Postpartum contraception is undergoing major changes, not only in timing, but also in content. Failure to provide immediate postpartum contraception contributes to the problems of unintended pregnancies and rapid repeat pregnancy because often the highest-risk women do not return for postpartum care. If they do attend that visit, they have often lost the insurance coverage that would enable the...

abstract background: postpartum blues is a transient change of moods occurring in the first few days after delivery. the present study aimed to investigate the effect of religious doctrines on postpartum blues in primiparous women. materials and methods: in this randomized controlled tria1, 84 primiparous women who had average or weak religious attitude were randomly divided into intervention a...

BACKGROUND One of the elements of the broadening focus of health care beyond its traditional and restricted concept has been the increasing adoption quality of life approach to health care research and practice. OBJECTIVES To investigate the QOL of women in the third trimester of pregnancy and at 8 weeks postpartum and factors associated with the overall QOL. MATERIALS AND METHODS Three hun...

AIM To examine the association of pre-pregnancy BMI and postpartum weight retention with postpartum HbA(1c) levels in women with Type 1 diabetes. METHODS We longitudinally evaluated 136 women with Type 1 diabetes who received prenatal, pregnancy, and postpartum care through Joslin Diabetes Center's Diabetes and Pregnancy Program between 2004 and 2009. Weight, BMI and HbA(1c) concentrations we...

BACKGROUND Our study assessed the follow-up of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) in the postpartum period among a racially and ethnically diverse group of women receiving care in a major urban medical center. METHODS We conducted cross-sectional analysis of clinical and administrative data on women aged 18-44 years who gave birth at Boston Medical Center (BMC) between 2003 and 2009, had GDM...

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the effectiveness of a behavioural-educational sleep intervention delivered in the early postpartum in improving maternal and infant sleep. DESIGN Randomised controlled trial. SETTING Postpartum units of two university affiliated hospitals. PARTICIPANTS 246 primiparous women and their infants randomised while in hospital with an internet based randomisation service t...

BACKGROUND The postnatal period is the ideal time to deliver interventions to improve the health of both the newborn and the mother. However, postnatal care shows low-level coverage in a large number of countries. The objectives of this study were to: 1) investigate inequities in maternal postnatal visits, 2) examine differences in postnatal care coverage between public and private providers an...

This article is part of a Special Issue "Parental Care". Pregnancy and postpartum are associated with dramatic alterations in steroid and peptide hormones which alter the mothers' hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) and hypothalamic pituitary gonadal (HPG) axes. Dysregulations in these endocrine axes are related to mood disorders and as such it should not come as a major surprise that pregnanc...

OBJECTIVE To pilot, among women with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM), the feasibility of a prenatal/postpartum intervention to modify diet and physical activity similar to the Diabetes Prevention Program. The intervention was delivered by telephone, and support for breastfeeding was addressed. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS The goal was to help women return to their prepregnancy weight, if i...