The Year After Childbirth: Enjoying Your Body, Your Relationships, and Yourself in Your Baby's First Year

by Sheila Kitzinger

A supportive, illustrative guide for new mothers explains the physical changes they should expect, the impact of a child on new fathers, the adjustments to be made in a couple's emotional and sex lives, breastfeeding, and more. Reprint. 25,000 first printing.

Genres: Parenting, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

Sheila Kitzinger M.B.E, M.Litt is a social anthropologist of birth and author of 24 books published internationally, most on the emotional journey through this major life experience. At Oxford in the 50s she discovered that the social anthropology of that time was almost entirely about men. She decided she would do research to discover what was important in women's lives, and focused on pregnancy, birth and breastfeeding.
Her five children were all born at home. She lectures widely in different countries and has learned from mothers and midwives in the USA and Canada, the Caribbean, Eastern and Western Europe, Israel, Australia and New Zealand, Latin America, South Africa and Japan, and from women in prison and those who have had a traumatic birth experience.

Reviews

[Róisín Prendergast · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really comprehensive and practical book that I enjoyed reading whilst breastfeeding. Pretty basic information overall really but I found that comforting for my crazy postpartum mind! I love Sheila Kitzinger - I can honestly say that reading her books is what ensured I had such a positive birth experience. It wouldn’t have been what it was if I’d not taken on her philosophy.

[Rindy Girl · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book started off sounding like it was written in the 70s. My uterus was referred to poetically as a blossoming tree. I personally am not into this style of prose in a book that I believe should be information-based and factual. But as the book went on it became less artsy and more informational. The book on a whole dealt a lot with emotions and how having a baby alters so many things. It seemed to be lacking more detailed factual information, although I did find the emotional side very interesting and useful. The Year After Childbirth did explore some issues that I have not seen in some of the other books I have read - issues such as sex after a baby, how the father feels about the mother's all consuming love/attention to the baby, restoring the pelvic floor, etc. The book is well organized and if you have time I would say read it, but I do not consider it a "must-read."

[Jasmine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautifully written yet deeply practical and realistic book for new mothers. Of course some parts are slightly outdated, being 30 years old - my favourites being the suggestion of relaxing mid-morning with a cigarette, or asking your family doctor if his wife breastfed! - but funnily enough the emotions and practicalities of the end of pregnancy, birth, and motherhood are eternally relevant. Surprising to find (as not always common) - chapters on sex and relationships that are neither infantilising nor romanticising, multiple mentions of the possibility that a mother might (shock!) be disabled, or have given birth to a disabled child!, and entirely non-judgmental appreciation of the complete gamut of reactions to a baby. I really hope Kitzinger’s work finds a champion and new and updated editions are reissued.

“The transition to parenthood is, for men as well as for women, a leap into the dark. Whether you plan carefully ahead or whether you are surprised by pregnancy, you have to take courage in both hands as you start out on an amazing journey that takes you far into the future, way beyond birth and babies, and on to your own death. For being a parent does not stop when your children are no longer children. You continue to be a mother and father through their adulthood, too, and for as long as you live.
It starts with an intimate sexual act between two people which they may consider no one's concern but their own. It may be an expression of commitment to each other, or merely a casual encounter. A child is conceived. A woman tells other people she is pregnant. A baby is born.
Relationships change, coalesce, crystallize around this new human being, and bonds of love and caring are formed.
With the birth of a child, lives become connected and bonds that may have been weak are strengthened. Family, friends, even sometimes total strangers reach out and greet the new life as if this child holds out hope for their future, too. Women gather to support each other in love and reciprocity. In traditional cultures whole communities are bound more closely together.
With the birth of a child, the shape of life changes irrevocably. Past connects up with future. Links with the past through parents and grandparents have a significance which may never have been previously acknowledged. The future-not just our own personal future—but the future of the world that this child will have to live in—comes to matter in a way it may never have done before.
Fundamental values-our deepest beliefs and the spirit in which we live our lives are challenged.
A man begins the long and often difficult process of learning how to be a father. A woman starts out on the painful, arduous, and exciting journey to motherhood. She sails in turbulent emotional seas, plunges through states of alternating exhaustion and exhilaration, treks through arid desert thinking that she can never be a good enough mother, and needs to summon all her energy and determination to scale mountains. It is a journey in which she always comes face-to-face with herself. And, as she grows to be a mother, she discovers, often for the first time, her own power.”

[Andra Vltavín · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most comprehensive books on the postpartum period I have found, though it was written in the 90s and has some outdated material.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book and still feels very relevant, though it is a few years old.
I like the authors voice too. She is a social anthropologist.
Read this or the Aviva Romm. Natural health after birth, for a more holistic take on the postpartum period.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Non-Fiction, Post-partum) This book is a good, basic overview of what to expect post-baby.

[Barbc]

7.95

[Rebecca Perini · Rating 2 out of 5]

Reads like a health textbook for junior high kids.

[Alice Chau-Ginguene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a classic for anyone works with Postpartum parents. Any expectant parents or new parents should read this too!
It's quite an old book but surprise to discover nearly everything is still valid.