Introduction
This sheet gives you information about how to care for yourself during the period of time right after you deliver your baby up to 6 weeks after delivery (postpartum period). Your health care provider may also give you more specific instructions. If you have problems or questions, contact your health care provider.
Follow these instructions at home:
Medicines
Take over-the-counter and prescription medicines only as told by your health care provider.
If you were prescribed an antibiotic medicine, take it as told by your health care provider. Do not stop taking the antibiotic even if you start to feel better.
Activity
Gradually return to your normal activities as told by your health care provider.
Avoid activities that take a lot
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You may also have milk leaking from your breasts. Your health care provider can suggest ways to help relieve breast discomfort. Breast engorgement should go away within a few days.
If you are breastfeeding:
Wear a bra that supports your breasts and fits you well.
Keep your nipples clean and dry. Apply creams and ointments as told by your health care provider.
You may need to use breast pads to absorb milk leakage.
You may have uterine contractions every time you breastfeed for up to several weeks after delivery. Uterine contractions help your uterus return to its normal size.
If you have any problems with breastfeeding work with your health care provider or lactation consultant.
If you are not breastfeeding:
Avoid touching your breasts a lot. Doing this can make your breasts produce more milk.
Wear a good-fitting bra and use cold packs to help with swelling.
Do not squeeze out (express) milk. This causes you to make more milk.
Intimacy and sexuality
Ask your health care provider when you can engage in sexual activity. This may depend on your:
Risk of
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Fresh fruits and vegetables.
Take your prenatal vitamins until your postpartum checkup or until your health care provider tells you it is okay to stop.
Lifestyle
Do not use tobacco products, including cigarettes, chewing tobacco, or e-cigarettes. If you need help quitting, ask your health care provider.
Do not drink alcohol, especially if you are breastfeeding.
General instructions
Keep all follow-up visits for you and your baby as told by your health care provider. Most women will visit their health care provider for a postpartum checkup within the first 3–6 weeks after delivery.
Contact a health care provider if:
You feel unable to cope with the changes that your child brings to your life, and these feelings do not go away.
You feel unusually sad or worried.
Your breasts are painful, hard, or turn red.
You have a fever.
You have trouble holding urine or keeping urine from leaking.
You have little or no interest in activities you used to enjoy.
You have not breastfed at all and you have not had a menstrual period for 12 weeks after delivery.
You have stopped breastfeeding and you have not had a menstrual period for 12 weeks after you stopped breastfeeding.
You have questions about caring for yourself or your
The baby blues are common to new mothers due to the lack of sleep, the babys crying and the shock of motherhood. It's not awful for a mother to feel irritable, overwhelmed and a lot of the time tearful. These feeling begin to show three or four days after birth, but should only last a few weeks. If the blues last for more the two weeks, then she may be experiencing (PPD) which is postpartum depression. The symptoms of PPD are feelings of despondency, inadequacy as a mother, impaired concentration, or memory loss.
In conclusion, postpartum depression is now widely recognized as distinct from short-term “baby blues” anxiety. Rather than hiding their symptoms from embarrassment and shame, women can now confidently seek treatment, especially important since postpartum depression have a negative effect on both mother and infant. For this reason, it is so important to identify risk factors, and provide prompt treatment to mothers suffering from postpartum depression. Treatment options that include therapy, and occasionally antidepressants or herbal supplements, are successful in treating this disorder. For mothers who want to approach treatment in a more natural way, breastfeeding combined with exercise has been proven to reduce the effects of postpartum depression.
Postpartum depression syndrome is said to be a type of depression that typically is connected to pregnancy and childbirth and can be temporarily. Postpartum depression ranges from being moderate, like not that serious to severe depression after giving birth to a child. According to the National Institutes of Health. Postpartum depression syndrome tends to occur after the baby is delivered, may occur up to about a year later and many time occurs within the first 3 months after the delivery process. In postpartum depression syndrome, there are two types of forms that usually occur such as, early onset which is baby blues and late onset. Early onset range is mild. According to the National Institutes of Health, it may affect about 80% of women after they deliver and it starts after delivery and can be resolved within a couple of weeks without needed medical treatment involved. On the other hand, late onset is considered more severe and can be identified within several weeks after the delivery process and according to NIH, it tends to affect about 10% to 16% of women.
Postpartum Depression (PPD) is a period of depression that follows childbirth and lasts more than two weeks. It is experienced by up to 15% of women in the first three postpartum months (Camp, 2013). PPD is well represented in all ages, races, and cultures. The causes of PPD are currently unknown. There are many factors that place patients at a higher risk of developing PPD. These factors include history of PPD, depression during pregnancy, family strains, anxiety, and lack of support.
