Paola Marquez | May 2022

Paola Marquez is a paid partner. All opinions and text are her own.

 

Being a new mom is amazing but wow oh wow is it hard to wrap your head around the months/years of sharing your body. Between pregnancy, breastfeeding, and now taking care of the little ones it’s safe to say there’s a little someone else in my brain 24/7!

 

Being a mom is so rewarding and doing everything to make that little babe happy is my biggest goal but it’s a priority for me to maintain my own mental and physical health.

 

Motherhood can be emotionally exhausting and that experience may even begin with trying to conceive. The prep a body needs to even consider housing a baby is way more than I ever expected. Then of course there’s pregnancy and the postpartum experience, all a journey in themselves!

I’m 11 months into my postpartum journey and I’d be lying if I said I was prepared. Mentally and physically I’ve had to increase how I am resourcing myself so that I can stay healthy and happy for my baby.

 

I want to say again, this doesn’t always come easy and if you’re feeling burnt out as a mother I invite you to introduce one or more of these tips to take care of yourself. It’s okay if some of them feel like a hard no. Choose what works for you now and what will actually be supportive for your unique experience!

Postnatal Nourishing Care For Your Motherhood Journey

Before and during pregnancy it was easier to make sure my mental and physical health were managed and in a good routine. Now with a baby, there is very little consistent routine but I do have steps in place to make sure I am taken care of whenever I get a couple of minutes! Here are 6 different ways to show yourself support during this postnatal chapter:

1. Movement

Moving my body has been a big part of my life since way before trying to conceive so it was easier to keep up while pregnant and kept my body feeling pretty good during pregnancy.

Now postnatal, the 6 weeks of not being able to workout were a bit tough mentally but physically I knew my body wasn’t ready. Now I feel it’s important for me to prioritize around it and the mental aspect of it has been so good.

Body movement helps keep our body limber, and mentally supports the new journey. Exercise is a great way to be in touch with your body and exploring that postpartum can be overwhelming, the body has changed a lot!

Move with it, ask yourself what kind of movement you want, and listen closely so there are no injuries. This is part of practicing your love for this new powerful body!

2. Supplement

MegaFood vitamins have been my right-hand girl for my whole pregnancy journey - with so many great options for all stages of life.

I started taking Baby & Me 2 Prenatal Multi when we were trying to conceive and throughout my pregnancy. It was the perfect support for my body, it contains folate, choline, iron, B12, and much more.

Right after giving birth and during breastfeeding, I switched over to Baby & Me 2 Postnatal Multi, this specific postnatal formula supports news moms and may help support milk production with moringa leaf, plus choline to support healthy brain development in baby.* I always kept this one beside my feeding chair to take in the mornings.

Now I have switched to the Women’s Multi. With this new busy life, being able to take one multivitamin versus a bunch of different pills to remember makes it easy!

3. Self-Love

Speak kindly to yourself Mama, you are doing the best you can. Whether you put affirmations on the mirror and around the house or allow yourself to have a good emotional let-it-out cry, it is all part of self-love.

If you feel like you need a little boost, there are great guided meditations out there you can listen to, to help you through a hard patch and keep you going.

If you feel like meditation is not supportive enough, reach out to your partner, family, friends or even your doctor. This is an immensely challenging chapter, there is no shame in reaching out for help.

Remember you are amazing and powerful, truly!

4. Self-Care

Very different from self-love, this is time carved out to take care of you. It is not all bubble baths and face masks but maybe just “the shower” (you know the shower where you shave and exfoliate AND wash your hair) yeah, one of those!

I understand free time is way different than before having a baby but you won’t regret making intentional time to do things that fill your cup back up.

This is an important conversation to have with your partner, ideally before the baby comes so you don’t have to try and vouch for yourself while supporting another human.

My favorite things are working out alone, showering, and eating a full meal uninterrupted. See the trend, alone time - your time! ;)

5. Meditation

Meditating has helped so much with my mental health and has felt easy to incorporate during breastfeeding or rocking to sleep.

I always have a pair of headphones nearby or a Bluetooth speaker that I could connect to and listen to whenever I needed a rest. I never searched for it but I am sure it exists and am kind of kicking myself now, looking for mom and baby meditations would be a really good idea.

Memories start to form immediately for your baby, whether they will remember them or not so keeping them grounded while they learn and grow is very important as well.

Babies can sense the state of our nervous systems so the more truly peaceful and grounded we can be the more calm baby will be.

+++

 

The postpartum journey is a unique roller coaster for every Mom but what we have in common is we need to be mentally, emotionally, and physically supported in order to be there for our family in the way that we want to.

 

MegaFood helps support my nutritional needs, meditation calms my mind, movement nourishes my body, and self-care and self-love take care of my soul.

 

Take it one day at a time and know that if your baby is fed and changed, you are doing wonderful. You are enough!

 

*These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.