Preparing for the Phenomena of Postpartum Program
Sleep and rest are two major ways to promote healing after the birth of baby. Your body has been working overtime for many months and then just birthed a baby and is now responsible for nourishing that baby as well if you are breastfeeding. Sleep is also something that is hard to come by at night when you have a new baby but don't worry if you make sleep your number one priority you will be able to cope with multiple night wakings. This often means sleeping during the day instead of using caffeine to help you get through the day. Even a 15 minute power nap can make a big difference. If you have trouble falling asleep try listening to a yoga nidra video. Yoga nidra is similar to meditation and 20 minutes of yoga nidra is equivalent to 1 hour of sleep.
My video below talks more about why I don't recommend sleep training and other important information about sleep. It's worth noting again that the symptoms of depression and sleep deprivation look very similar: Fatigue. Irritability. Forgetfulness. Apathy. Lack of interest in things that usually being pleasure. Easily overwhelmed. Scary thoughts.
Getting enough sleep makes a HUGE difference if your postpartum mental health. If you find yourself not able to get enough sleep in your postpartum please reach out to me.
When it comes to rest there are so many different cultural variations of the tuck in which basically means mom is laying down resting with baby while everyone else takes care of everything else. When you are laying down you have better immune system functioning than when you are standing. If you find that you have increased bleeding at any point in your postpartum time it is a sign that you have done to much and you need to rest. Try to rest enough that you don't get to that point though.
For this section please:
-Watch the below video.
-Check out this Yoga Nidra video,
-Get a copy of Sweet Sleep by La Leche League International. More info here: https://www.llli.org/resources/sweet-sleep/
-View the below infographic from the book Sweet Sleep
Remember: If taking in this information becomes uncomfortable for you it is important to shift and move these feelings. Feel them, identify what you need to learn from those feelings, then take action to move those feelings. This could look like free writing in your journal about your feelings, moving your body or expressing your feelings verbally. If you can't get unstuck, reach out to me and we will do a clarity coaching call.
With love,
Comments