Why every mum-to-be should have a postbirth plan
Midwife Lesley Gilchrist says the first six weeks after having a baby are crucial for your recovery
MANY mums-to-be get so busy preparing for the big day when baby arrives, that they don’t realise the impact having a new baby will have on them.
A new survey has revealed that three-quarters of women in Ireland don’t even consider making a postbirth recovery plan for their emotional or physical recovery, despite the fact that the first six weeks are considered a recovery period by medics.
According to the research conducted recently by My Expert Midwife, 36 per cent of Irish mothers said it took six weeks to feel back to their physical selves, while 28 percent said it took up to three months.
And for some - 12 per cent - it took six months before they felt they were back to good physical health while a further 15 per cent said their recovery is still ongoing.
‘For many new parents, the transition to parenthood can be overwhelming, both physically and emotionally, so emotional and physical support can really help you to take stock of your own needs,’ explains Lesley Gilchrist of My Expert Midwife.
‘New mums are tired, elated, sore, bruised, swollen, bleeding, lactating, emotional - the list is endless. As they care for baby, they need to be cared for too. If you ran a marathon, you would surely feel it in the days and weeks that follow - post birth is kind of like that, except ten-fold!’
AS a midwife, Lesley might be a familiar face to those who watched the Channel 4 show One Born Every Minute. But it was her experience working with new mums that led to her setting up My Expert Midwife which offers both advice and a range of products for new mums.
‘ Antenatal classes are all about the birth and preparation for the birth,’ says Lesley.
‘You have a midwife or a doctor with you the whole time you are in labour. But postnatally you don’t have that clinical support apart from occasional visits.
‘ There has been a lot of focus on birth at the expense of postnatal care and we used to do a lot more postnatally and I think that is what our survey found — that women felt they needed more help.’
Lesley feels women should have a support network around them for those tricky first six weeks, and be honest about how they feel so that friends can offer practical support in the form of making meals and even doing household chores until such times as the new mum feels rested enough and in a routine to manage for herself.
‘It’s a very instinctive thing being a parent, but that is the time you are exhausted, your body is healing you need that time to regenerate and heal and that is the time you really do need to take it easy and have other people doing things for you because you have now got a new baby to nurture and feed and love. As a society we expect a lot but we haven’t spoken honestly enough about it.’
Lesley, who is a mum-of-two children herself, qualified as a midwife in 2003 and worked for the health service before moving into private practice in 2014.
It was then that she began to develop her own natural products using essential oils to try and aid women in their recovery from childbirth.
‘All over a sudden I had clients who were paying me to look after them postnatally and there was an expectation from them that I would have something better than just water to help with the pain and recovery.’
But the things that were available at that time - like nipple balm that had to be melted in the hands before application or it dragged across the skin - were not fit for purpose.
‘I did a course in aromatherapy and there were some brilliant trials that had been done on different essential oils. From that I kind of understood what was needed.’
Through her research Lesley found a number of essential oils had evidence-based healing properties and began making her own tinctures for use by her clients but soon people were asking her for them so along with a business partner Claire Charlton.
They now have a range of products to help with all the issues caused by childbirth and having a baby to promote the healing process. All are based round essential oils and natural products so they will be kind to baby and to you. And they will also help your body to heal.
‘We wanted to bring out products that women actually needed,’ Lesley says.
From a one-handed nipple cream pump to a spritz that soothes your bits, the products have really taken off to the point where Lesley and her team are now giving some of their expert advice online too.
And Lesley has nothing but praise for women like Katy Perry who recently took a photo of herself with her post-pregnancy pants on, as she feels we need to be more realistic about what having a baby is really like rather than the celebrity trait of snapping back into your jeans.
‘It places that unrealistic expectation on women to emulate that,’ she says.