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Postpartum Recovery And Changes During Lactation | Hea Boosters

The first six months after you have given birth to your baby, where you understand and accept the new changes in your body, and figure out your little ones' cues and sort your timetable, that phase is called the postpartum period.

This period is an extremely crucial time for both you and your baby, you both need extreme care and time to recover. There would be so many things going on in your mind, from how to take care of your baby to how to handle the pressure of breastfeeding.

Motherhood is extremely beautiful but at the same time not easy, however, it is also not rocket science, with a few trials and errors you will eventually learn what your baby wants. So, let’s move further into what changes you should expect during your postpartum period.

What to expect in the first month of postpartum recovery?

Now that you have your little one around, you may find very less time for yourself and your needs. From lack of sleep to new mom fatigue, you’ll experience it all. A few moms experience some pain too and the level of pain and discomfort may depend on whether you have had a vaginal delivery or c-section. When it comes to mental recovery you may need more than six months to overcome emotion brought on by hormonal changes.

You may sometimes feel like you have become a pro and doing everything right for you and your little one and sometimes you may feel the urge to cry all night to feel like nothing is right in the world. Everything is going to be okay and there will be big moments that will make you appreciate this postpartum period.

Changes during lactation:

Adding to the above mentioned changes, you will also notice your breasts change during the entire recovery period. Your breasts may feel swollen and hard. Regular breastfeeding is one of the ways of lessening the discomfort. In case you have decided that you don’t want to breastfeed or you don’t want to discontinue it someday, you may start pumping your breastmilk, which can be beneficial for both you and your little one.

You may have sore or cracked nipples too. Try to air them out before wearing clothes or use coconut oil to sooth them. You may also feel dehydrated as breastmilk is 85% water, therefore staying hydrated becomes really important. 
Some new moms may have difficulty with their breastmilk supply, which is normal, however, there are few very well known herbs to increase breastmilk. With the correct diet and lactation supplements, you can increase your breast milk supply naturally.

Here are a few other changes: 

If you've had a vaginal delivery, you may feel that your vagina is sore and swollen in the first six months of your delivery. All of it will be back to normal soon, however, you may see that your vagina will remain marginally larger as compared to it was before delivery.

In the first six months after the delivery, you’ll notice a pinkish to a whitish discharge from the vagina which is called lochia. Lochia is the vaginal discharge you have after a vaginal delivery. It has a stale, musty odor like menstrual discharge. Lochia for the first 3 days after delivery is dark red in color. A few small blood clots, no larger than a plum, are normal. You can use a sanitary napkin during this time.



There might also be some inflammation in the perineal region, particularly if you had an episiotomy or any tearing. In the initial phase, you may use cold packs to get rid of the discomfort, in addition to taking light strolls and changing the way you sit regularly can help a lot.

The entire process from conception to delivery can be challenging for your bladder, particularly if you had a vaginal delivery, which can be long and painful, not that you may not have issues with the bladder in c-section deliveries.

Your bladder might be somewhat expanded and have some deficiency of affectability in the days that follow labor. This implies you may struggle to want to pee. Try to use the loo as much as possible, regardless of whether you want to go or not.

After delivery, you'll be around 5-10 kilograms lighter than when you showed up. You have delivered your baby, amniotic fluids, and placenta, however, you may still feel like you are heavy and pregnant, which will be okay in some time. In case you are feeling like you need to lose weight then you have to wait for your body to recover from the labor and delivery.
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Once you have recovered and rested, you’ll notice that you may have lost some weight thanks to your frequent breastfeeding sessions.

Slowly and gradually, you can start with walks and move to a more high-intensity workout with time. But this doesn’t mean you start diets and reduce your calorie intake, you will need to maintain a healthy diet to ensure you have a good breast milk supply.

You may notice an increase in hairfall during postpartum, sometimes more than you expected, however, it will bounce back to normal once more. Your skin may dry, and you have stretch marks on your stomach and breast. You don’t have to worry everything will go back to normal with time.

Changing hormonal levels — along with parenthood — can cause you to feel extra emotional or restless. This is ordinary and can last for a couple of days or up to six months. Many mothers experience postpartum depression or PPD, which can be a very difficult phase of your life, you’ll need all the help you can get. But, as we said, it is a phase and it will pass.

Conclusion:

Motherhood changes everything, from your sleep schedule to your little one being your number one priority, you start to think about everything from their point of view which is good, but that doesn’t mean you have to forget about your needs.

You need to take care of yourself first to take care of your baby. So, handle everything as well as you can and accept when you need help. We all may be supermoms, but sometimes a superhero too needs an ally.

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