Postnatal help in Beekdaelen

An IBCLC lactation consultant specialises in breastfeeding and has passed the international IBCLC examination. That is different from a breastfeeding counsellor or a volunteer from a breastfeeding organisation — both can be valuable, but IBCLC is the only internationally examined qualification, with recertification every five years. A lactation consultant looks at the whole picture: your baby’s anatomy, your breasts, feeding position, and anything medical that may be playing a part.

A bekkenfysiotherapeut is a physiotherapist with a recognised specialisation in the pelvic floor: the muscles that support your bladder, bowel and uterus. After birth those muscles are stretched, sometimes damaged, and often out of balance with your abdomen and breathing. A pelvic physiotherapist works out what is actually happening and trains specifically for it — not with generic exercises, but with exercises matched to what your pelvic floor is doing now.

A perinatal psychologist treats mental health difficulties around pregnancy, birth and the period afterwards. It is a field in its own right: postnatal depression, anxiety and intrusive thoughts about your baby, and flashbacks to a birth that went differently than you hoped all need a different approach than the same symptoms outside this life stage. Roughly one in eight mothers experiences this. It does not resolve by itself, and it responds well to treatment.