Women are “not robots” and can often need extended periods of post-natal care after giving birth, a leading gynaecologist has said.

New research from the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that one in three women experience long-term health complications after a pregnancy, around 40 million women globally every year.

On Newstalk Breakfast today, Rotunda Hospital gynaecologist Dr Maeve Eogan said women in Ireland are expected to “snap back” to their old selves six weeks after giving birth in Ireland.

However, Dr Eogan said this isn’t possible in many situations.

“We know for sure it’s not true because people experience so much at the time of birth, regardless of the type of birth,” she said.

“There are so many hormonal changes, sleep deprivation and so many changes to family life that a baby brings, or an additional baby brings.

“We know people aren’t back to normal after six weeks.”

Post-natal supports

The gynaecologist said there’s a variety of post-natal supports available in Ireland.

“There is an acknowledgement in the Irish health service now that it can take longer to recover and there are more services for people, like from public health nurses, GPs, or hospital-based services,” she said.

“It could also be post-natal hubs which are community-based services that aren’t everywhere but are able to bring lactation support and midwifery support to the community and closer to people.

“It’s important to raise awareness that women are not elastic bands, and they don’t just snap back to how they were before they had a baby after six weeks.”

The Rotunda Hospital. Image: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie

Dr Eogan said women are “not robots” and, in an ideal world, there would be lots of wraparound services available to them post-pregnancy.

“No two people will be exactly the same or need the exact same supports so what you need is wraparound supports that speak to what the individual needs,” she said.

“What a person needs after their fourth baby may be very different to what they need after their first baby, after having twins.

“The point is to have accessible supports to raise awareness of them, so people know what’s there or what’s not there, they know who to ask for help.”

Public health nurses

Dr Eogan said public health nurses are key to improving post-natal care in Ireland.

“They are absolutely fantastic, but they are frequently overburdened with the amount of work they have to do,” she said.

“It’s about maternity services supporting them and highlighting to them what other resources exist, for example, there is now online lactation support, breastfeeding support.”

Over one-in-ten women experience post-natal depression in Ireland, according to the HSE.

Main image: A midwife listens to the heart of an unborn child. Image:  Annette Riedl/dpa