Postpartum Care

Traditional postpartum care is rooted in 5 pillars: Rest, Warmth, Appropriate Food, Appropriate Bodywork, and Community. These are the foundational elements that a postpartum mother requires for healing after birth.

Traditional postpartum care is mother-centred, with the knowing that mother and baby are, physiologically, one unit (ie. the mother-baby dyad). When a mother is thriving, her baby will thrive too.

I like to call my visits with postpartum mothers Warming Sessions, as my intention is to warm you up, inside and out.

Read on for a summary of the care offered to you during our visits.

 
 

Nourishing Foods

Cross-culturally, the foods that are offered to a mother in the postpartum period are warm, easy to digest, and nutrient dense. The specific foods will vary from culture to culture, but we commonly see broths, soups, stews, porridges/congees, herbal teas, and the like. During a Warming Session I will often prepare a healing dish for you.

Bodywork

Traditional cultures know that rest is crucial after birth - which is precisely why body work is so important. Massage and other warming therapies help to move fluids and lymph, promote circulation, heal various tissues, bring everything back into place, and provide comfort and gentle containment after the expansiveness/openness of pregnancy and birth.

Warming Sessions usually include one or more of the following:
Herbal sitz baths
Vaginal steaming
Warm oil application/massage
Moxibustion
Closing of the Bones ritual
Belly binding
Castor oil packs/support with scar tissue tending
Support with breast care/self-massage

Emotional Support

The perinatal period - from pre-conception through postpartum - is a major life transition in which lies an inherent invitation/opportunity for our own growth and healing. This experience can give rise to many feelings - joy, grief, rage, and everything in between. I’m here to witness, hold, and honour all of the intensity of this time.

Warming Sessions offer you space to simply be. Space to fall apart as needed. Space to unravel the layers of your experiences and find the gems to carry with you on your journey. We might start to unpack the birth or process other things that are coming up, or we may not. We may simply sit and take some deep breaths together.

Mama Support

Our modern day culture surrounding pregnancy, birth, and postpartum contains an endless sea of experts with their well intentioned advice. With friends/family members, care providers, and the internet all offering advice, most mothers I work with are completely overwhelmed. I am not here to be another expert. I am here to offer deep listening and to support you as you reflect on your values and intentions in mothering your little one(s). I know that you know best.

During our Warming Sessions I can offer information on physiological norms in newborns, as well as practical woman-to-woman support with nursing. We can discuss questions or doubts that may arise in caring for your baby and find the answers within you. I can also connect you with other postpartum/lactation practitioners as needed.

 

The Details

  • Our sessions together are typically 3 - 3.5 hours long, in your home

  • We will also meet once prenatally (on Zoom)

  • I will bring some care items for you - herbs for sitz baths/steaming, lactation tea, belly bind

  • I am available by email, text, or phone between sessions

  • A single session is $250 (+HST)

  • Packages of multiple sessions are available; please inquire for more detailed pricing

Interested in receiving nourishing mother-centred care during your postpartum time? Let’s meet for a tea (ie. a 30 minute virtual consult) and discuss!