Tag: labor and delivery

Trauma informed postpartum care

- Julie Matheney

Giving birth is a profound experience that can impact a person both physically and emotionally. For individuals who have experienced trauma either before or during childbirth, receiving care from trauma-informed healthcare professionals (HCPs) is crucial for well-being and recovery.

Trauma-informed care is an approach that recognizes the widespread impact of trauma and emphasizes safety, trustworthiness, choice, collaboration, and empowerment in healthcare settings. It acknowledges the potential triggers and sensitivities that individuals with trauma histories may have

Why It's Important After Birth:

❤️Respecting Individual Experiences: It that every person's experience is unique and that past traumas can affect present health. It ensures that HCPs approach each patient with empathy, sensitivity, and understanding

  

❤️Reducing Triggers and Stress: Childbirth itself can be a triggering event for individuals with trauma histories. HCPs who are trauma-informed take proactive steps to create environments that minimize triggers and stressors, promoting a sense of safety and comfort

❤️Enhancing Communication: Trauma-informed care emphasizes clear and respectful communication. HCPs are trained to ask open-ended questions, listen actively, and validate patient experiences, fostering a collaborative and trusting relationship

❤️Supporting Emotional Health: Postpartum emotions can be intense and complex. Trauma-informed professionals are equipped to recognize signs of distress or post-traumatic stress and provide appropriate support and resources

❤️Promoting Recovery and Healing: By integrating trauma-informed practices, HCPs can contribute to the healing process and help individuals build resilience following childbirth-related trauma

Every person deserves to feel safe, supported, and respected in their healthcare journey, especially after childbirth

**How to Access Trauma-Informed Care:**

- **Ask Questions:** When seeking healthcare services after childbirth, inquire about the provider's approach to trauma and whether they have specific training or experience in trauma-informed care.

  

- **Advocate for Your Needs:** Share your trauma history and specific triggers with your healthcare provider. Open communication allows for tailored care that respects your boundaries and promotes your well-being.

- **Seek Support:** If you're unsure where to find trauma-informed care, reach out to local support groups, therapists specializing in trauma, or community organizations that can provide recommendations.

**Remember, You Deserve Compassionate Care:**

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This post aims to highlight the importance of trauma-informed care in the context of postpartum health and emphasizes the value of working with understanding and supportive healthcare professionals after childbirth.

The Second Night

- Julie Matheney

Second Night Syndrome : What absolutely every parent should be warned about in pregnancy.

Second night syndrome. I hate the word syndrome. It implies something is wrong. For nine months your baby has been in your belly. Heard your voice. Felt your body move. Listened to the rush of your blood flow past and heard the gurgle of food digesting. Their existence controlled by the cycles of your body. Then the intensity of labor and delivery propels them into a new world that sounds, smells, and moves differently. The sheer exertion of being born often makes babies as tired as their mothers. It is typical for babies to have a deep recovery sleep about 2 hours after birth (after their 1st breastfeed).

On the second night, however, most babies will want to frequently nurse. This helps with two transitions: meconium to soft, seedy yellow poops and colostrum to mature milk. This cluster feeding catches many parents by surprise and leaves them wondering if baby is starving. Unless baby is not latched well or efficiently feeding, this is normal and the cluster feeding will help transition your milk.

Many babies, though, don’t want to be put down during this process. Each time you put them on the breast they nurses for a little bit, go back to sleep and then cry when placed in the crib. A lot of moms are convinced it is because their milk isn’t “in” yet, and baby is starving. It isn’t that, baby’s awareness that the most comforting place is at the breast. It’s the closest to “home”. This is pretty universal among babies. When baby drifts off to sleep at the breast after a good feed, break the suction and take your nipple gently out of their mouth.

This is also protective of SIDS. You’re exhausted from labor and delivery and just want to sleep. But night time is when newborns are most vulnerable to respiratory complications and SIDS. By waking you frequently at night, you are waking frequently to check on the well being of your baby when they’re at their greatest risk of infant death. Waking regularly at night for the first few months to feed also helps babies from getting into too deep of a sleep state which can cause them to stop breathing. Instead of seeing the loss of sleep as a negative for you, consider the positive reason it has for baby.

Don’t try to burp baby, just snuggle baby until they fall into a deep sleep where they won’t be disturbed by being moved. Babies go into a light sleep state (REM) first, and then cycle in and out of REM and deep sleep about every ½ hour or so. If they start to root and act as though they want to go back to breast, that’s fine… this is their way of comforting. During deep sleep, baby’s breathing is very quiet and regular, and there is no movement beneath the eyelids. That is the time to put them down.

Second night syndrome. As described above, when all is going well it is normal for baby’s to cluster feed on the second night to help milk transition and poop out meconium. Some babies do not efficiently feed, though, and intervention may be necessary.

🩺Medical interventions and pain relief during labor and delivery, maternal health complications like PCOS, uncontrolled diabetes or hypothyroidism, or large blood loss during delivery may delay the transition of your milk.

🧸If your baby not latched well, has a tongue tie, or hasn’t figured out how to coordinate sucking to actually transfer milk from the breast, intervention may also be necessary.

🖐🏽The first line of defense is hand expressing your milk frequently. Hands are better at expressing colostrum than a pump, although a pump is a great way to stimulate milk to be made.

🥄Dripping your milk into baby’s mouth from a spoon or small syringe can help jump start the feeding process.

❓If you have any doubt about either your milk supply or your baby’s ability to breastfeed well, reach out to a qualified IBCLC ASAP to get to the root issue and get you back on track.

♥️There is no shame in supplementing your baby if needed during this time of learning. Remember, you can always use your milk first by using your hands or a pump if baby hasn’t figured it out yet.