By Antonia Anderson
Maybe you’re not quite sure what it means to plan for the postnatal time. After all, the baby’s change table is all set up, and you have enough nappies to build a small fort – what else matters?
Well, to begin with, baby-planning is very different from postnatal planning. When you plan for the postnatal time, it’s all about YOUR needs. Because as amazing at it feels to gaze into a newborn’s eyes and smell their fuzzy little heads, you will also be dealing with aches and pains, bleeding, sore and engorged breasts, and epic hormonal mood swings. Oh, and if you were ravenous during pregnancy, that may have given you a taste of how hungry breastfeeding can make you.
Oh yes, and you have a wound in your uterus the size of a small plate, which will take six weeks to heal.
An unsupported postpartum can be isolating and exhausting, not to mention dangerous for your long-term health. So don’t ignore your own needs.
Does that all sound scary? It is – if you don’t have good support around you. An unsupported postpartum can be isolating and exhausting, not to mention dangerous for your long-term health. So don’t ignore your own needs. Fill your own cup first, so you can be the calm and confident mother you want to be.
Let’s start by asking some practical questions:
- Who is going to make breakfast? What about lunch? Dinner?
- What are you going to eat for all those meals? Who will do the meal planning? Who will do the grocery shopping?
- Who will clean the bathroom and kitchen? Who will vacuum the floors?
- Who will wash up after meals? Who will do the laundry?
