After I gave birth to my second child I did the 40 day Ayurvedic practice of mother warming (staying warm and eating and drinking only warm and nourishing food and teas), resting, not leaving the house at all, having only nourishing visitors in my space, having traditional belly massage and belly binding (wrapping my belly in tight material while I moved around and slept).
It was so healing and such a beautiful experience for myself and my baby. I feel so lucky to have known about this custom in time to practice it during my 40 day "magic window".
This information is not widely taught throughout our western society. Everyone knows a woman who has given birth, or is one or will be one. Which is why knowledge about the best healing practices for a postpartum woman is relevant to everyone.
We need to know how to care for a woman, what foods to bring her, how to best serve her so that she can be nourished and then care for her baby as best she can.
We as a society tend to focus mostly on pregnancy, birth and care for the baby. These are very important but postpartum nourishment for a woman is just as important and needs more attention. If we as a community knew how to better care for a postpartum woman we would see less post natal depression and depletion and would benefit as a society at large.
Do yourself and everyone you know a favour and learn about postpartum healing and nourishment. There are many beautiful books, podcasts, articles you can read to inform yourself about the best traditional postpartum nourishment practices. They are so important.