Postpartum Exercise

Once your baby arrives, there's a long road of recovery ahead for a new mom. 

With pressure from the media, society pushes mothers to shrink back to their pre-baby size in an unrealistic time frame. Postpartum exercise is an important element to the body's recovery process and can dramatically increase mood and energy levels. 

After about six weeks, your care provider typically gives clearance for new mothers to begin a postpartum exercise routine. 

Start Slow

There's no rush when it comes to postpartum recovery and it can be dangerous to rush your body into a strenuous routine. Start the process slowly by walking around the house and gradually adding duration and weight (your baby in a carrier or a stroller is the perfect amount of extra weight and resistance). A walk around the block is easy on your core's sensitive muscles and promotes strength in this area and overall better posture. 

Postpartum Exercise after a Cesarean 

C Section recoveries can be a little more complicated when it comes to toning core muscles. Aggressive exercises like crunches can tear or damage abdominal muscles and create scar tissue. Low impact exercise such as a gentle yoga routine will help train muscles to safely stretch and tone. If you experience discomfort with every day tasks like carrying your baby, walking or lying down up to twelve weeks after your surgery you should consult with your doctor before proceeding with an exercise regimen. 

Walk It Off

Don't underestimate the power of a good walk! Work some casual walking into your routine with baby to get a change of scenery and low impact exercise each day. If there are other moms in your neighborhood, reach out to them about walking together. Walking in a group gives you the opportunity to socialize and develop a support system to help you reach your goals.

Don't rush yourself and take things at your own pace. 

Remember that your health comes before anything else, and devoting some time to your emotional health will boost your confidence as you navigate through postpartum recovery.

Create balance in your life by implementing good postpartum nutrition and utilize the expertise of your postpartum doula for questions you have regarding your recovery or all things baby care. Having a doula around as you heal allows you to feel empowered and able to focus some time on your physical and emotional health. 

What the Heck is a Parenting Philosophy?

Parenting, you're doing it right. 

From the start of your pregnancy you start developing long term parenting goals and expectations for your child's care. A parenting philosophy is an outline of ideas, values and methods that you deem right for your child's upbringing. 

These philosophies aren't set in stone, and can change with you and your family. 

What can be difficult is to find a balance of what you know you want and some ideas and methods that could improve the way you parent, on your own terms. 

Welcoming a new baby also brings tons of unsolicited parenting advice onto your plate and finding the philosophy that's right for you can be even more challenging. 

Generally, everyone's parenting style incorporates elements from specified categories that psychologists have developed to understand different parenting approaches. There's nothing that says you are any of the specific categories or a mixture of a bunch, however it's helpful to understand the different elements that go into a parenting philosophy. 

Authoritarian

Authoritarian parents are often perceived as "strict" parents, however, fundamentally, they are considered parents with high or clear expectations, focused on adhering to authority, less responsive or nurturing to positive behavior. These parents typically have a high standard for rules and values, and less likely to compromise. In this style, parents make the rules and typically don't rationalize with their children, while emphasizing the importance of respect.

Authoritative

This style typically includes reasonable demands and a high responsiveness or result. These parents have high expectations for their children, but offer the resources they need to succeed on their own. Authoritative parents offer an equal amount of fair discipline and warm nurturing, finding a balance between expectations and outcomes. These parents hold their children at a high standard, but are typically more flexible with their children to encourage them to problem solve and become generally more independent. 

Attachment Parenting 

This is usually a more emotionally driven approach to parenting. Attachment parents focus on the emotional well being of their child, offering them more nurturing support than limitations. These parents set out to create a strong emotional bond with their child, encouraging them to develop empathy and use their emotions to communicate effectively. 

These developmental categories describe the ways that parents set the foundations for their parenting styles. 

There's tons of sub-categories of parenting philosophies to identify with and explore, never forcing you to "settle" into one specific method. 

There's no right or wrong choice when it comes to choosing a parenting philosophy that reflects your values and the choices you make for pregnancy, birth, postpartum and beyond. 

Harness the power of judgement free support. 

A doula offers you the support you need as you explore different avenues of parenting psychology, encouraging parents to find what fits for them and nurturing these decisions with their labor and postpartum care.

 Don't ever settle for uncomfortable or allow people to convince you that you're wrong. There's a long road ahead and only you can say

In the end, there is no right or wrong way to do things, and most parents end up adopting bits and pieces from each parenting style to create their own. Each family is unique, and that's what keeps the parenting journey interesting!

Your baby. Your family. Your Style.

 

Lactation Suppression

Breastfeeding is natural, but for many reasons some women opt out and choose formula.

And that is completely okay, because breastfeeding isn't for everyone.

Relatives might have some insight, but you should feel empowered to make your own decisions about feeding your baby and lactation suppression. 

That being said, when you give birth your body is rapidly producing hormones that promote lactation and increase milk supply to feed your baby. All this milk has to go somewhere if you aren't breastfeeding and putting the breaks on lactating can be an uncomfortable challenge.

You hear a lot about ways to improve lactation and postpartum nutrition that increases milk supply, but what about making it all stop? 

When an excess of breast milk builds up, it causes breasts to become engorged.

This can be incredibly painful and make your postpartum recovery more uncomfortable. When you're nursing regularly, it generally keeps engorgement under control. If you aren't nursing, you can still relieve the pain and discomfort while you're formula feeding. 

Wearing a supportive bra and using cold compresses will help relieve engorgement pain, and can encourage your breasts to express. A pumping/hand expressing routine can help minimize unwanted lactation. Since your breasts actually produce milk faster if they are empty, only expressing to relieve discomfort will help minimize your milk supply more effectively.

