5 Ways to Improve Postpartum Healing
This isn’t your basic advice about stocking up on pads or cold packs. These are tips that will take you beyond the first 6 weeks, when the true healing starts to take place. These are the things no one else tells you but can make all the difference in how you feel now and in the future.
- Make a plan with your support person to ensure self care
It’s easy to put your own care on the back burner when you have a new baby. I’ve been guilty of this myself. However, you’re not only doing a disservice to yourself but also your family. Just like the saying “you can’t pour from an empty cup.” Rather than wait until after your baby is born and things are already a little chaotic, talk with your spouse or family to come up with a plan to make sure you’re not forgotten. And, I’m not just talking about making sure you have time to take a shower, because that should be a given. I’m referring to activities that will help with your emotional, mental, and physical healing. This could be exercising, reading, painting, whatever you enjoy doing that will help facilitate your healing process. And I speak for myself, and probably other women, when I say we often won’t ask for help or say how overwhelmed we are which is why we need to tell our support person to make sure they help us make sure we are also taking care of ourselves.
2. Make sure you get adequate hydration and nutrition
This can go along with the idea discussed in tip 1. Sometimes we are the last ones to eat or find that we’ve hardly had any water all day. I tell women to keep a water bottle where they often sit to breastfeed so that they stay hydrated. And although I can’t give detailed advice on nutrition, I can say it’s so important to your healing to make sure you are eating nutritious meals. This can help you avoid constipation and improve the healing of your muscles and connective tissues. Talk to a nutrition professional to come up with a plan that works for you.
3. Watch your posture
Yes, this is often the last thing on our mind as we carry the baby, diaper bags, and car seats, but it can make all the difference. I see many women with back pain that is often aggravated by the positions or movements of our body. Think about how much time new moms spend breastfeeding. If you’re in bad position, that can really start to take it’s toll. To reduce onset of pain or muscle tightness make sure to bring baby up to breast versus breast to baby with the support of extra pillows as needed. I love the breastfeeding pillows but found that I often needed a pillow under them to avoid leaning myself forward. With the popularity of wraps, it’s easier to find something supportive to carry or feed baby in to take some of the stress off of your own body. Also, be sure to watch how you bend or lift and keep your spine straight, which is especially important when there is more abdominal and pelvic floor weakness after birth.
4. Start your Kegels early
Regardless of whether you have a vaginal or cesarean birth, your pelvic floor muscles have been tested while carrying a growing baby for 10 months. Then add the trauma to the pelvic floor region that happens during vaginal birth and you really need to make sure you give this area extra care. Typically, it’s okay to start doing Kegels right away but check with your physician to make sure. The benefit of doing Kegels is that it helps strengthen the muscles that are the foundation of the core. So not only does it help support the pelvic organs but it helps support the pelvis and spine and provide you with increased core strength. One problem is that over 50% of women do them incorrectly, which leads me to the last tip…
5. See a pelvic physical therapist!
Pelvic physical therapists can ensure you are doing Kegels correctly and come up with a plan that is appropriate for you. I’ve seen so many women over the years who wished they knew about pelvic PT sooner. Why? Because many of them had been dealing with issues such as bladder leakage, pelvic pain, or diastasis recti for a long time (some even 20 years or more!). Pregnancy and childbirth puts women at more risk to develop pelvic, abdominal, and low back issues so why not try to prevent them? Women often wait, hoping the problem will just go away. Or some will try different exercises, giving up quickly when they don’t see results. Pelvic physical therapists are the experts in this area! We can help! Sometimes only a few sessions are needed. Think the 6 week postpartum visit is sufficient? I’m afraid not. Physicians are often just assessing for major issues such as infection or pelvic organ size and position, not pelvic floor muscle function. And the issues discussed above can develop later on rather than immediately after birth. I promise you will learn so much from pelvic physical therapy that will benefit you for a lifetime!
Now that you’ve learned these very helpful tips, don’t keep it a secret! Please share with the other women in your life!
