Your immediate postpartum period is a time of profound physical healing, hormonal recalibration, and bonding with your baby. This guide outlines what to expect in the first hours, days, and weeks after birth—along with practical instructions for rest, comfort measures, breastfeeding, bleeding patterns, herbal support, and when to call your midwife.
It’s designed to help you protect your energy, set healthy boundaries with visitors, tune into your postpartum body, and recover gently and confidently.
Download the full Postpartum Instruction PDF for complete details, day-to-day care tips, warning signs, and our recommended comfort measures and herbal supports.
Postpartum Support Virginia is a statewide organization dedicated to helping birthing people and families understand, recognize, and recover from perinatal mood and anxiety disorders (PMADs), including anxiety, depression, and related challenges that can arise during pregnancy and throughout the first year after birth.
Their work centers on education, screening, and connection to compassionate, evidence-based support, with the goal that no family in Virginia navigates these experiences alone. This resource is especially valuable for parents who want to better understand emotional changes around birth, know when and how to seek help, or support a loved one through the postpartum period.
Explore their work here:
A Guide to Perinatal Mood Changes
Postpartum depression—and depression during pregnancy—is more common than most families realize, and it can affect anyone, regardless of how much they love their baby. This overview explains what depression is, how it differs from the “baby blues,” what contributes to it, and the signs to watch for in yourself or a loved one. It also includes the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale for self-screening and offers guidance on when to seek support.
This resource is here to remind you: you’re not alone, you’re not failing, and help is available.
Download the full Postpartum Depression PDF for detailed symptoms, risk factors, treatment options, and practical steps you can take if you’re struggling.
Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS)
Self-assessment for new parents
The EPDS is a widely used screening tool designed to help identify signs of postnatal depression. It asks parents to reflect on how they have felt over the past seven days, not just today. Each question has multiple-choice answers, and your responses are scored to give an indication of your emotional well-being during the postpartum period.
Note: This scale is a screening tool, not a diagnostic test. If you score in the concerning range or have any worries about your mental health, please reach out to a healthcare professional.
Newborn Instructions
This guide walks you through the essentials of newborn care—from normal breathing patterns and feeding rhythms to diapering, cord care, skin changes, sleep, emotional needs, and when to call your baby’s doctor. It’s a practical, reassuring overview designed to help you understand what’s normal, what’s not, and how to support your baby’s adjustment to life outside the womb.
You’ll also find guidance on breastfeeding, soothing, day/night reversal, growth spurts, burping, spitting up, bathing, and the early hormonal changes all babies experience.
Download the Newborn Instructions PDF here.
Breast-Feeding vs Other Feeding Methods May Not Affect Maternal Sleep
Montgomery-Downs et al., Pediatrics
This study directly challenges the persistent claim that formula feeding improves maternal sleep. Using both objective sleep measurements and maternal self-reports during the early postpartum period, researchers found no meaningful differences in sleep duration, efficiency, fragmentation, fatigue, or daytime functioning between breastfeeding, formula-feeding, or mixed-feeding mothers.
The findings undermine one of the most common justifications given for discouraging breastfeeding and reinforce that perceived sleep “advantages” of formula feeding are not supported by evidence.
Postpartum: The Transition into Motherhood
By Kate Bowland, with contributions from Tasha Wooley and Laurie Dodge
Welcoming a new baby is exhilarating—but it can also feel overwhelming. In this heartfelt guide, Kate Bowland walks through the whirlwind of physical, emotional, social, and spiritual changes that come in the weeks and months after birth. From the fatigue and body aches to the emotional highs and lows, this piece reassures new parents that their experiences are normal, valid, and shared by many. It’s filled with practical tips for caring for yourself, nurturing relationships, and embracing the deep transformation of becoming a mother.
Postpartum Instructions
Bringing your baby home is the beginning of an incredible, exhausting, and transformative journey. These instructions are a loving guide to help you and your support team care for yourself in the first days and weeks after birth. From managing rest, visitors, and nutrition, to tips for breastfeeding, perineal care, and gentle activity, this guide is packed with practical advice and reassurance. It emphasizes the importance of pacing yourself, seeking help, and nurturing both your body and your new baby.
Placenta Encapsulation – Supporting Your Postpartum Journey
Your placenta is more than just part of your pregnancy. It’s a natural source of hormones and nutrients that can help your body recover after birth. Placenta encapsulation is a simple process that transforms your placenta into capsules you can take at home, potentially helping to:
Balance hormones
Boost energy
Support milk production
Reduce postpartum bleeding
Promote emotional well-being
This page also includes research and information to help you decide whether placenta encapsulation is right for you. This service can be done within the first week after birth, making it a convenient and personalized way to support your postpartum health.
Mother’s Helper – Organizing Your Postpartum Support
The days and weeks after birth are some of the richest and most tender moments of your life. But they can also be exhausting—physically, emotionally, and practically. That’s where a Mother’s Helper comes in: a trusted person (often a family member or close friend) who organizes and coordinates support for you and your new family.
A Mother’s Helper makes it easy for friends and relatives to pitch in without overwhelming you, ensuring you have help with meals, chores, and errands while protecting your time and energy to bond with your baby. This section includes guidance and practical tools for creating a personalized support plan so your loved ones can contribute meaningfully—without guesswork.
Breastfeeding — Best For Baby. Best For Mom.
National Women’s Health Information Center / U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Office on Women’s Health
This comprehensive resource explains why breastfeeding is beneficial for both baby and mother, shares practical tips for success, and connects families with support services like the National Breastfeeding Helpline. It also highlights national campaigns, community programs, and research-backed strategies to help parents navigate challenges and establish healthy feeding practices.