Emotional Support During The Maternity Period
The 40 days after birth are also referred to as the postnatal period or maternity period. It is a phase in which adapting to a physically and mentally new world is central. How do we experience emotional support during the maternity period these days?
And although we do things differently today, in many traditional cultures women take care of their children together. A mother was cared for by the women during the maternity period. The men took care of finding food.
But our social environment looks very different today. Many of us live far away from family and therefore cannot support us. As a result, it is currently often difficult for young parents to get help.
Even if today’s society does not support the social network, this does not mean that we do not need it. In fact, women need help during the postpartum period to cope with the physical and emotional discomfort of childbirth.
A happy family has emotional support during the maternity period
We need to be aware that we need to recover after birth and rebuild our social, biological and psychological connections. The first period of a young family is often accompanied by absolute chaos, in which it sometimes becomes too much.
In the postpartum period, a new mother is dismayed by every new sensation. She doesn’t always feel happy and she isn’t always eager to breastfeed at 5 o’clock in the morning.
More than ever, for this reason, the mother can use emotional support during the maternity period. From time to time she needs to step out of the rational world of feeding schedules, obligations, and logical decisions. She also needs time to be able to dream and to leave the material world for what it is.
This is one of the feelings that new moms sometimes miss the most. It is without a doubt the hardest sacrifice in the process of rediscovering ourselves as mothers, our children and the world around us.
Loss of identity during the maternity period
Meeting our new identity as a mother of a baby means leaving behind the world we knew the rules of.
This means that we have to accept our own confusion. The work, friendships and interests that once filled our days fade into old memories. They are drowned out by the sound of the baby’s cry.
All this internal turmoil can give rise to a kind of grief. Ultimately, we come to believe that we will never again be that fine, active, charming, intelligent and devoted woman that we had grown to be for so long.
This happens because we lose sight of our frame of reference. This is in addition to the physical and emotional trauma we are already going through. We are cut off from our work or study place, our hobbies and all the places we liked to go.
In its place has come a routine that completely occupies us. We feel like we missed the boat. And that we can never go back to the world we knew.
During the maternity period and the period after that, we become people with only one goal in mind. being a mother. We see the world through our baby’s eyes. Sometimes we no longer recognize ourselves in the mirror.
In fact, motherhood makes us extremely emotional and sensitive. Our brain feels woolly and we are overwhelmed by confusing feelings. When we understand this, we realize that affection and emotional support during the maternity period is not a luxury. It’s a priority.
With this in mind, we should invite people. People who understand us. People who are willing and able to give us emotional support during the maternity period. This gives us time to discover ourselves and others.
