Written by Eva Luna Poorthuis, Women's Health Expert at Eva Luna Lifestyle since 2016.
The period after giving birth might be one of the most underestimated phases in a woman's life. You've just been through something that changes literally everything: your body, your hormones, your identity. And then there's this expectation that after your six-week check-up, you're supposed to be ready again. That you'll have your old body back, feel like your best self again, and know exactly what you're doing.
That's not how it works. And that's completely fine.
Every birth is different. Every body recovers at its own pace. What felt like recovery for your friend after three months might take you a year — and that says nothing about how strong or capable you are.
What I want is for you to understand what's happening in your body. So you can give yourself more room, more understanding, more rest. Because once you know why you feel exhausted, why emotions can hit so hard, why your body doesn't feel like your own — you can handle it better.
Your hormones after birth: a radical shift
During pregnancy, your hormones reach levels you'll never normally experience. Progesterone, estrogen, and the pregnancy hormone hCG stay elevated for months to support you and your baby. And then, the moment the placenta is delivered, that whole system collapses.
Within 24 to 48 hours after birth, estrogen and progesterone drop radically. And this happens anything but gradually. It's one of the biggest hormonal swings a woman experiences in her lifetime — bigger than puberty, bigger than menopause. So yes, you'll feel it. Here's what's specifically happening:
Progesterone drops fast and hard. From a high pregnancy level to nearly zero within 48 hours. This contributes to mood swings, irritability, and the sense of emptiness many women describe as the "baby blues."
Estrogen drops and stays low if you're breastfeeding. Prolactin keeps estrogen suppressed during breastfeeding. This can explain vaginal dryness, joint pain, and lower libido — things that startle a lot of women but are completely normal.
Prolactin rises with breastfeeding. This hormone drives milk production, but it also puts your cycle on hold. It suppresses ovulation, so your period can stay away for months. The more and more often you nurse, the longer this lasts. Normal — but good to know. After you stop breastfeeding, your cycle usually returns within three months for most women. Taking longer? Worth checking in with your doctor. What matters is that the cycle does come back.
Oxytocin is the bonding hormone. It's released during breastfeeding and skin-to-skin contact. It also helps your uterus contract and strengthens your bond with your baby.
Beyond these big four, your thyroid function changes after birth too. Postpartum thyroiditis affects 5 to 10% of women and is still under-screened. If you're still feeling exhausted and off months later, ask for a thyroid function test. Sometimes there's more going on than just the weight of a newborn.
And here's something that surprises a lot of women: your breasts go through major changes during this period too. Not just from milk production — much earlier than that. Sensitive, fuller breasts are often one of the first implantation symptoms you'll notice. You can read more about what your breasts go through during pregnancy and postpartum on our page about breasts during pregnancy.
How long does recovery actually take? Longer than nine months
It took nine months to grow and develop a baby inside you. The popular idea is that recovery takes nine months too. But physiologically, for a lot of women, that's a massive underestimate — and completely unrealistic. So let me give you a more honest picture of what recovery can actually look like.
Week 0–6: acute physical recovery. Your uterus shrinks back from over 1 kg to around 60 grams. Wounds or scars (from a C-section or other medical procedures) heal. Your pelvic floor is under serious pressure. This is the phase where rest isn't optional — it's essential, so you don't end up dealing with complications later.
Month 2–4: hormonal rebalancing. The baby blues (the first two weeks) pass, but hormonal fluctuations continue. Sleep deprivation piles up, emotions can run intense, and a lot of mothers feel anything but themselves. That's normal — but it deserves attention and nourishing food. Want to know how to nourish your hormones? Read this article.
Month 4–12+: pelvic floor and core strength. Your pelvic floor typically needs six to twelve months to recover, and longer with severe tearing or scar tissue. Back pain, unwanted urine leakage, or a heavy feeling are signals that your pelvic floor needs extra attention, recovery, and exercise. See a pelvic floor physiotherapist for this.
Month 9–18+: identity integration. We call this phase matrescence — the term for the psychological and neurological transformation that happens as you become a mother. Your brain is literally being reorganized. Your relationship to yourself, your partner, your work, your body — all of it can shift. This deserves time and space.
Matrescence is just as significant a transition as adolescence, but we barely talk about it. You're allowed to struggle with who you are right now, while also loving your child. Those aren't contradictory feelings — that's just human.
What can you do to recover from the inside out?
Postpartum recovery isn't a checklist you tick off. But there are concrete choices that make a real difference. I always look at three pillars: nutrition, movement, and mental space.
Nutrition
Your body just did something enormous. It made a human, brought them into the world, and if you're breastfeeding, it's now also responsible for feeding that new person. That takes energy — a lot of energy.
Especially with breastfeeding, you need more calories than you think: around 400 to 500 extra per day. Hunger in this phase is a signal that your body is working hard.
Undereating is one of the easiest ways to slow down your recovery — and yet it's something a lot of women do unconsciously, because they want to feel fit again quickly. Let yourself eat. Your hormones will thank you for it.
