Golden Weeks of Postpartum Recovery

The first 8 weeks postpartum is your golden window of opportunity to recover from everything that your mind & body would have gone through after delivering your little one(s). The innate nature of a woman’s sacrificial love magically kicks in when a mother sets their eye on their newborn child for the first time. Suddenly, everything is about how to breastfeed/feed my baby, how to make sure that his or her poop colour is normal, how to help my baby sleep...and so on. It is so very easy to focus all your attention on what your newborn needs because ultimately, they rely on you and your partner 100% to live in this stage of their life.

What we tend to forget is that our bodies would have just gone through the most miraculous, transformative and sacrificial process in growing, labouring and delivering a human being into this world. The act of labour is not just about dealing with that indescribable pain (Oh the pain!) of contractions and ultimately pushing out a baby.

From the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)’s perspective, labouring uses a tremendous amount of qi (the core of a person’s vital energy) and delivering takes away a significant amount of blood (the key element of creating healthy circulation of the body). In fact, the effort and loss is so great that an estimated 6 to 8 weeks (if natural birth, and longer if cesarean birth) are required for mothers to restore their bodies back to pre-pregnancy state.

Intentional care, rest and nutritious replenishment during this period is vital for the health of a new mother. If done right, this period is also the golden chance to rebuild the physical body; from your energy level, blood count and more) to an even healthier state than ever before.

A postpartum doula’s role is to focus on YOU, the loving sacrificial mom, so that you can rest, recuperate and be re-energized during this golden window of opportunity. You deserve to be cared for. Your body will thank you for it.