Postpartum Recovery: What You Should Do To Support A New Mom?

Post-Delivery Care Tips: Starting from the process of ovulation, fertilization, implantation, the appearance of the first heartbeat, the development of the baby, physical changes in pregnancy, emotional changes in pregnancy, and the process of labour, till childbirth, any woman confronts many changes in body and mind.

The postpartum period is defined as a period of six weeks from the birth of a child. The early postpartum period is the first week after childbirth. The early postpartum period is very dynamic with changes in both body and also mind as compared to the late postpartum period. The postpartum period involves many risks like postpartum haemorrhage, perineal trauma, Central and venous sinus thrombosis, eclampsia, anaemia etc. It also involves the risk of postpartum depression. In this article, Dr. Vinoad Bharrati, Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, Director, Elite Momz unit of Rising Medicare Hospital, tells us more about how to take care of a new mom’s mental and physical health and deal with postpartum issues.

Postpartum Recovery: Top 8 Tips

1. During the early postpartum period, the lady, partner, family members, doctor and team should take care of the diet of the pregnant woman. The diet should include a high-protein diet with plenty of liquids, vitamins, and minerals. Diet pattern usually changes regionwise, it should consist of a balanced diet with plenty of liquids. During the early postpartum period, the recovery of the body is at a faster pace. There are many changes which are taking place such as the adjustment of body fluids in different compartments like intravascular, extravascular and third space. Lady is experiencing more passage of urine, more sweating, and more dehydration during the early postpartum period. Blood volume is shifting from the reproductive system to the circulatory system so there is a possibility of volume overload.
2. Blood pressure may increase in the early postpartum period. Fluid leaks are happening through smaller blood vessels so increase in body swelling, and increased chances of postpartum convulsions. Due to sedentary situations and dehydration, patients may have thromboembolic episodes in the early postpartum period. Due to lack of sleep, the lady always has mental stress. On one side the woman is free from different pregnancy symptoms and on another side, she is facing different changes in her body, and mind with the additional responsibility of taking care of her baby. The whole family along with the husband should be counselled for parenting before the delivery of a child. It will help in effective parenting, good breastfeeding, and family bonding and decrease the chances of postpartum depression. Mother should be pampered and taken care of.
3. During the early postpartum period, establishing breastfeeding at the earliest possible time is very important for the health of mother and baby. For breastfeeding, family support is most important along with breastfeeding education to the mother. Breastfeeding also helps in smoother recovery of just delivered ladies.
4. Many women face problems with back pain during the postpartum period. The usual reason for back pain is the posture of a lady while breastfeeding. Back pain due to spinal anaesthesia is nearly a myth.
5. To deal with this back pain, ladies are advised for exercises which are different from normal delivery as compared to a Cesarean section. Also, the diet should be rich in calcium and supplementation of calcium medications are being provided regularly by their clinicians.
6. Many women are worried about their increased belly size. The size of the uterus becomes normal to the pre-pregnancy size after six weeks from delivery day. So most importantly the tone of abdominal muscles should be corrected with the help of exercises. Advised by professionals. Binding the abdomen is definitely not going to help to reduce the size of the belly.
7. Usually stitches at the wound site of the perineum in case of normal delivery and on the abdomen, in case of Cesarean, usually heal in 8 to 10 days. The tensile strength of these areas will nearly come to 90% of the original in six weeks after delivery. Good hygiene practices are advised along with good nutrition, antibiotics, and a few analgesics for a shorter time.
8. Any kind of fever or medical condition till 6 weeks after delivery is considered a postpartum complication unless and until proven otherwise. So a clean and safe environment is essential at the place of confinement. During the postpartum period every organ is coming back to normal functioning so the ovary does, but it is very irregular in the initial phase. Lactational mothers may have irregular menstruation patterns with irregular ovulation, this increases the chance of unwanted pregnancy. To mitigate this issue, contraception counselling is advised at 6 weeks after delivery for couples. In the postpartum period, there is an opportunity to complete the HPV vaccination to prevent cervical cancer. Immediately after delivery before discharge from the hospital, the lady can receive the first dose of HPV vaccine and later she can complete it during the postpartum period of 6 months.

Overall the journey of pregnancy is very happening in different aspects. Similarly, the early postpartum period (initial 1 week) may become more stormy physically, then 1 week to 6 weeks period may bring a few psychological challenges and very late 6 weeks to 6 months is usually less stormy physically and mentally but still exhausting for lactating mothers. So mother and baby require tender and supportive care during the whole postpartum period.