Redazione My Special Doctor

Hence the opportunity to promote a new model of fitness for new mothers that, precisely starting from the basic rudiments, and without utopian ambitions, offers every woman, with appropriate modes of expression and with a systematic and gradual path, the possibility of regaining not only her own physical fitness but also that level of energy and comfort that is indispensable for facing motherhood with dynamism and determination, prerequisites that are also fundamental for preventing numerous ailments in the newborn (e.g., colic, sleep disorders) and serving as a solid role model for one’s child, even in later eras.

Although Italy’s health service ranks among the most highly regarded worldwide, there are numerous “uncovered” areas, usually more due to a lack of adequate organizational supports than expertise. These certainly include postpartum care with regard to women’s mental and physical well-being.

The current approach, rightly privileges the clinical approach, with the aim of safeguarding the health status of mother and newborn, but only marginally takes into account doubts, fears, expectations and fragilities of the woman who, after carrying the pregnancy to term, needs to find herself again, to consolidate her self-esteem and to regain possession of all existential dimensions, in a renewed context of family life.

Often, in cases of difficulty, the absence or weakness of what has recently been dubbed the “social support network,” consisting primarily of the family unit and secondarily of friendship relationships, is called into question. In fact, however, it is unthinkable that the responsibility for the entire “management” of psychophysical well-being should be delegated to external actors, just as it would be reductive to attribute it solely to the role of professionals who, however equipped with all the necessary skills, are used to working individually, with an approach oriented to specific problems and not as a team and with educational and preventive intent.

A paradigmatic occurrence is difficulties in initiating or maintaining breastfeeding: in this case, depending on the issue, the pediatrician, gynecologist, midwife, or experienced nurse (IBCLC) may be called upon to intervene, but always from a single-minded perspective that is highly polarized toward overcoming a specific obstacle. In contrast, little importance is given to the biopsychosocial dimension of the woman, understood as her direct interaction (from a “patient-cenmtered” perspective) with the world immediately surrounding her that starts precisely from her psychophysical balance.

In light of these reflections, in the absence of a “multidisciplinary culture” of the puerperium and in view of the established familiarity with the new media, the proposal of a reasoned program capable of promoting well-being in all its multifaceted facets, besides being innovative, is undoubtedly of use both in providing concrete guidance to the new mother and in stimulating health professionals. On the other hand, a woman who regains serenity and well-being after childbirth will be able to face motherhood with greater security and confidence and to share with her child a relationship that is more stimulating and marked by the search for new common experiences rather than circumscribed, almost in a defensive attitude, to a mere watchful protective function, yes, but inherently passive.