Why Postnatal Recovery Matters. Este artículo no está disponible.Why Postnatal Recovery Matters

During pregnancy the focus of antenatal preparation is the birth itself, and the importance of the postnatal period is often overlooked. Yet postnatal recovery (or a lack of it) can have consequences for the long-term health and wellbeing of both mother and baby. In Why Postnatal Recovery Matters Sophie Messager draws on her experience as a scientist and doula to show that thinking ahead to after the birth can get new families off to the best possible start.

Sophie left her native France in 1997 to pursue postdoctoral studies as a biology research scientist, in Aberdeen, where she met her Hong Kong-born husband, Chi. They moved to Cambridge in 2001, got married, and had two children, Sebastien and Charlotte. Their births (both very positive experiences supported by a doula) changed her professional interest completely, and she retrained to be a doula, antenatal teacher and babywearing instructor.

Sophie is a birth geek and knowledge junkie but has a more spiritual side too, so she also trained as a Reiki drum healer and teacher. Training and personal practice have led her to master a wide range of labour and postnatal comfort measures and skills, such as massage, rebozo, birth and postnatal healing rituals that blend physical and energy healing. Sophie teaches these skills to parents and birthworkers in one-to-one, workshop and online settings. Her work is a blend of traditional knowledge and scientific evidence. She blogs about birth and postnatal topics at www.sophiemessager.com. She has a PhD in Physiology of Reproduction.