#Postpartum Support

[everydaydeeds]

Day 3801 - I crave to be part of a thriving local community, so it's time to start working on that! Tried out a support and socializing group for new moms today and had a fun time.

[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.

[krystalfamilypsychiatry]

Pregnancy is a transformative time filled with excitement and anticipation, but it can also bring challenges, including depression. Depression treatment in Alexandria, Virginia, is crucial for expectant mothers who find themselves struggling with overwhelming feelings of sadness or anxiety. The hormonal changes, physical discomfort, and emotional adjustments that come with pregnancy can significantly impact mental health. Recognizing the signs of depression and seeking help early on can pave the way for a healthier pregnancy experience.

[familythings]

Bonding After C-Section: Essential Tips for New Moms

A good friend of mine gave birth two days ago via cesarean delivery. It is her first baby, and she enriched the world with a beautiful princess. When I talked to her to congratulate her on the baby’s birth, she told me she was a bit anxious due to all the issues a cesarean delivery brings with it. So, as a mother who had my diamond via cesarean as well, I thought to help her with some practical…

[tasbehavioralhealth]

Welcoming a new baby into the family is a joyous occasion, but it can also bring unexpected challenges. Many new mothers experience a range of emotions, from happiness to anxiety. It’s crucial to recognize that these feelings are normal and that support is available. At our mental health clinic in Cumberland, Maryland, we understand the unique challenges faced by new mothers and are here to provide compassionate care and guidance.

[taylorwatwork]

Have you check out my blog yet?

Blog Post: Trying to Conceive (TTC): The Planning Stages for Growing a Human

[d-strang3]

New to tumblr.

Hi.

You can call me D.

I'm here to blog about my weight loss//mental health journey. I had a baby 10 weeks ago. He's beautiful and smiles every day now. I love him so much. I, on the other hand, am not and haven't been doing well for years. I should be happier than ever right now. I'm currently in a program for people with depression, anxiety, and PTSD.

I was quite chubby before I got pregnant. Now I'm feeling more like a whale. I don't recognize myself anymore. I refuse to weigh myself because I know it will affect me so badly. I will be doing measurements soon, maybe adding photos later to keep myself accountable.

Advice and support are welcomed. I'm looking to support others as well. I hope to maybe make some buddies who are on a similar journey as I am ♡

[yourmentalhealthpal]

Exploring the spectrum of mood disorders: understanding the varied experiences and challenges individuals may face. Let's raise awareness, foster understanding, and support those navigating their mental health journey.

[laniidae-passerine]

It still really gets me how sincere Andy’s grief over his potential child is. At first you think, oh this is just a weird flight of fancy for him, the idea of having a kid sounds fun but he’s not serious, but over the course of the episode you realise that, no, Andy actually wants children. It exposes something raw and depressing and lovely at Andy’s core and it just hits, how sad he is about what addiction took from him, the years and the growth and a potential life, but the hope that exists in knowing he’s getting better. Andy isn’t ready to be a father right now and it’s good for them both that Teresa chose to have an abortion, but maybe, some day when he’s ready, Andy will get to have a baby with someone who loves him.

[caradoulasupport]

Matrescence - becoming a mother, no ‘bouncing back’ required

Becoming a mother for the first time is a great transition in your life, a rite-of-passage. And not only the first time, but for each time that you become a mother you transition again into a new version of yourself. Each transition is just as significant as the one before. In Western cultures, the focus is largely on the baby that has been born, however the mother is also born each time she gives birth, and this "becoming a mother" piece has largely been left out of our culture entirely. In the same way that we nurture and care for a new baby, we would really do well to remember that the new mother also needs to be nurtured and cared for during this transition.

This critical transition period is Matrescence, and was first coined by an American anthropologist in 1973, Dana Raphael. And although this was first written about in the 1970’s the concept of matrescence has gone completely unacknowledged and unexplored in the medical community, until very recently. There is still so little known about the psychological and physiological effects of becoming a mother - how it affects the brain, the endocrine system, cognition, immunity, the psyche, the microbiome, the sense of self. At a time when a woman is going through a significant rite of passage and is going through massive changes in her physical state, her status within her wider group, her emotional life, her focus, her own identity and in her relationships with everyone around her, she is expected to transition through this stage with ease.

As the author of the recently published book "Matrescence", Lucy Jones, has alluded to - each time that I write the word "matrescence" a red squiggly line immediately appears below it as if to say - this is not real, it doesn't mean anything, it's made up! But it is very real, and the only way to make it even more real is to bring more and more awareness to it, to speak about it to everyone you know. Maybe people will use the argument that they don't want to scare new mothers with horror stories, or that everyone has to go through it for themselves. But there is a huge difference between scaremongering a new mother and presenting her with a term and an explanation for how she is very likely feeling anyway. And if women were to even grow up hearing about this normal transition that happens on entering motherhood, have evidence based information on how it affects your thoughts and emotions, your hormones, your relationships, your sense of self - how much better would they go on to cope with the reality of motherhood if it happens for them? Instead of getting completely side-swiped by a wave of unknowing, of being lost and totally adrift in what we have come to understand as modern motherhood.

