The 3 Missing Layers of Postpartum Wellness
Why Physical Recovery Was Never the Full Story for Postpartum Care
If you’re reading this, chances are you’ve built a life with intention—your relationships, your career, your home, and your own self-care.
So when you think about motherhood, something feels off.
You want to be open to it. But the version of motherhood you see? It looks like constant exhaustion. Unrelenting self-sacrifice. Zero support.
Postpartum care, as it’s commonly understood, is either completely neglected or reduced to a meal train and a bounce-back body plan.
Postpartum isn’t just about physical recovery.
It’s a period of profound mental, emotional, and identity shifts.
When holistic postpartum wellness is prioritized, postpartum can become one of the most meaningful transformations of a woman’s life.
So, let’s examine why so many women feel blindsided by postpartum, and how to plan for something better holistically.
The Myth That Got Us Here
The most commonly recommended book on postpartum care in the U.S. is The First 40 Days.
While it offers great information new to the American market, there’s something you should know: it was written by someone who runs a food delivery service.
Naturally, the focus is food.
When an entire country takes one book as the bible on postpartum care, the conversation gets narrow. And suddenly, postpartum care becomes synonymous with bone broth, freezer meals, and little else.
In reality, that’s only scratching the surface.
In many cultures around the world, postpartum is seen as a holistic transition, not just a physical one.
Why This Myth Is Not Supportive Enough
When postpartum is framed only as physical recovery, most planning stops at the freezer.
In the Mother First Survey, when asked “What’s one thing you wish you’d known about postpartum before giving birth?” mothers shared:
“You won't just be happy and excited with the baby, you will experience so many more feelings and emotions.”
“It's going to be hard emotionally for longer than you expect, and that's okay. Do your best to prepare yourself and your support system while you are still pregnant.”
“I needed more communication tools to better communicate my feelings to my partner to share the struggles I was going through, physically and emotionally.”
When those inner shifts aren’t acknowledged or planned for, many mothers are left to struggle in silence.
Here’s what’s missing and what to prepare for instead.
The 3 Missing Layers of Postpartum Layer
There are four interconnected layers of recovery after birth. Most people only plan for one: the physical.
Let’s talk about the other three.
Missing Layer #1: The Mental Shift
Postpartum brings an entirely new mental load: endless decisions, new responsibilities, constant processing, all while sleep-deprived, hormonal, and recovering.
Even the most capable women say the same thing: “I didn’t expect how mentally relentless it would feel.”
Before the baby arrives, it helps to ask:
What can I decide in advance?
What can I delegate now?
Who can I turn to for certain decisions I am unfamiliar with?
In practice, this might mean:
Partner taking over household logistics
Support scheduled at predictable times
Trusted professionals you can turn to without hesitation
The goal isn’t to have a perfect plan. It’s creating enough structure now so you don’t have to carry the full mental load later.
Missing Layer #2: The Emotional Shift
If the mental load is the first thing women notice, the emotional shift is often the most disorienting.
Emotions arrive in combinations that don’t always make sense: joy alongside grief, gratitude mixed with resentment, deep love paired with a longing for the life you just left behind.
Even when motherhood is deeply wanted, the emotional landscape can be surprising.
In a culture that expects women to “push through,” “stay positive,” and “be grateful,” there’s little room to actually feel what’s happening—let alone say it out loud.
Support here is about having space to feel and express your feelings, without judgement or jumping into fixing.
Before the baby arrives, consider where that kind of space might exist.
That might be:
A designated loved one you trust to listen without trying to solve
A therapist you already have a relationship with
A digital community where emotional honesty is welcome
Because when feelings are allowed to ebb and flow—without guilt or pressure—they’re far less likely to turn into resentment, shame, or struggle carried alone.
Missing Layer #3: The Identity Shift
The last—and perhaps most profound—layer of postpartum is the identity shift.
It’s the quiet realization that you are no longer the same person you were before. Not in a dramatic, cinematic way, but in subtle, disorienting ones.
The way how your time feels different, your priorities rearrange themselves, and your sense of self begins to shift into something new.
For many women, this is the most unsettling part of postpartum.
This isn’t something you can plan for in the traditional sense. But knowing it’s coming and understanding that it’s a natural part of the transition can be less destabilizing.
Yet, there’s very little cultural language for this stage.
Instead, mothers are bombarded with messages around: “how to bounce back,” “how to lose the baby weight,” “how to return to your old self.”
Support during this phase isn’t about returning to who you were; it’s about being allowed to integrate who you are becoming.
This can look like:
Space to reflect, without pressure to “figure it out.”
Conversations that don’t rush you toward resolution
Permission to acknowledge change, slowly and on your own terms
When given time, attention, and respect this transition deserves—women can begin to thrive and not just survive.
A Holistic Approach to Postpartum Wellness
Postpartum isn’t about “bouncing back.” And it certainly isn’t just about food or physical recovery.
It’s about allowing for transformation with intention and the right support in place.
That’s the purpose of Mothermoon™: a transitional period after birth where the mother is supported beyond physical recovery.
And for creating space to think ahead, ask better questions, and design a postpartum experience that truly supports you.
Because care like this doesn’t happen by accident. It happens by design.
You’ve built a life you love. Motherhood shouldn’t be the exception.
Ready to begin? Join Mothermoon™ and start creating your postpartum care plan, long before the baby arrives.
