#Postpartum journey

[harmonyhealinghub]

The Unsung Heroes: Postpartum Doulas - Nurturing New Moms and Families

Shaina Tranquilino

December 11, 2023

Becoming a parent is an incredible journey filled with joy, love, and countless challenges. While the focus often revolves around the miracle of childbirth, we must not overlook the significance of postpartum care for both mothers and their families. In this blog post, we will explore the vital role of postpartum doulas, shedding light on who they are and what their invaluable support entails.

Who are Postpartum Doulas?

Postpartum doulas are trained professionals who provide physical, emotional, and informational assistance to new parents during the delicate post-birth period. They offer compassionate care to nurture not only mothers but also their entire family unit as they navigate through the early weeks or months after childbirth. These skilled individuals are equipped with expertise in breastfeeding support, newborn care education, maternal recovery guidance, and overall postpartum well-being.

The Role of Postpartum Doulas

1. Emotional Support: Postpartum doulas understand that every mother's experience is unique and may be accompanied by feelings of uncertainty, exhaustion, or even overwhelming joy. With empathetic listening skills and non-judgmental attitudes, these doulas create safe spaces where moms can express themselves freely without fear of being judged. Their unwavering emotional support eases anxiety and fosters confidence in parenting abilities.

2. Physical Assistance: The physical demands of caring for a newborn can be daunting for any parent. Postpartum doulas lend a helping hand by assisting with daily household chores such as meal preparation, laundry duties, and light cleaning tasks. By taking on these responsibilities, they alleviate some of the burdensome workload from new moms' shoulders so they can focus on self-care and bonding with their baby.

3. Breastfeeding Support: One significant area where postpartum doulas excel is in providing breastfeeding guidance. They possess extensive knowledge about lactation, positioning techniques, and troubleshooting common nursing challenges. By offering practical advice and reassurance, they empower mothers to establish a successful breastfeeding relationship with their infants.

4. Newborn Care Education: From swaddling techniques to diaper changing tips, postpartum doulas are a treasure trove of newborn care wisdom. They educate parents on the essentials of baby care such as sleep routines, soothing methods, and recognizing signs of infant distress or illness. Armed with this knowledge, new parents gain confidence in meeting their little one's needs effectively.

5. Advocacy and Information Sharing: Postpartum doulas act as bridges between families and the vast network of healthcare professionals and community resources available to them. They help navigate this complex landscape by connecting parents with reliable information related to pediatricians, support groups, mental health services for mothers experiencing postpartum mood disorders, or even local parent-baby activities.

In our society that often focuses solely on the prenatal journey and childbirth experience, we must acknowledge the significance of comprehensive postpartum care. Postpartum doulas play an invaluable role in supporting new moms during this transformative period by providing emotional stability, physical assistance, breastfeeding support, newborn care education, and acting as advocates for their well-being.

As we strive towards nurturing healthier families overall, it is crucial to recognize the incredible dedication of postpartum doulas who work tirelessly behind the scenes. Their unwavering commitment helps new parents transition into parenthood with grace and confidence while fostering a loving environment where both mom and baby can thrive.

With that being said, the journey of welcoming a new life into the world is filled with both joyous anticipation and immense love. However, sadly, not all pregnancies end in the expected celebration. For families who experience the devastating loss of their baby during pregnancy or labour and delivery, navigating through grief can be an overwhelming and isolating experience. In these trying times, postpartum doulas play a crucial role in providing compassionate support and helping bereaved families cope with their grief.

Understanding the Role of Postpartum Doulas: Postpartum doulas are skilled professionals trained to provide emotional, physical, and informational support to families during the postpartum period. Traditionally known for assisting new parents after childbirth, they have now extended their expertise to offer guidance specifically tailored to those experiencing perinatal loss.

Compassionate Emotional Support: Losing a baby is a deeply personal and heart-wrenching experience that often leaves parents feeling isolated and emotionally shattered. Postpartum doulas who specialize in supporting families dealing with perinatal loss understand the unique needs of grieving parents. They possess remarkable empathy and compassion, creating a safe space where families can openly express their emotions without fear of judgment or misunderstanding.

These doulas offer active listening skills, allowing parents to share their stories, memories, hopes, and fears surrounding their lost child. By offering non-judgmental companionship through active mourning rituals such as holding ceremonies or participating in memory-building activities like journaling or creating keepsakes, postpartum doulas help parents process their emotions while honouring their baby's memory.

Physical Care and Recovery Support: In addition to emotional support, postpartum doulas also assist bereaved parents in managing physical aspects related to pregnancy loss. These may include helping mothers recover from labour, providing guidance on self-care practices and nutrition, or assisting with practical tasks such as meal planning, household chores, or arranging for support from family and friends.

