EP 150 Why Postpartum Retreats are NOT the Solution to the Maternal Healthcare Crisis

Postpartum retreats are a hot topic in the news right now.

There are several red flags involved with this that we need to make ourselves aware of right away.

So let's talk about why these postpartum retreats are NOT the solution to the maternal healthcare crisis.

In this episode, we're sharing:

• The obvious prohibitive cost factor that luxury experiences like this present, that further widens the gap between the privileged wealthy and those who don't have the financial means for such care.
• The slippery slope into "standardized care" something like this generates and who actually benefits from these "investments" in the long term.
• What needs to be done instead that will fully support mothers, babies, and families and set them up for the journey of parenthood.

I'm sure this episode is going to bring you a perspective on postpartum retreats that isn't being presented in the mainstream coverage.

Let's have a conversation about the rise of postpartum retreats and how you envision yourself contributing to a paradigm of postpartum care that allows all mothers to thrive. Join us to chat about it in the Facebook group!

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Transcript

Depression, anxiety, and autoimmune symptoms after birth is not how it's supposed to be. There is a much better way, and I'm here to show you how to do just that. Hey, my friend, I'm Maranda Bower, a mother to four kids and a biology student turned scientist obsessed with changing the world through postpartum care. Join us as we talk to mothers and the providers who serve them and getting evidence-based information that actually supports the mind, body, and soul in the years after birth.

Hello, welcome to the Postpartum University podcast, Maranda Bower here.

Let's get really honest in this episode and I know that you expect nothing less of me, but we need to talk about the rising popularity of postpartum retreats. I'm going to talk about how, today, they are really not the answers. They are not serving us in the way in which we truly need.

First, let's talk about what postpartum retreats are. I've seen this hit headlines over and over and over again.

There are some of these beautiful places where we can go after we have the birth of our baby and we can get absolutely pampered.

There are places that have entire support systems at our fingertips, that resemble basically going to stay at a hotel and being completely served.

You have your laundry taken care of, you have your meals cooked for you and delivered. You have a lactation consultant on staff, you have massage, you can get your nails done. You just get pampered and you get to be there while you bond with your baby and care for your baby.

Honestly, that is the life right there. It sounds absolutely magical and it is. It is a magical experience. A big part of me is like oh my gosh, that's exactly what we need.

Yes, we need to recognize how beautiful that is and what a treasure that experience would be, but here's the thing. It's for the wealthy and it's not practical for those who have other children.

Oftentimes these places are for just mother, baby, and partner and they can go for a couple of days to a couple of weeks, which is just not sustainable for so many people financially.

To pay tens of thousands of dollars to be able to have this sort of retreat experience might feel worth it for many and might be doable for many if you're in a position to do so phenomenal but for many people it is not practical.

It is not something that we could all get, and this is one of my biggest frustrations is that this is something that we all deserve. Everyone deserves this.

This should be the normal of postpartum care, but we're reserving it for the elite.

Now this is not my only concern.

My biggest concern is how this truly medicalizes and systematizes a normal physiological experience that is postpartum. This has happened for birth too. We look at the number of people who have had postpartum care and birth, which used to take place outside of a hospital, postpartum retreats, or medical rituals.

Let's not forget the natural beauty that is childbirth. But in having this medicalized experience of labor and birth, which had been reserved only for the elite back then, it was only the rich who were able to afford a hospital birth. It was the go-to thing.

If you were someone, then you had this birth experience. That's exactly what's happening here with postpartum retreats. Eventually, what happens is that it becomes a necessity to have postpartum in a center to monitor and check you because of the rates of danger we know that there are dangers that come with birthing a human being, growing a human being, and having a postpartum experience.

When they come back with a start saying, "Wait a second. These postpartum centers are amazing because well gee, they're getting the support that they need. Women and families and babies are being actually cared for, we have lower rates of postpartum depression and anxiety and autoimmune issues and bleeding and better breastfeeding rates and all of this then they're going to say, oh great, this is amazing, let's normalize this, let's provide it for more people."

What you have is a system that becomes developed. When you have a system that starts developing like this, where it's like, okay, well, now we're going to start including other people, and maybe insurance is going to start covering these things, well, now you have medical boards that have a say so in what's happening. Now you have insurance companies having a say in what's happening. Now you have systems and organizations that begin to be developed to accommodate the masses.

That level of care and the level of attention that is so divine and so necessary and so wanted within what is currently being provided in a postpartum retreat. I would love to have that. Shoot. I don't even want to necessarily be postpartum. I still want that. We all do.

We all need that time away and that space to recover and retreat and just restore our bodies. Anyway, it's so juicy and so divine it's hard to even not talk about.

But what we're doing is we're creating standardized care. That's exactly what happened in the hospital setting.

Then what happens is it no longer has anything to do with your care. The reason why everybody has a say so in what's going on is because of money.

