Full Recovery From Childbirth Takes A Year

Many would say this is an exaggeration, but a woman really needs a whole year to fully recover from childbirth. A recent study makes it very clear that six weeks of maternity leave – which in some countries is a harsh reality for many women – does not reflect the real needs of the woman who  has just given birth.

Julie Wray, a researcher at Stanford University, conducted a study on postpartum life in women in several countries around the world. She showed that while each woman is her own individual, on average,  a new mother needs at least 12 months to recover from childbirth, both physically and mentally.

However, this information is not an indication that women are weak. Motherhood is perhaps the hardest, most beautiful, and most devoted job in the world.  Although a large proportion of women in the world do not return to work after not so many weeks, this does not mean that a woman’s body has fully recovered.

This is something that should be taken into account everywhere. It should not only be seen in a way that  maternity and paternity leave better meet these needs worldwide, but it is also important to promote better awareness and strategies in the areas of physical, psychological and social health.

Let’s then look at some interesting facts that will help you better understand this topic.

The postpartum recovery period is a difficult time

Recovery from childbirth begins immediately after childbirth and lasts until the mother’s body returns to the pre-pregnancy state – this means the physical and hormonal traits to which the woman is accustomed.

It is generally thought that the average recovery period from childbirth is 40 days. One thing that is sometimes overlooked here is that there are actually three stages in postpartum recovery. We now describe these episodes in detail.

Steps to recover from childbirth

• Acute postpartum recovery: this takes about a day and includes physical recovery from childbirth. The episode includes uterine contractions, postpartum bleeding, and onset of breast milk production.
• The recovery period after the acute phase lasts about 45 days, until menstruation.
• The last stage of recovery can take up to 12 months, and experts say this involves a woman’s body recovering completely after giving birth.
  

Changes in a woman’s body during childbirth during recovery

• Changes in the circulatory system: the mother’s heart rate returns to normal after delivery, and in fact it is common for blood pressure to fall somewhat within a few weeks after delivery. So you need to be aware of this, and it is also common for a woman to develop hemorrhoids.

• Hormonal changes related to progesterone, pituitary gland and pineal gland. This is related to milk production.
• The size of a woman’s abdomen is reduced so that the position of the diaphragm can return to normal, allowing for deeper breathing.
• The stomach and intestines can also experience changes, and therefore for a few weeks after giving birth, a woman suffers from poor digestion, constipation, and lack of appetite.
• In the months after giving birth, it is common to suffer from urinary tract infections as the condition of the bladder muscles recovers.
• Account should also be taken of the fact that many women have impaired resistance after childbirth.

The idea that a woman’s body recovers after just six weeks is a mere dream

When a woman gives birth, in less than a day she begins to live a new life that only a mother can understand  and experience – this is despite the pains of childbirth or caesarean section. She takes action and takes care of the baby whenever it needs her mother.

No matter how little sleep a woman gets, how insanely exhausted she is, and despite the strange process that a body that has become unknown has to go through. It hurts the body as much as it scares the woman because of all the changes that take place in it.

A mother would do anything in front of her child. However, if the  mother has to go to work, in some cases she has to separate herself from the baby in as little as six weeks so that she can return to the professional world. Although the body has not yet recovered, and although the emotions are wild and focus only and exclusively on the baby.

For example, the Nordic countries are often taken, where the physical, hormonal and emotional realities after childbirth are generally in better consciousness. Maternity leave, which lasts up to 16 months, is highly admired in countries where very many mothers return to work far too early.

This practice, which is in the Nordic countries, is also related to many fathers. It is well understood here that  parenting is the work of two people, and that in the first months of a baby one   should not only think about the coexistence of the baby and the mother.

However, in very many countries, these social policy procedures are just a dream. From elsewhere, Nordic well-being is seen in the hands of the people’s genuine and real judgment – in terms of people’s own needs and also the needs of new generations. Finland is also an extremely developed country in this respect, and millions of women can only witness the treatment that mothers receive here. It is clear that six weeks of maternity leave is not enough for a mother to fully recover from childbirth.

Yes, the mother is able to do her job, there is no doubt about it, and also to do it well. However, the body feels pain, and in addition, the mother lacks the valuable time needed to strengthen the very essential bond between the baby and its parent.