Becoming Mum
Becoming a new Mum is an incredible journey filled with a mix of emotions and experiences. Here’s a guide to help you navigate the early days with some important things you might not know:
Right After Birth
1. Baby’s Skin Colour: Don’t be alarmed if your baby’s skin is purple or dark red and blotchy at birth. It will adjust to a pinker tone after a few hours.
2. Skin-to-Skin Bonding: You can request the first hour after birth to be uninterrupted skin-to-skin bonding time. Measurements and assessments can wait! Or the assessments can be done on you.
3. Emotional Adjustment: Not all new mums feel euphoria or excitement immediately after birth. It’s normal to need time to adjust.
4. Love at First Sight: It’s okay if you don’t feel an immediate bond with your baby. Love can grow over time, sometimes you need to get to know each other first.
5. Oxytocin High: Some mums experience such a high from oxytocin that they can’t sleep for hours, sometimes over 24 hours.
6. NICU Stays: If your baby needs to go to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU), you might not hold them immediately. This can be upsetting, and it may be worthwhile looking into kangaroo care and what you can be doing if your baby is in the NICU.
Physical and Emotional Changes
7. Postpartum Shock: Your body has just been through extreme stress, so it’s normal to feel shock, or out of it.
8. Learning to Breastfeed: Breastfeeding doesn’t always come naturally and is a relationship that needs to develop over time. Some babies might not start feeding right away, and may be sleepy for the first 12-24 hours after birth. This is called a hibernation period, and then babies tend to wake up.
9. Afterbirth Pains: When the baby latches on, you might feel intense contractions as your uterus retracts.
10. Privacy in Hospitals: In some hospitals, there’s little privacy. Midwives may touch your breasts to help with breastfeeding or check your uterus, they always need to ask before touching you and saying no is totally ok- it's your body and your choice how and when people touch you.
11. Breathlessness: You might feel breathless as your lungs adjust back to full capacity.
12. Sore Throat: Have lozenges on hand in case you have a sore throat from labour noises.
13. Belly Support: A good belly band can provide support. Ask for “tubigrip” at the hospital or consider belly binding.
14. Perineum Care: Use witch hazel on maternity pads for soothing relief. Have icepacks ready, and if birthing in a hospital sometimes they have ice packs in the freezer for you.
15. Extra-Long Maternity Pads: These offer better comfort and help prevent leaks, I also loved the incontinence disposable knickers! No leaks and can throw them away after you are done.
16. Comfortable Underwear: “Granny” panties can be more comfortable and supportive. If you have had a c-section, make sure you have some underwear that isn't going to rub on your wound.
17. Stitches: If you tear and need stitches, hold your baby skin-to-skin to release oxytocin and ease your mind while the doctors or midwives are suturing.
18. Healing with Honey: Use raw organic Manuka honey or Medihoney for faster healing of perineal tears.
Practical Tips
19. Food After Birth: Have good food ready to eat post-birth. Hospital food might not be what you want or may take time to arrive- Uber eats is an amazing option!
20. Limit Visitors: Limit hospital visitors to allow time to rest, adjust, and establish breastfeeding.
21. Holding Baby: Don’t pass your baby around to visitors unless you feel comfortable. When babies are born they only know the smell of their mother, so when they aren't with you they can be unsettled. You also need to continue with skin to skin for as long as possible to optimise breastfeeding, if you don't feel comfortable with having your breasts out with that person around, then maybe they shouldn't be there!
22. Emotional Slump: It’s normal to feel emotional around day three after birth. Accept help and support, and talk about how you are feeling to those you feel safe with.
23. Placenta Encapsulation: Consider this to help with hormonal shifts.
24. Blood Loss: Expect some blood loss. Midwives may monitor it to ensure you don’t have postpartum haemorrhage.
25. Urinating After Birth: You’ll need to pee soon after birth. Ural can help with any burning sensations, and you can also have a water or peri bottle near by to spray water on your vulva while weeing. Sometimes it can help to steep herbs in hot water and pop this in a peri bottle to help with healing.
26. Sweating: You might sweat a lot as your body eliminates extra fluid from pregnancy.
27. Hydration: Eating ice can help you stay hydrated, or having a bottle of gatorade on hand. Otherwise there are some hydration powders you can purchase specifically for breastfeeding! Also don't forget foods like watermelon, cucumber etc that add that extra boost of fluid into your body.
28. Avoid Fragrances: Avoid using soaps, deodorant, or perfume for a few days to prevent confusing your baby’s sense of smell. Fragrances are also generally artificially created and companies don't need to list what they use to produce the scent, so we actually don't know what is in the fragrances used in products
Take time to soak it all in!
It’s a significant transition, and it’s okay to move at your own pace.
Navigating the immediate first few hours or days in the postpartum period can be challenging, but knowing what to expect can make the journey a bit easier. Remember to be kind to yourself and seek support when you need it.
