4 Tips to Healing Your Postpartum Body
Healing your postpartum body can help you take on the essential job of caring for your baby.
As an expectant mom, you have, likely, not been told to prioritize healing your postpartum body. You may have been told things like you should “rest when baby rests” or “don’t lift anything heavier than your baby”, but you probably haven’t been told the why’s or what is going on with your body after baby is born. The truth is, a lot of moms enter the postpartum (time after baby is born) without a good understanding of the physical, mental, and emotional changes that are going to take place. This sets moms up for some pitfalls as they question if what they are experiencing is normal or not.
I am here to tell you there is a better way – you can take your postpartum care into your own hands and focus on healing your postpartum body before you even have your baby. By prioritizing the healing of your postpartum body you will better be able to take on the essential job of caring for your baby in a way that feels more ease-full and ground-in(g) in your body.
These 4 tips for healing your postpartum body will help give you a stronger foundation from which to center from as a new mother:
Educate yourself about your postpartum body. Learn about the postpartum body and the changes that you will go through in pregnancy and after having a baby, so you can understand why healing your postpartum body is not luxury care but essential care. Learn more about Mothering Life’s INNATE Postpartum Care – Planning for the 4th Trimester Course.
Create your own postpartum care. Postpartum care for new mothers is largely lacking in the United States, but there are lots of practitioners available to support your healing and provide resources to point you in a direction for getting what you need. A lack of support is one of the biggest pitfalls in the maternal care. Please set up a free consultation with me if you are in need of resourcing, and I will do my best to point you in a direction that feels good for you.
Trust in your own wisdom and in what works for you. The advice you receive may be great for the person who is giving it, but it may not be what works for you or your family. Tap into your own knowing when it comes to healing your postpartum body and allow your body to help be your guide.
It is never too late to heal. Healing your postpartum body can come through in many ways and at many points in life. For some, incorporating self-care practices helps a ton, for others, bodywork focusing on postpartum care is key, and for others community support is a must. I have spoken with women who had their babies 18+ years ago and who are now at a place where they can talk about their birth story without it being triggering. Know that there is nothing wrong with you if things feel overwhelming or like too much – this is just your body’s way of telling you there is an opportunity for greater healing. You choose what feels right for you when it feels right for you, but know that it is never too late to heal physically, mentally, or emotionally.
In addition, the why’s behind the advice of “rest when baby rests” and “don’t lift anything heavier than baby” is tied to healing your postpartum body:
We rest when baby rests because at a minimum our body is trying to heal an internal placental wound that is approximately 8” in length, and it can more easily repair and rebuild when we are resting as opposed to constantly on the go.
We do not lift anything heavier than baby because our overstretched ligaments are trying to recover in the postpartum and we do not want to cause long term damage to our pelvic floor. Relaxin (a hormone in our body responsible for relaxing our muscles, joints, and ligaments) is still in our body in higher than normal quantities until we stop breastfeeding, so we want to protect our muscles and ligaments from getting overextended in the early postpartum to support long term health and prevent pelvic floor issues such as prolapse from appearing later in life.
Danielle Hughes is the Founder of Mothering Life, a Craniosacral Therapist and an INNATE Postpartum Care practitioner. She focuses on supporting moms, so motherhood can be the celebration that it is meant to be. She offers 1:1 consultations, community classes, and Craniosacral Therapy Postpartum Care Sessions to help support pregnant and new mothers in their motherhood journeys. Thriving life starts with thriving mothers.