I found this through a doula's blog, and I think it's very informative, whether you birth your baby in a hospital or at home. It was written by a group of midwives.Years ago a woman who had just given birth was routinely kept in the hospital for over a week, in bed the whole time, not allowed to do anything for herself, for it was believed this was best for healing. We now know that moderate activity is helpful and encourages healing, but I'm sure many women struggle in finding the right balance of rest and activity to facilitate postpartum recovery.
I myself have a hard time gauging how much I should do after having a baby, especially after I've come home from the hospital. I've been reading about postpartum care and recovery, and what I've read encourages careful observation of energy levels and as much rest and time with the baby as possible. Most of the material I've read suggests having help at home with household demands to allow the mother to focus on just herself and the baby, and establish breastfeeding early on. This pdf I've linked to above seems to be pretty close to many of the other materials I've read on the subject, and I think it's very informative for any woman, wherever she chooses to birth her baby.
If you would like more information on this subject, please check out the list of Recommended Reading on the right-hand side of the page. Scroll down a bit to get to it.
I visit a blog of a family who now live in Japan. She says that Asian women stay in bed for one month after the baby is born.She is waited on by her mother who takes care of the needs of the family! How wonderful! She also says that they bind their waists(with a sarashi) to get their small tummies back! When I shared that with my mother she said she was also wrapped with cloth after giving birth! I printed pdf file cannot wait to read Thank you,
ReplyDeleteKelley
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