even have feelings to hurt your baby or yourself, or if you have other negative feelings about yourself or the baby, or if you are “only” just feeling unhappy in general, you should always talk with your doctor or midwife about your feelings.
In addition, there are also other really helpful tools that you can try in order to recover emotionally. It’s also about the kind of exercises that you are doing. There is a huge difference between going for a walk and doing sit-ups and crunches so the best approach is to take one step at a time, once you get the approval of your doctor. For example, start with going for a short walk in the nature. See how you are feeling, then maybe extend the duration of the walk the next time. Maybe try mother and baby yoga classes. But in any case, do avoid excessive workouts as well as exercises which are bad for your recovery, such as sit-ups and crunches. We know, it is very difficult to find some time for self-care when you have a newborn by your side. Maybe you also have other kids who would like to have their mom back.
However, please don’t underestimate the value of self-care for your postpartum recovery. When you try to take some time for your self-care every day, don’t feel bad about it as it’s not a selfish act. It’s taking care of your health and your recovery. But it’s really important that you do use this time to take care of yourself and that you don’t use it to take care of the household, for instance.
If you don’t prioritize self-care during the weeks after your delivery, your postpartum recovery is going to take longer. As a result, the people you care about will have to wait even longer for you to be fully functional again. Please don’t hesitate to ask for help. Tell your partner to take care of the baby for half an hour or even an hour or ask your mom or your sister to support you and then use that time to take care of yourself. Go for a walk if that’s possible already or take a nice relaxing bath knowing that your baby is in good hands.
Talking about selfcare, the most important tip for your postpartum recovery in terms of pain relief is something that you can actually prepare before you go into labour so that you have it readily available right after your delivery.
So first of all, you need to buy yourself some super-absorbent sanitary towels and then you need to prep them with something that contains witch hazel. There are many different products available that contain witch hazel. If your product comes in a spray, simply spray the liquid on the pad. If it does not come in a spray, just use one or two table spoons of the liquid and put it on the center of the pad. And then afterwards, put the pad into the freezer. This way you have them readily available after delivery.