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.
Yes.
So in this video, we are gonna share with you the 6 ways most women sabotage their own postpartum
recovery and what you should do instead.
And then at the end of this video, we are also gonna share with you the most important
tip for your postpartum recovery in terms of pain relief, a tip which will even help
you recover faster! Right!
This is Nathalie, a pregnancy and birth consultant and TCM therapist, and that’s Mathias a
researcher and science geek and on this channel we help mommies and their babies naturally
and science-based!
So, let’s have a look at the 6 ways you sabotage your own postpartum recovery!
Let’s face it: now that you have given birth to your baby, everybody thinks that you are
fully operational again. Right!
And what people often don’t realize is that there is a reason why it’s called
“postpartum recovery”. Right!
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, right?
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, right?
Yes. But people normally don’t look at you that way, after a delivery, right?
Your family wants you to make lunch and dinner as usual.
Your visitors wanna 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…
Yes.
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,
right?
If that’s not possible, try to stay in bed for at least two to three days right after
your delivery. Yes.
On top of that, what we personally did was, we told everyone, look: during the first 6
weeks, only close family members are allowed to visit, meaning, our parents and our siblings.
But they had to leave their kids at home, right?
And second, if they wanted to come, they had to help somehow, like for example, prepare dinner, right?
Yeah! Now you know why no one wanted to come!
Yeah, well that was a different problem!
Anyways, so what we are trying to say is: during the postpartum period, really 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: Yes. So, first of all, if you don’t eat a balanced diet, then 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, right?
Not only because straining can be very painful and 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. Right!
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. Yes.
And 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.
Yes. And so, during the first six weeks after your delivery, it is very important to closely
observe your body and any signs that could be reason to worry, in particular, regarding
your bleeding, right?
We talk about this in more detail in one of our other videos.
But basically, 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 although about one
third of all women experience what is called birth trauma.
Yes.
Birth trauma is basically distress experienced by the mother either during or after a delivery,
for example, because of a very difficult delivery, right?
And so, 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, right?
Emotionally, you feel very bad. Yes.
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.
Yes. 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, right?
Right! That’s right!
Whatever it is though, 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. Yes!
So, 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.
We will link to some of those tools in the description below this video.
As you probably know, we are big proponents of exercising which is why we propose exercising
throughout a pregnancy.
However, the postpartum period is a bit different.
And that’s actually because of what we mentioned earlier that the postpartum period
is very much like coming back from an injury.
And if you did have an injury, you wouldn’t just go straight back to exercising, right?
You would give your body time to heal first before you then slowly start to go back to
your exercising routine.
And the same basically applies to your postpartum period.
Yes, and that's actually something that we often observe at the clinic that women who start
exercising very early in their postpartum period, eventually find it much harder to
recover from birth than women who try to rest!
I mean, whatever resting means with a newborn, right?
But it’s not only about how early or late in your postpartum period you start exercising.
It’s also about the kind of exercises that you are doing.
Yes, obviously, there is a huge difference between going for a walk and doing sit-ups
and crunches and the likes, right?
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 wanna 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, right?
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.
Yes.
And so, when you try to take some time for your self-care every day, don’t feel bad
about it.
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.
Yes.
See it like this: 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, right?
In other words, prioritizing self-care is not a selfish thing to do.
Everybody involved will be better off.
Yes, and 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.
Whatever helps you with your postpartum recovery.
Right!
Talking about self-care.
At the beginning, we told you that we are gonna share with you the most important tip
for your postpartum recovery in terms of pain relief.
It’s something that you can actually prepare before you go into labor so that you have
it readily available right after your delivery.
So, what you need to do is, first of all, you need to buy yourself some super-absorbent sanitary
towels!
And then afterwards, you need to prep them with something that contains witch hazel.
Yes. There are many different products available that contain witch hazel.
We will link to some examples in the description below this video.
And then 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.
Yes. Just prep some pads so that you have them readily available after delivery.
And then use them like any other pad.
Yes, you are going to enjoy the cooling effect and thanks to the witch hazel, the area will
heal much faster.
So, try it!
We really receive so much positive feedback from women who did try it.
By the way, if you want to learn more about what you can do to recover faster after
your delivery and also, if you want to know which problems are normal and which problems
are not normal during the postpartum phase, then check out the video that you can now
see somewhere at the top of your video screen.
If it does not pop up, you can also find the link to that video in the description below
this video.
Right!
If you have found this video helpful, we would be super grateful if you could leave us a
like or even a comment in the comment section below!
Yes!
And for more useful tips and tools on pregnancy and baby-related topics, make sure to subscribe
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