Navigating the Complexities of Grief: Grief is a complex journey that affects individuals differently. Postpartum doulas who specialize in perinatal loss possess an understanding of grief's unique dynamics and can help families navigate its complexities. They provide vital resources and information about various grieving processes, counselling services, support groups, and other bereavement resources tailored to the specific needs of each family.

Advocacy and Education: Postpartum doulas also play a crucial role in advocating for bereaved families within healthcare systems. They facilitate communication between parents and medical professionals, ensuring their concerns are understood and addressed sensitively. Additionally, they educate families about their rights, options for memorializing their baby, and assist them in making informed decisions regarding funeral arrangements or obtaining keepsakes like handprints or photographs.

The pain of losing a baby during pregnancy or childbirth is immeasurable, but no parent should have to face this heartbreak alone. During these challenging times, postpartum doulas specializing in perinatal loss offer invaluable support to grieving families by fostering understanding, empathy, and compassion. By acknowledging the significance of their experience, these doulas help parents honour their baby's memory while navigating through grief towards healing and hope.

[wildemaven]

Getting back to my morning walks. I’ve missed it so much ✨

[wellhealthhub]

Navigating the Remarkable Postpartum Journey: An Exhaustive and Insightful Guide

Embarking on the postpartum period, often hailed as the “fourth trimester,” propels individuals into a profoundly transformative and multifaceted chapter following childbirth. This epoch is awash with a cascade of physical, emotional, and psychological shifts, both for the nascent parent and the newborn. Amidst the undeniable exuberance of nurturing a new life, the postpartum journey unfurls with…

[sincerelysatanherself]

FINALLY… I officially weigh less than I did when I found out I was pregnant.

what. a. journey. and still not over.

[veggievoyage]

Dinner tonight was some really delicious cauliflower. 4 pounds down

[healthyboom]

A Comprehensive Guide to Health Benefits

Health benefits encompass a spectrum of advantages that individuals attain by maintaining a healthy lifestyle and making informed choices. These encompass physical, mental, and emotional well-being. Physical health benefits include increased longevity, reduced risk of chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes, and enhanced immune function. Regular exercise improves cardiovascular fitness and muscular strength. Mental health benefits encompass reduced stress, anxiety, and depression, along with improved cognitive function and emotional resilience. A balanced diet provides essential nutrients that support overall health. Emotional health benefits stem from social connections and meaningful relationships. Collectively, these health benefits empower individuals to lead fulfilling lives with vitality and happiness.

[wildemaven]

7 months postpartum and I miss working out and feeling strong. Now that sickness has left our house, I’m ready to get back to a routine again—I’m sure it won’t be as strict as it use to be but I’ll take what I can get. Here’s me holding myself accountable 😬

[wellhealthhub]

Comprehending the Nuances of the Postpartum Phase

The postpartum period, often regarded as a pivotal phase following childbirth, encapsulates a realm of intricate adjustments that encompass not only the physical realm but also the profound emotional and lifestyle shifts as individuals transition into the uncharted waters of parenthood. Unveiling the Essence of Postpartum The term “postpartum” unravels the temporal sphere immediately succeeding…

[paleflower]

I'm still enraged every time I see a first time mother seek help on her breastfeeding journey and people only respond with "it's fine, just give him/her formula"

Yes of course it's fine. I've done it too. I was combo-feeding for as long as I could and at one point completely switched to formula, because my baby refused to nurse and my body just couldn't keep producing like that. It hurt a lot. Not physically, but mentally.

Why do people not advise to seek out a lactation consultant? Why does noone advise to get baby checked out for a possible lip-tie or tongue-tie? Why is it not fu€&(?# mandatory to check babies at birth for a lip/tongue/cheek-tie?

If science says 97% of women are able to breastfeed (even in poor countries) then why does the breastfeeding rate drop from over 90% of breastfeeding mothers to less than 30% after the first three month in my country? Something does not add up.

So please stop saying "just give formula, it's okay". Yes it's okay. We all know it's okay. Noone ever blamed me when they saw me feeding my baby like that. But if you don't have any tips to give, maybe just shut up instead?

[bodylove-mamas]

Strengthen Your Body After Pregnancy with Postnatal Pilates

Postnatal Pilates is a low-impact exercise program designed specifically for new mothers to help them recover and strengthen their bodies after giving birth. With a focus on core stability, pelvic floor health, and overall muscle tone, this form of exercise can help you regain your pre-pregnancy strength, reduce postpartum discomfort, and improve your overall well-being. Whether you are a new mom looking to get back in shape or simply looking for a safe and effective way to exercise after pregnancy, Postnatal Pilates can be a great option for you. Start your postpartum fitness journey today with Postnatal Pilates.

