Nursing Care for the Postpartum Woman and Family

During the postpartum period, psychological changes influence how the mother adapts to their newborn and role as a caregiver.

These changes tend to follow a pattern of three phases, which include the taking-in phase, the taking-hold phase, and the letting-go phase.

As the nurse, you’ll provide care and support as your patient adapts to the psychological changes that occur during the postpartum period.

So, during the taking-in phase, the mother is focused on taking care of their own basic needs like eating and sleeping. They typically let others take on duties to care for the newborn, like letting others change diapers or burp the baby after feeding.

They may also seem preoccupied with their own thoughts and may spend their time reminiscing and speaking about their birth experience.

As you care for your patient during this phase, assist with tasks like bathing the newborn to allow time for your patient to recover and regain their strength following childbirth.

This is also a good time to promote attachment-forming activities, like skin-to-skin contact. Use active listening as your patient shares their thoughts and feelings with you; and remember that they may have difficulty retaining new information, so reviewing information about self-care and newborn care will be most effective when they begin to show signs of physical recovery and interest in providing care.

Next, the taking-hold phase is when the mother becomes more active and engaged, and begins to take more responsibility for self-care and the care of their newborn.

You can assist them to build confidence in their new role by involving them in activities like feeding and diaper changes, talking about their newborn’s behaviors, and reviewing typical newborn sleep-wake cycles.

As they begin to rely less on the help of others, they may tend to be critical or insecure of their own abilities; so be sure to provide positive reinforcement of their caregiving abilities as they perform tasks.

Lastly, this is a good time for other caregivers, like the mother’s partner, to also learn how to care for the baby; and for family members, like siblings, to hold and interact with the newborn.

Lastly, during the letting-go phase the mother adjusts to their new role and responsibilities and works to accept the changes that come with having a baby.

This phase often occurs as your patient prepares for discharge but may even occur once they’re home. Reinforce teaching about potential challenges they may face following discharge, such as fatigue and emotional ups and downs.

Reassure them that these feelings usually resolve within a couple of weeks and let them know that talking to family and friends about how they are feeling can be helpful.

Assist them to identify their social support network and ensure that they have appropriate referrals for follow-up care if they require additional resources.

Alright, as a quick recap...During the postpartum period, psychological changes occur in three phases: the taking-in phase which is a time when the mother is focused on taking care of their own basic needs; the taking-hold phase where the mother becomes more engaged in the care of the newborn; and the letting-go phase where mother adjusts to their new role and responsibilities.

As the nurse, you’ll provide care and support as your patient adapts to the psychological changes that occur during the postpartum period.