Postnatal Care: Effective Ways to Recover Smoothly

The critical recovery period is the first six weeks after you give birth You will try to regain your strength, cleanse your womb, and get back into pre-pregnancy shape.

Some moms take months to recover after childbirth. Some others, however, can return to their daily routine as early as 4 weeks after! What are their secrets?

We will tell you the key to speedy and smooth childbirth recovery at the end of this, but first, let’s go over what will largely contribute to it! 

Opt For A Helper

This is a pretty obvious step but one that new mothers most frequently ignore. A lot of new mothers want to keep their newborns with them at all times and want to take care of everything regarding them.

If you identify as this type, you would want to have everything in control, from recovering fast to ensuring the smooth development of your baby. However, there may be a need for better balance in how you do things.

You might prioritise only your baby’s development and completely ignore your recovery progress.

Instead, what you should focus on is getting ample rest so that you can regain strength and energy to heal better. For a new, first-time mother, it is not the easiest thing to do to loosen up and leave your baby to the hands of others. However, you can be flexible regarding basic baby care. Your newborn may seem fragile, but they are built to survive your beginner skills, even as new parents.

Many parents underestimate the difficulty of nursing a new baby, and that’s why many suffer and have no idea what to do in certain situations.

Under such circumstances, know that it is perfectly fine and even highly recommended to ask for help from an experienced family member or a professional worker in a related line of work, like a confinement nanny.

Simply having a helping hand around the house can lift a huge burden off your shoulders. A confinement nanny is trained to assist new mothers like you in your recovery journey and ensure your newborn is well-taken care of.

You can also learn the proper way to care for your baby from them. With their presence, you can get sufficient rest to let your body rejuvenate! 

Set Unapologetic “Me” Time

You need to have some time for yourself in your comfort zone. So try to find a few hours or even a few minutes in a day to shut the doors, lay your head down and rest a little more if you want to.

In case you need some reassurance, you do not have to explain why you need your “me” time as we are all just humans, and it’s only natural that our energy gets drained from time to time, especially when your new life is now so devoted to taking care of your baby.

You can also catch up on an old hobby or watch your favourite movies. You might be able to discover new things about yourself in the process, as this would be the first time you’re spending time for yourself after being a mother.

If you cannot sleep at night, try having dinner much earlier or turning off all devices before bed. Try to avoid hot tubs and saunas at night. Get yourself into comfy pyjamas so you’ll be as relaxed as possible when you’re about to sleep!

Try Meditation

Self-care also means breathing and taking one step at a time. One of the popular postnatal care Singapore mothers do is meditation. You may try meditation to calm your head space and senses at home. Here are some beginner meditation steps you can follow:

Step 1: Sit comfortably and close your eyes

Step 2: Place your hands in your lap.

Step 3: Breathe in for four seconds. Focus on your breath and the fresh air coming in.

Step 4: Breathe out through your mouth for six seconds. Focus on the warm air going out.

Take this time to just focus on your breath. You can start meditating for two to three minutes daily and slowly increase the duration if you feel comfortable.

Educate Yourself

Sometimes, being a new mum can be overwhelming due to your need for more knowledge of motherhood’s various aspects. Learning and understanding more about motherhood and childcare can give you more reassurance and confidence.

For a start, you can take some time at your own pace to listen to podcasts, watching videos or reading books about motherhood. Meanwhile, be creative with your learning sources. You might even have unexpected discoveries in books for your baby! MumChecked is a one-stop mum and baby products shopping site that offers a variety of baby books.

Not only could learning help you to be more well-informed, but it could also help you ease your worries and have a smoother transition to motherhood. You might even gain useful tips on self-care and childcare that you can use for many years.

Plan and follow a balanced diet

This should be planned way before your delivery, as you may realise later that it will take a lot of work to go out and get the essential ingredients after giving birth.

When creating a postpartum diet plan, ensure you are clear on the main objective.

The main goal is to replenish your blood and energy so you can hasten the healing process. To pick what you can have for lunch and dinner, ensure your meals contain everything a new mom needs.

This means that your food should be categorised according to its nutrient groups so that you will meet your daily requirements of essential nutrients.

Incorporate foods that can help you heal and, at the same time, prevent issues like constipation and thirst, especially if you breastfeed.

You can look up confinement meals online if you want more variety in your dishes. There are a lot of traditional and non-traditional dishes you can easily put together!

You can be more specific, like searching for ‘easy desserts for new moms’, ‘confinement meals with simple steps’ or ‘confinement dishes with less than 5 ingredients’.

These can normally be put together easily in the kitchen with little effort!

