How to Prepare for Postpartum: The First 40 Days

We spend months preparing for a baby. We research car seats, build registries, organize nurseries, pack hospital bags, take birth classes, and make plans for labor. But far less attention is often given to what happens after the birth, when the mother comes home recovering while also learning to care for a newborn.

Preparing for postpartum means thinking beyond what the baby will need and asking a different question: What will the mother need during her first 40 days?

Those early weeks can include physical healing, blood loss and fluid shifts, major hormonal changes, disrupted sleep, breastfeeding or pumping, emotional changes, and an entirely new daily rhythm. A mother may be recovering from a straightforward vaginal birth, significant tearing, a long labor, an unexpected C-section, hemorrhage, or a birth experience that was completely different from what she imagined.

You cannot predict exactly what postpartum will look like, but you can prepare your home, food, family, and support system so that Mom does not have to figure everything out while she is recovering.

Why the First 40 Days Matter

The idea of protecting the first month or so after childbirth appears in postpartum traditions throughout the world. In Traditional Chinese Medicine and Chinese confinement culture, this period has long been treated as a distinct stage of recovery. Interestingly, the traditional 30 to 40 day window closely overlaps with what modern medicine calls the postnatal period or puerperium, approximately the first six weeks after childbirth.

The World Health Organization defines the postnatal period as the first six weeks, or 42 days, after birth and considers it a critical period for the health and wellbeing of both mother and baby.

One of the clearest physical changes occurring during this time is uterine involution.

Immediately after birth, the uterus begins contracting and rapidly becoming smaller. These contractions also help compress the blood vessels that supplied the placenta and control postpartum bleeding. During the following weeks, the uterus, blood vessels, and placental site continue healing and remodeling as the uterus moves back toward its much smaller pre-pregnancy size.

The uterus is only one part of the recovery taking place. Blood and fluid volumes are changing, pregnancy hormones fall dramatically, lochia changes as the uterus heals, and the abdominal wall and pelvic floor begin recovering. Vaginal tears, episiotomies, C-section incisions, and deeper tissues may also be healing. If breastfeeding begins, the body is simultaneously adapting to milk production.

This is why the first 40 days should not simply be viewed as life with a newborn.
Mom is recovering from pregnancy and childbirth while learning how to care for a newborn at the same time.

What Traditional Chinese Medicine Can Teach Us About Postpartum

Traditional Chinese Medicine uses a different framework to describe postpartum recovery. In TCM, Qi is the vital energy or life force believed to support the body's movement, function, warmth, and overall vitality. Pregnancy, labor, childbirth, and blood loss are traditionally understood to consume a mother's Qi and Blood, making postpartum an important period for restoration.

This understanding helped shape Chinese postpartum traditions such as zuo yuezi, often translated as “sitting the month.” Rest, warmth, cooked foods, soups, congee, herbal preparations, sitz bath, and family support became central parts of caring for a mother after childbirth.

Food was not simply about stopping hunger. Postpartum nourishment was part of the recovery system itself.

Chinese medicine also developed specific herbal formulas for women's health and postpartum care. Many of these are not simply folk recipes passed from grandmother to granddaughter. They are part of a written medical tradition documented by Chinese physicians, medical scholars, and official medical institutions over many centuries.

One of the most important surviving formularies is the Song Dynasty Tai Ping Hui Min He Ji Ju Fang, or Prescriptions of the Bureau of the Management and Administration of Pharmacy. It was compiled through the official pharmacy of the Imperial Medical Bureau and documented hundreds of medicinal formulas, their ingredients, preparation, and intended applications.

Si Wu Tang, or Four Substances Decoction, became one of the foundational formulas associated with nourishing and regulating Blood in Chinese medicine and an important foundation for later formulas used in Chinese women's medicine.

Ba Zhen Tang, or Eight Treasures Decoction, builds upon this tradition by combining the principles of Si Wu Tang with Si Jun Zi Tang, a classical four-herb formula associated with supporting Qi. Together, the eight herbs form a formula traditionally used when both Qi and Blood are considered depleted.

Another formula strongly associated with postpartum care is Sheng Hua Tang, a classical five-herb formula documented in the Chinese gynecological tradition and closely associated with the writings attributed to the renowned physician Fu Qingzhu. Sheng Hua Tang became particularly associated with the immediate postpartum period and the traditional process of supporting circulation and postpartum lochia.

