Postpartum care is not an empty gap between birth and a six-week visit. Physical recovery, mental health, and newborn adaptation change quickly. A useful plan breaks the first 42 days into small checks, named helpers, and a clear route to care.
Key takeaways
- 01
Written discharge plan and day/night contacts
- 02
Separate follow-up dates for parent and baby
- 03
Medicine names, doses, and timing
1. Before discharge: get a written plan
Ask for instructions specific to vaginal or caesarean birth, medicines and doses, wound care, movement, food, and the family's feeding choice. Confirm follow-up for both parent and baby, newborn-screening results, day and night contacts, and where to return if a concern develops.
- Photograph prescriptions and discharge papers
- Record who will call with the baby's results
- Ask what to do if travel is difficult
2. First seven days: reduce load and watch trends
Pain, fatigue, uterine cramping, and lochia change day by day; the key question is whether the trend is improving or worsening. Use medicines as directed, hydrate, choose easy meals, and hand household work to someone else. After caesarean birth, follow the hospital's movement and wound instructions rather than applying home remedies to the incision.
- Record pain and bleeding each day
- Protect one continuous sleep block
- Do not drive or lift heavily before clearance
3. Know what should not wait
Seek emergency help for breathlessness, chest pain, fainting, seizure, heavy bleeding, a severe or persistent headache with visual change, one swollen painful leg, fever, rapidly increasing pain, or spreading redness or foul discharge from a wound. Thoughts of harming yourself or the baby also require urgent help. Do not wait for a scheduled review.
- State the birth date and mode of birth
- Do not travel alone when dizzy or breathless
- Bring discharge papers and medicines
4. Watch the baby without making every feed a test
Track feeding, wet nappies according to discharge advice, alertness, skin colour, and temperature when concerned. Seek prompt help for breathing difficulty, blue colour, unusual unresponsiveness, inability to feed, seizure, fever or low temperature at the threshold given by the facility, worsening jaundice, or an infected-looking cord. Do not give a newborn medicine, water, or remedies without clinical advice.
- Save the neonatal or paediatric contact
- Use daylight photos only when the clinician asks for monitoring
- Do not delay care while waiting for online advice
5. Mental health belongs in follow-up
Tearfulness and feeling overwhelmed can occur early, but persistent or worsening distress, inability to sleep when given the chance, panic, hopelessness, disconnection, or thoughts of harm need to be voiced. Choose one person to ask daily whether you have eaten, slept, and feel safe. Ask the hospital or clinician for appropriate support rather than carrying it alone.
6. Use follow-up to close the loop
Bring a brief log of pain, bleeding, wound, blood pressure if measured, medicines, sleep, mood, and feeding. Ask about pelvic-floor or incision recovery, anaemia, blood pressure, contraception, sex, activity, vaccination, and return to work. For the baby, close the loop on growth, feeding, jaundice, screening, immunisation, and the next visit.
Practical checklist
- Written discharge plan and day/night contacts
- Separate follow-up dates for parent and baby
- Medicine names, doses, and timing
- Parent's bleeding, pain, wound, and mood log
- Baby's feeding, alertness, jaundice, and screening results
- Emergency transport and backup childcare
How NIMO built this guide
NIMO writes and localizes each guide for Vietnamese families, then checks key facts against the official references below. The links support the guide; they are not the guide itself.
Editorially checked · clinical review pendingDoes not replace individual clinical assessmentNext review · Nov 11, 2026
Fact-check references
This content is for information only and does not replace medical advice. For severe symptoms, breathing difficulty, or unusual unresponsiveness, contact a local medical facility or emergency service immediately.