Pakistani actor Sarwat Gilani discusses severe postpartum depression: Self-care tips for new mothers on recovery

Pakistani actress Sarwat Gilani’s brave revelation in a recent interview about her struggle with postpartum depression mail birth of a childhighlights the importance of postpartum recoverySarwat shared how after “a serious surgery“She met her baby who was struggling to have milk while she herself was struggling as well, “So, I had the feeling that it was better to let her go just to get rid of the stress I am going through this. When I entered the room I was crying. I told Fahad that I wanted to hurt the newborn. He told me that this is postpartum blues.”

The actress is married to cosmetic surgeon and actor Fahad Mirza and opined, “It is okay and it is not a permanent feeling. So, you need to be aware that the strange feeling you are having is not yours. It is just the mental state you are going through. So, you need to read more about postpartum depression to understand it better. Anything can happen to a person during that stage.”

In an interview with HT Lifestyle, Dr Schumailla Bassi, Senior Consultant, Obstetrician and Gynaecologist at Cloudnine Group of Hospitals in Ludhiana, explained, “After delivery, you may think that you can go back to normal life. However, this time of your life is full of adjustments with a newborn and it is also a time to recover from childbirth. It is important to remember that childbirth is something that your body will need to recover from over time. No matter what kind of delivery you had, your body will need time to heal.”

She explained: “Let’s break this phase down into two parts: the first week after delivery and the second, the five weeks following delivery. The postpartum period consists of a total of six weeks, or 40 days after delivery. After this, comes the next two months. So, in total, the three months after any delivery is the time it takes you to fully recover after the birth process. The first month of having a newborn can be overwhelming. Sometimes, you may feel like all your time is focused on taking care of your baby. But don’t forget to take care of yourself. You may have heard the phrase: if you don’t take care of yourself, you can’t take care of your baby, and this is really true.”

There are several things you should remember to do after delivery to take care of your own health. According to Dr. Schumailla Bassi, they are as follows:

1. Rest: Giving birth is a difficult task and you probably didn’t get much sleep in the hospital. The first few weeks after delivery are important for you to rest as much as you can and when you can. Try to sleep or rest when your baby sleeps.
2. Food: Eat what your doctor allows you to and it should mostly be light, basic and healthy home cooked food especially after C-section, at first for the first 24 hours as the meal and then a full diet is recommended. Try to have short and frequent meals. Keep yourself very well hydrated, use the traditional Indian system of drinking lots of water with jeera and salt for breastfeeding, take salt and sugar in water to keep yourself hydrated, have a light meal during the day and a short meal so as not to have stomach ache and digestion and also walk a little if possible after meals or sit upright for a while and then take a nap so that your food gets digested and you benefit from that healthy diet. The tradition of making panjiri after the delivery process is helpful. Once your doctor gives you the go ahead but make sure that you and your baby are fine, use it in small quantities, alternating them initially and then increase the quantity and take it daily. It helps you recover from the childbirth process.
3. Avoid lifting heavy objects: You should avoid lifting anything heavier than your baby while you’re recovering. This is especially important. If you have a C-section after delivery, also avoid bending over, especially after a C-section with scissors. If you need to lift something, sit on the floor with your knees bent and pick things up. You should also be careful when getting out of bed: you should roll onto your side and then get out of bed to decrease abdominal pressure. If you can, you can use abdominal binders, especially after C-sections.
4. Handwashing It’s very important, even though it may seem like a simple thing, but make sure you wash your hands frequently. Especially after going to the bathroom or touching your underwear, your own napkins or your baby’s diapers, or before touching your baby or feeding him.
5. Limit stair climbing for the first week: You should try to climb fewer stairs. Try to limit the number of times you go up and down stairs each day while you are recovering, especially after a C-section.
6. Simplifying your baby’s care: Learning your baby’s schedule and needs during the first few weeks is hard enough, so don’t act on your to-do list when it comes to your baby’s needs. Your baby doesn’t need to be bathed every day; instead, we can wipe him or her with a clean cloth or we can ask our family members for help.
7. Asking for help: Don’t be afraid to ask for help or feel guilty. Let your family and friends know you’re here. They help you cook, help you with things around the house, watch the kids while you nap and burp the baby, pick up groceries for you, etc.
8. Limit visitors: People will want to come and meet your new family member. However, this may not be the best time to have visitors. I guess we should know that it is okay to limit visitors and say no to visitors for the first few weeks. During this time, you will be adjusting to the new life with your baby, trying to rest and even the baby will try to take long naps and getting used to this new environment. If we have fewer visitors, then the mother should feed the baby and keep him on her chest for many hours and let him sleep. This becomes very easy. This helps to maintain the baby’s temperature and is very healing for the baby in the first few days.
9. Not striving for perfection: Try not to stress over a small mess. People may come to see you and your baby, but a dirty house won’t make them feel uncomfortable.
10. Limit phone usage: iPads and television during this time because the eyes need to rest, we should not strain them. Your eyes should therefore move away from the mobile phone. And try to turn it off so that the radiation is not there in the same room.
11. Focus on your mental health: Pay attention to how you feel during this time, if you feel like you are not feeling well or you are too depressed or a little sad, guilty, tired, depressed, talk to your family and friends and try to seek help.
12. Position It is very important to maintain the correct posture after infancy. If you had a vaginal or cesarean delivery, try to keep your back and neck straight, especially while breastfeeding.
13. Sexual relations: when to have sex? Until after your first and subsequent follow-up appointments, your body needs time to heal after giving birth to the vagina, or its area and waiting a few weeks to have sex as part of that healing process, your health care provider will tell you if it is okay to have sex again when your perineum has healed and when your postpartum bleeding and discharge are minimal.
14. Natality control: Discuss birth control methods with your doctor or health care provider. Even if you don’t have your period while breastfeeding, you can still get pregnant after six to eight weeks.
15. Care of stitches, vagina or abdomen: The doctor will tell you how to do this. If you have a vagina, we should use ointments. We should avoid squatting. We should avoid constipation and excessive pressure on the pelvis and we should clean it. Keep it clean and try to take a warm bath as recommended by the doctor for the abdominal points. We should also keep it dry and apply ointment before and after the bath as usual and also take care of the skin around it and keep it moisturized.
16. Always take the supplements and medications recommended by your doctor: Don’t take them lightly, especially iron, calcium, and other multivitamins. Keep all scheduled hospital appointments. It’s important to avoid alcohol and caffeine during this time.
17. Large glasses of liquid: Water, juices, milk and rye bread are good options. A healthy diet will help you recover in the weeks after delivery.
18. Exercise and walking: Go for a walk. It is good to take a break from bed to walk a little while taking care of the stitches in the initial week and after two weeks if you feel like exercising, you can do simple exercises for the neck, arms and legs without doing vigorous core exercises, gentle walking is the first step to exercise after delivery and after six weeks of vaginal delivery, and after three months of delivery you can start your normal exercises after taking advice from your doctor.

Dr. Schumailla Bassi concluded: “Postpartum depression, or whatever you call it, baby blues or whatever you want to call it, is true. It is not something that is exaggerated, but it happens and many times there is no reason for it. It is a complex combination of physical, emotional and behavioral changes that occur after childbirth and that cause depression, sadness, anxiety, guilt, hopelessness and fatigue, which can all be part of it and in severe degrees. If you experience any of these symptoms, please reach out to your family, friends, doctor or health care provider. Don’t let it get too bad before you seek some advice or help. Try to do so in the early stages.”