Sleep & Rest
Mothers from the Western cultures rarely benefit from the postnatal home confinement of our non-Western cultures, who may rest up to 6 weeks following the birth of their child, unless of course the Westernised parent chooses to follow this fabulous tradition! Perhaps they have hired a Maternity Nurse, Sleep Nurse or Post Natal Doula to help support them with, recovery, rest, feeding, sleep routine for baby, household chores such as cooking, shopping, help out with other siblings. Our western lifestyle simpley does not allow for this “luxury” partners are often back off to work within a week and friends and extented family and are still working themselves, especially with retirement age increasing to 67!
With this in mind, Sleep & Rest should be one of your main priorities - “you cannot pour from an empty jug” Take time out of your day for sleep & quality self care - sleep when baby sleeps ( I know, it can be all too temping to pop on that laundry, empty the dishwasher, prepare a meal for dinner…. just rest! Your body with thank you for it, you will wake feeling more rested, relaxed, everything seems so much more bearable after a good sleep including beastfeeding, your milk supply will have had time to replenish also.
How can I rest?
Hire a Maternity Nurse
Hire a Sleep Nurse
Hire a Postnatal Doula
Reach out to available family members
Get comfortable treat yourself to the comfiest PJ’s, take off that underwired bra pull that hair down
Have a cuppa - seems so obvious however ensure no caffeine there’s lots of gorgeous Twinnings and Pukka ones for relaxation and breastfeeding parents!
Essential Oil Spray - Neals Yard do some beautiful room spray try their lovely Calming one which includes rose and geranium simply divine! Lavender is also very relaxing …
Dim the lights - this sends out the signal to your brain that its time to relax and rest
Pop on a nice bodycream, facecream/facebalm
If your partner around would he have 10/15 minutes to give you a nice back massage? So relaxing and guaranteed to send you off - use some lovely carrier oils such as grapeseed oil, coconut oil, again use relaxing essential oils such as lavender, ylang, ylang, rose.