When a new baby is born, great care is taken to make sure they get the best possible start in life. Moms, dads, doctors and nurses all work together to make sure the newborn is healthy, fed and growing well. But although the new mom has just been through quite an ordeal mentally, physically and emotionally, between pregnancy and childbirth, she doesn’t always get the same level of care.
In fact, many new moms may find that their wellbeing is an afterthought during this crucial time. Now, blogger Anneliese Lawton, mother to two kids, has taken to Facebook in a call for better postpartum care for new moms. And her sentiment seems to have resonated. Her post has now been shared more than 35,000 times:
Lawton begins her post by saying that when her sons were born, there were a number of appointments to make sure everything was going smoothly in their new lives, including checking their latch, their hearing, their weight and more.
“Then there was me,” she wrote. “A first-time mom without a clue. Engorged, bleeding, and stitched up. Sent home with some painkillers and stool softeners.”
Lawton then goes on to detail how new moms are expected to instantly know how to do everything required of them, and that no one was checking on her to make sure all was going smoothly.
“No one poked me,” she wrote. “No one prodded. No one checked my stitches, my healing, or my sanity until eight weeks postpartum.”
Lawton goes on to lament the fact that moms’ wellbeing seems to come last in terms of priorities and to advocate for a different way.
“We need our world to fuss over us the way they fuss over ten fresh fingers and ten fresh toes,” she wrote. “We need to be seen. We need to be heard. We need someone to not only ask if we’re okay but to check time and time again, just to be sure. We’re not just a uterus. We’re not just a lifeline to a new and precious soul. We’re mothers. And we need someone to make sure we’re ok, too.”
What do you think of Lawton’s stance? Do you think it’s time new moms got the same care and attention as their newborns?