When you went through pregnancy, I’m sure you had many people asking if you were doing well. We feel empathy for the mother whose body has to work harder while the baby grows.

Unfortunately, once Baby is born, all eyes tend to turn to that sweet bundle of joy, and Mom can feel brushed under the rug after her body has been through one of the biggest changes a body can make.

With all of the heart-stopping love for that little one comes more stress and less sleep. It is during this time that moms need self-care the most. Depending on your labor and postpartum doctors’ orders, massage can help shortly after your delivery.

Postpartum massage has been shown to have several therapeutic benefits…

Yes, it can help with pain relief, for sure. It can also help to improve the quality of sleep, which we all know is important and limited at this stage. A 2012 study showed that regular massage helped improve sleep in mothers of newborns.

And that fatigue you feel? That’s more than just a lack of sleep —  it’s due to a hormone imbalance. That, coupled with sleep deprivation, can affect how you manage stress. Massage has been proven to help with this as well.

So, who’s up for a massage?

If you are a new mom, or know one, remember and encourage grace while you find the new normal. And please remember that self-care is healthcare in the middle of the beautiful mess that will always be motherhood.

Keep taking care of you, Mom!