These formulas were recorded, taught, modified, and discussed across generations of Chinese medicine. That history is important because it shows that traditional postpartum herbal care developed as part of a larger medical system rather than simply as a collection of warming foods.

This is why we include classical TCM herbal formulas in FAMMá’s Postpartum Nutrition Recovery Program. Our 42-day progression incorporates formulas such as Sheng Hua Tang, Si Wu Tang, and Ba Zhen Tang at different stages, alongside nourishing soups, congee, grains, and tisanes. We wanted to preserve the depth of traditional postpartum nourishment while making it practical for modern families, with the herbs already sourced, measured, and organized so Mom can focus on eating, resting, and recovering.

Nutrition Is Critical to Postpartum Recovery

Rest is essential, but rest alone does not provide the raw materials the body needs to recover.

The body needs energy and nutrients to repair tissue, recover from pregnancy and blood loss, support immune function, maintain normal physiological processes, and, for breastfeeding mothers, produce milk. Protein, carbohydrates, fats, vitamins, minerals, fluids, and enough food overall all matter during this period.

This is why postpartum nutrition should be planned before birth rather than left to whatever happens to be in the refrigerator.

A mother may be hungry at strange hours, too tired to prepare a meal, trapped underneath a sleeping baby, breastfeeding for what feels like the entire afternoon, or recovering from a birth that makes standing in the kitchen difficult.

The best postpartum food plan is therefore not only nutritious. It has to be easy to actually eat.

This is where many traditional postpartum foods are remarkably practical. Soup can provide protein, vegetables, herbs, broth, and carbohydrates in one bowl. Congee can serve as an easy base for grains, meat, eggs, vegetables, ginger, herbs, and other ingredients. Broths and tisanes provide warm fluids throughout the day. Most of these foods can be prepared in batches and reheated without requiring someone to cook from scratch every time Mom becomes hungry.

FAMMá's Approach Is More Than “Warming Foods”

Warm cooked foods are an important part of Chinese postpartum tradition, but reducing the entire practice to “eat warm foods” misses much of its depth.

FAMMá's 42-Day Postpartum Recovery Program was created around a broader idea of nourishment and progression throughout the first six weeks.

Our program incorporates traditional Chinese herbal formulas with documented histories in Chinese medicine alongside soups, congee, grains, proteins, sea vegetables, botanicals, and tisanes. Rather than giving Mom one herbal soup and asking her to consume it repeatedly for six weeks, the foods change as she progresses through postpartum.

The program begins with foods and traditional preparations associated with the earliest postpartum stage and gradually moves toward rebuilding and nourishment as the weeks progress. Classical formulas including Sheng Hua Tang, Si Wu Tang, and Ba Zhen Tang are incorporated into this progression alongside nourishing soups, porridges, broths, grains, and tisanes.

This progression reflects an important concept within traditional Chinese postpartum care: the needs of the first days after childbirth are not necessarily the same as the needs several weeks later.

We have taken this complex food tradition and made it practical for a modern household. Instead of asking an exhausted family to locate an herbal pharmacy, identify unfamiliar roots, understand which herbs belong together, measure everything correctly, and then determine how to prepare it, FAMMá has already sourced, measured, and organized the dry ingredients.

Families add their preferred proteins and fresh ingredients and prepare the meals at home using familiar cooking methods.

Traditional herbal formulas are not a replacement for medical care, nor can any particular soup or herb guarantee recovery. But nutrition itself is fundamental to recovery, and traditional Chinese postpartum food culture offers a sophisticated framework for making nourishment a priority during a time when Mom needs it most.

Prepare Your Food Before the Baby Arrives

One of the most useful things you can do during pregnancy is prepare the food you will eat postpartum.

Do not plan only for the first few days after returning from the hospital. Think about the first several weeks. Family may be around during week one and gone by week three. A partner may return to work. Meal trains eventually end. The question is not simply, “What are we eating when we get home?” It is, “How are we going to keep Mom fed for the next six weeks?”

In the final weeks of pregnancy, begin stocking the freezer and pantry with foods that require very little effort. Soups, broths, stews, cooked proteins, rice, oats, grains, eggs, frozen vegetables, fruit, nuts, nut butters, and easy snacks can make an enormous difference when nobody has the energy to cook.

