As midwives, we have the privilege of supporting women through one of the most profound transitions of their lives. Pregnancy and birth change your body in visible and invisible ways, and yet so often, there is pressure to feel grateful, positive, or to “bounce back” before you’ve even had time to process what your body has done.
Your post-birth body is not something to rush, fix, or apologise for. It is a body that has carried, birthed, and continues to nurture life.
Meeting Your Body Again After Birth
After birth, many women tell us they feel disconnected from their bodies. The body that once felt familiar may now feel tender, bruised, scarred, softer, or simply different. This sense of distance is incredibly common, and completely valid.
Reconnection doesn’t need to be dramatic or immediate. It begins with gentle, intentional moments of care.
You might like to try:
- Mirror rituals: After a shower or bath, take a moment to really look at yourself. Place a hand on your belly, your thighs, your chest, wherever feels right and acknowledge what your body has done. A simple “Thank you” can be enough.
- Gentle self-massage: Touch can be incredibly grounding. Using our nourishing Stretch Mark Serum, slowly massage areas that feel unfamiliar. This is about sensation, warmth, and kindness, not changing how your body looks. This ritual, is not a way to “fix” stretch marks, but as a way to reconnect through touch and care.
- Kind inner dialogue: Notice the way you speak to yourself. If the words feel harsh, try softening them. You might say, “My body is healing,” or “I’m allowed to take my time.”
Caring for a Tender, Healing Body
The post-birth body is often sore, swollen, and sensitive, particularly around the perineum or following stitches. Gentle, soothing care can support both physical comfort and emotional wellbeing.
Warm baths with something calming, like our Soak for Bits and Body, can be a lovely way to ease aching muscles and tender areas while creating a quiet moment just for you.
For day-to-day comfort, especially in those early weeks, many women appreciate something cooling and soothing like Spritz for Bits, which can be kept close by and used whenever you need a little relief and reassurance.
These small acts of care are not indulgent, they are part of healing.
Nurturing Skin and Spirit
Post-birth care is about far more than skin, it’s about nurturing your whole self. Whether it’s a soothing soak, a cooling spritz, or a slow massage with a serum, these moments can help you feel grounded in your body again. They are small pauses in busy days, gentle reminders that you matter too.
A Final Word
Your body tells the story of what you’ve been through and that story deserves patience, respect, and care. Healing is not linear. Confidence will come and go. And needing support does not mean you are failing.
From one midwife to you:
You are allowed to find this hard.
You are allowed to take your time.
And you are doing so well, even on the days it doesn’t feel like it.
