Do - Follow your doctor's advice. Ask your doctor questions about how much activity he recommends for you at your 6 week check-up. Depending on your health history and birth doctors may recommend you take it easy for a while longer, or give you the go ahead to start on a postpartum exercise plan.
Do - Take it slow. Having a baby is great deal of work for a woman's body. Both traditional Indian and traditional Chinese medicine hold that the lifelong health of a woman is affected by her health and activities postpartum. So give your body ample time to heal after pregnancy and nurture and nourish it. If your doctor gives you the go ahead begin with a routine of regular but gentle exercise. Start with a daily walk with your infant/s. Either a stroller or baby carrier will work. Add a yoga routine or low intensity workouts gradually. As your body adapts you may change your walk to a run (a jogging stroller can be great for women who are runners) - or add a thrice weekly visit to the gym. Do - Have realistic expectations. Your body - familiar as it has been to you so far has changed significantly after pregnancy and birth. These changes happened gradually - over a period of nine months and it can take just as long or longer for your body and metabolism to return to normal - particularly if you are breastfeeding. Studies show that postpartum weight loss is at it's peak after your baby is six months old and breastfeeding mothers can usually expect to see the famous weightloss benefit of breastfeeding starting around 5 or 6 months in. Non-breastfeeding mothers' bodies and metabolisms too begin to adapt to the new normal. Stressing about not being back to your pre-pregnancy shape or weight before your baby is one year old might be premature. Do - Eat healthfully. You may find your appetite and food preferences have changed postpartum. Many women experience increased hunger - this is only natural as their bodies seek to replenish nutrients depleted during pregnancy and birth. Denying your body food at this time can be pretty near impossible. However with a newborn's round the clock schedule - mealtimes may not really exist. Eat to hunger but pick foods that are nutrient dense. Now may not be the time to drastically cut carbohydrates or fats as the energy demands of caring for (and nursing) a newborn as well as healing are considerable - however, simple sugars are best avoided and fats in the form of nuts and seeds as well as healthful oils will satisfy both cravings and nutrient requirements. Consider continuing your prenatal vitamins and gradually add in a variety of fruit and vegetables. Don't - Lift anything heavier than your baby. Your back and core have changed greatly with pregnancy and birth. Use the weight of your growing baby as a guide to how much your should carry/lift and build your strength back slowly. Do - Find friends to exercise with. Connect with moms in the neighhborhood (you will meet them when you are out with your stroller!), call up your friends for a daily walk and talk or find a neigborhood yoga or mother-and-baby excersice class. This will help keep you motivated as well give you some much needed adult company. Do - Eat a nutritous diet with plenty of iron, calcium, protein and freshly cooked vegetables. Include shakes and smoothies for a quick boost of energy and hydration before/after your exercise. Don't - be overly stressed about bouncing immediately back to your pre-pregnancy body. Many factors affect how much weight you gain or lose post partum and it can be unhealthy for breastfeeding mothers to lose weight too quickly after birth. Give yourself a year to get back to your postpartum weight and shape and as you work towards your goal focus on developing a new but regular routine of exercise and making sure you are eating a healthy diet.
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A new (or not so new) mother in our society is bombarded with advice. Media and lay people, doctors and other kinds of doctors your neighbours friends, aunts, mother, older sister (or heck, even your younger sister!!), second cousin twice removed; anyone you talk to has plenty of advice, admonishment, scary stories and lessons to offer.
When you're thinking of hiring a postpartum doula - you may stop and think: do I really need another expert bossing me around? Doulas aren't experts (or they might be but they check that at the door). Doulas know that when it comes to your baby - you as the parent - are the expert-in-chief. A doula does not expound the virtues of doing this, or exhort you about the evils of that. A doula doesn't scold, or boss or even offer much advice unless asked. Instead a doula supports you - physically, practically, emotionally and socially so that you can settle into your role as expert-in-chief. Sure she strives to be a fount of information when asked (or atleast can look it up for you - or connect you with an expert). Sure she's seen and held plenty of babies and mommies and can suggest things that you could try to help with this or alleiviate that. But at the end of the day - a doula's job is to support you while embark on your own personal path to experthood. Whatever you chose - the doula will support. Note: Obviously - some strongly held views by either parent or doula maynot be condusive to having a particular doula-family match - however, there is likely another doula that would be able work in harmony in that situtation. Also situations where the baby/mother/family are in actual danger are exempt from doula support - obviously. Sometimes you might wonder what on earth determines a postpartum doulas fees. Is there a mysterious doula-sorting mechanism that assigns each doula a score? Do luck. chance or random fluctuations in the weather play a role in the price you get quoted? Or you just maybe thinking "Argh! Why are doulas so expensive!!"
Well I'll try and explain a little about how doulas work - and also add the disclaimer that I don't speak for all doulas. We doulas tend to be a fiercely independent bunch (kind of like the moms we work with :)). In addition postpartum doulas have a secret - we secretly believe that the 'something' that we provide is priceless. After all - as anyone who has had a postpartum doula will tell you - the comfort and reassurance that a postpartum doula provides is only disguised as help with dishes and laundry! So there you have it - it's a priceless service, that is felt in the heart and cannot be quantified in terms of money. And yet postpartum doulas are also a tremendously practical bunch! We must make a living, take care of our dependents, save for the future, pay taxes, buy health insurance, business insurance, afford continued training and education, pay association dues, etc etc etc... And so we must charge for our time - that much is clear. Yet we are indepent as - previously stated - and we also have a tendency to be mavericks. We want to offer our services to everyone who asks; but at the same time we are well aware of how valuable the 'something' that we provide is. Hence each doula works with what she needs to support herself, what she can offer in terms of her time and comes up with an amount that she deems is reasonable without pushing her into penury (or into more penury than she can stand). Thus we all have slightly different rates, different flexibilities with our rates and it all seems a little magical and mysterious. It's not and it is. |
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