What your baby is doing
Your newborn cannot self-regulate. Heart rate, breathing and temperature all stabilise on your chest. Skin-to-skin is medicine, not a nice-to-have.
Source: Moore et al., Cochrane Database Syst Rev (2016) — Early skin-to-skin
Your healing body
Bleeding becomes lighter and browner. Hormone crash + sleep loss amplify everything. Eat warm food, hydrate, rest — and begin daily pelvic-floor muscle contractions (gentle, breath-led). Pelvic-floor training reduces urinary incontinence risk (2025 Canadian Postpartum Guideline).
General info — not personalised medical advice.
Maternal mind
Baby blues typically peak day 3–5 and fade by day 14. After 2 weeks, low mood / anxiety / detachment is no longer 'blues' — it's a perinatal mood disorder. Both are treatable.
Source: O'Hara & Wisner, Best Practice & Research Clin OB/GYN 28 (2014) — Perinatal mental illness
You & baby
Early skin-to-skin and unhurried contact regulate oxytocin and shape the attachment system. Long looks, slow voice, warm hands — that's the work.
Source: Feldman, Hormones and Behavior 77 (2016) — Neurobiology of attachment
For your partner
Filter visitors, hydrate the birthing parent, change nappies, run logistics. Touch the baby every day — fathers' brains reorganise around hands-on care (Abraham 2014).
Source: Abraham et al., PNAS 111(27), 2014 — Father's brain & childcare
Milk, bottles & beyond
Day 1 stomach ≈ a marble (5–7 ml); day 3 ≈ a walnut; day 10 ≈ an egg. Feeding 8–12+ times in 24h is normal and protective — supply is built on removal, not storage.
Infant sleep this week
Newborn sleep is polyphasic and contact-led. Safe-sleep basics: on the back, on a firm flat surface, no loose bedding, room-sharing for the first 6 months (AAP 2022).
Source: AAP Task Force on SIDS — Safe Sleep Recommendations 2022
60-second prompt
List three concrete supports you can ask for this week. Send one message today.
Developed and curated by perinatal psychologists, family & couples counsellors, doulas, perinatal health & fitness specialists, and IBCLCs / lactation consultants. Educational — not a substitute for medical care.