Postpartum nutrients and chiropractic for healing

Incorporating nutrient-dense food into your diet following the birth of your baby, this will enhance your recovery and healing time. It is important to support your body as best you can, providing energy for yourself having enough nutrients for yourself and to make breast milk.

If you can create a support network postpartum  – everyone is in different situations, and life is not the same as it used to be with a physically supportive village. However, if there is an option of family and friends providing nourishing meals or a gift voucher for pre-made meals as a way to support you, this will create more time for rest and recovery, bonding and connecting.

Continue your prenatal multivitamin, this will support healing and preventing depletion. Take it daily while breastfeeding and up until 6 weeks post partum if you are not breastfeeding.

There are many valuable nutrients your body requires during this time.

Whole foods are always the goal to provide as many of the nutrients you need; however, sometimes supplementation is required and can improve your ability to heal and recover.

Focus on foods that:

• Support digestion, foods that take little effort for your body to break down.
• Warm/nourishing food and drink
• Are rich in nutrients to heal, energise and soothe your nervous system.
• Are balanced with carbohydrates to provide energy and will build milk supply.
• Protein which helps repair and rebuild tissues and muscles.
• Fats that help stabilise blood sugar, balance hormones and nourish breast milk.

If you have had a c-section, you can experience a loss in appetite due to the drugs administered for the surgery and painkillers and discomfort, take it easy and stay hydrated with warming bone broth/ soup to start.

A few simple meal ideas that cover nutrients like Vitamin A, C, B vitamins, iron and collagen for healing are:

• Shepard’s pie with organic mince and liver. Lightly boiled broccoli, and carrots.
• Chicken curry with warming anti-inflammatory spices such as turmeric, bone broth powder, sweet potato, pumpkin, carrot.
• Chicken and vegetable soup with bone broth powder
• Baked salmon with quinoa, soft-boiled eggs and sautéed spinach, sauerkraut or kimchi (to get probiotics)
• Organic steak cooked on a cast iron pan if possible with sweet potato, yams, and red capsicum.
• Dhal soup with bone broth powder
• Miso soup
• Seaweed soup

Focus on foods that support your hormones and nervous system as well as enhance healing.

Some foods to support serotonin levels and support your parasympathetic nervous system: (the above foods apply as well as below)

• Refined sugar-free brownies and coconut yoghurt
• Cacao hot chocolate
• Blueberries and dark chocolate
• Refined sugar-free banana bread with chia seeds cinnamon and almond butter
• Chamomile tea
• Nettle tea (high in iron and vitamin C)
• Raspberry leaf tea (to assist in your uterus reducing back to pre-pregnancy size)
• Rosehip tea
• Collagen powder (as a drink form) grass-fed is recommended and it increases tissue repair, helps tighten skin that was stretched, supports joints, contains protein for repair and stabilises blood sugar.
• Stay hydrated with filtered water, coconut water, herbal teas (as above)

From a chiropractic perspective:

It is essential to take it easy post-birth physically and mentally and if you can create space to acknowledge your pregnancy and birth journey, what you have done, no matter how it worked out, you have done amazingly.

There has been ongoing changes through your joints and organs as the baby has grown and then through the birth of your baby, the stress and tension through your body increases.

Time and breath work are required to allow your organs to reposition, with each breath is like a mini massage on your organs which they would highly appreciate after your baby and uterus has been pushing on them throughout the pregnancy. Taking moments to redirect any shallow breathing will heal your entire body.

When you take a deep breath in your diaphragm contracts down and this stimulates the vagus nerve which sends a message back to your brain telling you to relax.

A simple exercise to do throughout the day and night, at any time you can while resting is to take a breath in through your nose for 4 seconds and out through your nose for 6 seconds.

Your baby synchronises with your nervous system and when you can have these pockets of time to reset they relax as well.

Massage is very healing and until you feel ready to leave home and get a treatment (if that is a possibility) it can be from your partner or family early on. Massage is effective in relaxing your nervous system and increases blood flow, to heal from the birth.

A chiropractic treatment will help by:

• Addressing any aches and pains following your pregnancy and the birth of your baby.
• Assessing posture and patterns such as changes in your pelvis which will create stability and strength through adjustments.
• Look at the chains and connections in the fascia and pelvic floor such as the deep front line. This is a group of muscles and fascia in your body that connects from the upper parts of your jaw through your diaphragm, abdomen, and pelvis down to the soles of your feet.
• Treat areas of tension and pressure, and assess abdominal muscles for separation.
• Support your nervous system through adjustments and soft tissue releases which will help your body to avoid depletion.

This is an approach to prevent issues later on, prevention is important and also addressing any specific concerns to make sure you are fully supported.

If you want to find out more information, we have a postpartum healing guide for sale. Click here to buy it, or contact us for more information.