Fourth Trimester
No, don’t panic, you haven’t got it all wrong - you are not going to be pregnant for another 12 weeks! The 4th Trimester refers to the period of time from birth to baby being 3 months old. The concept was developed by Harvey Karp, M.D, assistant professor of pediatrics at UCLA and author of The Happiest Baby on the Block. His theory of the 4th trimester helps us to understand the transition your newborn must make from the safety and sanctity of the womb to being out in the big wide world. The focus is predominantly on how to ease that transition for the new little one by re-creating conditions as close to what they were like womb-side as possible. By doing this, Karp’s research suggests that baby is calmer and more content, cries less, is less likely to develop colic and has less waking episodes, sounds wonderful doesn’t it? As part of your continued care with us, you will be taught the basics of how to implement this in to your ‘babymoon’ and beyond.
But it is not all about the baby for us here. We are still very much focussed on caring for you and making sure that you feel supported during own transition into to motherhood.
There are many, many heart exploding joys coming your way but as part of that rollercoaster ride, some bumpy tracks may join them.
What you and or your little one may be experiencing
Exhaustion, ‘after-pains’, breast feeding issues, sore nipples, mastitis, thrush of the nipple, oral thrush, colic, hormonal mood swings, hot sweats, concerns about bleeding post delivery, hair loss, healing vaginally or abdominally post c-section, cradle cap, baby ‘acne’, feeling overwhelmed, baby spending more time crying than not, nappy rash, feeling a sense of mourning over loss of ‘the bump’, worried about feeling like you are not bonding with your little one, worried about how your relationship with your partner has changed, wanting advice about nutrition and breast feeding, low milk supply, haemorrhoids, backache, shoulder ache, neck ache from labour and delivery and breast feeding, feeling guilty about not breastfeeding…
Recommended treatments
Nutrition and lifestyle advice, acupuncture, cranio-sacral therapy, homeopathy, chiropractic, medical herbalism, relexology.