[pritiblog1992]

Brushing Teeth During The postpartum Month

Pregnancy hormonal changes commonly cause dental issues, and increase plaque formation, gum inflammation, and bleeding. This is called pregnancy gingivitis. ~75% of women experience this. 🪥Brush, and floss religiously, avoid sugary drinks, Avoid mouthwashes with alcohol, and don't miss your dental appointments Take good care of your teeth, you will need them for a long time to come😂 🛑If you go to the dentist during your pregnancy let them know you are pregnant. Most dental treatments are safe. But if you need fillings or an x-ray, your dentist might prefer to wait until the baby is born.

[healthymamma1722]

Postpartum weight gain after the postpartum weight loss is one of the worst roller coasters a mom can go through 🙃

[healthyboom]

How to Create a Successful Fitness Journey

Embarking on a fitness journey is a transformative odyssey toward better health and well-being. It involves setting personal goals, whether it's shedding pounds, building strength, or enhancing endurance. Tracking progress is the compass that guides you along the way, with fitness apps, journaling, and visual evidence as your trusty companions. Consistency is your faithful partner while celebrating small victories fuels your motivation. Staying accountable through friends or fitness communities ensures you stay the course. This voyage isn't just about physical transformation; it's about mental and emotional growth too. Your fitness journey is a story of determination, resilience, and ultimately, success.

[tybaltsjuliet]

here's the thing about charles dickens. [discussion of his antisemitism, misogyny, and racism ahead.]

his last, unfinished novel, the mystery of edwin drood, features helena and neville landless, heroic and sympathetic south asian (sri lankan, specifically) characters, and the racism they endure in an english town is relevant to the plot to the point where neville ends up falsely accused of murder. in the wake of the indian rebellion of 1857, dickens applauded the english brutality against "that oriental race," and called for genocide.

fagin is called "the jew" 274 times in the first half of oliver twist. an article in the jewish chronicle asked why "jews alone should be excluded from the 'sympathizing heart' of this great author and powerful friend of the oppressed." at first, dickens dismissed this, and claimed he was just being accurate about london's criminal makeup. but he was moved enough by eliza davis's letters to him on the matter that he halted the printing of the latter half of oliver twist so he could change the text and remove the antisemitic language therein.

dickens was an abolitionist who despised chattel slavery in the united states, and called emancipation a "moral duty." dickens didn't think black americans were intelligent enough to vote, and he wrote an entire character in bleak house who is a joke to be disliked and mocked because she'd rather oversee charity missions to help children in africa than be a proper mother and tend to her own family at home in england.

speaking of one's own family at home in england, dickens smeared his wife, catherine hogarth, publicly so he could justify separating from her and taking up with a younger woman. catherine hogarth was likely mentally ill, likely living with postpartum depression. she was also an author in her own right and loved her family dearly. her reputation never recovered in her lifetime from the claims he made about her. in dickens's novels, time and time again, from nicholas nickleby to david copperfield to our mutual friend to the mystery of edwin drood, men who menace and take advantage of vulnerable women are portrayed as the worst kind of villains, deserving of whatever grisly ends come to them.

charles dickens was both privately and publicly a raging asshole in many ways and the world would be worse off without him, because he wrote for bourgeois, comfortable victorians, the very people who so often failed to "think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys." in the same breath that he calls agnes fleming, who opens oliver twist as an unwed mother dying in a workhouse, "weak and erring," he dares to add that "i do believe that the shade of that poor girl often hovers about that solemn nook-ay, though it is a church." he calculated jo's death to the page in bleak house for maximum effect. but when he wrote of the orphaned crossing-sweeper, "dead, your majesty. dead, my lords and gentlemen. dead, right reverends and wrong reverends of every order. dead, men and women, born with heavenly compassion in your hearts. and dying thus around us every day," people listened.

i dedicated years of my life to reading him and studying him and thinking about him and writing about him and his novels. now, i turn to condemn him; now, i turn to justify him. i wish i had a time machine so i could shake his hand. i wish i had a time machine so i could publicly debate him. i wish i had a time machine so i could break his nose.

charles dickens gives me courage and hope. charles dickens makes me want to tear my goddamn hair out. he is everything i despise and everything i love about the victorian age in one; the term "a man of his time" ought to have been invented for him. the leaps and bounds the victorians made for progress in the public good are only matched in greatness by the extremity of their atrocities against their "fellow-passengers" on this earth. the way we think about nearly every modern social ill can be traced back to the 19th century; the way we think about nearly every modern idea of social justice can be traced back to the 19th century. every last one is writ large and small in dickens's novels. he and his age are the greatest contradictions in human history and that's why i can't shut up about them, ever, even when i am exhausted by them, even when i am inspired by them, even when it was two centuries ago and it shouldn't matter anymore, but it does. it always will.