If traditional postpartum nourishment is something you want to incorporate, have it ready before birth. FAMMá's complete 42-Day Postpartum Recovery Program can be stocked before the due date so the progression is already organized when Mom comes home.

Prepare for Eating at Strange Hours

Newborns do not organize their lives around breakfast, lunch, and dinner, so your postpartum food plan should not depend on those times either. You may finish feeding a baby at 3:00 a.m. and realize you are starving. You may miss lunch because the baby finally fell asleep on you. You may sit down to dinner and immediately have to get back up.

Keep snacks beside the bed or wherever you expect to feed the baby. Have foods that can be eaten immediately and keep soups, congee, or leftovers that can be reheated quickly. A basket with nuts, granola, dried fruit, crackers, nut butter, or other foods you enjoy can live next to your feeding area. Refrigerated foods such as boiled eggs, yogurt, fruit, and prepared meals can provide more substantial options when you have a few minutes.

FAMMá also makes baked treats and granola specifically with these unpredictable postpartum hours in mind. They are easy to keep beside your bed or nursing station, throw into a bag, or grab when you need something without preparing another meal. Pair them with a tisane, soup, yogurt, fruit, or another easy food to help keep nourishment within reach throughout the day and night.

The goal is not to create a perfect postpartum diet. The goal is to make nourishing yourself easy when your schedule is no longer your own.

Keep Hydration Everywhere

Hydration needs to be convenient during postpartum. Keep water, tisanes, or another hydrating drink in the places where you spend the most time, especially beside the bed and wherever you feed your baby. Soups and broths can also contribute fluids while providing nourishment at the same time.

FAMMá's 42-Day Postpartum Recovery Program includes a daily herbal tisane progression that changes week by week throughout the six weeks of recovery. Each daily sachet brews approximately 24 ounces, so you can prepare it once and keep it in a thermos to drink throughout the day rather than making individual cups. Like our soups and congee, the herbs and botanicals change as Mom moves through the different stages of postpartum recovery.

If you are breastfeeding, get into the habit of checking whether you have something to drink and something to eat before settling in for a feeding. Keep your thermos, water, and a snack within reach. Once a baby falls asleep on you, the glass of water across the room can feel impossibly far away.

The idea is simple: prepare once, keep it beside you, and make nourishment and hydration part of the rhythm of your day.

Get a Rice Cooker, an Instant Pot, an Electric Kettle or ALL

These may turn out to be more useful postpartum than half the things on your baby registry. The biggest advantage is not just convenience. They reduce the need to monitor an open stove when everyone in the house is tired and easily distracted.

A rice cooker can make rice and congee and keep them warm without someone watching a pot. An Instant Pot can prepare soups, broths, grains, beans, and one-pot meals with automatic cooking and keep-warm functions. An electric kettle makes preparing herbal tisanes simple and keeps hot water readily available.

Trust us, you, your partner, or a family member may start cooking and suddenly need to feed the baby, change a diaper, answer the door, soothe a crying newborn, or simply forget what is happening in the kitchen after another night of broken sleep. Postpartum is not the ideal time to have a pot simmering unattended on the stove.

Set up your kitchen so food can cook with minimal supervision and shut off or switch to a keep-warm setting automatically when possible. Traditional postpartum soups, congee, broths, and tisanes are particularly well suited to these appliances.

Postpartum cooking should be designed around less monitoring, fewer decisions, and fewer opportunities to forget something on the stove while everyone is focused on the baby.

Prepare for Breastfeeding Before You Breastfeed

Breastfeeding is often portrayed as this beautiful, peaceful bonding experience between Mom and baby. It can absolutely be that, but one of the biggest surprises for many new mothers is something nobody seems to talk about enough: breastfeeding can hurt like hell, especially in the beginning.

Your breasts can become swollen and engorged, your nipples can become incredibly tender or sore, and you and your baby are both learning how to make this whole thing work. Feeding and pumping can also consume far more of the day and night than you ever imagined.

It helps to know this before the baby arrives so you are not sitting there at 2:00 a.m. wondering why nobody warned you. Some tenderness can happen as you adjust, but severe or persistent pain, cracked or bleeding nipples, or pain throughout a feeding can be a sign that you need help with latch or another feeding issue. Know ahead of time who you can contact for lactation support so you are not trying to find someone when you are exhausted and uncomfortable.

