Postpartum Wellness
This post has been a long time coming - and by long time, I mean for six months because this is a topic that has meant so much to me during my six months of postpartum so far. I am very passionate about mamas feeling well, nourished, and as energized as possible after having a baby. It is all too normalized to feel overly fatigued, stressed, depressed, anxious, and overwhelmed after giving birth, and I’m here to tell you that it doesn’t need to be that way at all! There are foods you can eat, things you can do, and resources you can turn to (hire the doula, trust me!) in order to have a thriving postpartum!
First things first, nutrition. It is IMPERATIVE to make your nutrition a priority after having a baby so you are adequately nourished to tackle all the tasks that come in the postpartum period! I wrote a blog post a few months ago about postpartum nutrition, but I’d like to emphasize again here how crucial replenishing mineral stores are. Pregnancy (and delivery) are extremely depleting on a woman and her mineral status - and minerals are crucial for enzymatic activity throughout the body that will help the healing process. Minerals are like the 'spark plugs' that trigger our cellular reactions (such as making energy, hormone production, liver detox, food digestion, etc.). While our bodies are able to produce and replete some vitamins, we have to source our minerals externally every single day. Therefore, consuming minerals is vitally important for the healing mama in the postpartum period, and beyond. Supporting our daily mineral intake is crucial to elevate mental health (and prevent postpartum anxiety/depression), bolster physical strength, and reduce overall stress on the body. Following, are some ways to optimize your mineral intake. Managing stress (slowing down, taking care of yourself, breathing properly, etc.) will prevent you from further depleting your mineral stores. Also, ensuring you’re including adequate amounts of the four main macrominerals (sodium, potassium, calcium, and magnesium) in your diet is important because they will be the primary drivers of overall mineral balance. Sodium is responsible for producing stomach acid and a lot of adrenal functions which help you handle stress - so don’t listen to anyone who says salt is bad! Include Redmond real salt and/or Celtic sea salt liberally in your diet. Potassium helps balance blood sugar. Magnesium, a mineral our society is largely deficient in, is crucial for adequate sleep, brain health, and stress management. Topical magnesium is the easiest way to absorb it, so magnesium lotions (this is my favorite) and Epsom salt baths (if you like baths), or foot soaks, should be a regular part of your postpartum routine. Calcium helps rebuild tissues and should be included in the diet through raw/real dairy, bone broth (FOND is a great brand), and properly prepared leafy greens. Bone broth is a gold standard for the postpartum period and for overall health long-term; it’s an incredible source of protein and is rich in minerals that help improve gut health, revitalize metabolism, lower stress, and improve postpartum healing (mentally and physically).
In addition to optimizing mineral stores in the postpartum period, other aspects of postpartum wellness that have been a game changer for me over the past six months include: having prepped food for the first few weeks, surrounding myself in uplifting community, getting out in nature, giving myself grace for the chores that I just can’t fathom getting done while taking care of a newborn, dividing up tasks, not stressing about exercise, and soaking up every moment (the good and the bad) with so much gratitude for all my answered prayers for a healthy baby.
I hope to write a post soon about how much of a game-changer it was for me to spend the end of my pregnancy prepping and freezing foods for postpartum, because it truly helped us SO much. Between the foods I prepped and foods that were so kindly brought to us, my husband and I didn’t have to cook a meal from scratch for SIX weeks! When you’re tired, spending all hours (it seems like) breastfeeding, meeting all of your baby’s needs, and taking care of your physical healing (there are so many great blog posts on perinatal healing, so I’m not going to try to be an expert in that area here), the last thing you want to do is cook a meal. We were able to grab whatever we wanted from the freezer and heat it up in the toaster oven or on the stove - avoid microwaves - for an easy meal, and I recommend doing this to all my friends and postpartum clients! I’ll expand on each point next…
Community is HUGE. Early parenthood can feel lonely as heck, so surround yourself (either physically or virtually) with people who truly lift you up, let you vent, tell you how awesome you’re doing, offer to help, and just make you feel loved and supported. You can attend postpartum groups, but make sure they fill your cup vs. drain it (I found them to be draining and negative, so I turned to my mama friends instead, but do what’s best for you!) Having kids can take a toll on some friendships (it shouldn’t, but it unfortunately does), so my best advice here is to try your best to not waste time and energy grieving lost friendships or trying to fight to preserve friendships that don’t step up and support you during this time of your life. Pour your heart and energy into the friends that pour their heart and energy back into you!
Exposing your body to nature, fresh air, and sunlight daily (if you can) is so healing. It grounds your nervous system, regulates your circadian rhythm, and is just such a big mood booster! I say this as someone who had a winter baby during a very cold and snowy New Hampshire winter, so don’t think I come at this from a standpoint of thinking it’s easy. However, simple things make such a huge difference -sitting by a window that the sun shines through, walking to the mailbox, etc., so try to do them when you can!
Give yourself grace for the things you just can’t fathom getting done, and please don’t stress if you aren’t able to check to-do list items off while your baby is sleeping. It changed the game for me when I stopped stressing about doing everything while my daughter napped, because newborn naps are wildly unpredictable, and if something [inevitably] doesn’t go according to your plan, you don’t want to create added stress for yourself. My suggestion instead is to try to get some things done during baby’s wake windows. Put them on the floor to play in multiple positions (which will do wonders for their development), and then get done whatever you can. If the dishes sit in the sink a little longer than they used to, or the laundry doesn’t get folded right away, it’s okay. It will still be there later when you have more bandwidth to get things done. The newborn phase is so fleeting; please don’t waste it stressed about household chores that are never-ending anyway!
On a similar note to the above point, dividing up tasks differently than you did before baby can help with chore stress a lot. I usually do all the laundry, but when I was physically healing and cluster feeding, my husband picked up that task for a few weeks. For you, your roles for cooking or cleaning might shift, but don’t worry, you’ll find a new normal equilibrium when you slowly adjust to your new life. I promise!
It is so strange to me that we put the 6 week postpartum check-up on such a high pedestal. If you’re ‘cleared for exercise’ at that appointment, but you don’t feel well enough to exercise (either the way you did pre-baby, or at all), there’s an added level of stress that you do.not.need. Your body just grew and birthed a human, please do not stress about getting the body you had before it did those incredible things back. Exercise within the limits of what you feel comfortable with - if that’s a walk around the neighborhood at a slow pace, that’s great; if it’s slowly returning to weight-lifting, then do that as much as you can tolerate, etc. Whatever you do, just try not to stress about what you think you “should” be doing in terms of exercise. All you should be worried about is snuggling that cute newborn of yours.
Speaking of snuggling your newborn, please snuggle the heck out of your newborn. I’m six months in, and let me tell you, babies DO NOT KEEP. Time is such a dang thief, and as long and hard as those newborn days feel, I promise they will be nothing but a blur all too soon. So please, soak up every single moment that comes with having a newborn. Your baby is likely something you hoped and/or prayed for for so long; enjoy them and enjoy your new life. You’re crushing it, mama :)
I hope this post helps you feel well in your postpartum period and provides you with tangible things to do to prioritize yourself! If you’d like some support during this time of your life - a time you can’t get back - then please Contact Me! I would love to work with you and help you take care of yourself so you can best take care of your bundle of joy :)
