Childbirth can be described as a mysterious and noble act that only women can experience. However, compared with its meaning, the physical and emotional toll on women is considerable. During childbirth, severe bleeding occurs, energy is depleted, and the joints and muscles throughout the body relax. Furthermore, because nutrients are delivered to the baby not only during pregnancy but also during breastfeeding, the mother’s bones and joints become weakened. Many also report feelings of depression due to hormonal changes.
The postpartum period is generally considered to be 6 weeks, during which the body’s qi and blood are very weakened due to childbirth, bleeding, cesarean section, and related factors. Recovering strength during this time is very important. Your lifelong health may be greatly influenced by how well you care for yourself.
Postpartum Care Childbirth can be described as a mysterious and noble act that only women can experience. However, compared with its meaning, the physical and emotional toll on women is considerable. During childbirth, severe bleeding occurs, energy is depleted, and the joints and muscles throughout the body relax. Furthermore, because nutrients are delivered to the baby not only during pregnancy but also during breastfeeding, the mother’s bones and joints become weakened.
Many also report feelings of depression due to hormonal changes. The postpartum period is generally considered to be 6 weeks, during which the body’s qi and blood are very weakened due to childbirth, bleeding, cesarean section, and related factors. Recovering strength during this time is very important. Your lifelong health may be greatly influenced by how well you care for yourself.
The Importance of Postpartum Care (1) Physical changes in the mother after childbirth
After childbirth, the uterus, which had become much larger than before pregnancy, begins to contract again and returns to its original size after 4–6 weeks. For 2–3 weeks after delivery, waste discharge called lochia is released from the uterus. It is important to support the normal, clean discharge of blood stasis and waste products and help the damaged endometrium recover. In the process that moves directly from pregnancy and childbirth into child care, the body becomes weaker, and hormonal changes can make stress and physical stamina very vulnerable. For this reason, postpartum restorative herbal medicine is needed to support smooth lochia discharge, replenish qi and blood, help uterine contraction, and ease feelings of depression and anxiety.
(2) When can postpartum restorative herbal medicine be started? Is it safe during breastfeeding?
It is best to start taking postpartum restorative herbal medicine as soon as possible after childbirth. Immediately after delivery, we prescribe herbal medicine to help promote the smooth discharge of blood stasis and lochia, and later to replenish qi and blood and support recovery of the uterus. If you start taking it later, after lochia has been discharged well, we prescribe according to your condition at that time. It can also be prescribed safely for both the mother and the breastfed baby. Herbal ingredients are adjusted depending on whether breast milk supply is too low or too high.
(3) Sanhupung (Postpartum Wind Disorder) and childcare-related pain: when the mother is healthy, childcare can be healthy too.
After childbirth, the uterus and pelvis naturally become weaker and their function declines. In this way, after delivery, the body’s qi and blood become very depleted, and sanhupung occurs when harmful influences of wind (風), cold (寒), and dampness (濕) take advantage of this and enter the body. If you are exposed to external cold before you have recovered, pathological symptoms may occur and circulation to the uterus may be impaired. Blood stasis can also reduce the function of the urogenital system, disturb blood circulation, and cause symptoms such as painful or cold-feeling joints.
Sanhupung is more likely to occur especially after a cesarean section, when there was heavy bleeding during delivery, or when the body was already weak. At the same time, many mothers, while devoting themselves to childcare before their bodies have fully recovered after childbirth, complain of pain in various joints and the spine—so much so that it is called “childcare-related pain”—and steady treatment is needed.