Preparing for the Postpartum Period

The postpartum period can sneak up on us and catch us off guard. We spend countless hours preparing for the labor and the delivery but not as much for the postpartum period.  Those inital days and weeks can be very challenging even for the experienced mom, so I recommend a little preparation and planning to ease the transition. Here are a few suggestions.

BREASTFEEDING SUPPORT
1) If you plan on breastfeeding, set up a postpartum doula or lactation consultation ahead of time to meet with you in your home after the delivery

• Ask your provider for a recommendation during a prenatal visit
• There are plenty of doula organizations D.O.N.A and ICEA (to name a few) that have lists on their website for postpartum doulas.
•  The international lactation consultant association also has a listing by area

HOUSEHOLD HELP
2) Get cleaning and laundry help set up ahead of time.

• Due to the needs of a newborn and sleep deprivation, it's very difficult to keep a home organized and clean.  
• Sometimes it can be very distracting to have the dishes and the laundry pile up. 
• The postpartum period isn't a time to be stubborn. Take as much help as you can get (even daily) from hired help or from family for the first 6-14 weeks to do household chores and cleaning. 

MEALS
3) Get meals set up ahead of time.

• Mealtrain.com is a website that will allow your friends and family to organize meals. Most people are happy to help out in this way and it let's them feel involved and part of the birthing experience.
• Make meals in your last few weeks of pregnancy that can be easily heated up and freeze them like lasagna, sauces, baked goods and soups
• Don't be afraid to buy frozen meals. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods sell great frozen (even organic) meals.

FINANCES
4) Put some money aside. Sometimes, it's not possible, but if you start putting even just a little away week by week of your pregnancy, it can help.

• Financial stress can contribute to postpartum depression. 
• Keeping a little money aside can be a stress relief even it it's not needed.

SOCIAL SUPPORT
5) Find a community

• Connecting with other new moms can lead to a better sense of self-efficacy as well as decrease the baby blues and postpartum depression.
• The National Mother's Center Association has a list by area of Mother's Centers, groups and actives by area.
• Holistic Mom's Network is another national group that has local chapters
• La Leche League also has local chapters, groups and actives to be a part of 
• Ask your birthing facility or provider about support groups

The Importance of Postpartum Support

Women are doing excellent jobs of preparing for childbirth. They begin labor with many weeks or months of studying, preparing, exercising, and practicing.  Even these women, though, can be side swiped when it comes to the postpartum period.  It's overwhelming, but something that women can also prepare for.
Postpartum support in American is dramatically undervalued.  Women are discharged from the hospital in 48 hours (sometimes less) and expected to go back to work in 6 weeks.  There are no routine/standard home visits or groups for women from their hospital or providers like in many other countries and women are expected to figure it out on their own and basically cope as opposed to thrive.
The rise of postpartum depression has escalated. Up to 80% of women experience postpartum blues or a milder, generally shorter lived and non-medicated form of postpartum depression. While it is often fleeting, it's disconcerting and emotionally taxing. While hormonal changes are often the culprit for postpartum blues, women report that feel they have ample postpartum support from family, friends or professional support (doulas, nurses, midwives, lactation specialists) seldom report postpartum blues and depression.
Postpartum depression occurs about 10% of the time while major depression occurs in 6% of women.  The difference between postpartum depression and postpartum blues is that in order to be diagnosed as depressed, the woman must have the symptoms of depression most of the day, every day for two weeks or longer.
Women who are at risk for postpartum depression include women who have: marital stress, childcare stress, a lack of perceived social support from family and friends, lack of emotional and financial support from the partner, living without a partner, and complications with their own relationship with their mother.  There are other factors that place a women as risk, but each of these aforementioned risk factors involve a perceived sense of lack of support.  It is proven that in cultures where support from extended family is available and where spousal support is encouraged the rates of postpartum depression are lower.  So, as part of a labor team, family, or circle of friends . . . support those mommas!

Placenta Encapsulation

Placentophagy, the process of eating the placenta after childbirth, is not routinely practiced in humans except in China where the placenta may be dried for medicinal herbs.  Most commonly, in the Western world, the placenta is incinerated after childbirth by the health care facility where the mother gave birth.  More commonly as in Japan, Turkey, the Ukraine, & New Zealand, the placenta is buried and a given a ceremony or funeral.  Placentophagy is actually quite common in mammals.  Aside from the pinnipedia, the cetacea, and the camel, the human is the only other mammal that does not routinely eat it's placenta after childbirth.  Placenta encapsulation is becoming more popular in the west as women are using it to starve off the 'baby blues' and 'bounce back' after childbirth.




January Jones, the rockin' blonde from Mad Men, has returned to work 7 weeks after giving birth to 'Xander' at 34.  She also attributes her speedy recovery to her placenta.  The star admits to doing placental encapsulation.