Breastfeeding is best for mom too. Increased levels of oxytocin stimulate postpartum uterine contractions, reducing blood loss and encouraging uterine contractions. From 3 months to 12 months postpartum, breastfeeding increases the rate of weight loss in most nursing mothers. Breastfeeding has even been found to lessen the severity of postpartum depression by keeping the hormonal levels more balanced. Breastfeeding also reduces the mother’s risk for breast cancer, cervical cancer, and osteoporosis, (Shinskie and Lauwers, 2002). It is important that the lactation consultant collaborate with the mother shortly after delivery to eliminate frustration and prevent the abandonment of br...
The infant and mother create a bond between the two of them and the mother usually feels more confident about raising her infant. “By holding your infant safe in your arms and providing them with nourishment from your body, you as a mother are offering your infant a sense of continuity from pre- to post-birth life. Allowing your infant to have this time, you are promoting their understanding of a sense of love and protection and security that they need to adjust comfortably into this new world.” (American Academy of Pediatrics, 2015). When breastfeeding, the mother is able to lose more weight and may return to her pre-pregnancy weight with ease. Due to hormones released when breastfeeding, the mother’s menstrual cycle will come to a stop making it harder for her to conceive again before her body is ready. There are many risks that are lowered when breastfeeding, such as; lower risk of postpartum diabetes, postpartum ovarian and breast cancer, and rheumatoid
Women do not breastfeed long enough. Although healthcare workers try to promote the breast method, many women do not continue with it. Breastfeeding does come with challenges; however, the phrase “breast is best” is the role of the nurse in conjunction with education. A mother a...
There are two functional tissues in breasts: the lobes and ducts. Milk is produced in lobules inside lobes and then travel to nipples through ducts. Around 80% ...
Be relaxed and breastfeed in a calm environment. Recline on some pillows or another comfortable area before you start.
• If you were prescribed antibiotic medicine, finish all of it even if you start to feel better.
Zanardo, V., Svegliado, G., Cavallin, F., Giustardi, A., Cosmi, E., Litta, P., & Trevisanuto, D. (2010). Elective cesarean delivery: Does it have a negative effect on breastfeeding? Birth, 37(4), 275-279. Retrieved from http://web.a.ebscohost.com.summit.csuci.edu:2048/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=f4eb05fd-f93d-45bf-aa4d-ef5c14821ea7%40sessionmgr4004&vid=4&hid=4207
Breast feeding has always been a natural event since the beginning of time. The recent events of women being harassed and humiliated has prevented a lot of women from breast feeding (Myers 1). What happened? Culture change and the breast became looked at as a sexual object, this made women and men uncomfortable.
• Keep all follow-up and prenatal visits as told by your health care provider. This is important.
After seeing this mother, doing the research and seeing how valuable breastfeeding teaching really is, I realized that my preconception related to breastfeeding was way off and my respect for mothers who try to breastfeed and continue to try throughout difficulties without giving up has increased substantially. It is so important to encourage a mother and help her out through the difficulties and challenges she faces through breastfeeding. It may help the mother to know that she is not alone and breastfeeding difficulties are quite common in the beginning but it gets easier with time. I feel that I have learned a lot about breastfeeding difficulties and techniques after being able to go in with a lactation consultant and doing this reflection. I have found that there are many valuable resources for the breastfeeding mother. At the time of this situation, I did not know there was a breastfeeding clinic and a number that you could call if you had any questions, which would really benefit my patient or any patient with breastfeeding questions. It is quite unfortunate that a lactation consultant was not working on Saturday because this mom could have really benefit from one. However, there is healthy and home, a community health division, with workers who are able to help with breastfeeding, including lactation consultants and are able to
All mothers, especially first time mothers need help moral support and advice during the first few days after their delivery to ensure proper care of their newborn. The care and help given to first time mothers is of utmost important during this period as to maintain the normality in their babies as well as to prevent any further complications. Typically all pregnant women are counseled during their antenatal period on how to prepare themselves mentally on the care of their babies after birth. Upon delivery, majority of the mothers would stay for a short period in the hospital. During this short stay, they would need time to recuperate, need to know what care to give their baby and how to carry out the care and also learn what to do if their baby is feeling unwell. Thus it is important for health care providers to assist first time mothers be it at the hospital or at home since it is a crucial period for them and they often requires more help and moral support especially when it comes to the proper care of their newborn. ("Routine care of a newborn baby")