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The sisters’ postpartum workshop on Friday, September 6, was a great success.

Three speakers have contributed to the panel. Sister Nilo Mea, birth and postpartum doula, Sister Ilham Malick, registered dietitian and Sister Amberene Khader, physical therapist.

Sister Nilo’s presentation on reviving the tradition of postpartum care has been filled with information that was new to many mothers. While our ancestors in many parts of the world had a rich culture of care for pregnancy, birth and postpartum, today, in the modern world, these practices have almost vanished. Women are often not living in proximity to their extended families and they are left to cope with the entrance into motherhood on their own. Through her work, Nilo is integrating many of the women`s afterbirth practices from different parts of the world. Examples of these are: massage, hot stone womb therapy, belly binding, womb steaming, herbal sitz baths as well as the ritual practice of closing the bones generally performed at 6 weeks after birth. Women might not think much of it and many tend to go back to life and be on their feet shortly after delivery but the truth is that the presence or absence of the mother’s postpartum care can greatly impact her health in the future. She needs support and she needs community.

Sister Ilham has thoroughly addressed the nutritional needs of a mother during pregnancy and during lactation. We have learned that the caloric intake of a breastfeeding mother should be higher than that of a pregnant woman, not only due to the nutrition needed for the breast milk itself but also for the process of making the milk by the mother’s body. Weight gain has been addressed and its importance during gestation and lactation and mothers were advised to look at the quality and nutritious value of the food they eat instead of looking at the scale. We were taught about the key postpartum nutrition supplements including the B vitamins. Ilham has said that taking time to nourish your body also helps protect you from experiencing postpartum depression. She has taught the women how carbohydrates are very important in converting tryptophan from protein rich foods into serotonin. Finally, she has given recipes of warm foods ideal for the afterbirth diet as well as foods that increase the milk supply.

Sister Amberene has addressed pelvic floor health in women which is of utmost importance during pregnancy and after delivery and especially after consequent deliveries. Incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse are widespread conditions in women due to weak pelvic floor muscles. After showing the anatomy of the pelvic floor and the functions of the pelvic floor muscles, Amberene has addressed the most common causes of pelvic problems after childbirth, these being: lack of tone of the abdominal wall, weakness of the pelvic floor or tears and diastasis recti or separation of the abdominal muscles. The women of the audience had the chance to observe live how to perform pelvic floor strengthening exercises. In conclusion, our physical therapist has advised mothers about the kind of questions to ask their provider at their 6 week check up and her personal advice was for every woman to get pelvic floor physical therapy after every childbirth.