Immediate Postpartum Care

The first couple weeks of postpartum are a blur to try and look back on, but it is such a key time to build the foundation of your postpartum journey.

It isn’t often I get to be in such immediate postpartum, but I was invited to be at the birth of my niece and to support my sister in her transition to postpartum.

Postpartum is a part of a much longer journey. Menstrual health, fertility, conceiving, pregnancy, and birth, and for some, loss. So take this as a version of this journey, because there are many.

Labour was a multi-day slow on and off build. So, when a visit to the hospital for some pain and sleep support turned into being admitted at 6cm we new the time was nearing.

Baby was born in the early hours of the day, after about an hour and a half of pushing. After the adrenaline of birth and the busyness of the room post birth, there was finally some moments of quiet. Dad was out on a quick errand and baby was quiet and settled on mama. The first sleep crash for mama, after days of little to no sleep.

Baby was born with what looked like a hand up close; nuchal hand presentation. And seemed very “sucky” with lots of tight sucky lip action.

First latches from baby looked a bit “lazy” and she seemed not very interested. We were taking the approach of letting baby do the latching and being in a position of support - laid back position to help activate the pressure points on baby as they use their reflexes to crawl to the breast/chest.

I was able to warm up food, thermos some tea and bone broth for mama before I left to attend to my own family for the day.

Upon returning that evening, the same day as the birth, there was already some nipple pain going on. From my Lactation mentorship training, I could tell with some finger suck assessment that there was some tension and with the nipple pain that also lead me to believe there was likely some tightness from baby. This was something I wanted to help address efficiently because more pain is not what we want! (Pain is common but not normal!)

This could lead to parents transferring to a bottle, pumping to try to keep up supply, and ultimately affecting the nursing parents body’s response to nursing and navigating supply and demand which can affect all future feeding. The first few weeks are key in supporting the lactation journey.

I was able to show and talk about the benefits of finger sucking in helping baby have a therapeutic support for tension release. Because baby had a hand up, pushing and labour were likely affected and so baby could be holding some tension from that in their body which can lead to tension and latch, and create nipple pain. We also want to steer away from any cross cradle positioning as it can add to tension in babies neck & jaw. We went over finger feeding as a back-up option if there was stress about feeding intake and nipple pain is presenting. I also added info about topping up at the breast, which helps keep action at the breast for stimulation and adds to the rewarding association of food for baby. We also covered self-expression as a tool to support colostrum collecting and supporting supply and demand signals. It was a lot to absorb for two very tired new parents so I made sure to send some video links to refer back to.

We also reached out to get a Cranio-Sacral therapy appointment as soon as possible. (This ended up being about a week and a half later.) This is one of my main referrals for babies who are showing signs of tightness in tongue movement or with feeding, or when we know there was some trauma from labour or birth. (C-sections are a common one that can see benefits from body work as well!) Cranio-Sacral therapy is a self-healing modality and very gentle touch. A great one for babies and ourselves!

The next fews days I was away on another job out of town and came back to check-in on the parents. Sleep had been almost impossible after night 3 of that post birth cries. Skin to skin is such a valuable tool here to help calm baby and keep up milk production communication. We worked on giving mama some massage to help induce the ability to nap and relax the body. A much needed nap was had!

And at about two weeks baby has had their first Cranio-Sacral session with another booked in a couple weeks. The parents thought the experience was very cool; baby had a re-birth experience and was able to release some tense areas with tips to help support more release in specific areas. Parents seem to be a bit more at ease with the unpredictable flow of life with a newborn baby.

It was a great reminder of all the questions that come up in this time period and how valuable it is to have some consistent support you feel safe and comfortable with while you roll through this very intense adjustment.

Next week we have an appointment set-up for postpartum pelvic steaming to support healing and womb care. We will make sure food stores are stocked up and practice more with faja tying. Lots to look forward to supporting and learning myself!

Did this bring up any questions? Feel free to message me and we can chat!

With warmth and care,

Ana-Luz