The phase after delivering a baby is referred to as the postpartum period. This phase begins as soon as your baby is born and ends when your body has nearly returned to its pre-pregnant state which often takes about 5 to 8 weeks. During this phase, your body goes through a lot of changes both physically and emotionally. Adding to it, getting used to a new routine or lifestyle may bring its own set of challenges.
While taking care of your baby, sacrificing your sleep, and worrying about the unforeseen, you may feel like there is not enough time for your own needs. However, paying attention to yourself during this time is equally important especially for postpartum recovery. Since your body also requires specialized care during this phase, you can try consulting maternity experts to create a healthy routine.
What Does After Caesarean Care Includes?
As mentioned above, postpartum care is as important as taking care of your baby.
If you feel that you do not have enough time to take care of yourself, here are some tips to help you after the delivery:
Rest :
One of the most important aspects of postpartum care is taking sufficient REST. Being a new mother, you may know by now that babies do not have a set time clock or routine. Your baby may wake up any time of the day for feeding or diaper change. Moreover, if this is your first baby, it may be overwhelming as you may not even get good sleep for several months.
Of course, similar to other mothers, your routine may be disrupted but you can try and sleep when the baby sleeps. Although this may not be enough, it can still add up to your overall sleep.
Nutrition
The best maternity hospital often re-iterates the importance of nutrition during the postpartum phase. Your body needs time to recover due to humongous pregnancy changes. In addition to sleep, you also need to pay attention to your diet.
To your surprise, extra weight that you carry from pregnancy also aids to your recovery by creating energy stores and allowing breastfeeding. Just like you paid close attention to your diet while pregnant, you need to follow the same in your postpartum phase. Of course, the type and choice of food will vary. Hence, make sure that you consult a gynaecologist or lactation expert to learn about postpartum nutrition before making any changes in your diet.
Along with a healthy meal, drink enough fluids if you are on breastfeeding. Mothers often feel thirsty while nursing a baby. In such cases, you can keep a water bottle near you if you experience sudden thirst pangs while feeding.
Ask for Help, and Accept It
You do not have to do everything alone!
For a lot of new mothers, asking for help may seem difficult. They may feel like doing everything on their own especially when it comes to taking care of the baby. This, however, may lead to more chaos than usual.
Being a new mother, you would want to take care of your baby alone while also focusing on yourself. However, doing everything alone especially in the initial days may get taxing. Asking for help during this phase does not imply anything but it helps you in figuring out things.
To your surprise, most of your loved ones would be happy to help, especially in return for a few baby snuggles. Hence, do not feel guilty asking for help and when help arrives at your doorstep, accept it without a second thought.
Motherhood brings whole lot of emotions with itself. With a baby, you may feel over the moon and wish to take care of your baby all by yourself. Amist all the love and nurturing, you also need to take care of yourself. Postpartum phase is important as it helps your body to recover from the delivery. This includes adequate sleep, balanced diet, and letting others help you.