The 100 day rest

Thank you to Kimberly Zebick, L.Ac, MSOM Chicago based acupuncturist for her guest post on the postpartum benefits of acupuncture and Chinese medicine.  Please visit her website at www.kimberlyzebick.vpweb.com or contact her at (312) 590-0021 for more information on treatment options and postpartum care using Chinese medicine.

In China, after a mother gives birth to her baby, she is intensely cared for by family and friends, fed nourishing food, and allowed to sleep for 100 days by the caring hands of those around her.

For those of us who have had babies here, it is unlikely that we have 100 days to recuperate and refuel after our babies were born.  Whether we had to return to work or care for other members of our family, many of us were lucky to have a few weeks to bolster our energies and start out as a new moms for the first time or with a second or third child.

Postpartum healing involves many layers: the physical body, the emotional body and the spiritual body.  Chinese medicine affords a new mother support for the physicals ailments such low energy, low or excessive milk production, healing from caesarian surgery, digestive symptoms, nerve damage from delivery, and headaches and the emotional symptoms of anxiety and depression.  When mom is healthy, she feels well, strong, and able to care for herself and her family.  Acupuncture, herbs, and Eastern Nutrition can help to support mom in the first 100 days and beyond.