Set up a comfortable feeding area before birth with pillows, burp cloths, water, your FAMMá tisane and snacks, chargers, and whatever feeding or pumping supplies you plan to use. You may spend hours there throughout the day and night, so make it a place where Mom can nourish herself while she nourishes the baby.

Your partner should also understand how much work breastfeeding can require. If Mom is nursing throughout the day and night, feeding the baby is already a major responsibility. Someone else can refill her water, bring her food, change diapers, wash bottles or pump parts, clean the kitchen, and take care of household tasks without waiting for her to ask.

Postpartum is not all rainbows, newborn cuddles, and beautiful breastfeeding photos. Knowing the reality before you are in it makes it much easier to prepare for it.

Stop Comparing Your Postpartum to Everyone Else's

One of the easiest ways to make postpartum harder is to compare your recovery to someone else's. One mom is breastfeeding effortlessly, another is exclusively pumping, another is using formula. Someone on Instagram is dressed and out for brunch two weeks after birth while you are still sore, exhausted, and wondering what day it is.

Do not use someone else's postpartum as the timeline for your own recovery.

Every pregnancy is different. Every birth is different. Every baby is different. A mother recovering from a long labor, significant blood loss, tearing, an emergency C-section, or a traumatic birth is starting postpartum from a completely different place than someone who had an uncomplicated delivery. Even two births experienced by the same woman can result in completely different recoveries.

Give yourself room to figure out breastfeeding. Give yourself permission to supplement or change your feeding plan if you need to. Let your body recover without immediately worrying about losing weight or “bouncing back.” Accept help without feeling like you should be able to do everything yourself.

Social media can make postpartum look like newborn cuddles, matching pajamas, a spotless house, and a mother who somehow has her hair done. That is a snapshot, not someone's entire day.

The first 40 days are not a competition. There is no prize for recovering fastest, needing the least help, exclusively breastfeeding, cooking every meal, keeping the cleanest house, or proving you can handle everything yourself.

Be patient with yourself. You just became a mother, and you are learning how to care for this new person while also learning how to care for a new version of yourself.

Prepare for Broken Sleep

Newborn sleep can turn a familiar 24-hour day into a collection of unpredictable stretches. Instead of assuming you will simply “sleep when the baby sleeps,” talk with your partner before birth about how you will share nights and protect whatever sleep is possible.

Depending on how the baby is being fed, one person might handle diaper changes, settling, bottle preparation, or an early morning shift. If Mom is breastfeeding, a partner can still bring the baby to her, handle the diaper change, refill her water, and settle the baby afterward.

The exact arrangement will be different for every family. What matters is discussing it before two exhausted people are trying to negotiate responsibilities at three in the morning.

Prepare for Emotional Changes

Postpartum can bring emotions that feel unfamiliar or unexpectedly intense. Hormones are changing rapidly, sleep is fragmented, the body is recovering, and nearly every familiar routine has changed at once.

A mother may cry more easily, feel anxious or irritable, become overwhelmed, feel lonely despite constantly having someone attached to her, or love her baby deeply while simultaneously missing parts of her previous life. She may have thoughts or emotions that surprise her.

Women should be able to talk about these experiences without feeling ashamed or believing that difficult emotions mean they are failing at motherhood. Partners and family should also understand beforehand that emotional support is part of postpartum care.

Persistent or severe depression or anxiety, feeling unable to function or care for yourself, frightening changes in thoughts or behavior, or thoughts of harming yourself or your baby are different and should be taken seriously and brought to a healthcare professional immediately.

Prepare for the Birth You Did Not Plan

A birth plan is a plan, not a prediction. Labor may be much longer than expected, a vaginal delivery may involve significant tearing or assisted delivery, an unexpected C-section may become necessary, or Mom or baby may require additional medical care.

Some women come away from birth feeling exhilarated. Others feel frightened, disappointed, angry, disconnected, or shocked by what happened. A difficult or traumatic birth can change what postpartum recovery looks like and may mean a mother needs additional physical help, more time, additional appointments, or emotional support.

This is another reason not to design postpartum around the assumption that Mom will immediately return to normal household life.

