Homeopathic remedies Postpartum recovery
No one told you it would hurt…
Congratulations on the arrival of your little bundle! You’ve been through the pregnancy & labour and now it’s the healing process afterwards. No one told you it would continue to hurt and your body would take time to heal. There’s not much time to recover with the never ending demands of being a new mother and even less so if its your second, third or fourth child.
It takes time for the body to heal after the deliver of a baby. Not just physically, but also mentally & emotionally. A woman has had to open herself up to new life in more ways than one and this whole process can take time to re-calibrate - for everything to settle down. A new mother can often feel like a newborn baby herself - wide open, sensitive to physical touch and pain and very sensitive to the world around.
Too often women are expected to just jump back into life and don’t get the time to rest, recover and allow some of the portals that have been opened through birth to close again. It is for this reason that in this article I cover remedies to assist the physical healing and also the mental & emotional healing after giving birth.
The fourth trimester has often been overlooked in the western culture - in fact it was a term that was practically not heard of when I birthed my babies. It is great that more awareness is coming and that we now have a name for it - finally catching up to what many traditional cultures knew for eons!
How do different cultures deal postpartum recovery?
Chinese Culture
In traditional Chinese culture the time after birth is called ‘zuo yue zi’ or sitting the month. This is about acknowledging that birth is a huge transition and that it will take time for the mother to rest, bond with her baby and recover. A women will often rest at home, not leave home for a month, not lift anything heavy and not do any household chores. Traditionally her mother-in-law would visit and look after all of the chores to help the new mother rest and restore. Certain foods such as cold damp foods are avoided and warming healing foods are prescribed.
Mexican Culture
In the Mexican culture there is a rest period called ‘la cuarentena’ where the mother rests for fourty days. The birthing mother may have organised trusted women to come and help look after her - a mother, grandmother, sister, aunt or cousins. This period of time is used to focus on establishing breast feeding; includes drinking warm soups, avoiding cold showers, abstaining from making love and binding the abdomen.
Korean Culture
Korean cultures call this period of time ‘Saam-chil-il’ which translates to three-seven-days or 21 days of assisting the new mother to heal, recover and bond with her baby. Practices such as shallow baths, herbal baths, steam treatments and massages to help blood circulation and healing occur.
I think Mandarin word sums things up beautifully ‘peiyue’ - meaning mothering the mother. If only every woman could experience this in a beautiful way I believe the post-partum recovery would be deeper and the levels of postnatal depression much less.
Click here to read more about traditional post-partum practices
Remedies for emotional recovery
For a woman conceiving, being pregnant and then birthing her baby is one of the biggest milestones in life she will ever go through. Becoming a mother is an honor, a gift and a life changing event. So why then is it often difficult? Why is it often not all so perfect and blissful?
If you’ve just become a mother, you’re transitioning through one of the biggest portals in your life. Probably the last time your body & emotions did all this weird stuff was at puberty and it will happen again in menopause. It is a real invitation though, to allow going through this portal to deepen into yourself as a woman, as a mother and as a human being.
Motherhood can bring up so many different feelings - physically, emotionally & spiritually. All of a sudden you’re responsible for another human being’s life and this is a big and often daunting task. Depression during pregnancy or in the first year postpartum in the United States is is twice as common as gestational diabetes. And perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs) are the number one medical complication related to childbearing.
There is hope…… with some really helpful homeopathic remedies on board emotions & depression can be re balanced to adjust to this huge change. Even after a blissful beautiful birth, mother’s can experience emotional turmoil as the hormones of pregnancy & birth readjust to the new normal. Homeopathic remedies are best used when you find your symptoms matching as closely as possible (the simillimum) to the remedy picture. Below are listed some excellent remedies for postpartum healing
Aconite
Really helpful after a very frightening birth experience where either the mother or the baby was at risk of dying
Excellent when fear presides or fear is the main feeling that is being experienced
When the shock remains after birth alongside a lot of fear
Excellent for the first stages of mastitis - taken early on it may help to prevent infection spreading
Coffea
For mother’s who feel very elevated after birth and can’t seem to sleep
Over excited, over stimulated, racing thoughts and unable to get to sleep or to relax
The sheer joy of the entire birth process and the delight of her new baby causes and over excitability of the nervous system causing insomnia and decrease in milk supply
Ignatia
Our leading remedy for acute grief.
Where the mother is very disappointed that the birth or becoming a mother was not what she anticipated
It is an excellent remedy for mother’s grieving part of the birth process, in that it didn’t go how she wanted or dreamed of
Excellent for mother’s who are acutely grieving how life ‘used to be’ before the demands of motherhood
Grief or psychological shock may lead to a reduction in breast milk
The mother may become hysterical due to an unbelievable or unacceptable event e.g. having to have a caesarean section when a natural birth was planned for but there was a lot of intervention needed
This remedy is the first one to think of where a mother has lost a baby
Read more about Ignatia
Pulsatilla
Very weepy and tearful
Each time the baby is put to the breast the mother cries
The new mother needs a lot of support, reassurance, love and cuddles
Often she feels better when outside in the fresh air
Sepia
Par excellence remedy for re-balancing hormones after delivery
For mother’s who feel overwhelmed and somewhat resentful about all of the demands of a newborn
Mother’s who wish they were back in her old career and feel overwhelmed by all of the work needed to care for a newborn or the demands of running a household
She may feel as though she is becoming depressed and every day feels like a grey day
Much better from being outside and going for a run or from dancing
She may feel indifferent to both her baby & her partner
Worn out and exhausted and shows little interested in anything
Read more about Sepia
Remedies for physical recovery
Arnica
Our leading remedy for physical trauma anywhere in the body
Bruising and swelling and blood loss
Great for shock from physical causes
Often times the mother will say she is perfectly well and asks to be left alone but has alot of bruising and trauma
Bellis Perenis
The Arnica of the breasts & pelvis
Excellent for assisting with the healing of the deeper layers of physical trauma after birth.
Excellent remedy for severe tears of the peri-uretheal area or the perineum.
Afterpains where there is such a lot of soreness that it is felt throughout the whole pelvic area
May feel her pelvic bones are giving away
After a caesarean section where there is trauma to the deep pelvic organs
Deep aching pelvic pain and great soreness in the area
Sepia
Helps re balance hormones after delivery
She may experience hair loss after pregnancy and is one of the leading remedies for bald patches after delivery
May feel as though all of her pelvic organs are going to fall out of her vagina, so crosses her legs to keep everything inside
Where there is a prolapse of any kind postpartum (especially when the mental / emotional picture also matches)
Read more about remedies for prolapse
Staphysagria
One of our leading remedies after a cesarean section or episiotomy
There will often be sharp, needle-like pain which is worse when sitting or when there is any pressure on the tender area
Helps expel incarcerated abdominal gas after caesarean delivery
If incisions fail to heal properly or remain sore and tender long after they should have healed
The mother may feel violated after the procedure and is very often angry and cross but may keep this inside and not express it - all the while feeling very pissed off!
Pregnancy Birth and Beyond Remedy Kits
Our remedy kits cover everything you will need for Pregnancy, Birth & Beyond. Click on the link below to order yours today
If you’ve just had a baby and your body is taking time to heal there may be a remedy you need which works more specifically with what you’re experiencing - Homeopathy is very individual and you may need a specific remedy tailored for you.
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For people living outside of Auckland or NZ welcome - I see people from all around the world via Zoom and the connection is excellent. Remedies can be obtained through Homeopathic Pharmacies worldwide.
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Tania Aroha-Twentyman Holistic Homeopath Auckland NZ
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