I am all for making life easier, and helping Mom feel more comfortable in the postpartum period. Using an abdominal support band, postpartum girdle or doing some form of belly binding in the postpartum period can be helpful.

After birth, levels of the hormone relaxin are gradually declining. Relaxin acts on joints, ligaments and muscles to relax them for birth. The effects of relaxin linger after birth so joints, including in the pelvis are looser. Having some support can help make moving easier.

Some Moms experience blood pressure changes when they shift from sitting to standing in the days after birth. Before birth, organs are compressed and slightly shifted due to the space required for baby. In postpartum, organs are moving back into place, and there is lots of space right after birth for everything to begin shifting back to pre-pregnancy condition. This sudden change can cause blood pressure to drop when changing positions and may cause Mom to feel dizzy. Abdominal support can help reduce blood pressure changes.

Stomach muscles can separate during pregnancy. This is known as diastasis recti. Abdominal binding can help start bringing the muscles together, providing stability when you are moving around, and helping with reversing diastasis recti. 

There are many options for abdominal support. You can buy a support band or postpartum girdle online. You can work with someone who does Bekung belly binding. You can get a few yards of cotton fabric and wrap it around your hips and abdomen. You might want to have one or two abdominal support options ready to try out to decide which one works best for you.

Wearing an abdominal support band or doing belly binding are an easy, no risk way to help with recovery.

People tend to put a lot of pressure on themselves. Pressure to live up to the expectations of others.  Pressure to perform at a certain level. Pressure to maintain a certain standard. Pressure to keep things the way they have always been.  Pressure to be everything to everyone in their life. Society today seems to be a pressure cooker.

If you are a Mom, you are already under pressure. You have children, and the job of being a parent is demanding in and of itself. Not to mention the pressure to be the perfect parent, to have the perfect job, to have perfectly behaved kids, to have the perfectly clean house, to create Pinterest worthy snacks and meals.....the list goes on. Parents can get into a comparison game and decide they are coming up short so they should do more, or do things better.  

All this pressure, whether real, or perceived, is a recipe for disaster. Postpartum exhaustion leading to postpartum depression is a very real possibility while Moms are trying to be the perfect parent to older siblings, while they strive to make sure nothing changes in the older sibling's life due to the birth of the newest baby. Change is a constant, adding a new family member will change the lives of other family members, and honestly that's a good thing. It can help siblings learn to be more patient, or to be more helpful and it can lead to deep connections with a new baby.

Trying to be the perfect parent, trying to keep a spotless house, trying to maintain what life was before birth, trying to be "all that and a bag of chips" is going to wear you out!  All this applies to Dad too! Please stop it!

After birth, the focus should be on resting, recovering and feeding your baby. That's it! Please stop adding to that short list. Please stop trying to live up to expectations that don't reflect the fact that you just had a baby. Please focus on your baby and your recovery and ignore what doesn't contribute to those things.