The sense of social isolation that can stem from women being ashamed of what they are experiencing and not realising it is actually normal can even trigger feelings of postnatal depression. There are such complicated feelings that can co-exist - having a sense of worry, disappointment, guilt, competition, frustration, anger or even fear alongside the joy of new motherhood. And it is now thought, according to reproductive psychiatrist Alexandra Sacks, who has reintroduced the concept of matrescence in a New York Times article in 2017, that just even knowing that and being aware of what matrescence is can prevent women from getting ill. If you can watch the TED talk given by Alexandra Sacks in 2018 describing matrescence, it will astonish you.

Talking about matrescence and all the parts of motherhood- including the parts that may carry shame for us - is the only way to help mothers feel less stigmatised and more normal in all aspects of becoming a mother. Of course experiencing matrescence without a support network, and without understanding the complexity of what is happening in your brain as a new mother only adds to feelings of not being enough, not being a “good” mother and a sense of failure that can lead to a diagnosis of postnatal depression.

But the question is how much of maternal mental illness is biological and how much is an understandable response to the design of modern parenthood?

One way to claim back the rite-of-passage of motherhood is to surrender to it, embrace every part of it and honour the transition that you have gone through as a mother and as parents. Planning for this postpartum period and putting the framework in place that allows you to be nurtured as the mother is fundamental to the process of matrescence. It is time to honour this monumental transition and enter into motherhood empowered, nurtured and with the confidence that the changes that are happening are normal and expected.

[not-hungry-just-bored]

I think I won

I haven’t been active here for A WHILE and there’s an easy explanation:

I got pregnant and actually gave birth to a small human being.

I was soo afraid and my ✨mental health✨ made the whole pregnancy horrible. Like FUCKING HORRIBLE. I did not enjoy a single moment. I was anxious about the responsibility, about how I looked at the time, how I would look afterwards, if I’ll be a good parent, etc.

I was so anxious I had thoughts of ~sewer slide~ for months on end. I didn’t even dare to talk to my doctors about that. I cried every day bc I thought I could NEVER love this child enough. I thought my partner would HATE ME while pregnant, and especially if I didn’t love the child the right way.

So I cried a lot. Every day when I had to look at my body. Every day when I had to dress like a pregnant person. Every time my partner told me how much he loves me and will love me (and how he doesn’t care about how I look, because he will always think of me as attractive).

And then I finally told my doctor. She wanted me to got to a mental hospital instantly. So I went and they didn’t want me there (I still don’t know wtf that move was)and then I got on my meds again. It helped but now I felt guilty for the child. It might have to go through withdrawal.

But we both did great. We are happy now. And I got very lucky. I loved her the second I first held her. First thing I said about her (it was a C-section so don’t be harsh on me haha) „babe, she looks like my grandma“

Now she’s nine months. It has been hard but also lovely.

And holy fuck YES I FUCKING HATED MY BODY. But I didn’t have time to care about that. I had someone to look after. And now? Except for the tiger stripes you’ll not be able to see that I was pregnant. I was lucky I know. But I love my body. Even more than I ever did. I love the stripes that FOR ONCE are no scars from self harm. I love that I weigh a little more than before. I makes me look more age appropriate. I by far not look my age yet (people still guess my age a few years younger) but I look more like a 24 year old than I ever did. And I LOVE it 🥰

I’ve normally experienced my ED the worst whenever I was very depressed or whenever I thought of ending it all but not anymore. I’m not gonna lie: I did suffer from postpartum depression. And I’ve been through a few depressive episodes since the birth but not ONCE I thought of starving myself again.

So I think I’ve won. At least for now. And I’m happy. Not everyday. Not every hour. But generally: I’m way happier than I’ve ever been.

So if today I could talk to 15 years old me, I could honestly promise her: Things will get better. Please believe everyone who says that. I know you can’t see that right now but believe me, life wont stay as dark as it is right now.

[autumnrory]

one thing about me is even if i hated the book i just read i will still be defending the main character while all the goodreads reviewers go on about how whiny and selfish she is

[mountainnamemama]

Prayers of strength, being able to ask for help, and receiving love from my village. | Tampa, Florida, United States

[shubhragoyal]

Baby Blues is a common feeling of sadness, irritability, and anxiety that new parents often experience after the birth of a baby. It can affect mothers and fathers and is usually a temporary condition that goes away on its own within a few weeks.

Do Visit: https://www.drshubhragoyal.com/welcome/blogs/is-there-such-a-thing-as-the-baby-blues

[eternallyanxiousandstressed]

another vent, don't mind me. just need to get things out