11. The Often Overlooked Needs During Postpartum

In this soul-centered episode of Nourished with Dr. Anikó, Dr. Anikó returns to the the topic of postpartum health offering a heartfelt guide to understanding what the postpartum period truly is and what birthing parents need to recover, transform, and thrive.

Drawing from ancient traditions, modern pediatric insights, and her own personal and professional experience Dr. Anikó unpacks the powerful wisdom behind the fourth trimester and the often-overlooked first 40 days after birth. She explores the universal needs of new mothers, from nourishment and warmth to companionship and connection with nature.

Tune in to learn:

• What the postpartum period really means beyond the medical definition
• Why the first 40 days are sacred across cultures—and essential for lifelong wellness
• The five universal needs all birthing parents share
• How ancient practices like Ayurvedic and Chinese medicine align with modern healing
• What support systems actually help new moms feel held, whole, and honored

Episode Highlights:

• 01:00 – Defining “postpartum,” “peripartum,” and why the fourth trimester matters
• 04:15 – Dr. Harvey Karp’s theory: Why newborns still act like they’re in the womb
• 06:30 – The critical importance of skin-to-skin, oxytocin, and maternal recovery
• 08:30 – Global traditions: The sacred first 40 days of postpartum care
• 10:45 – The 5 universal postpartum needs every birthing parent deserves

Whether you're preparing for birth, supporting a loved one, or simply seeking to shift how our culture views postpartum care, this episode will deepen your understanding and inspire meaningful change.

Mentioned in the episode:

• The Fourth Trimester by Kimberly Ann Johnson
• Dr. Harvey Karp’s “Happiest Baby on the Block”
• Postpartum traditions in Ayurveda, Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Latin America

Connect with Dr. Anikó:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.aniko/

Website: https://www.draniko.com/

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Disclaimer:
The content of this podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only and does not constitute medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. The views expressed are those of the host and guests and do not substitute for professional medical advice. Always seek the guidance of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding your health or a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay seeking it because of something you heard on this podcast.

Transcript

Dr. Anikó: [00:00:00] Hello. Hello y'all. Welcome back to Nourished with Dr. Aniko. I thought in this episode I would talk some more about the postpartum period. In a previous episode, I shared my experience in the postpartum period and really what led me to start working professionally in the area of postpartum support for new moms and new parents, but specifically new birthing parents, but really for [00:01:00] the whole family too.

But today I thought we could talk a little bit about. Just kind of like the intro to postpartum. What is the postpartum period? What kind of support do we all need in the postpartum period? And hopefully this'll be a great little springboard for us, get on the same page about things and also to set the groundwork for some future conversations about the postpartum period is such a transformative time of life where.

 Such sacred growth can happen, and so many of us have become so disconnected from that truth. And from the support necessary for it to be a transformative experience. So first things first, let's start with some definitions. So postpartum literally just means after birth, postpartum post means after partum means birth.[00:02:00] 

And then sometimes people also use the term peripartum, which means around, so around the time of birth. So peripartum. Sort of that last bit of pregnancy, and then right after you have the baby and then postpartum is after you have the baby. And many of y'all probably have heard of the term, the fourth trimester.

It's become more and more commonly used, which I love because it used to be pretty niche. Not a lot of people knew what the fourth trimester was, So the fourth trimester is basically like an additional trimester of pregnancy, and I'll explain why in a second.

So y'all probably know that pregnancy is divided into three trimesters. So three, three month periods. That makes up the nine month period that. An average pregnancy lasts, right, or ideally a pregnancy is supposed to last. The term fourth trimester was coined by a pediatrician named Harvey Karp. [00:03:00] Dr. Harvey Karp is a pediatrician and he specializes in developmental pediatrics as well, so childhood development, and he also authored a book back in the early two thousands called Happiest Baby on the Block.

So you may have heard of them already. And he noticed, or at least put into words very well and coined a term for it, that babies in the first three months of life, so that's from birth until the age of three months really behave more as if they are still in the womb. Then older babies do. And if you've seen a newborn, right?

We call it the newborn scrunch, where they're all in that like fetal position, but they're really wanting to be on you. They wanna be scrunched up. They want warmth, they want near constant nourishment, which can be tough obviously, but they're really kind of still behaving as if they were still in the womb.

And so that's where he started thinking about that term, the fourth trimester, and basically [00:04:00] theorized that human babies compared to other mammals are born just to touch too early. Like they really need that in utero experience or that womb experience. For their first three months of life, rather than being born and kind of ready to go into action, ready to disconnect, newborn babies need that consistent skin to skin, that fetal position, that holding that cocooning.

Right, and this was great because it helped pediatricians and parents alike and families alike really start to understand what their babies needed and what was really good for their babies. What sometimes gets lost is that moms or birthing parents need the exact same thing, so the exact same thing.

That loving touch, that nourishment, that warmth, that rest period.

So all those things that baby needs mom needs as well, right? Because when we [00:05:00] talk about how important skin to skin is for baby, it helps with their temperature regulation, it helps with their immune system, it helps with their nervous system, it helps moms nervous system too. It helps moms immune system too.

And in fact, when we talk about oxytocin, which a lot of people have heard about, because it's like the love hormone, the cuddle hormone, it's released with skin to skin. It's also released with breastfeeding and a few other things as well, but it's really well known for being released. During skin to skin contact, oxytocin is so important for mother's wellbeing and recovery.

It helps resilience and coping with stress. Can you imagine a better time to have a hormone that helps you cope with stress and helps you be more resilient than right after you have a baby? So. I really like to [00:06:00] remind people or even maybe inform people because not everybody knows how important this fourth trimester experience is for mom, for birthing parent, right?

