The great moment has arrived, they have accompanied you during pregnancy and probably during childbirth, you have already discussed your needs at those times, but what happens after delivery? Do they know what you need around you? These are nine things that moms want in their postpartum , do not forget to take them into account if you are going to accompany her at those times and if you are the mother, make your wishes known.
We are in a very delicate moment, in which the body is weak and sensitivity to the surface, in which the fragile baby is your world and that world has been turned upside down. Those who visit you should be aware of this state of the situation and also be sensitive to it. Do not disturb, but help and accompany in whatever you want.
Hold the baby, feel him close
That the transit from inside the mother’s body to the outside is not so abrupt. Let the baby calmly recognize your smell, touch, warmth and taste. Feeling his skin-to-skin breathing, whispering in his ear, kissing him and meeting him for the first time, running through his entire little body.
That other people do not touch or hold the baby
Do not touch a newborn baby without parental permission and never if you are a stranger. The protective instinct arises strongly and the mother thinks that anything can harm the baby (did he wash his hands? Doesn’t he smell a little funny? Why does he breathe so close to him?).
New mothers need intimacy
The need for privacy in the postpartum is normal, especially in the first hours, so if you have not been explicitly invited to go to see the baby in the hospital, do not do it on your own. Ask the parents first.
To rest
As simple and necessary as that. The physical effort made during childbirth leaves the mother exhausted and the first days of the baby sleep is conspicuous by its absence, so any rest will be welcome, any gesture that facilitates that rest, any pampering, will be appreciated.
Have help visits
No engagement visits, no long ones, or no fuss … We still need calm and above all help. Postpartum visits can be of great help if we ask for it, if they help us around the house, with food, with laundry, with older siblings … Of course, that help has to be not as they want but as we do. we need.
Call before visiting us
It may be that the schedule of the visits does not match our need for rest, or that of the baby or we simply do not want to receive anyone at a certain time. Friends and family should be understanding in the face of this reality and we do not hesitate to make this simple request: let us know if you plan to come to see the baby.
Do not receive advice that has not been asked
What a mother with a revolutionized hormonal state, with lack of sleep and with a thousand doubts and fears in her head needs the least is someone who gives advice without having asked for it. Because they are not professionals, because they are not in your skin, because you are not interested in how their postpartum was …
Not hearing comments about your physical condition
We know that we are not at our best after giving birth. We are not magazine mothers but real ones, with our belly, with our dark circles and marked wrinkles, perhaps bloodshot eyes and not very agile. But we do not need anyone to remind us, not the visits, or the medical professionals with little tact.
Receive some detail, some whim
We love gifts for babies (especially if they are useful and practical), but we also like to think that they remember us and give us something that we like and that can raise our spirits at a certain moment, a real luxury: flowers, chocolates, ham, a massage …
Probably, some of these needs will not be so marked in all mothers, everything will depend on their physical and mental state after childbirth. Do you coincide with these wishes of mothers in the postpartum ? What did you feel that you needed?
In Babies and more | What happens to the mind after giving birth? The emotional state of the mother after childbirth, Professionals who recommend that newborns do not receive visits
