Breastfeeding & postpartum care after birth

A baby is a wonderful addition to your life, but babies don’t come with instruction manuals. After your newborn baby arrives, you may have questions about how to care for them – or questions about the way you’re feeling as a new parent.

Our labor and delivery nurses can answer your questions and help you learn more about feeding and bathing your infant. While you’re in the postpartum unit, they’ll also give you crucial newborn care tips you’ll need to know.

Our nurses are also experienced in post-pregnancy care for new moms, from monitoring how you’re healing after delivery to discussing how you’re feeling emotionally. You’ll get instructions to take home to help you know what to expect after delivery.

Some of our facilities feature family-care rooms designed to help you feel more confident when bringing home an infant with special needs. If your baby will be going home with a monitor or will require other special care, you’ll have the chance to stay in a family-care room to practice with the equipment you’ll be using at home.

Benefits of breastfeeding

As a new mom, one of the most important decisions you’ll make is how to feed your baby – by breastfeeding, with formula or with a combination of the two. The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding as one of the most effective ways to ensure your child’s health.

Here are a few of the benefits of breastfeeding:

• Breast milk is rich in nutrients and antibodies. It can protect your baby from illness from the moment they’re born.
• Breastfeeding may decrease your risk of developing breast cancer, uterine cancer and ovarian cancer. It may also decrease the risk of high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, stroke and heart disease.
• Breastfeeding may help your body lose the weight you’ve gained during pregnancy more quickly.
• Breast milk helps to protect your baby from allergies, asthma, infections and illnesses. Compared to infants who are not breastfed, breastfed infants have:
  • three times fewer ear infections
  • five times fewer urinary tract infections
  • seven times fewer allergies
  • five times fewer serious illnesses requiring hospitalization
  • a 9% drop in asthma risk with each month of exclusive breastfeeding
• Breastfeeding saves money and eliminates the need to purchase formula and feeding supplies, which can cost well over $1,500 a year. And since breastfed babies tend to be sick less often, health care costs are lower too.

Lactation support

If you’re a new mom who’s choosing to breastfeed, we want to help you get off to a great start. Our lactation consultants – available at all our birthing centers – are board-certified and can answer questions and address common concerns about breastfeeding including:

• Correct latching technique
• Breastfeeding positions
• Clogged breast milk ducts, sore nipples and other symptoms
• Checking the safety of medications while breastfeeding
• Continuing to breastfeed when you return to work
• Nutrition while breastfeeding
• Nursing multiple babies
• Stimulating lactation when you’re adopting a baby

And remember – lactation nurses offer support when you’re recovering from delivery, but you can also reach out to them after you’ve gone home.

Postpartum support

Once you get home, you may get a check-in call from one of our nurses. They’ll coach you through the post-pregnancy process.

As part of your postpartum instructions, you’ll get guidance about care for your perineum. Your perineum may feel sore or swollen and may have stitches that require special care. You may also have hemorrhoids that developed during your pregnancy or labor. If you had a cesarean birth, you’ll receive special instructions for the care of your incision.

Sitz baths

Sitz baths are often recommended to help with healing, cleansing and easing itching, pain or cramps. A sitz bath can be taken in shallow warm water in a bathtub. Or you may get a kit with a basin that fits between a toilet and its lid that can be filled with warm water.

Your birth attendant may suggest medicine or things like Epsom salts to add to the water. Most sources recommend sitting in a sitz bath four times a day for 10 minutes each time for the best results. Gently cleanse the area and carefully pat dry with a soft towel when you’re done.

Postpartum bath

Talk to your doctor or midwife about when you can take your first bath after giving birth. They may suggest waiting for a couple of weeks for a postpartum bath, particularly if you had a cesarean birth. In the meantime, showers are fine as long as you protect any stitches from getting soaked. As with the sitz bath, carefully pat any tender areas dry with a soft towel when you’re done with your bath postpartum.

Postpartum moods & feelings

Parenthood is wonderful but often overwhelming. Many women experience the “baby blues” in the first couple of weeks including crying, mood swings, sadness and anxiety. Tell your doctor if such feelings last longer than that or get worse because they may be symptoms of postpartum depression.

Symptoms of postpartum depression may include:

• Feeling hopeless
• Feeling inadequate
• Guilt or shame
• Hypochondria
• Low energy or loss of interest in things
• Scary thoughts about your baby or family
• Sense of despair
• Sleeping too much or insomnia
• Suicidal thoughts
• Weight loss or gain

Post-pregnancy care and treatment for postpartum depression may include medication, counseling or both, depending on your symptoms and needs. Speak with your support network at home as well as your team at Aurora. You can also get more information from your doctor or contact Aurora's Behavioral Health Services.

For additional resources about being a new parent, including classes, how-to guides and recommended reading, see our childbirth, parenting & family resources.