Healthyvives Health Blog

The means of “safe motherhood” to creating circumstances within which a woman is enabled to choose whether she will become pregnant, and if she does, ensuring she receives care for prevention and treatment of pregnancy complications, has access to trained birth assistance, has access to emergency obstetric care if she needs it and care after birth, so that she can avoid death or disability from complications of pregnancy and child birth.

There are three stages of pregnancy. They are Antenatal, Intra-natal, and Postnatal.

Care for post natal stage

Post natal care of the woman starts after completion of third stage of labour and it includes the first six weeks after delivery. During this time the reproductive organs return to the non pregnant stage, lactation is established and the mother recovers from the stresses of pregnancy and delivery and assumes responsibility of caring the newborn. In this time each individual mother requires in order to recover from physical stress of labour and to grow her confidence to take care of her baby.

Each individual mother needs constant observation by you immediately after delivery for at least 1 hour for PPH even when she is fast asleep.

Mother needs to help to put her child to breast as early as possible, preferably within 30 minutes after delivery.

Mother needs to check by observing the vital signs, like pulse, BP, Temperature.

Mother needs to feel for uterine fundus after she empties her bladder. It is usually at the level of umbilicus soon after delivery. The uterus should be well contracted and hard in consistency.

Mother needs to check for the amount of vaginal bleeding.

In case of any injury like perineal laceration, immediately arrange for suturing.

Advise her to keep the perineal area clean by washing with warm water mixed with antiseptic lotion and put sterile pad.

Advise to her to sleep for at least 10 hours, 2 hours in the afternoon and 8 hours at night.

Baby is kept in a-cot with the mother. Mother can be woken up from sleep at night only for breast-feeding.

Mother is allowed to take full diet from the day of delivery. Additional daily 700 calories are required during postnatal period so long as she breast-feeds her baby.

If mother has constipation, give milk of magnesia or cremaffin 4-6 teaspoonful full at bed time.

Give and advise mother to clean the nipples and breasts with sterile water before and after feeding.

Teach her to practice some simple exercise such as deep breathing to tone up abdominal and pelvic floor muscles.

Mother should undergo two postnatal examinations first one at the time of discharge and the second on 6^th post partum week. During first check up check her general health, pulse, BP, temperature, breast engorgement, inverted, involution, inspect perineum and lochia, bladder and bowel functions.

During second check up check mother’s duration of lochia, onset of first menses, sleep, perineal wound, bladder, bowel function, breast feeding or bottle feeding, weight, BP, pulse, breast, abdomen, perineum and pelivic organs and estimate her hb.

Check up for infant weight, skin condition, jaundice, eyes, condition of umbilical cord, feeding, stool, urination,