HWN Suggests

A Survival Guide for the Fourth Trimester

After 24 hours of labor, I thought the hard part was over.

Then my nurse showed up with a small diaper filled with ice. And it wasn’t for the baby.

“This is one of our tricks to reduce the swelling,” she said, while carefully positioning it under my hospital gown.

My recovery, I suddenly realized, wasn’t going to be as simple as I had envisioned.

And neither was breast-feeding.

It began with a nipple blister — yes, you read that right. It’s a common complication that happens when milk gets trapped under the skin. The pain was second only to labor — and the difficulty I had in “establishing a proper latch,” or getting the baby to get a good mouthful of…

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Featured

  What no one tells new moms about what childbirth can do to their bodies

Postnatal care in America is pitiful.

 New Recommendations for Postpartum Care Are Long Overdue

Here’s how women have been getting by in the mean time.

 Sweden Finds a Simple Way to Improve New Mothers’ Health. It Involves Fathers.

The flexibility to have an extra person at home, even for a few days, offers significant postpartum benefits, new research shows.

 The Demystification of the Postpartum Female Body

As women open up about the realities of recovering from giving birth, the resources available to new moms are expanding.

 The Invisible Reality of Brand-New Motherhood on Instagram

Instagram is full of serene, beautiful, caftan-clad mothers. But nothing on the platform really focuses on the visceral ravages experienced by a postpartum body.

Articles of Interest

Bigger Postpartum Challenges Than Just Baby Weight

The issue of baby weight hangs heavy on the minds of many postpartum women, with images of famous moms like the impossibly fit model Gisele Bündchen, who had her second child last year, seared into their brains. But more women and health professionals are turning their attention to changes beyond weight.

If Only Everyone Had a Postpartum Doula

When a baby comes, friends and families don’t always know how to help.

The French Government Wants To Tone My Vagina

Inside my amazing and embarrassing postnatal “perineal re-education” class, paid for by la France.

Tovah Haim Launches Bodily to Help Women Recover From Giving Birth

Basically, if there is a common physiological experience that is culturally taboo, leaving women in the dark about what’s happening to their bodies and feeling isolated, then I want to shine a light on it and change it.”

What Should Everyone Know About Post-Birth Maternal Mental Health?

We are living in a time (and a country) when women have outsized expectations of ourselves in every arena, and this can lead to real challenges as we adjust to the reality of being a parent to a newborn (exhausting, unpredictable) in a society that does a pretty terrible job of supporting new motherhood.

Why Won’t This New Mom Wash Her Hair?

The fascinating postpartum customs of women from around the world.

Resources

4th Trimester Project

Defining unmet patient-centered health care needs in the 4th Trimester.

Bodily

A modern approach to birth recovery and breastfeeding

Healthy Newborn Network

The first hours and days after birth are the riskiest for both mothers and newborns.

ACOG

The weeks following birth are a critical period for a woman and her infant, setting the stage for long-term health and well-being. To optimize the health of women and infants, postpartum care should become an ongoing process, rather than a single encounter, with services and support tailored to each woman’s individual needs. It is recommended that all women have contact with their obstetrician–gynecologists or other obstetric care providers within the first 3 weeks postpartum. This initial assessment should be followed up with ongoing care as needed, concluding with a comprehensive postpartum visit no later than 12 weeks after birth.

Maternal Health Task Force

The Maternal Health Task Force strives to create a strong, well-informed and collaborative community of individuals focused on ending preventable maternal mortality and morbidity worldwide

NICE

Although the postnatal period is uncomplicated for most women and babies, care during this period needs to address any variation from expected recovery after birth. For the majority of women, babies and families, the postnatal period ends 6–8 weeks after the birth. However for some women and babies, the postnatal period should be extended in order to meet their needs.

WHO

The postnatal period is a critical phase in the lives of mothers and newborn babies. Most maternal and infant deaths occur during this time. Yet, this is the most neglected period for the provision of quality care. WHO guidelines on postnatal care have been recently updated based on all available evidence. The guidelines focus on postnatal care of mothers and newborns in resource-limited settings in low- and middle-income countries.