A nursing baby’s saliva sends signals to the mother's body through breast contact to encourage the production of prolactin to keep the milk flowing. Once you eliminate physical nursing, your body’s prolactin levels will slowly decline and cause your milk production to slow.

Milk that you express still has nutritional value and can still be fed to your baby unless advised otherwise by your care provider. If you choose to collect your supply, many areas collect milk donations for local mothers in need and welcome your contribution. If you are looking to donate your breastmilk, it stores well in a bag laid flat in the freezer and labeled with the date and time.

Formula feeding is bonding too.

Even if you are choosing to formula feed or have the medical need, your feedings can still be positive bonding experiences when you create a cuddly space for your baby to relax with skin to skin contact. Affectionate touch and sound promotes bonding with your baby, regardless of “what’s on the menu” for baby.

Your body is amazing and natural remedies can provide a new mother with a ton of relief while they are trying to minimize their milk production in lieu of formula feedings.

Listen to your body.

If you are experiencing severe discomfort or symptoms that concern you, check with your doctor. There may be topical treatments for lactation reduction and pain relief to help make the process more comfortable for you.

Still have questions about lactation? Our consultants are always glad to help.

 

Relatives and Postpartum Doulas; The Perfect Balance

With the holiday season upon us, we'll all be spending more time with family and friends. 

If you just had a baby, there will be plenty of family offering their assistance with your new baby. And although you need all the help you can get, there's definitely some pros and cons to help from relatives when it comes to baby care. 

Even with all this family around, parents can still benefit from postpartum doula care as they transition home with their new baby bundle. 

Your doula is there to support your whole household. 

Completely and on your terms. 

With a doula there's never any bias or judgement on the parenting styles you choose to implement, just compassionate and professional care for your entire family. The main objective of a postpartum doula is to give you some peace of mind, confidence, and bring new parents up to date on baby care basics. Your doula isn't trying to replace the role of a family member, they're a professional in the baby industry and are there to keep parents, siblings and baby safe, comforted and tended to. 

We love the support of family members and it's important to incorporate that into our children's lives. It can however be overwhelming for new parents to learn how to care for their baby with the opinions of their parents over their shoulder. It can be difficult for grandparents to separate from certain biases, but their intentions are good. 

Creating a balance of the two will keep new parents feeling supported and cared for on this journey of discovery. A new baby is a lot to navigate and it doesn't have to be on their own. Doulas can offer baby education and support to supplement the warm love and care your relatives provide. Every family is different and everyone has different value systems about family help when a new baby arrives. 

Sometimes families need to just get on the same page.

We feel passionately about the role of older generations supporting their children becoming first time parents. That's why we created the Grandparents Class at Maine Doulas. This program is launching in the new year and will give soon-to-be grandparents a course on newborn care, comfort measures and how to apply their parenting experience to their children's parenting decisions. This class is a great gift for grandparents to be, and can even help you break the news about your pregnancy! 

We offer services for every family and gift certificates for you to spread the joy and comfort to expectant parents in your life this holiday season. 

Browse our gift options here.

Postpartum Nutrition

When you bring home baby, your busy schedule just gets busier.

It's easy to lose track of your self care routine and good nutrition seems to just go out the window. Eating healthy might be the furthest from your mind, but is essential to a swift and speedy postpartum recovery.

A little planning ahead goes a long way and your postpartum doula can help you get back on track with healthy habits and eating well. 

Planning and Prepping Meals

Planning ahead for days you won't have the energy to make dinner is one of the best gifts to give yourself before your baby arrives. Plan out a series of filling and nutritious meals that can be frozen and popped in the oven for quick healthy dinners on the go. Planning meals is a postpartum doula specialty and she can give you some guidance about what foods will give you the most healthy sustainable energy. She can help your family prepare some of the weekly meals in advance to take some stress of new parents. 

Staying Hydrated

It's important to stay hydrated when you're newly postpartum, limiting caffeine and drinking plenty of water. Dehydration will keep you feeling sluggish and cranky, and can even throw off your body's healing process. If you're not a water fan, try infusing water with different fruit flavors to jazz up your daily water intake. Using a refillable bottle will also help remind you to drink more water, giving you a goal for the day. Nalgene bottles usually do the trick with their clearly numbered volume measurements, encouraging you to keep on hydrating.

Foods for Moods

Transitioning home with baby is stressful and can take a big emotional toll on any new mom. Postpartum depression and anxiety is a reality of the postpartum experience for many women and boosting your mood is often a big concern for your doula. Certain foods can actually support good emotional health and improved brain function. Diets rich in Omega-3 fatty acids can actually help banish depression. Add some Omega-3 into your diet with salmon, walnuts and flaxseed are easy to incorporate in your weekly meals. 

Proteins

Lean meats and plant proteins are a must for a recovering postpartum mom, promoting healthy metabolism, blood sugar and serotonin levels. Choose lean meats like chicken and turkey, that double as low calorie substitutions to get your slim down back on track. Protein helps your digestive system and will help regulate your system if you're experiencing some discomfort, bloating or constipation. Yogurt helps the most with upset digestive systems, combining the power of protein and probiotics. 

Garlic and Onion

These two flavorful veggies should quickly become your favorite seasoning when you are creating a healthy postpartum nutrition plan. Onions and garlic promote healthy circulation, heart health and can minimize swelling and inflammation. They have powerful antimicrobial properties and can be a big help boosting your immune system and keep infections at bay. If you're breastfeeding and worried about taking unnecessary medications for the common cold and some joint or muscle inflammation, try stocking your system up on some garlic instead! 

Good postpartum nutrition doesn't have to be complicated.

Making small changes and swaps to your meals each day will help your body along to a swift recovery and keep you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated.