---
title: "After a birth: recovery, feeding and wellbeing"
description: "Recovering from birth or a caesarean, feeding your baby, pelvic floor, sleep, mental health and contraception, with the warning signs that need help now."
url: "https://myruva.co/learn/topics/postpartum"
language: "en-GB"
---

# After a birth: recovery, feeding and wellbeing

The first weeks and months after a birth: how bodies heal, feeding without judgement, sleep, mood, and the symptoms that need help straight away.

- [After a birth: symptoms that need help](https://myruva.co/learn/postpartum-warning-signs): When bleeding, fever, chest pain, headaches or changes in mental health after birth need urgent or emergency care. Includes when to get help.
- [After a difficult or frightening birth](https://myruva.co/learn/difficult-birth-and-birth-trauma): Common reactions after a frightening birth, how lasting distress differs from baby blues, what talking services offer, and which treatments help.
- [Baby blues, postnatal depression and postpartum psychosis](https://myruva.co/learn/baby-blues-postnatal-depression-and-psychosis): How baby blues, depression and psychosis differ after a birth, with clear ways to get treatment and urgent support. Includes when to get help.
- [Breastfeeding problems and getting help](https://myruva.co/learn/breastfeeding-problems): Help with painful feeds, swollen breasts, mastitis and tongue-tie, and when to check medicines with a pharmacist. Includes when to get help.
- [Contraception after a birth](https://myruva.co/learn/contraception-after-birth): When fertility can come back, contraception options while breastfeeding, and the rules for using breastfeeding as contraception.
- [Feeding your baby: breast, formula or both](https://myruva.co/learn/feeding-your-baby-breast-formula-or-both): Practical support for breastfeeding, formula and mixed feeding, with safe preparation and UK and US advice on vitamin D.
- [Getting active again after birth](https://myruva.co/learn/returning-to-exercise-after-birth): How to get moving again slowly, with advice on pelvic floor recovery, a gap in the tummy muscles and getting back to running.
- [Perineal tears and stitches: healing](https://myruva.co/learn/perineal-tears-and-stitches): A plain guide to the degrees of tear, caring for stitches, signs of infection, and getting help with pain or bowel control.
- [Recovering from a caesarean](https://myruva.co/learn/caesarean-recovery): Wound care, gentle movement, lifting and driving after a caesarean, with clear signs that you need to get help. Includes when to get help, with UK and US notes.
- [Safer sleep for your baby](https://myruva.co/learn/safer-sleep-for-your-baby): How to set up every sleep to lower the risk of SIDS, what UK and US advice says about bed sharing, and when to get help fast.
- [Sex and relationships after a birth](https://myruva.co/learn/sex-and-relationships-after-birth): Getting close again at your own pace, getting help for dryness or pain, and talking about support and contraception. Includes when to get help.
- [Sleep and tiredness after a birth](https://myruva.co/learn/sleep-and-tiredness-after-birth): Practical ways to share the nights and get rest, safer sleep for your baby, and when tiredness needs a medical check. Includes when to get help.
- [When your periods come back after a baby](https://myruva.co/learn/periods-after-having-a-baby): When periods tend to return after a birth, how feeding changes the timing, telling lochia from a period, and why pregnancy can come first.
- [Your body in the first weeks after birth](https://myruva.co/learn/first-weeks-after-birth-recovery): What to expect from bleeding, cramps, breasts and going to the toilet after birth, and when to get checked. Includes when to get help, with UK and US notes.
- [Your pelvic floor after birth](https://myruva.co/learn/pelvic-floor-after-birth): How pelvic floor exercises can help after birth, how to do them gently, and when to ask to see a physiotherapist. Includes when to get help.