Preparing for Postpartum
Preparing for Postpartum
In clinic I often see women put a lot of thought and effort into making changes during pregnancy and pre-conception to best support themselves and bub. Which is fantastic, and there is no time like pregnancy to increase motivation to do right by ourselves and our child. However, in those first few months postpartum I see women struggling to maintain healthy habits due to many reasons. Add sleep deprivation, lack of support from community, breastfeeding issues or looking after additional children and there is no wonder why the postpartum period is exhausting!
It always breaks my heart seeing mothers completely exhausted and depleted during the postpartum period because this is such a special time that mothers should be able to enjoy, and not struggle just to get through the day. Usually the pregnancy multi vitamin has been left on the shelf untouched (because, hey your not pregnant anymore right..?!) and the diet shifts to quick and easy to prepare foods, where processed pre-packaged foods tend to sneak in a lot more here! Add in the extra coffee shots to get moving in the morning and skipping meals because your always feeding everyone else first, and you have a complete recipe for postpartum exhaustion! Your cortisol is through the roof, your probably anxious with low mood, struggling to sleep even when you get the chance to. The good news is you really can make some small changes to either prevent these situations from happening or if you find yourself already exhausted and overwhelmed there are lots of ways to help shift that and start thriving in motherhood!
So what things should we be focussing on to ensure we aren’t exhausted and depleted during the postpartum period?
Well, often the pregnancy multi has been left to the wayside. And really you might not think much of it because let’s face it pregnancy multivitamins are mostly pushed because you want to avoid things like neural tube defects… and thats about it right, so why bother taking it once your beautiful healthy baby is here!?… In a super quick overview, pregnancy multivitamins have been around since the 70’s, and yes initially introduced to prevent spina bifida. However pregnancy multi vitamins are really a crucial element for most people, and I say most because there are some exceptions and I do believe if you ate perfectly every single day and had really good knowledge on what specific nutrients you need and how much you are getting from your food, plus some good pathology results to back yourself then sure maybe you don’t need one! But this isn’t the reality for most people. I have another blog post on Pregnancy multi vitamins HERE because this deserves several other blogs posts! But in summary, you likely aren’t getting all the nutritional requirements from your diet, especially if those packaged/processed foods are being consumed daily. ADD in breastfeeding and that fact you are providing more nutrients and energy to sustain the baby than you did in pregnancy and your requirements for nutrients is the highest its ever been!
If your pregnant now, then start building a supply of meals in the freezer! Freezer meals that are nutrient dense will be your lifeline, because you the preparation is done, and all you need to do is reheat and serve! A good rule of thumb is from 6 months on in your pregnancy start making and freezing one extra meal per week. Date and label everything so all of your hard work doesn’t go to waste. I love that I don’t have to re-invent the wheel here and that the fabulous Lily Nichols has a blog post with 50 FREE nutritious freezer meals specific for postpartum here https://lilynicholsrdn.com/real-food-postpartum-recovery-meals/
One of the best things you can organise while your pregnant is a postpartum meal train! If you haven’t heard of the concept, its basically a calendar where people can put their hands up to organise a fresh meal to be dropped at your door. I find the best time to organise this is at the baby shower or blessing way because everyone is right there and usually very enthused to lend a hand. If you still struggle asking for help then ask one of your closest family members or a a friend to reach out to people for you. this website is a great resource! https://www.mealtrain.com/
So, what if your already in the thick of postpartum and finding it hard to cook nutritious meals? The best tips here are to start using a slow cooker. Put a meal on in the morning so that you don’t need to start cooking when witching hour kicks in during the evening. Pick meals from the blog post above, because they will slow cook well and are incredibly nutritious. The entire point of doing this is not only to save you time and energy, but also increase your nutritional intake! Which will give you more energy in the long run. Other tips are meal prep when someone else if home to watch the baby, or find a local meal delivery service in your area.
Slowing down and taking pressure off in any way you can is really important during postpartum. The fact that you have grown, birthed and now care after a tiny human all day is really one of the biggest accomplishments we can do in this life! The role of mother is undervalued in most modern societies, and ideally we would live in a culture and society that prioritise this period of life. Unfortunately that isn’t the case for most, and it can feel really isolating and exhausting. A beautiful book to help prepare for postpartum is The First Fourty Days by Heng Ou, Amely Greeven, Marisa Belger https://www.booktopia.com.au/the-first-forty-days-heng-ou/book/9781617691836.html
There are some great links below if you find you are struggling during this time, and it is really important that no matter what you are going through having help and support on your side is going to help! You are never alone, many, many women have walked this path before you, so seek community and support from those who can help guide you through this time.
https://panda.org.au/get-support/support-new-parents
https://www.breastfeeding.asn.au/
https://www.lifeline.org.au/get-help/
https://mensline.org.au/
https://www.pregnancybirthbaby.org.au/about-pregnancy-birth-and-baby
