“Postnatal Depletion”. Say, what?

“Postnatal Depletion”. Here’s a term you don’t hear very often. But it’s such a brilliant one, and it’s the reason I launched Mama Nourish. Let me tell you why.

It’s really common for Mums to feel off-kilter for a long time (years, in some cases) after we have kids. That feeling is typically a sense of fatigue, exhaustion, poor memory and concentration and emotional variability (think lots of highs and lows) that lasts far longer than the first few weeks postpartum.

And when you think about it, it’s not really all that surprising that recovery takes time. Pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum recovery are hard work on the body and mind. Plus, nature dictates that what the baby needs nutritionally, the baby gets from its mother – even if she doesn’t have an awful lot to give. So it’s easy to end up quite depleted in the essential vitamins and minerals that govern our energy, mood, alertness, immune and digestive system function and more besides. Really usefully, that “less-than” state has now been recognised and has a name: “postnatal depletion”.

I say ‘we’ and ‘our’ for a reason. I struggled hard with postnatal depletion, even though for a while I couldn’t put my finger on what was going wrong. I just felt “off”. I did want to feel less fatigued, anxious and foggy, but all the suggestions I could find around “self care” really meant that I would have to do more work. I knew that good nutrition could make a difference, but I couldn’t find the motivation to research, shop for and cook healthy meals that would meet my needs (and I really love food!). I was tired, and busy with my baby.

Fast forward a few years, my son’s needs were a little less intense and I was able to really explore the benefits of nutrition through food. I wanted to reach back to other Mums who were at that stage, and take them by the hand. I studied, I brainstormed, and with the help of a brilliant chef, devised a product that I wish I’d had during postnatal recovery: Mama’s Overnight Oats

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Mama’s Overnight Oats have a growing fan-club, if you haven’t tried them yet I hope you will love them. Most of all I hope they will help you to feel good without adding to your burden.

Motherhood is so demanding, and it’s really true that you can’t pour from an empty cup. But … Mums need more than cliches and hollow “self care” products, they need practical help that really improves their wellbeing. And that’s why we are here.