The more the system controls your experience, the better because it brings more wealth to those who created the system in the first place.

This is exactly what happened with hospitals and exactly what happened with birth. Bringing postpartum care back home where it belongs, where it matters, is what we need to do. Hey, I'm going to be 100% straight with you. The postpartum world is changing right now and I know you feel it.

It's in the politics, our community spaces. There is an urgent need to implement a different approach to postpartum health.

If you're an alternative provider or postpartum advocate, you need to be with us in the Postpartum University Pro Membership.  Get the method, the tools, the handouts, the advanced trainings and so much more to not only help your clients and your business grow, but to help you grow too. Marketwatch says that the afterbirth services and nutrition and support are set for extraordinary growth by 2030. Don't miss your opportunity to help women and families who desperately need your holistic support. Go to www.postpartumU.com/membership
We're accepting registrations right now and we can't wait to see you there. 

It's not an easy thing to look at and say something so beautiful and so juicy and so wanted is probably the beginning of something really negative for us.

We know that the postpartum world is changing right now. I cannot stress enough how much of the paradigm that we are, we're in the midst of this paradigm right now. It's shifting, it's changing. You can feel it.

Policies are being made across states and on the federal level. Postpartum is being talked about and in legislation we are witnessing midwifery centers going under, no longer being able to accommodate the higher prices, the lack of support, the crazy oversight and rules and regulations that the system is putting on us in the name of safety, which is really not safety.

It's just all about money and regulation and power and control. We're witnessing the doulas all of a sudden being provided for and paid for by insurance companies, which again, is fascinating, and amazing. We're so excited for this.

But also they come with regulations, they come with restrictions. Now you're only allowed to be certified by XYZ organizations, which is going to help other organizations.

These organizations succeed, while others fail, often because they just don't have the big name associated with it, even though they may be of better quality and so many other immense things.

When you start having rules and regulations, you also start having boards, and when you have boards that are going to create the rules and the regulations, you're going to have a panel of people who are going to be in control of that. You're going to have state regulations. You're going to have to pay fees to be licensed.

You're going to have to pass a test to be able to pay a fee to have that, and that test requires more fees. And what happens is it becomes unsustainable.

Then they say, "Well, we're going to provide it in the hospital setting or we're going to provide it where the system already exists."

So now you're not going to be able to pick and choose who your doula is going to be, because it's going to be chosen for you in the hospital setting and you're not going to get it anywhere else. These are the things that could potentially happen. I'm not saying they are.

I'm saying that we've already seen, from a historical context, that these things have existed in the past. This is exactly what has been done already.

We've seen it done to midwives, we've seen it done in hospital births. We already know the process, we've seen it happen before, and so we're on the forefront of a major shift and a major change, and what we do now and what we say OK to now is going to dictate how that transforms for the future.

I also want to bring the awareness that postpartum retreats should be brought back into the home. After that initial week or two of healing, mothers are being sent back home from these retreats, which is often a really stressful transition, and they have to integrate.

Often they're doing so with very little support.

Yes, they were able to get that foundation met, but postpartum care isn't a one-time event. It's a lifelong journey. It would be such a disservice to say here's all the postpartum support that you're going to get in these few days, week, two weeks, or however long that you're able to afford to stay at this retreat and away from everyday life. Then, when you're done, you're done.

It's like that six-week-a-checkup that we get in that postpartum period when they're like everything looks great. He thumbs up to you and you're like, "Wait a second, I'm no longer postpartum? Why do I feel the way I do? What's going on with my body? This can't be everything. This can't be it. What do you mean? This is not okay."

Now that's going to just happen all over again in just this different way.

What we should do instead is bring back care and support within the home environment.

Bring mother, baby, and family the knowledge, tools, and support systems to set themselves up for success not just in the short-term, not just for acute care, but for long-term health. In-home health visits, extended paid time off work for both parents, paid physical therapy, and counseling for months, not just six weeks, after birth. 

Having a support system in your home, making it readily available, that is going to make the difference. Not postpartum retreats, not postpartum retreats, but postpartum retreats in the home. That is my dream, that is my wish.

Now I would love to hear your perspective on this. What are your thoughts on postpartum retreats? Let us know. Send me an email. I really want to know how you're feeling about this new fad, this new trend, and it would just light up my day to hear from you. Until then, we'll chat soon.

I am so grateful you turned into the Postpartum University podcast. We hope you enjoyed this episode enough to leave us a quick review and, more importantly, I hope more than ever that you take what you've learned here, apply it to your own life, and consider joining us in the Postpartum University membership. It's a private space where mothers and providers learn the real truth and the real tools needed to heal in the years to come and the real tools needed to heal in the years Postpartum. You can learn more at www.postpartumu. That's the letter U.com. We'll see you next week.