You prepared
for the birth.
Who prepared you for after?
A step-by-step guide to healing your mind, body, and spirit in the first months postpartum — with easy-to-digest natural techniques and more than 30 herbal and nutritional recipes to support your recovery and your transition into motherhood.
- You spent nine months preparing for the birth — and nobody prepared you for the weeks after it.
- Your six-week check-up lasted ten minutes, ended with “you’re cleared,” and answered almost nothing you were actually wondering about.
- You’re tired in a way sleep doesn’t touch, and you’ve been told that’s just what having a newborn is.
- Your milk supply, your mood, your hair, your body — everything shifted at once, and no one handed you a plan.
- You’re being told to enjoy every moment while quietly wondering whether what you’re feeling is normal.
The fourth trimester is a real physiological transition. Your hormones, your thyroid, your nervous system, and your tissues are all recalibrating at once — and that deserves as much preparation and support as the three trimesters before it.
You are not being dramatic. Your body is asking for care no one told you to plan for.
The postpartum guide clinicians hand their own patients
While many books on the market focus on having a healthy pregnancy, very few give us insight into how to recover our health after pregnancy. Pregnancy and childbirth can trigger a host of health issues, including postpartum depression, and even new onset autoimmunity. After her own struggle with postpartum autoimmune thyroid disease, Dr. Jolene Brighten was forced to take charge of her own healing, using her training as a naturopathic doctor to recover her health. Since that time, Dr. Brighten has dedicated her life’s work to empowering women in the “fourth trimester.” This book is the definitive guide on recovering your health after pregnancy! If you found that your health problems started after pregnancy, it’s not too late — the recommendations in this book can still help you.
Dr. Jolene Brighten has written the most comprehensive and important book for mothers to read after childbirth. The book is filled with practical and effective strategies to help all new mothers navigate themselves back to health. Childbirth can be a trigger for many health problems and this book is a critical read for all mothers after the birth of their child.
If you’re pregnant or in the postpartum period, you need this book. This easy-to-read guide helps you navigate the postpartum period in a way that hasn’t been done before. Dr. Brighten provides invaluable information on how to naturally troubleshoot common postpartum concerns through her natural action plans. My favorite part is that she doesn’t pass judgement on choices that you make during and after your pregnancy. As a registered dietitian specializing in postpartum health, this is the book I recommend to all of my clients.
This little book is A MUST for women approaching childbirth. Whether you plan to birth at home, at a birthing center, or a hospital — and whether you plan a natural or cesarean birth — this book is an excellent guide for the postpartum mother. It is absolutely FULL of recipes, remedies, and trouble-shooting that any mom can follow. Written in a concise, friendly, and highly-readable tone, Dr. Brighten gives the facts straight-up on everything from breastfeeding to vaginal tearing. I will be recommending this quick and wonderful read to ALL my patients.
The book that plans for after the birth
So many women are diligent about caring for their bodies during pregnancy — but almost no one focuses on a mother’s health once the baby arrives. For many women that becomes the hardest stretch of all: a body recovering from the marathon of pregnancy and childbirth, on very little sleep and even less self-care.
Healing Your Body Naturally After Childbirth is the plan for that stretch. I wrote it after my own postpartum thyroid diagnosis, drawing on years of clinical work with postpartum women, and I built it to be used — bite-sized techniques you can actually manage in the first days after birth, not a textbook you’ll never open.
- What is actually happening in your body during the fourth trimester — and how long each part of it takes.
- Natural, practical approaches to the concerns that come up most: milk supply, tissue healing, mood, energy, and the pelvic floor.
- More than 30 herbal and nutritional recipes designed for a woman who is recovering and feeding a newborn at the same time.
Exhaustion, low mood, hair loss, leaking, pain, a thyroid that suddenly won’t cooperate —
common after birth, but that doesn’t mean you just wait them out.
New mothers are handed the same answer for almost everything that follows a birth: that’s normal, it’ll pass. Sometimes it does. Often it’s the beginning of something that goes unaddressed for years, because no one is looking.
Pregnancy and childbirth can trigger real, measurable shifts — in thyroid function, in the HPA axis, in the pelvic floor, in mood and sleep. Those shifts have names, patterns, and things you can do about them.
This guide gives you the same framework I use with my own postpartum patients: know what to expect, know what to watch for, and know exactly what to do about it — at home, in the moments you actually have.
What this guide covers
-
01
Breastfeeding and milk supply
What actually drives supply, the natural approaches worth trying first, and how to tell the difference between a normal adjustment and a problem worth getting help with — plus foods and herbs traditionally used to support lactation.