Find Your Village Before You Need It

Do not wait until you are exhausted to decide who you can ask for help. Your village might include your partner, parents, siblings, friends, neighbors, a postpartum doula, lactation consultant, housekeeper, meal train, grocery delivery service, or a combination of them.

Have these conversations before the baby arrives because vague offers of help are much less useful than specific responsibilities. When someone says, “Let me know if you need anything,” have an answer. Ask them to bring dinner, pick up groceries, walk the dog, fold laundry, take the older kids for a few hours, or hold the baby while you shower and eat.

If people genuinely want to help, let them help.

Postpartum Support Checklist

• Plan meals for several weeks, not only the first few days.

• Stock the freezer and pantry with easy, nourishing foods.

• Have snacks and drinks beside your main feeding areas.

• Prepare postpartum soups, congee, broths, and tisanes ahead of time.

• Consider a rice cooker, Instant Pot, or both.

• Decide who will cook or deliver meals.

• Identify who will handle laundry and cleaning.

• Arrange help for pets and older children.

• Decide who will manage groceries and household errands.

• Identify backup support for when a partner returns to work.

• Know who you can call for breastfeeding support.

• Decide how visitors will be handled.

• Save important postpartum and medical contacts before birth.

• Make sure Mom has regular opportunities to eat, shower, sleep, and have time to herself.

Partners: Support Means Taking Ownership

One of the most important postpartum conversations should happen before the baby is born. A recovering mother should not have to identify every household problem and then assign someone else the task of solving it.

If the dishes need washing, wash them. If the laundry basket is full, do it. If there is no food, prepare something or order it. Refill her water when you notice it is empty. Change the baby without waiting to be asked. Manage your own family members who want to visit. Protect Mom's sleep when she finally gets an opportunity to rest.

Asking “What can I do?” may sound supportive, but if Mom has to continually inventory the household and delegate every task, she is still carrying the mental load. Real postpartum support means noticing what needs to be done and taking responsibility for it.

The same applies to extended family. Grandparents and relatives do not need to come over solely to hold the baby while Mom cooks and cleans. Hold the baby so she can shower, eat, or sleep. Better yet, bring a meal, clean the kitchen, fold some laundry, and then hold the baby.

Prepare the House for Mom, Too

Everyone thinks about the nursery, but Mom needs her own recovery setup.

Create a comfortable station anywhere she is likely to spend significant time with the baby. Keep water, snacks, burp cloths, tissues, feeding supplies, pillows, a phone charger, postpartum supplies, and other frequently used items within reach. If you have a multi-story house, consider setting up more than one.

This is not about unnecessary bed rest. It is about eliminating pointless work. Getting up repeatedly because everything you need is in another room becomes exhausting when you are sore, sleep deprived, and carrying a newborn.

Decide What Visitors Will Look Like

Postpartum should not become a six-week hosting schedule. Decide before birth how you want visitors handled, particularly if you already know that family and friends will be eager to meet the baby.

A useful postpartum visitor does not need to stay for hours. Someone who brings lunch, empties the dishwasher, holds the baby while Mom showers, and leaves after a short visit may provide far more support than someone who expects the recovering parents to entertain them.

A visitor comes to see the baby. Support comes to care for the family.

Think in 40 Days, Not Just the First Weekend

Most pregnancy preparation focuses heavily on labor, the hospital, and bringing the baby home. Postpartum preparation needs a longer horizon.

Think about what happens when the initial excitement dies down. Who is feeding Mom during week two? What happens when grandparents go home? When does a partner return to work? Who can help during weeks three and four? What food will still be available? Who can step in when everyone is exhausted?

The first few days may actually be when families have the most help. It is often the weeks afterward that require more planning.

This is why preparing for approximately six weeks rather than a few days can completely change the postpartum experience.

The First 40 Days Are the Beginning, Not the End

The importance of the first 40 days should not be confused with the idea that a woman is fully recovered on day 41. The early postpartum period is an intensive phase of physical healing, and much of uterine involution occurs during roughly the first six weeks, but many aspects of recovery continue beyond it.

There is also another transition happening that cannot be measured by uterine size, hormone levels, or a medical appointment. A woman is learning how to live within a new family structure and how to understand herself in a new role as a mother.

