Being a mother, whether new or old, takes a whole lot of strength. One can say the amount of love, passion, and single-minded focus that mothers dole out to their babies is superhuman.
Women give everything during pregnancy. The nine-month period where the baby grows insides them is often somewhat of a mixed adventure. But it’s nothing compared to what happens after they give birth. After delivery, their bodies suffer an incredible amount of physical strength deficit because of labor.
When they leave the hospital, the new mom, who has been preparing for months, devours information after information on how to be a mom. She does all the mommy things any mom would do to take care of her baby.
But who takes care of the mommy? She’s just survived an ordeal that will leave her changed forever. Surely, she’d need someone to take care of her postpartum needs. For some reason, this question doesn’t get asked enough, if at all.
Little do people know that after delivery, new moms need a lot of support, attention, and care to thrive biologically and emotionally. Unfortunately, they suffer in silence because their partners aren’t aware of their postpartum needs.
The best gift a man can give their child is to take care of his/her mother. And new mothers need their partners to understand this. Many men are failing at this, not for lack of trying, but because they don’t know how to help them.
For the sake of enlightenment, here is a summary of some of the things new moms need after delivery.
Image: IStock
Love And Encouragement
New moms know how much their partners love them, alright. But the stress of pregnancy has made them emotionally vulnerable. Husbands will need to put in some extra effort into making new moms feel loved. There’s no overdoing of those romantic things here. Give them more hugs than usual, and never get tired of telling them that you´re proud of them.
Positive Body Image
Partners need to understand something; pregnancy changes women. After giving birth, many new mothers never fit into their old dresses anymore. Some even forget about looking good altogether because of their baby. Fathers must take up this responsibility and make new moms feel beautiful and loved even in their new shape. Buy them new clothes and make them feel more comfortable in their body.
Image: IStock
Taking Breaks
Fathers, understand this: as much as new mothers love their mommy roles, they get exhausted. They may never ask for help even when they obviously need it because new moms love what they do. But no one is designed to work non-stop. At some point, the body and mind will need to take a break. Whose responsibility is it to ensure this happens? Yours. Even if they don’t want to, fathers can look after the baby while moms take a nap, have long baths, or get a postnatal massage.
Nutritional Help
Carrying a child for nine months isn’t as easy as it appears. That’s why, after delivery, women need their bodies to reset. The only way this will happen is by eating healthy. Partners should make sure new mothers consume nutritious foods such as nuts, avocados, fruits, yogurts, granolas, and hummus. Give them lots of water while breastfeeding and make them tea or turmeric milk after.
Image: IStock
Sharing Chores
Now that there’s a new individual in the house – your child – the house will need a different level of cleaning. Dads cannot leave new moms to do all these alone.
Listening
New moms can become pretty emotional, and they will need their partner to be there to pick them up after every episode. Irrespective of the situation, dads must be there to endure with new mothers. Fathers must not dismiss the reason for the emotional breakdown. Instead, they should listen, understand, and at the end of it all, just comfort them.
It might appear as though only one baby was born. In reality, two babies were delivered on the day – the child and the mother. When partners understand this, then they can adequately take care of the mother and child.