-
02
Herbal preparations that heal tissue, inside and out
Sitz baths, compresses, salves, and tinctures for perineal tearing, cracked nipples, and a body that is knitting itself back together — with exactly how to prepare each one.
-
03
Mood, anxiety, and the postpartum nervous system
Natural approaches to elevating mood and easing anxiety in the fourth trimester — what’s normal adjustment, what deserves a call to your provider, and how to support yourself in the meantime.
-
04
The postpartum thyroid nobody checks
Postpartum thyroiditis and autoimmune thyroid changes are far more common than most women are told — and are routinely mistaken for “just new-mom tired.” What to ask for, what to track, and why I care about this one personally.
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05
The pelvic floor and the parts of recovery no one mentions
Urinary incontinence, pelvic pain, stress and energy through the HPA axis, and the other conditions that can follow childbirth — covered plainly, with a natural action plan for each.
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06
More than 30 recipes built for a recovering body
Nourishing meals, teas, smoothies, and herbal preparations — every one of them chosen for nutrient density and simple enough to make one-handed at 3 a.m.
The 4th Trimester
Birth Plan.
You made a birth plan. This is the one for everything after it. Tell us where to send it and it’s yours — free, no purchase required.
The 4th Trimester Birth Plan
Preparing for the fourth trimester matters as much as preparing for the birth. This is the planning tool I give my own patients — printable, and designed to be filled in before the baby arrives, while you still have the bandwidth.
- Decide who is doing what in the first two weeks — before you’re the one deciding
- Line up food, rest, and help in advance instead of improvising it
- Know the postpartum symptoms worth calling about, and who to call
- Bring it to your provider so your recovery gets planned, not assumed
Get the free 4th Trimester Birth Plan
Tell us where to send it. Your printable birth plan arrives by email — free, no purchase required.
You’re in. Check your inbox.
Your 4th Trimester Birth Plan is on its way to you right now — print it, fill it in, and bring it to your next appointment.
Nothing there in a few minutes? Check your promotions and spam folders, or email [email protected] and we’ll sort it out.
Order from the retailer of your choice
Just $14.95 either way. Buying direct from DrBrightenEssentials.com supports Dr. Brighten’s work most directly. It’s also one of the most-gifted books on the site — for a friend who is expecting, a sister in her first weeks, or the mother who never got this the first time around.
Dr. Jolene Brighten
Recommended by the people who care for new mothers
Endorsed by physicians, dietitians, nurses, and thyroid specialists — and by mothers who wish they’d had it the first time around.
This is the definitive postpartum guide. I desperately wish this book had been around after my son was born 7 years ago. Having this book as a resource would’ve saved me years of postpartum suffering and hours at the doctor’s office. Had I had this book after the baby was born, I could have addressed so many symptoms effectively and naturally and likely would have caught my Hashimoto’s thyroiditis diagnosis much sooner. If you know or love someone who is pregnant or has recently had a baby, get this book for them!
To anyone out there thinking about having a baby, currently pregnant, or recently having given birth — this is an ABSOLUTE must read. The book is easy-to-read, easy-to-follow, and written in a way that makes some potentially intimidating topics approachable for everyone. Dr. Brighten has an amazing ability to take extremely complex information and explain it in a way that makes simple sense. 10 out of 10 in my book!
Natural remedies to holistic therapies to sound advice for taking care of your body after baby — a must-have for every new mom. Dr. Brighten also gives fantastic advice for taking care of your thyroid and getting your hormones back in balance, something most doctors don’t pay much attention to. Every expectant mother needs this book!
Questions, answered
Who is this book for?
I’m already months — or years — postpartum. Is it too late?
I had a C-section. Does this still apply to me?
Does it cover breastfeeding?
How do I get the free 4th Trimester Birth Plan?
Do I have to buy the book to get the birth plan?
Does this replace medical care?
Buying 10+ copies for your practice, birth center, or doula clients?
Email us and we’ll set you up with volume pricing and delivery to your practice, class, or client list. It’s a favorite gift at baby showers and a standing recommendation from midwives, doulas, and postpartum dietitians.
You planned for the birth. Now plan for after it.
The fourth trimester is not something you’re meant to white-knuckle alone. This is the step-by-step guide to healing your body after childbirth — natural techniques, more than 30 recipes, and a plan you can actually follow on no sleep. Plus the free 4th Trimester Birth Plan to get you ready before the baby arrives.
Get Your Copy — $14.95