Her sleep may be different for months. Breastfeeding may continue for a year or longer. Her relationship may change. Her career and priorities may shift. Her body may feel unfamiliar for some time. The logistics of her household and distribution of responsibilities within her family may need to be renegotiated repeatedly as the baby grows.

For some women, feeling physically and emotionally settled into motherhood takes months. For others, it takes years. Becoming a mother can influence identity, relationships, priorities, and family life for decades.

The purpose of protecting the first 40 days is not to make a woman “normal again” by day 41. It is to give her a strong foundation for everything that comes afterward.

Prepare for the Baby, but Plan for the Mother

Preparing for postpartum does not require creating another enormous project for an expecting mother to complete. The purpose of planning ahead is the opposite. It is to remove work from her future self.

Think about six weeks of nourishment rather than three days of meals. Stock the freezer and pantry. Have warm, easy foods available. Prepare soups, congee, and tisanes before birth. Set up snacks and hydration where Mom will feed the baby. Consider a rice cooker or Instant Pot so nourishing food can cook without someone watching the stove. Build a village and give people specific jobs. Decide who owns the household chores. Talk honestly with your partner about nighttime care, visitors, meals, and the mental load of running the home.

Most importantly, leave room for the reality that Mom may need more care than anyone expected. Birth may be straightforward or difficult. Breastfeeding may come easily or take considerable work. Emotions may be complicated. Sleep will probably be strange. Recovery will not follow an exact schedule.

The baby will receive enormous attention because everyone is watching the baby. Prepare ahead of time so someone is taking care of Mom, too.

Top 10 Things No One Warns New Moms About

1. Breastfeeding can hurt like hell. Your breasts can become painfully engorged, nipples can get incredibly sore, and you and your baby are both learning. If the pain is severe or persistent, get help with latch or other possible causes.
2. The first poop can be terrifying. Constipation, hemorrhoids, stitches, tearing, and simply being afraid to push can turn the first bowel movement into an event. Hydrate, eat fiber, and ask before leaving the hospital whether a stool softener makes sense for you.
3. You can have contractions after the baby is already out. Your uterus continues contracting as it shrinks, and breastfeeding can make these “afterpains” more noticeable. A surprising number of moms say nobody warned them about this.
4. Your hormones can seriously mess with your emotions. You might cry unexpectedly, feel anxious, get irritated with everyone, or have thoughts that do not feel like your usual self. The baby blues are common in the first days after birth. Do not believe every exhausted thought inside your head, but do talk about what you are feeling. If your thoughts become persistent, frightening, overwhelming, or make you feel unsafe, that is different and deserves help.
5. The night sweats can be wild. This comes up over and over again from new moms. You may wake up absolutely drenched as your hormones and fluid balance shift after pregnancy. Put extra pajamas, sheets, and a towel somewhere easy to reach.
6. Peeing can be weird too. It can sting, you may have difficulty urinating, and some women experience leaking or changes in bladder sensation after birth. Your bathroom deserves some postpartum preparation too.
7. You can love your baby and desperately miss your old life. Those feelings can exist together. Your independence, sleep, relationship, schedule, body, and identity have all changed very quickly. Missing pieces of your former life does not cancel out loving your child. This is something mothers themselves repeatedly describe as an unexpected part of postpartum.
8. You might not immediately feel that magical bond everyone talks about. For some mothers it is instant. For others, the relationship develops gradually as they get to know their baby. Stop comparing your internal experience with someone else's highlight reel.
9. You may feel like your body belongs to everyone except you. A baby may be nursing, sleeping on you, crying for you, or wanting to be held constantly. Add pumping, leaking breasts, postpartum bleeding, soreness, and broken sleep, and feeling “touched out” or craving a little time alone can be very real.
10. You will probably need more help than you think you will. This may be the biggest one. You are recovering while learning to care for another human being. Let someone make the food, wash the dishes, do the laundry, bring groceries, walk the dog, or hold the baby while you shower. There is no prize for proving you can do postpartum alone.

This article is for educational purposes and is not a substitute for individualized medical care. Traditional Chinese Medicine terminology describes a traditional medical framework and is not equivalent to a biomedical diagnosis. Classical herbal formulas have specific traditional indications and may not be appropriate for every person, medication, birth experience, or medical condition. Seek individualized guidance when using herbal preparations postpartum and medical care for concerning postpartum symptoms or significant changes in physical or mental health.