The good news is you can actually get rid of the fat that threatens your peace of mind with the following steps.

Exclusive Breastfeeding

This is a system that demands that mothers feed their children with only breast milk for the first few months of the baby’s life. This will make you lose weight as the food you eat is converted into breast milk by your body. As easy as it sounds, it takes a lot of courage, dedication and planning to make this happen. In order to ensure that you have enough milk to go on this journey, you may want to use a breast pump to get the milk out and measure the amount of breast milk you are able to provide. This way you can ascertain whether the baby is well-fed or not. It is important to know when to supplement with baby food or introduce baby to solids so as to have a healthy baby and avoid malnutrition. Note that you must put baby’s health before your weight as the proper execution of this is supposed to meet both your need and the baby’s.

Do Exercises

Many new mothers are usually too tired to do any physically challenging work which may leave room for additional body fat to rest. If you are really keen on losing weight and keeping your body active, you may want to consider taking walks and doing simple exercises around the house. Also, the power of group support is very essential. If there is a gym around the house, you may want to sign up for it and go at the time that is very convenient for you after expressing breast milk for the baby.

Healthy Eating

Motherhood comes with the challenge of feeling hungry every time especially at night (after dinner time). The need to refill after breastfeeding is a big one as the body will demand its own due to get the milk production back on track. Many women use this chance to eat sweets in a bid to bring the sugar level up. If you are tempted to do this, don’t give in. Instead go for edibles like a boiled egg, fruits (e.g. tiger nuts) and high-liquid content meals like pap, custard which will help the body produce more milk and quench your hunger without adding an additional kg to your frame.

Re-introduce Lovemaking

The act of lovemaking was what brought about the conception of the baby in the first place and it is a way of getting your body to wake up after the hard work of childbirth. For women who had their babies naturally, the act of lovemaking can be re-introduced after 6 weeks of abstinence. This will get the body back to the pre-pregnancy state and help you become more active as a woman. This should only be explored after you have gotten some form of contraceptive to avoid getting pregnant few months after the birth of your little one.

Non-Hormonal Contraceptives

Contraceptives are measures that help women keep pregnancy at bay. After childbirth, you will be advised to choose a contraceptive that is suitable for you. The options range from hormonal to non-hormonal. Hormonal contraceptives have the tendency to tamper with the chemical balance in your body and set you up for weight gain. If you do not want to struggle with that in addition to the already existing baby fat, you may want to explore options like condoms & IUD which prevents the fertilization in the ovaries. and do not tamper with your hormones.

You may be overwhelmed by your urge to lose weight but you must take it easy and give yourself time. Going through childbirth is a lot of work that took 9 long months, it will pass. Please speak with a doctor to be sure that you are in the right form and frame of mind to embark on this journey. Don’t stop being a diva!

The post The New Body Dilemma: How to Shed the Baby Fat After Childbirth appeared first on Hermaze | Relationship, Beauty, Fashion, Family Articles for Women.

This is the tale of most young girls. 3% of every 1000 young under-aged Nigerian girl goes through the phase. This has become common practice in Northern Nigeria.

Obstetric fistula (OF) is a medical condition in which a hole develops between either the rectum and vagina, a ureter and the vagina, or between the bladder and vagina after difficulties in childbirth. It can result in incontinence of urine or faeces.

It is more common and evolves into something worse when adequate medical care is not available. It is considered a disease of poverty or ignorance.

Literally, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) says obstetric fistula is simply-

“A childbirth injury that has been largely neglected, despite the devastating impact it has on the lives of affected girls and women. It is usually caused by prolonged, obstructed labour, without timely medical intervention, say an emergency Caesarean section. During unassisted, prolonged, obstructed labour, the sustained pressure of the baby’s head on the mother’s pelvic bone damages soft tissues, creating a hole, also called fistula between the vagina and the bladder and/or rectum. The pressure deprives blood flow to the tissue, leading to necrosis. Eventually, the dead tissue comes away, leaving a fistula/hole, which causes a constant leaking of urine and/or faeces through the vagina.”

The Signs and symptoms of this disease includes:

Fecal incontinence or Lack of control over defecation, leading to involuntary loss of bowel contents such as flatus (gas), liquid stool elements and mucus, or solid faeces. This usually happens at night or may be continual.