Several things you should take note of are avoiding spicy and oily foods and staying away from foods with high sodium and sugar content. These foods can cause constipation and worsen water retention, respectively. Be sure to stay hydrated by drinking 8 glasses of water each day. Drink more as you are more prone to thirst and dehydration from breastfeeding.

You should also consider having a low or abundant milk supply, as both can cause different issues. Hence, be prepared with a list of meals that can ease your breastfeeding experience.

As you also produce breast milk for your little one during this stage, look for food ingredients to help improve your postpartum recovery and lactation. For instance, have more foods that are rich in Vitamin A, Vitamin C, and Iron to speed up your collagen formation and wound recovery.

Meanwhile, staying hydrated and having lactogenic foods can help increase your milk supply to support your little one’s growth.

Maintain proper hygiene

Are you following certain confinement practices during your early postnatal period? If you do, you must have heard a famous notion that showering daily can bring you illnesses and diseases when you’re old and grey.

Not only has it not been proven true, but following this practice may do you more harm than good, especially in this humid country.

Not showering for days can cause oil and sweat to build up on your skin and hair, causing rashes, itching, and dandruff.

If you still have worries, you can use a warm shower or even a herbal bath.

For your C-section incision to heal properly, gently clean it daily with soap and water. Pat dry with a fresh towel and daub on antibiotic ointment afterwards – talk to your doctor about whether you need something extra like gauze or should let the wound open up for some air too! Most importantly, keep the affected area clean and dry. This will prevent dirt from getting into the wound and causing further infection, as your body will have a poorer constitution during this time.

Give yourself time by avoiding heavy lifting as much as possible; get an all-clear from your doctor before jumping back into any strenuous activity.

Connect With Your Loved Ones

Pregnancy can be a very emotional experience, and the motherhood that follows can feel a bit lonely. Many of us aren’t certain of how to deal with loneliness and sadness during this period. As a mother, it is natural to feel alone, especially if you are away from your baby for the first few weeks. 

One tip is reconnecting with loved ones, such as your spouse, family members, or friends. It is said that we are different people when we are with different groups as they bring out a different side of us.

You can start by sharing your feelings with your spouse or a close friend. Sometimes all you need is a hug from your loved ones to boost your mood instantly. Having a good laugh with the people you love will also bring you positive energy. 

If your loved ones couldn’t be physically available, you can also catch up with them by calling them. Spend some time talking to them about your new baby experience. If you have loved ones who are also parents themselves, this is also a great opportunity for you to learn from their thoughts and experience.

Get Some Fresh Air

We always hear that the best way to heal after childbirth is to stay at home all the time, but that is not always the case. Instead of staying in your room always, try going out for short walks if your body condition allows it.

Spending time in nature has been proven to help improve our mood. You can take a morning stroll, reconnect with the world, and breathe fresh air in the morning. The main purpose here is to boost your mood with a change of environment, so you don’t necessarily have to go somewhere far. Just by simply walking around a nearby park or your house garden, or having a warm cup of tea outdoors can make you feel better.

Get rid of excess weight

Losing your pregnancy weight is possibly one of the highly-anticipated post-birth transformations that new mothers look forward to.

Losing the excess water weight can ease your movement and help you recuperate. The good news is this extra weight will gradually go away on its own.

Nevertheless, it would only be in your favour if you start working on it as soon as you can to see effective changes in your body sooner.

This is not to say that you should start exercising right away, especially considering the first step mentioned above is to rest sufficiently.

Only start with exercises when you feel well enough and start with simple ones like Kegels and walking. Walking can improve the body’s circulation, tone muscles, ease gas issues and constipation, and reduces feelings of depression. So break out those shoes for an invigorating jaunt to better health and wellness. Strictly no strenuous activities should be performed during this time. What can you do, then?

One viable option is to go for a massage instead. This way, you will not overexert your body and can relax while healing and slimming down. Be sure to hire those who are certified and skilled to perform those post-pregnancy massages.

To be safe, you can consult a pre and postnatal massage agency for it (like PNSG).

After a post natal treatment session, the therapist will normally put on a binder to help shape and tone your body back to its pre-pregnancy state.

Returning to our first question on the key to a smooth postpartum recovery, the answer is consistency.

All of the things listed above should be done continuously throughout. For instance, if you’ve got a poor diet throughout your pregnancy, you may be slowing down your postnatal recovery. Thus, the healing process will take even longer due to related complications. Remember, postnatal care is as crucial as your baby’s development progress!

You can stop Googling “Postnatal care Singapore” or even “post-pregnancy care Singapore” now. Call us instead, and we’ll help you cross out one of those things from the list, send a masseuse around to your place, and help you relax today!