Are You a Planner?
When anyone asks me what my strengths are there are two that easily come to mind: organization and planning. Most people would look at those as strengths and I agree, except when things become disorganized or plans have to change! Changing plans often makes me feel defeated unless I know beforehand they may change or that I need to be prepared for a potential change.
In working with the perinatal population, plans are frequently discussed. I encourage making a birth plan and a postpartum plan. Birth plans are talked about pretty commonly- and people are reminded that birth plans can change at any moment based on the health and safety of parent and baby. Postpartum plans are not talked about as commonly. What is a postpartum plan?
A plan is defined as “a detailed proposal for doing or achieving something.” A postpartum plan is designed to help you adjust to life with a new baby. It is a plan for many things that impact how your postpartum course will go. Things to address in the plan are: Sleep(where will baby sleep, who will do the night feedings), Visitors(how many, how long they may stay), Feeding(formula, breast milk, exclusively breastfeed, exclusively pump), Meals(who will cook, make meals before and freeze), Support(who will be my support, who can I call on), Sibling Support(how each parent will get time with the other children, how to involve them in caring for the baby), Parents to have time for each other(what can you do together), and Self Care(what will give me comfort, what can I do to recharge my batteries). I always, always advise my clients to discuss with their partner what the roles and responsibilities will look like once a baby is born. It is better to discuss this prior to birth than in the midst of all of the emotion and often stress of bringing a new baby home. Similar to a birth plan, this should be a fluid plan as well but talking about it before increases the awareness of how important the things listed above can be to a postpartum parents mental health.
You will be entering a world of unpredictability- you don’t know how well the baby will sleep, feed, or how you will physically recover. Just writing a plan to address many of these issues will help boost confidence about what is to come!