• Foul-smelling vaginal discharge
• Repeated vaginal or urinary tract infections
• Irritation or pain in the vagina or surrounding areas
• Pain during sexual activity

Obstetric fistula have far-reaching physical, social, economic, and psychological consequences on the women affected.

Mostly the tail end of young under-aged marriages for girls between the ages of 9-15, and according to UNFPA, “Due to the prolonged obstructed labour (during child birth after the much older men would have forcibly had their way with the girls and they become pregnant) , the baby almost inevitably dies, and the woman is left with chronic incontinence. That is, she becomes unable to control the flow of urine or faeces, or both, she may be abandoned by her husband and family and ostracized by her community. Without treatment, her prospects for work and family life are virtually non-existent.”

The implication of Obstetric Fistula can be in three forms

• Physical
• Societal
• Psychological

Physical Implication

The most direct consequence of an obstetric fistula is the constant leaking of urine, faeces, and blood as a result of a hole that forms between the vagina and bladder or rectum. This leaking has both physical and societal penalties. The acid in the urine, faeces, and blood causes severe burn wounds on the legs from the continuous dripping.

Nerve damage that can result from the leaking can cause women to struggle with walking and eventually lose mobility.

In an attempt to avoid the dripping, women limit their intake of water and liquid which can ultimately lead to dangerous cases of dehydration. Ulceration and infections can persist, as well as kidney disease and kidney failure, which can each lead to death. Some women, due to obstetric fistulae and other complications from childbirth, do not survive.

Social Implication

Physical consequences of obstetric fistula leads to severe sociocultural stigmatization for various reasons. For example, in the Movie DRY, Halima’s friends, family and supposed in-laws probably due to illiteracy or ignorance did not consider obstetric fistula a medical condition, but a divine punishment or a curse for disloyalty, infidelity, disrespectful behaviour or even witchcraft.

Pain resulting from Fistula makes the woman unable to perform household chores and childrearing as a wife and as a mother, thus devaluing her especially in a society like ours where it is solely considered a woman’s duty to do chores. As a result, many girls who were forced/coerced into early marriages are divorced or abandoned by their husbands and partners, disowned by family, ridiculed by friends and immediate society.

Just like Halima who became a marginalized member of the village, she was made to live in the bush far from friends and loved ones, she was isolated in a hut. Though she her mother and co-wife showered her some love, yet it wasn’t enough. She was humiliated and felt so alone. She later passed on due to an infection in the birth canal. She was thrown out of her husband’s home due to the constant leakage and unavoidable offensive odour.

Psychological Implication

This range from the saddening effect of the loss of a child, the rejection and humiliation they face from their supposed loved ones, the marginalization from the smell, societal embarrassment and inability to perform wifely/motherly roles. This is enough to run one mental/ suicidal.

In treating fistula, the nature and size of the injury should be considered. This varies depending on the size and location of the fistula, so a surgeon with experience is needed to improvise on the spot. Before the patient undergoes surgery, treatment and evaluation are needed for conditions including anemia, malnutrition, and malaria. Treatment for this is available through reconstructive surgery. Primary fistula repair has a 91% success rate. Successful surgery enables women to live normal lives and have more children, but it is recommended to have a cesarean section to prevent the fistula from recurring.

Mental health treatment is needed to rehabilitate fistula patients, who experience psychological trauma from being ostracized by the community.

Also, professional and medical birth attendance at all births is required to prevent this illness. In doing this, emergency obstetric care for women who develop complications during delivery would keep fistula at bay.

One major challenge hindering the treatment of fistula is information. Most women have no idea that treatment is available. Because this is a condition of shame and embarrassment, these women hide themselves and their condition and suffer in silence.

Early marriages lead to early childbirth; which increases the risk of obstructed labour. If this practice of marrying off young under-aged girls to much older men, illiteracy and traditional home birth  can be stop then 90% of Obstetric Fistula will be prevented. Then our girls can go to school, live their dreams, become a force to reckon with and make the nation proud.

The post Ways Nollywood Movie Dry Tells The Fate of Under-aged Marriages and Obstetric Fistula appeared first on Hermaze | Relationship, Beauty, Fashion, Family Articles for Women.