Index
When it is heard that a mother does not want visits after the birth of her child, many people judge her as “boring”, “nauseous” and even other titles that are not convenient to repeat them. However, what few people know is that this behavior is called the milk moon and is highly beneficial for mother and baby.
What is Milk Moon?
Milk moon, like the honeymoon, is a time when mothers and babies are together without interference from visitors and too many people. After 9 months of waiting, it’s time for mother and son to get to know each other.
For the baby it is a completely new world from the one he knew inside his mother’s womb. Sounds, smells, lights, that scare him, make him confused. For the mother, new sensations, pain, breastfeeding , baby care.
The milk moon is the moment when both meet, touch, are skin to skin. Feeling the new, the unknown and learning together. The last thing is to think about the visits, the tidy house or even the combed hair.
How Long Does the Milk Moon Last?
There is no set time for the milk moon , because it varies a lot from one mother to another, and can vary from one to three months. Knowing this, it is always interesting to ask the mother to let you know when she is more adapted and prepared to receive visitors.
Milk Moon Benefits
The benefits of the milk moon are many , for both the baby and the mother, as it is a time when both know and learn from each other.
Skin-to-skin contact is indispensable in strengthening the bond between mother and baby and occurs with great intensity in the first month of the child’s life, especially when it comes to breastfeeding, so the name lua de leite was given to this phase.
At just one month, the baby is also in exterogestation , a phase in which he feels very comfortable when remembering the stage in the mother’s belly. Thus, the touch of the mother will make the child feel more cherished and safe to live outside the mother’s womb.
What can I do on the Milk Moon?
- In the first few weeks, a mother needs to be relieved of all responsibilities in addition to feeding the baby and taking care of herself. Do not hesitate to accept help during this phase. the postpartum period, dad can prepare meals, take notes, or help care for other children.
- Get as much sleep as possible. The baby can wake up every two to three hours to feed. Sleep when the baby sleeps . This may be just a few minutes of rest several times a day, but those minutes can add up.
- Have the baby’s bed close to yours to feed him at night. Sometimes some mothers on the milk moon join the shared bed, but it is necessary to remember that the care must be doubled if this practice is chosen. Many babies can suffer from SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrom) or Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.
- Maintain a healthy diet to recover faster and break down to increase milk production . Increase your intake of whole grains, vegetables, fruits and proteins. You should also increase your fluid intake, especially if you are breastfeeding.
- Spend as much time as possible with the baby, after all that is what the milk moon is for. Observe every detail, every gesture he makes. Knowing the baby is essential to understand any problems that may occur and act quickly.
Is Milk Moon the Same as Quarantine?
Looking at the practical side, it is not possible to define where one begins and where the other ends. Theoretically, the milk moon is the moment to bond with the baby and spend as much time with him, but in between there is all the care that is necessary for a good recovery and knowledge for both the mother and the baby (quarantine) .
So, it is quite difficult to perceive this tenuous change except for the terms used.
Quarantine
In definition, quarantine, guard or puerperium are the designations attributed to the period that elapses between the expulsion of the placenta (3rd phase of labor) and the first six to eight weeks postpartum.
As with the milk moon, in addition to baby care, the mother needs to take care of herself. Soon, her body will return to its pre-pregnancy form, hormonal production will stabilize, the pain will pass and she will feel more energized.
Quarantine is a time of change, back to normal. These changes produced during pregnancy, especially physical ones, are mainly transient, therefore, women who maintain a balanced diet during pregnancy and do not gain much weight know that after childbirth they can recover their vitality and their former physique.
One of the positive aspects of quarantine is the involution of the body. The body returns to its natural form in a short time, once it has given birth to the baby. The uterus, for example, returns to its natural measurements (6.5 cm and 60 grams of weight) when during pregnancy it measures approximately 32 centimeters and weighs about 1000 grams .
This makes it possible to resume the correct intestinal life. Before the baby, during pregnancy, most women experience loss of urine because the baby presses on the bladder and also constipation because the hormones slow down the intestinal tract.
In addition, the return of vaginal discharge allows women to have sex more effectively and without pain. It is important to know that during quarantine there are also chances of getting pregnant .
Quarantine, despite being a necessary and mandatory period for women after childbirth, also implies some negative consequences that make these weeks difficult for the new mother.
During this period, the woman sometimes goes through the so-called postpartum depression . This feeling of sadness comes after feeling that she no longer has the baby in her belly, and seeing that her body is no longer the same.
Some of these most significant changes are, the increase in weight, the size of the breasts, the cracks in the nipples resulting from breastfeeding, the skin with stretch marks and flabby after having a stretched belly.
These changes make the woman feel neither good nor beautiful, much less safe. In many cases, after giving birth, she adopts a negative attitude towards this new situation and thinks it is impossible to return to the appearance she had before motherhood.
The milk moon and quarantine are extremely important periods for the new mother, so don’t let constructive criticism make this moment of discovery and recovery negative.
See also: Initial Difficulties and Solutions for Breastfeeding
My name is Dr. Alexis Hart I am 38 years old, I am the mother of 3 beautiful children! Different ages, different phases 16 years, 12 years and 7 years. In love with motherhood since always, I found it difficult to make my dreams come true, and also some more after I was already a mother.
Since I imagined myself as a mother, in my thoughts everything seemed to be much easier and simpler than it really was, I expected to get pregnant as soon as I wished, but it wasn’t that simple. The first pregnancy was smooth, but my daughter’s birth was very troubled. Joana was born in 2002 with a weight of 2930kg and 45cm, from a very peaceful cesarean delivery but she had already been born with congenital pneumonia due to a broken bag not treated with antibiotics even before delivery.
