How to Bounce Back After Having Baby

Having a baby is a truly traumatic event. Not only does your life change over night with the whole addition of a new life in your life, but your body has just undergone a massive change. If you’re anything like me, you just want everything to be perfect–including the ability to run a marathon, if you feel like. This is my plan for How to Bounce Back After Having Baby.

How to Bounce Back After Having Baby

• Be aware your body has changed. Like faster than the overnight–sometimes in less than an hour. No matter if you went vaginal or had a c-section, you need to admit it, you went through a lot. You did something monumental. Acknowledge it so you can start taking care of yourself.
• Follow your doctor’s directions. I should repeat that like 40 times but I won’t. These guys know what they’re doing. What they tell you helps you bounce-back faster. Don’t ignore them, that’s the worst thing you could do.

• Relax. I know you want to run around like a crazy-lady and show your baby off to the world. Or run to the NICU for every single “touch-time” with your little one (every 3-4 hours). But you just had a baby. Take a few minutes for yourself and nap, read, do a crossword, whatever you do to relax. You need it.
• Breastfeed or pump. There’s a bagillion good hormones that your body makes when you breastfeed. It’s like a magical healing solution for pregnant ladies. It helps with weight loss, energy and gives your baby some awesome nutrients to help them grow.

• Drink water. You’ve lost a lot of fluids and if you’re breastfeeding, you lose more. So, keep your hydration high by drinking a lot. This helps with so much, I can’t even. Energy, ability to produce milk, there’s a reason the nurses push you to drink some water when you’re in the hospital–they even give you a free bottle, so use it.
• Eat yummy things. I’m not saying go out and chow down on a whole host of candy bars. Quite the contrary. I ascribe to the “if you need it, your body will tell you” method of eating. So, don’t worry right now if you’re still having cravings. Play up to them and don’t go on a diet (yet). Let your body tell you what it needs.
• Continue your prenatal vitamins. This is key if you’re breastfeeding or if you’re just interested in your hair continuing to look awesome.
• Take some stool softeners. I KNOW!!! I totally am like not even wanting to think about, much less take, then talk about it, but this is so important. No matter if you’ve had a c-section or if you pushed baby out down the v-lane, you do not (DO. NOT.) want to have the constipation thing. Any pain killers you might be on, any anesthesia you took during labor–even the hospital food, any of those can make for one constipated misery.