Skip to main content

Preparing for Your 4th Trimester

Planning for postpartum begins during pregnancy. It’s an excellent time to meet with a postpartum doula and start making and talking through your list!


Preparing for the Fourth Trimester:


▫️Do your research.

Feeding, sleep, vaccines, circumcision, diapering, baby products and gear. There is obviously A LOT to consider before baby comes! Talk to professionals or other trusted parties who can help you find current, research-based information.


▫️Prepare your nest.

Stock up on healthy snack foods to keep in baskets near your nursing zones. Invest in a good water bottle. Set up and stock your diaper changing station(s). Stock your freezer with meals you can pull and reheat. Make sure you have plenty of comfortable, soft, stretchy clothes such as leggings, pajamas, nursing camis, robe, etc. You will be spending a lot of time at home, so have a few things that make you happy to look at (flowers, naturally scented candles, photos, salt lamp)! Make a list of podcasts, audiobooks, and movies you’d like to listen to and watch.


▫️Assemble your team. 

Postpartum doula, lactation consultant, counselor, massage therapist, chiropractor, pediatrician, dog walker...these are just some of the professionals you can call on! Remember that many of these services make excellent gifts for new families...put them on your registry!


▫️Gather your village. Ask a friend to organize a meal train. Have a rotating group of close friends or family that you can count on to come and help with household tasks, stop by the store for you, or watch over the baby while you shower or rest. These should be people you are comfortable being around wether you are half dressed, breastfeeding, or extra emotional. You should never feel like you are hosting or entertaining them. You reserve the right to ask anyone to leave or excuse yourself at any point.


▫️Don’t plan on doing much....at all. Your job is to care for your baby and rest. It is the role of your team and your community to nurture you so that you can focus your energy on nurturing and bonding with your new baby. Pushing yourself to do too much too soon will put your health and recovery at risk.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Special Feature: "How Our Society Is Failing Breastfeeding Mothers"

Hello! In honor of World Breastfeeding Week, I'm sharing this article that I wrote as an assignment for my breastfeeding educator certification program through Birth Arts International. How Our Society is Failing Breastfeeding Mothers Western culture is letting down mothers who want to breastfeed by overcomplicating and interfering with nature’s natural course. While we have made great progress in our promotion of breastfeeding, we are still lacking some fundamental follow-through practices that would set new mothers up for a more successful and less stressful breastfeeding journey. In the United States initiation rates of breastfeeding have risen consistently over the last 30 years to more than 80% initiation, but drop significantly over the course the first year with less than 50% of babies exclusively breastfed at 3 months of age, and only 25% remaining exclusively breastfed at 6 months ( Centers for Disease Control National Immunization Survey 2009-2016 ). What does this tell u...
Post a Comment
Read more

Delayed Newborn Bathing

Research has shown us that delaying a newborn’s first bath for at least 24 hours (and no less than 6 hours) after birth has a direct impact on breastfeeding success rates. Delaying the bath encourages plenty of time for skin to skin and establishes bonding and breastfeeding, while reducing the risk of unnecessary stress on the baby. Bathing too early can cause instabilities in temperature and blood sugar. Your baby is born with a protective layer of vernix, which contains antimicrobial properties that protect against infection, and immune proteins similar to those found in breast milk. Rubbing the vernix into baby’s skin is the only bath she needs! Some parents will choose to delay the first bath until at least 24 hours postpartum (which is in line with the World Health Organization’s recommendations), when mom is feeling well enough to participate and learn from the nurses. Other parents choose to wait up to a month or more, only carefully wiping down baby as needed.  Delaying...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Tea on Tongue Ties

  You have probably heard of tethered oral tissues (TOTS) or some other iteration of the name. And, like many mamas, you may have questions about how these oral restrictions can effect or perhaps are already effecting your little one. So let’s chat about TOTS today… First of all, ties can effect not just the tongue, but the lips and cheeks as well. It is very common for tongue-tie babies to also have restrictions in the lips and/or cheeks, but it can also occur in just one of those spots. TOTS are commonly hereditary. The frenulum is a mucous membrane that goes from the floor of your mouth to the middle on the bottom of your tongue. Ankyloglossia (tongue tie) means that the frenulum is tight or short, so that movement of the tongue is restricted. Are ties a “fad”? Lots of parents ask this because of the frequency at which TOTS are diagnosed these days. But the answer is no, it’s not a fad. We just know so much more about this issue now! Additionally, mothers are initiating br...
Post a Comment
Read more