The 6 Week Time Frame - "42 Days for 42 Years"
The first 42 days {6 weeks} postpartum are essential for Mama regeneration and newborn protection. You are both transitioning into an earthbound life as mother and child. This is your time frame planner for
- Level of in-home support you'll need for each stage of postpartum
- Superfoods for each stage {refer to the food list page for more detail}
- Botanical support for each stage of postpartum
- Self-care tools for each stage of postpartum
Birth is hard work. It is rough... overwhelming... sometimes blissful... warrior-like... It requires powerful downward movement. It is a vulnerable moment of transformation and change. All of this requires remedies that balance and recover Mama and baby.
General Self Care Do's
- Ghee, ghee and more ghee!
- Warm, moist, lightly spiced foods
- Plenty of skin to skin time with baby
- Warm oil massage {self massage of professional}
- Wrap Belly
- Warm oil massage of baby
- Plenty of dashamoola + mothers milk tea
- Arnica {and advil as needed}
- Sitz bath spray on pads + genitals
- Plenty of rest, relaxation, quiet and joy
- Write down and tell your birth story
- Have women to talk to - mother, sisters, friends, advisors.
And Dont's
- Fear, scary movies, excess time separated from baby
- No breaks from baby - Mama should have a little time every day to bathe, eat, and self-massage
- Excess distance from baby... keep baby within ear's reach
- Light, dry, cold foods {salad, sushi, ice cream, popcorn or iced drinks should be avoided}
- Leftovers, raw onion, raw garlic, radish and tomatoes - can all cause colic for baby.
- Excess planning or strategizing
- Overachieving / overdoing
- Sex
- Travel
- Stress
- Presence of stressful people
- Excess socializing
- Exercise
Immediately After Birth to Day 10
- Skin to skin right away until baby latches. Up to 2 hours of skin to skin if mother and baby are happy.
- Give Mama a nourishing beverage - warm milk or rice milk + maple syrup or sucanat sugar or cane sugar + a tsp of ghee - this will re-nourish mama and prevent the need for stool softener which is drying and risks too much downward flow after baby. Mama can have this beverage daily during the first week postpartum if desired. Feel free to add cinnamon, cardamom, and fennel.
- If placenta will be administered at this time by a midwife or doula, ingest it in a warm form - in the above drink or as a soup / broth, or in tincture form {no cold smoothies or iced juices}.
- When Mama is first hungry, something oily and sweet - like an almond croissant or even a doughnut!
- Begin drinking Mothers Milk tea or tincture as soon as rested with first sleep.
- Encourage Mama to sleep. Other adults in the household can do skin to skin while Mama sleeps and rests her body.
- Can begin using Motherlove or homemade Sitz Bath Spray on iced pads and topically after bathroom use.
- Take Homeopathic arnica {and advil as needed}
- Take DHA, B-12, Vitamin D
- Professional belly massage with oil + belly wrapping, if a practitioner {such as midwife or post-partum doula is available for this}
- Self-massage breasts in circular motion in the shower, daily.
- Low to no salt in the diet until day 5, then plenty of salt is fine.
- Plenty of fennel, fenugreek, cumin, ajwain, cardamom, cinnamon and hing in the diet.
- Food is sweet, warm, oily at this time.
- No exercise or yoga during 1st 2 weeks.
Days 2-14 {up to first 2 weeks} Sample Schedule
Day 14 to day 42
By now, bleeding should stop, and there may no longer be need for regular use of sitz bath spray. Mama should continue self massage + belly wrapping, mothers milk tea, and dashamoola tea. She can begin to increase protein rich foods {lentils, nuts, seeds, nut butters and non-vegetarian protein sources}. She can begin taking walks with baby in nature or residential areas. She can begin to take baths and do gentle yoga and pranayama practices as desired. She should continue to be gentle with herself and be supported by friends, family or professionals in the birth and postpartum care system. Flower essences and essential oils as well as additional botanical support can be used for psycho-spiritual and physical rejuvenation - discuss with Kaya during your Postpartum consultations!