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The Fourth Trimester Companion

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What to expect

A well-cared-for baby is a baby whose mother is taking care of herself. With this truth at its core, The Fourth Trimester Companion supports your transition to motherhood.

You have probably already read multiple books on pregnancy, childbirth, and infant care as you prepare to become a mother, but have you considered how you are going to care for yourself after your baby is born? With so much focus on the birthing process and the new baby, your own birth as a mother is often overlooked. Doctors, nurses, midwives, and others involved in providing baby care agree that your own transition deserves equal attention, because taking good care of yourself in the first three months of your new baby’s life—the fourth trimester—brings crucial benefits for you, for your baby, and for your partner and family.

With this important book, you (as well as your partner and other caregivers, whether lay or professional) now have the resources to have an ideal fourth trimester experience. Cynthia Gabriel, a doula and the author of the best-selling book Natural Hospital Birth, delivers all the information, guidance, and encouragement you need as a new mother to take care of your body, mind, and spirit during the vital months of the fourth trimester—so that you feel your best and so your baby has the best possible chance to thrive.

Find tips, strategies, and advice for:

  • Coping with the physical and emotional challenges in the first days and weeks post-partum
  • Sleep challenges and solutions for both you and baby
  • Self-care, infant care, and infant feeding, including breastfeeding and going back to work
  • Navigating your changing relationships with your immediate family, partner, children, parents, in-laws, and pets
  • Finding your new, postpartum sex life
  • Emotional well-being, including postpartum depression and PTSD


Appreciate the wondrous moments as a new mother and feel less alone with the challenging ones with The Fourth Trimester Companion.

Critics Review

“The Fourth Trimester Companion is the ultimate guide for any new family. Cynthia Gabriel provides accurate and up-to-date information that will prepare you for what happens after you give birth and will leave you feeling inspired and empowered to start your family in health and joy. This book truly is a masterpiece for new families today.”
 —Ana Paula Markel, President, DONA International (formerly Doulas of North America), and founder of Bini Birth, Los Angeles
“This book is born from Cynthia Gabriel’s incredible expertise. As a medical anthropologist, an educator, a doula, and a mother of three, Cynthia guides us through the early months of infancy and early parenting not only from a place of knowledge and experience, but also with exquisite sensitivity, compassion, and practicality.”—Lesley Everest, doula and doula trainer, MotherWit, Montreal
“How can such a delicate and tiny being as a newborn take so much space in the house and in your heart? This book will gently take you by the hand and walk beside you. Like a good friend it will not judge, but it will offer support with the questions you have and some you might not even know were coming. It is both practical and deep. It will help you feel and say, ‘I can do this.’”—Kim John Payne, MEd, author of "Simplicity Parenting" and "The Soul of Discipline"
Author Cynthia Gabriel
Narrator Rachel Jacobs
Duration 8 hours and 5 minutes
Release Date
ISBN 9780760378878
Format Audiobook
Publisher Harvard Common Press
Genre Parenting: advice and issues, Pregnancy, birth and baby care: advice and issues, Relationships and families: advice and issues, Women’s health
Availability US

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