How to Prepare for Postpartum: Essential Tips for a Smooth Transition
When you’re pregnant, getting everything ready for the baby is top of mind. But, learning how to prepare for a postpartum that nourishes you is just as important.
This postpartum period (also known as the “fourth trimester”) is a time of significant changes and adjustments as a woman.
The endurance activity of giving birth, the massive hormonal shifts, the figuring out how to care for a brand new human, and the re-learning of your new body and life as you transition into motherhood.
The postpartum transition can be a difficult one to navigate. But with the right preparation, support, mindset, and nourishment you can ease your transition into this phase and make the fourth trimester one that truly nourishes your mind, body, and spirit.
In this blog post, I am outlining what I did to prepare for my first postpartum experience so that I could be fully present for my new family after birth.
Why You Should Plan to Prepare for Postpartum
Many moms describe postpartum as a time filled with challenges like high anxiety, sleep deprivation, and hormonal shifts. However, there’s a lot you can do to prevent or reduce these symptoms. Here are the core elements that make a big difference in managing postpartum health:
Replenishing Nutrients: During pregnancy and breastfeeding, moms give up many nutrients to support their baby’s growth. Replenishing these is crucial for energy, mood, and overall healing.
Supporting Hormone Balance: Postpartum includes a major hormonal drop, which can affect mood and emotional health. Nutritional support can help keep these levels more stable. Working with a team of practitioners (like us!) can help to pinpoint your specific nutrient needs so that you can minimize any postpartum hormonal symptoms.
Building a Support Network: Having help from family, friends, or even postpartum doulas can make a huge difference in managing daily tasks and reducing stress.
Key Steps to Prevent Postpartum Symptoms
While the postpartum phase can bring unique challenges, some simple steps can make it more manageable. Below are my main recommendations for how to prepare for a postpartum period without symptoms:
Continue Prenatal Supplements: Keep taking the prenatal nutrients you used during pregnancy for at least six months postpartum, especially if you’re breastfeeding. This ensures your body has enough of essentials like choline, folate, vitamin A, magnesium, and iodine.
Prioritize Blood Sugar Balance:
Aim to include carbs, protein, and fats in each meal and snack.
Eat every 2-4 hours to maintain steady energy levels and avoid added stress on your body.
Avoid focusing on weight loss in these early weeks; instead, emphasize nourishment and healing.
Stock Up on Freezer Meals: Make meal preparation easy by preparing and freezing meals before baby arrives. You can also set up a meal train with friends and family for additional support. This way, you’ll have nutritious, homemade meals on hand without the hassle. The First Forty Days is a great resource!
Include Plenty of Minerals: Pregnancy can drain your mineral stores, with each pregnancy depleting roughly 10% or more of your total mineral supply. To replenish these, add the following to your daily routine:
Broths for minerals and hydration
Fruits and root veggies for energy and fiber
Grass-fed liver and adrenal cocktails for mineral support
Magnesium and raw milk (if tolerated)
Focus on Protein: Aim for about 1 gram of protein per pound of body weight to support healing.
Sources: Broths, grass-fed meat, organic poultry, eggs, and seafood
Supplements: Collagen or bone broth protein powders
Add Nutrient-Rich Herbs:
Red raspberry leaf tea – packed with vitamin C and minerals
Stinging nettle tea or infusions – an excellent mineral-rich option
Arrange Postpartum Support: Whether it’s family, friends, or a postpartum doula, make sure you have support lined up. Simple help with household tasks or even 30 minutes of baby-watching so you can nap or shower can make a world of difference.
How I Prepared for Postpartum
Here are some of the specific steps I took to prepare for a successful postpartum period:
Mineral Testing: I repeated a Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis (HTMA) close to my due date to get an updated picture of my mineral status. This allows me to create a targeted plan for replenishing minerals postpartum.
Freezer Meal Prep: To simplify meals during the early postpartum period, I prepared a variety of nutrient-dense meals. These meals focused on warm, slow-cooked recipes with bone broth and healing spices like ginger. Here are some of my favorites:
By making 2-3 recipes each week while cooking other meals, I was able to build a nice stash of meals for those busy, exhausting early postpartum days.
A Final Thought on How to Prepare for Postpartum
Preparing for postpartum is just as essential as preparing for the baby’s arrival. This transition is about nourishing your body, building a support network, and reducing stressors to set yourself up for the smoothest possible recovery.
Get started crafting your postpartum game plan as soon as possible. Prep freezer meals, get mentally prepared for labor, and spend time nourishing and caring for your body as it prepares to go through one of the most transformative experiences any human can experience.
If you want some support from my team and me as you prepare for pregnancy and/or postpartum, we would be honored to support you through this transition! To apply to work with my team and me, just fill out this application and we’ll be in touch soon.