1. Start the pelvic floor early, gently
Unless your doctor says otherwise, gentle pelvic floor activation can begin within a few days of a vaginal birth and after catheter removal following a caesarean. Lie or sit comfortably, draw up as if stopping the flow of urine, hold for three seconds, release fully. Three sets of ten a day. Full release matters as much as the lift.
This is the single highest-return thing you can do, and it is the most commonly skipped. If you are leaking urine, feel heaviness or bulging, or have pain with intercourse at three months, ask for a referral to a women's health physiotherapist — these are treatable, not permanent.
2. Eat and drink for repair, not for weight loss
You need more nutrition now than in pregnancy, particularly if you are breastfeeding — roughly 500 extra calories a day. Prioritise protein at every meal for tissue repair, iron to replace blood loss, calcium for milk production, and fibre plus three litres of fluid a day to prevent the constipation that makes stitches and haemorrhoids miserable.
Traditional postpartum foods — panjiri, gond ke laddu, methi, ajwain water, ghee, dill, garlic — are nutrient-dense and worth keeping. Continue iron and calcium supplements for at least three months, and vitamin D. This is not the time for any restrictive diet.
3. Protect sleep, in fragments
You will not get eight unbroken hours. Aim instead for one four-hour block, which is roughly what the body needs for restorative sleep, by having someone else handle one feed with expressed milk or take the baby for a stretch in the early evening. Sleep when the baby sleeps during the day, genuinely — not while folding laundry. Sleep deprivation is a major driver of postpartum depression, so treat it as a health measure rather than a luxury.
4. Move gradually, in the right order
- Week 1 to 2: short slow walks indoors, pelvic floor activation, gentle breathing with rib expansion.
- Week 2 to 6: longer walks, posture work, gentle core connection — never crunches or full planks.
- After your six-week check and clearance: begin structured postnatal exercise, ideally a programme that screens for abdominal separation and pelvic floor function first.
- After a caesarean: nothing heavier than the baby for six weeks, no driving until you can brake sharply without pain, and support the incision when coughing or laughing.
Do not run, jump or lift heavy until pelvic floor function is confirmed. Doing so is the usual route to long-term leaking.
5. Treat your mental health as a priority, not an indulgence
Baby blues — tearfulness and mood swings in the first two weeks — affect most mothers and settle on their own. Postpartum depression is different: it persists beyond two weeks, and involves persistent low mood, loss of interest, hopelessness, excessive guilt, inability to sleep even when the baby sleeps, or intrusive frightening thoughts. It affects roughly one in seven mothers and is highly treatable.
Tell someone. Tell your partner, your doctor, or your class educator. Ask a family member to check in on you specifically, and use a screening questionnaire at your six-week visit. Seeking help early is the shortest route through it.
Seek urgent care for
- Soaking a pad in an hour, or passing clots larger than a lemon.
- Fever above 38°C, or foul-smelling discharge.
- Severe headache with visual changes, or swelling — pre-eclampsia can occur after delivery.
- Calf pain, swelling or redness; chest pain or breathlessness.
- A red, hot, painful breast with fever.
- Incision redness, discharge or opening.
- Any thought of harming yourself or the baby. Call for help immediately.