Building Your Postpartum Team
You probably know at least one expecting mama right now, if not more. Please share this article with them to get them thinking about life after baby and how they can arrange support ahead of time.
Childbirth, let alone pregnancy, leave women depleted, exhausted, and in need of serious support. Motherhood is a job like none other that cannot be done alone, and having the appropriate help in the transition (whether it’s your first, or fifth) is really important.
Who to include on your team:
Having a doula can not only help give you support during labour & delivery, but is also a tremendous idea to set up for postpartum. Postpartum doulas are there to serve you! Literally the word “doula” means “woman who serves.” They will usually do pretty much anything from run errands, do your dishes, breastfeeding support, and be there to help you process your birth story. With my recent birth, my doula vacuumed our floors before my family arrived, delivered food to the hospital for me during the first week, and picked up pump parts from Toys R Us. Friends and family are very important during postpartum, but having a dedicated person who is on call to serve your heart, mind, and physical space can be a big win for your mental health and recovery.
If you are wanting to address the depletion that pregnancy and delivery cause, as well as have options for preventative therapies to combat postpartum mental health disorders and physical complications, it’s a good idea to find yourself a Naturopathic Doctor who specializes in mothers. They can walk with you in pregnancy, run certain tests, and help you prepare for labour, delivery and postpartum. They can prescribe IV therapies and other non-pharmaceutical options for prevention and management of maternal issues. Finding someone who is also an expert in pediatrics can be a win so you can run your baby concerns by them too, and get your child into a clinic right from the start.
Pelvic floor physiotherapy is an excellent offering that again, is not only important to prepare for delivery, but equally critical after childbirth. They can help you to physically restore your core strength, train you to move again for sexual activities and sports so you will not injure your insides, and help flag any issues internally.
Having a psychologist or mental health therapist in your court is a wise decision. If all sails smoothly and you don’t have any trauma to work through or major mental health concerns, childbirth is still something to process. It is a major life event that involves every faculty of your being, seemingly every cell of your body! Regular appointments postpartum can help you stay un-back-logged emotionally and support your mental fortitude and health. Even if everything is going well, motherhood is a huge adjustment, as is adding another little human to the mix. Don’t wait until it’s too late. Your mental health is a HUGE priority postpartum.
Breastfeeding isn’t a guarantee for every mama, but for the majority of women, who do choose to breastfeed, a lactation consultant can be an MVP on your postpartum team. Whether you wish to do so exclusively, part-time, or through a pump, a breastfeeding expert can be a tool in your kit to help prevent major issues (if you have them in your space right away) and/or help to work through common and uncommon breastfeeding challenges.
Having good body-care professionals like a massage therapist, general physio therapist, acupuncturist and chiropractor can be immensely beneficial for your recovery and transition as well.
Finally, consider someone like me to join your team! I’m a Natural Nutrition Clinical Practitioner, and love consulting with mamas about holistic nutrition in pregnancy and postpartum.
Why have a nutrition practitioner on your team?
Nutrition is overwhelmingly powerful. With every bite you have the potentially to harm or to heal. After the most strenuous life event possible, childbirth, let alone roughly 9 months of feeding another human with your very body, you are extremely depleted. Your body has been through a marathon, your mind is racing and heart is beating with all sorts of emotions.
Restoring your body, your health, vitality, and having the strength to love your child through the incredible changes you are going through in every way can be greatly accelerated by proper postpartum nutrition.
Having a nutrition professional on your side will be a game-changer for you, ensuring you know how to eat for recovery, breastfeeding, and guarding your mental health.
A postpartum nutritionist can help ensure you are replenishing your worn out stores, teach you to eat for recovering tissues and specific injuries from your birth, and help you manage your weight and milk supply post partum.
What do you offer your postpartum clients?
Weeks 1-12 I come to you, where in the comfort of your home I'm at your disposal for all things nutrition. We can chat through your challenges (whether they be physical recovery, mental health, breastfeeding, etc.) and see what nutritional changes we can make to support their stabilization.
I provide emotional support in the realm of food as it relates to the transition to motherhood and how it affects your relationship to what you eat.
I help you practically if needed, making myself available to grocery shop for you , drop off freezer meals and power snacks for breastfeeding and/or recovery.
Weeks 13+ you come to me and we can continue discussing your challenges and we can look at using blood analysis and supplement to asses where you’re at.
If you’re interested in this service, feel free to book yourself in for a free 15 minute call to see if I’m a good fit for YOUR postpartum team.
Note: My postpartum nutrition services are only available for residents of Lethbridge, Alberta, as they must be done in person. Spots for this service are limited, as I must be available to my postpartum clients more on demand than other clients. I currently have space for 5 pregnant mamas to hire me for these services between January and June.
