After childbirth - recovering normal health

There is a typical kind of problem that manifests with women after childbirth. This syndrome gets more and more aggravated after each birth and causes a number of problems - this is all from my clinical observations over the last 29 years:

If a woman is not balanced in dosha and dhatu before pregnancy there is a tendency for the body to have difficulty during pregnancy to adjust hormone levels, nutrient levels, etc. Usually what happens is that the mother gains weight, has edema, or in some cases be too thin during pregnancy. What happens then is that after birth they keep the imbalance they "adjusted to" during pregnancy. It can be minor after the first child and become a major problem after the 2nd or 3rd child.

I see this syndrome as a vata problem as vata controls overall coordination of body and growth of fetus and the birth itself. Chemically this is a hormone imbalance that does not come back into normal states after childbirth. Under normal healthy conditions a woman’s body will adjust automatically to the needs of a developing fetus and then adjust to milk production, and then adjust back to the previous state of health when nursing is finished. However, if the doshas are not functioning correctly, and especially if vata dosha is deranged, then the above syndrome will tend to manifest.

Symptoms vary from woman to woman. What I often see are chronic digestive problems, weight gain, depression, endocrine problems, etc.

Treatment consists of balancing doshas (especially vata) and giving plants that support correct hormone function, such as Vitex agnus castus, Angelica spp., etc. Also the Agni needs to be balanced to help correct nutrient digestion. More information on the use of herbs can be found in the textbook I have written covers pregnancy and pediatrics.

Application of Ayurvedic Treatments Throughout Life (Volume 5) - Ayurvedic Medicine for Westerners