Have you recently given birth and are looking for support during this postpartum season? Many women in our practice seek support during this season, but there are fewer resources available. You can find many resources preparing for you to get pregnant and what to do during your pregnancy, but there isn’t much information afterward. At Infinite Wellness, we speak about the postpartum season as if you were running a marathon. It’s depleting, and many moms seek extra nourishment, whether they are doing it for the first time or not. We understand that it can be challenging to provide yourself with nourishment as you are navigating the depths of motherhood, but within this blog, we want to provide you with the strategies that you can take to prepare for your postpartum season.
What is the 4th Trimester?
We define the fourth trimester as the first 12 weeks following the delivery of your baby. This period is vital for both mother and baby. During that period, hormonal fluctuations, sleep challenges, stress, healing, inflammation, and nutrient deficiencies occur.
In this blog, we will discuss the importance of preparing your body for the 4th trimester; if you are just now reading this as you are just about to give birth, things that you can do to replenish yourself in this season that you can show up better for your newborn in a stress-free way!
A Dive Into the Hormonal Fluctuations During Pregnancy
Many hormonal fluctuations occur when becoming pregnant to keep the baby safe and growing happily. When conception is successful, an increase in progesterone and estrogen occurs. Progesterone is the hormone known to help with a baby’s growth and is often depleted. Following the delivery of your baby, there is a sharp decline in your hormones, which can often cause many women to feel tired, emotional, and “off.” However, having a strong foundation of baseline nutrients can help ensure you are better equipped to handle the rise and fall of your hormones.
We’ll talk about what a strong foundation looks like later, but let’s walk through this sharp decline so that you can acknowledge the work that your body goes through just after delivery. Estrogen levels are significantly elevated during pregnancy to support the baby’s growth. After birth, a sharp decline impacts gut motility by slowing down food through your intestines. Progesterone levels also experience a similar rise and fall after delivery. After birth, as progesterone decreases, gut motility may become more erratic, leading to diarrhea or constipation. Both estrogen and progesterone alter the composition of the gut microbiota, which can lead to imbalances such as dysbiosis.
The Gut Hormone Connection
Now that you understand the picture of postpartum, you might begin to understand why, at Infinite Wellness, we like to ensure that soon-to-be moms are prepared for the 4th trimester season. Not only is this a season that can be exhausting, but it is also a season in which you are likely heavily depleted. You read earlier about the shift that your hormones take following the birth of your baby; now, we want to help you connect it with why this is important. When you think about your hormones at the most foundational level, they signal pathways to your body to perform certain actions. Now, these actions will only be able to happen with the optimal levels of co-factors to ensure that their signal is strong. Here are some of the important nutrients that are depleted in the post-partum season:
- Magnesium
- Potassium
- Protein
- Omega 3
- B Vitamins
- Zinc
- Copper
- Vitamin C
It is important to note the connection between hormones and the microbiome. The microbiome is where many of our nutrients get converted, absorbed, and sent up to build the foundation of our hormones. If imbalances within the microbiome arise, it is incredibly challenging for hormones to be metabolized or for nutrients to be created to build our hormones. You might be thinking, if I can just consume all of these foods, I’ll be fine, right? While that is not entirely wrong, if you never address the root of the concern, you might be unable to process and absorb all these amazing nutrients. This is the one piece often overlooked in our conventional way of thinking. It’s never just one thing that we can use as a cure-all; it’s a combination of different modalities that remove old toxicities and rebalances in the body to help us sleep, have less inflammation, have more energy, and allow us to be our best selves.
In preparing for the fourth trimester, it is important to examine your microbiome because it sets you up for foundational success and is also where many of the nutrients are being given to the baby.
What Your Next Step Should Be
It’s easy to understand that after your postpartum experience, you might be feeling more tired than normal, but remember that you always know your body better than anyone else does. That is why it is important to test and not guess. Are you looking to use a supplement? Test. Are you looking for a quick fix to feel better? Test.
A simple at-home urine-based test can provide the information you need to learn how to feel more energized, have less inflammation, overcome deeply rooted stress, and replace critical nutrient deficiencies. From there, you will have an individualized protocol that will help you continue to thrive in the sweet newborn months.
For more information about the simple urine-based test, please schedule a free consultation with one of our practitioners so they can answer any questions you have! Congratulations on this new and special chapter of your life—we are so excited for you!
