Do's and Don'ts During Postpartum

There is no special care for after birth. Daily shower and washing your hair as per normal is sufficient. If you had an episiotomy, keep the area clean and dry. Pat dry instead of wiping. Same for c-sect incision, keep wound clean and dry. If your doctor had provided any wound cleaning procedure, be sure to follow it.

If you are constantly comparing yourself with others, it will impact not only during this postpartum period. Especially on social media, that's where people selectively choose to share whatever they want. However everyone comes from a different background and situation. 1 example is having a confinement nanny after birth. There are many mothers who actually do not have one, due to space, trust, privacy or financial issues. I believe for this, individuals need to be realistic with themselves. Confinement nanny can be said as a good to have but not compulsory. There are alternatives too. It would be good to join mummy communities to find out real-life experiences and everyone is usually more than willing to share alternatives and ways to help out.

By techniques, I assume you mean the breastfeeding positions. If so, there are many techniques/positions that can help both mother and baby have a more enjoyable breastfeeding experience. Some positions allow mothers to multitask while latching and some positions can help baby in latching better and thus clear the breast better. There are also situations whereby some positions help minimise baby getting choked when latching. There is no need to stick to a specific position. You can change and try out all the different positions to see which fit your situation.

There are no complications unless you are over-straining yourself. It is alright to get back to work and chores right after birth. Every mother's recovery is different so you would need to follow your body's cues. Most importantly is having sufficient rest and not over-straining. For a start, you may want to go slow with yourself.

Start slow with just the essentials, example washing of your clothes is essential but folding and keeping them away is not an urgent matter. If you can get help from family and friends, that would be great. It's also alright to outsource your responsibilities such as ordering food instead of cooking, get help with house chores from adhoc cleaning services if possible. Mostly importantly is to rest when you are tired. Usually mothers feel the need to keep their home neat and tidy at all times, but it's normal to have a messy home especially when you have a newborn.

Generally there is no issue with both seafood and alcohol consumption. For alcohol, the thumb of rule is if you are sober to drive, you are alright to breastfeed. However there are some babies who are slightly more sensitive towards their mother's diet. Should you want to consume either, you may want to go with a smaller amount first and also pump 2 hours after consumption. Observe your baby to see if there is any allergy reaction such as diarrhea and/or rashes.

There are actually many products nowadays that can help in easing pain and discomfort. I would recommend that you try them out to see what works well for you. Your doctor/clinic should be able to recommend you some products. Such as after a natural birth, you may use a donut pillow to sit on or even perineal ice pad, to help ease the pain at the bottom. Cool/warm pad can be used on your breast to relieve engorgement and pain. If it still doesn't work, do consider taking painkillers from your doctor.

The biggest problem faced is bending over to attend to your baby. To carry your baby, bend your knees to lower yourself instead. To change your baby, you may consider a changing table as the height of it would normally not require you to bend over. Constant bending over tend to put significant pressure on your lower back and may cause damage to the surrounding muscles.

In general, when a person is lack of rest/sleep, it can cause many health issues such as unable to concentrate, memory problems, mood changes and etc. It is difficult to sleep with a newborn but please do make time to sleep. Having a messy house is totally fine and do reach out for help too.