What you eat matters too. After birth, your iron stores are often depleted from blood loss, and iron is essential for energy and tissue repair. Red meat, legumes, and dark leafy greens are good sources. Pair them with vitamin C for better absorption. Always get this tested after birth — both ferritin and hemoglobin. Want to know more about your levels and how to recognize iron deficiency symptoms? Read it here.
Omega-3 plays an important role too. Your brain undergoes a major reorganization postpartum, and omega-3 (from fatty fish, and to a lesser extent walnuts or flaxseed) supports both your mood and your neurological recovery.
Finally, zinc and magnesium are important for tissue repair, muscle relaxation, and sleep quality. You'll find them in pumpkin seeds, nuts, seeds, and cacao.
Practical tip: cook double portions and freeze meals before you give birth. Or ask people around you to bring food instead of gifts. Most babies already have more toys than they could use in a year.
Movement, starting during pregnancy
The conversation about movement actually starts before birth. During pregnancy, women are still too often scared into caution: don't lift anything heavy, be careful, take it easy. How many times have you heard that? Fortunately, it's not that black and white — it really depends on your situation.
Strength training during pregnancy can actually be hugely supportive for your energy, posture, stability, and later, your recovery too. Context is what matters: how does your body feel? What are you used to? What does the load look like? And how is your pregnancy going?
A woman who's been training for years doesn't need to suddenly drop everything the moment the test comes back positive. Training is allowed to evolve with your body — it doesn't have to disappear out of fear. A good sports or maternity bra that grows with your changing breasts makes a real difference here, by the way. Comfort in this phase isn't a luxury — it's a requirement for staying active.
After birth, the question almost everyone asks me is: do I really have to wait six weeks? The answer: not necessarily. Six weeks is a guideline, not a law. For some women, that rest is exactly right and necessary. For others, gentle movement can start earlier — but that means walking, breathing exercises, and very light activation, not powerlifting. More intense training asks more of your body and deserves more time, even if you feel good. Feeling good isn't the same as being fully healed.
Work with a pelvic floor physiotherapist for this. Not because something's necessarily wrong, but because they're best placed to assess where your recovery actually stands and what your pelvic floor can handle. That's more valuable than any generic protocol.
Pay attention to your own body's signals: pain, increasing blood loss, a heavy or pressing feeling in the pelvis, dizziness, or extreme fatigue. Those signals call for rest, not for pushing through. Recovery isn't a competition. More movement isn't always better — but complete inactivity isn't automatically the answer either.
Mental and emotional space
This might be the pillar that gets skipped and underestimated the most, even though it demands the most.
Asking for help is one of the hardest things I see women struggle with. The idea that you have to handle everything yourself — and preferably do it well too — is one of the biggest energy drains there is. And yet, time and again, I see women trying to stay strong on their own. My biggest advice: ask for help specifically. So: "Can you cook on Monday night?" works far better than an open-ended question that leaves people unsure how to respond. People want to help — they just often don't know how.
Let go of perfection. Perfection literally gets in the way of your recovery during this phase. Your body needs rest, not performance or forced pressure. A clean house has never sped up anyone's recovery.
Small moments for yourself are bigger than they seem. Ten unhurried minutes in the shower, a cup of coffee while it's still warm, a short walk alone. You don't have to earn those moments — they're part of recovery. When you take those little moments for yourself, you catch your breath, and that's what lets you show up fully present for your little one again.
And maybe most importantly: talk about it. With your partner, a friend, a coach, or a professional. The thought "I should feel happier than this" deserves attention. If mood-related struggles continue past the first two weeks, or if you feel anxious, empty, or overwhelmed, take that seriously. Postpartum depression and anxiety are more common than people think — they're recognizable, and they're treatable. Seeking help early is the smart move.
Postpartum recovery isn't a straight line.
It moves in waves. Good days and hard moments. From "Damn, I've got this" to "who even am I?" and back again.
What I wish for you isn't a quick return to who you used to be. It's the space to discover who you are now. As a mother, as a woman, as a person in this new chapter.
Want to learn more about your hormones?
Learn more about your cycle, your hormones, and the link to gut issues in my free Women's Health Guide, which teaches you more about your female health in six steps.
Or want personal guidance through your own recovery?
Within my coaching, I look at the whole picture: hormones, nutrition, movement, and mental space. Together, we work toward recovery that fits you — without radical changes or unnecessary pressure. Discover the options at evalunalifestyle.nl/hormoon-coaching.
Eva Luna Poorthuis is the founder of Eva Luna Lifestyle and a women's health and lifestyle coach. After years of living with symptoms that doctors dismissed, and discovering for herself that hormones were the key, her mission became clear: every woman deserves access to this knowledge. She's been guiding women one-on-one for ten years, develops programs and courses, gives keynotes at companies, and wrote the book Hungry Hormones. More than 1,600 women later, her drive to change the standard for women's health as fast as possible has only gotten stronger.
