Ask Lynn: How soon can we work with postpartum mamas?

Thank you to everyone who has reached out with questions. I encourage you to ask away as I want to make sure any content I share is clear, so you feel confident using it in your practice. Today, I will be answering the following question I received about the Open Birthing Pattern:

“How soon can we work with postpartum mamas using the postpartum techniques you teach in your courses? I know obviously we want to hold off on the internal work until cleared by the OB around 6 weeks, but what about the external work?”

In my courses, I teach a lot about mobilizing the pelvic bones after birth, working with the pelvic organs both externally and internally, working with the thoracic and abdominal tissues, and also teaching an intravaginal protocol to help get the pelvic floor muscles working better after birth.

A question I often get from students is when is it safe to do all of this work? What can be done when?

Let’s think about the state of the postpartum body right after birth. The uterus is still large and working on involuting to its original size. The pelvic bones and pelvic and abdominal muscles have just been stretched to the brink. What would be helpful at this time?

Immediately after the baby is born, the pelvic bones can be mobilized to help them find their original position. I’ve worked on someone on day 2 postpartum and helped them to be able to walk better without pain. I’ve taught midwives who have done pelvic mobilizations right after birth on day 1, and they found that the bones stayed corrected in their 2-week follow-up visit.

I feel doing the closing of the pelvic bone exercises right after birth could benefit everyone, as long as it doesn’t create pain. Imagine the amount of pain, discomfort, and pelvic floor muscle dysfunctions that might be prevented.

Since the uterus is still involuting down, I feel it could use some gentle TLC and energetic work to help it shrink down, but I would avoid doing any ligamentous releases unless called for with the client’s complaints of pain.

I would love to help the labor nurses learn how to respectfully “massage” the uterus to help it contract without having to push so hard on their patients. I feel it could be done with loving hands placed gently on the front of the uterus and the sacrum posteriorly, allowing the uterus to be embraced and held. That could help the uterus contract back down, which would be a wonderful change in postpartum care.

Any work in the thoracic region can be done right away, too. There is nothing in the way of working in this area right after birth.

Internal work should be avoided until the uterus stops bleeding. We can approach any pelvic floor muscle issue externally if it is needed.

I hope this helps you plan your care to support your client’s recovery after birth.

If you want to learn techniques to support postpartum recovery, please check out the Holistic Treatment of the Postpartum Body course taught Online and Live In-Person or for a good starting point, take the Treating the Postpartum Pelvis course.

Have a Question for Lynn?

Please reach out if you have any questions regarding the material you are learning. I am here to help support your learning journey. You can leave a question in the comments section below or post a question in our groups on Facebook or Instagram.

 

About the Author: Lynn Schulte is a Pelvic Health Therapist and the founder of the Institute for Birth Healing, a pelvic health continuing education organization that specializes in prenatal and postpartum care. For more information, go to https://instituteforbirthhealing.com