Women Need One Year To Heal After Childbirth

When you say that a woman needs a year to heal after giving birth, many may think it sounds like an exaggeration, but a new study makes it very clear: parental leave of just 6 weeks, which is so common in many parts of the world, reflects not the real needs of a new mother.

Dr. Julie Wray, from Stanford University in the USA, conducted a study on postpartum women’s lives around the world, which showed that even though everyone’s bodies are different, most new mothers need an average of at least 12 months to heal completely, both physically and physically. mentally.

It is not a sign of weakness in women. Motherhood is probably the hardest, most beautiful and most dedicated job one can do, and even though the vast majority of women in the world return to work after a few weeks, it does not mean that the body has healed completely.

Cot time: The period after childbirth

The cot period, or lasts from birth until the mother’s body returns to its original state from before the pregnancy – ie. that she regains the mental and hormonal traits she was used to.

Many people think that the cot period lasts for about 40 days, but what sometimes escapes us is that the period actually has three phases.

The different phases of the cot period

• Acute cot period: This lasts for about 24 hours and also includes the physical recovery from childbirth. The acute period has to do with uterine inversion, the onset of rejection and the production of breast milk…
• The subacute cot period: This lasts for about 45 days, until menstruation.
• The delayed cot period: This can last for up to 12 months, and according to many specialists, the phase extends all the way to the complete healing of the woman’s body after childbirth.

The changes women go through during crib time

• Changes in the circulatory system: The mother’s heart rate returns to normal after childbirth; in fact, a drop in blood pressure is common in the coming weeks. This is something you should be aware of. It is also common for hemorrhoids to occur.
• Hormonal changes are associated with progesterone, endocrine glands and the pituitary gland that regulate milk production.
• The size of the mother’s abdomen decreases so that the placement of her diaphragm can return to normal, allowing her to breathe more deeply.
• The stomach and intestines also go through changes, such as enlargement, which is why the mother suffers from slow digestion, constipation and decreased appetite for a few weeks.

• During the months after delivery, it is common to get urinary tract infections because the muscle strength in the bladder is healing.
• We should also mention that many women may have a weakened immune system after giving birth.

To think that a woman’s body heals after only 6 weeks is a “fantasy”

When a woman gives birth, she takes on a new life in less than a day, and this is something only she can understand and experience: it does not matter how much pain is from the birth or the caesarean section. She steps up and takes care of her baby when she needs her.

It does not matter how few hours of sleep she gets or how tired she is, or how her own body, which is no longer recognizable, has changed and is in so much pain that it scares her.

A mother would do anything for her baby. If, on the other hand, that mother has to work, she is forced to separate herself from her baby after only a few weeks in order to return to work. Although her body has not healed completely, her emotions are a roller coaster and she can only focus on her baby.

In countries like Norway and Sweden, we are more aware of this physical, hormonal and emotional reality. That is why we can get maternity leave for up to 16 months , and the same applies to fathers. Parenting is a two-man job, not just something that affects the baby and the mother.

We have already realized that six weeks’ leave is not enough for a mother to fully recover after giving birth, and that is something we can be proud of.

A mother can, of course, do her job, and also do well. But her body is still in pain, and she also misses precious time to strengthen the important bond between child and parent.