Because when we think about that cocooning, that womb experience, that's what mom needs too. And within the fourth trimester. There is an even shorter time window called the first 40 days. It's not always called that, but it tends to be the first 40 days after giving birth. And you see it cross-culturally, so you see it in China, you see it in India.

It's sometimes called the Sacred Window or the Golden Window. And in Latin America it's often called Laina, which literally means the 40, and it is the origin of our word quarantine, which means the 40, right? It comes from 40 days. And like I said, you see this all over the world, which I find. Really wonderfully cool because [00:07:00] it means that in all these different cultures, people realize that these first 40 days were really important for mom's health and for baby's health, 

In ancient medicinal traditions, like in Ayurveda or traditional Chinese medicine, there are foods that you're supposed to eat and ones you're not supposed to eat During this sacred window. During these first 40 days, there are things you're supposed to do and not supposed to do. For example, you're not supposed to do housework.

You're not really supposed to wash your hair in Chinese medicine, which makes sense because when you think about it, back in the day when Chinese medicine was. Evolving. There were no heaters. So if you washed your hair it would be wet. And there's parts of China that are very cold, so you would lose a lot of heat.

And one of the things that both Ayurveda and Chinese medicine have in common is that a lot of the practices are around keeping the mother warm. Right? [00:08:00] Um, and I'll go into the universal postpartum needs in a second, but. There's all these practices in different cultures from belly binding to different massages, to different oils, to different foods you're supposed to eat.

And in Chinese medicine and in Ayurveda, the idea is that if you take really good care of yourself in the postpartum period, or rather, let me correct myself, If you are well taken care of in the postpartum period, right, because the idea is you are not taking care of yourself.

You are being taken care of, right? If you are well taken care of in the postpartum period, that sets you up for a life of radiant health. On the other hand, in Chinese medicine and in Ayurveda, the idea is if you are not well taken care of during these first 40 days, or during this fourth trimester, or just in postpartum in general, [00:09:00] it sets you up for a life of disease, disease and poor health.

So these cultures really knew how important it was, right? According to Ayurveda and Chinese medicine, traditional Chinese medicine. How you are taken care of in the postpartum period determines your health for the rest of your life, right? So it is really important, and I hope that we as a culture in the western world are starting to awaken to the sacredness and the importance of how we take care of mothers and birthing parents in this very, very vulnerable time of life.

another cool thing that I think is neat is, um, is that even in Western medicine, this 40 day time period is reflected in that. That is typically when you have your first ob gyn or midwife appointment postpartum, that's changing because you really do need to be seen before six weeks out.

But when you think of the six week [00:10:00] appointment, that's what. About 40 days. Right. So that's pretty cool. So the five universal postpartum needs can be found in Kimberly Ann Johnson's wonderful book, the Fourth Trimester. I encourage anyone who is preparing to have a baby or who has a loved one in their life, who is preparing to have a baby to read this book.

It is so beautifully written. It's soulful, it's practical. It's such an amazing book, so thank you so much Kimberly Ann Johnson for sharing this wisdom with us. But what she shares in it, one of the many things she shares in it is this idea of the universal needs postpartum. So what everybody needs after they've given birth and those needs are an extended rest period.

Nourishing food, loving touch. The presence of [00:11:00] spiritual companionship and the presence of wise women. It doesn't always have to be women, but a lot of people really enjoy the presence of women and find the presence of women extremely nourishing in the postpartum period. And then also contact with nature.

And for me, contact with nature is such a powerful one. And also because it's such a sleeper one, you know, like. sometimes it's not even on our radar that nature is such a necessity and such a resource and such a well of healing in this postpartum period. I think a lot of people accidentally end up connecting with nature 'cause maybe you're taking your baby to the park so the baby can look at the.

Flowers and the clouds and the birds and everything, and then we find that our nervous system becomes regulated. We find healing in those places, right? So again, a great example. Mom and baby birthing. Parent and baby need the same thing. To this list, I would add warmth, even [00:12:00] though it's implied in all of those things.

Warmth is really something that I like to state very clearly 'cause it's a real need postpartum and in both Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine cultures, the idea is is that you've kind of lost a lot of heat energy. You've lost a lot of Qi. Um, in Ayurveda, it's like you have an excess of Vata, which is that air energy, right?

So you're needing to ground it so that warmth applies to the food, right? You're not gonna be eating cold foods in this time. It's about warm foods, warming spices, that warmth of loving touch, that warmth of connection, that warmth of companionship, and then just the physical warmth, right? Socks, hats 

Being wrapped up in clothes, like in a cocoon, in a blanket, right?Being really cozy. That is what is really necessary in the postpartum period. So I think I'll stop there for today. I could go on and on and on, but this is really, and I will, I will go on and on and on, [00:13:00] but this is really meant to be like an intro to the concept of postpartum health and postpartum care and this postpartum transformation because it takes time to become.

A mother or a birthing parent or a mother again, right? This transformation happens every single time you have a baby. And we need all of these things to traverse that path to a point where we feel vibrant and supported at the end of it, and in our full power and the new version of ourselves that we become when we become parents.

And I hope that you're left with a knowing of what you need if you are in the postpartum period, or embarking upon the postpartum period, the kind of support you need. And also, if someone that you love who is in your life, is in the postpartum period or is about to have a baby. [00:14:00] You know, the support you can offer, that's really meaningful.

And I think even more than that, just to have a collective knowing of how important that postpartum support and healing is for the health and wellness, like the health from then on of that new mother or new parent. Is going to change the way that our country and our Western culture approaches the postpartum period.

So I hope you found this episode invigorating and informative and. I hope it inspires you to ask for the care that you need and offer the care that is needed. So until next time, take care and stay nourished. [00:15:00]