EP 119: Postpartum Care and Healing after Birth from Mexican Indigenous Traditions with Metzli Lopez Torres

An excerpt from the Jaguar Mother 2021 course, Metzli discusses the postpartum experience according to the Mexican Indigenous tradition in which she was raised. She describes the baño pos-parto (postpartum ceremony) as a rite of passage from birth to motherhood, where women are cared for by the community with sobada (massage), rebozo (binding), herbs, baths, and other spiritual rituals. Postpartum is a sacred time not only for the baby but for the mother as well.

Bio

Metztli Lopez Torres is a sobadora, doula, childbirth and lactation educator, anthropologist, feminist, mom, sister, daughter, friend, advocate of women's rights and environmentalist. Growing up in Mexico, she learned traditional ways of healing for pregnancy and postpartum, and after completing her bachelor and master degrees, began providing services during all stages of women's lives through her company Luna Mama.

What They Share

• Metzli's personal postpartum experiences for each of her babies
• Details of bano-post parto (postpartum ceremony) for healing
• Food, bodywork, and spiritual rituals for postpartum healing

What You'll Hear

• Being a teen mom led Metzli to work with pregnancy
• Metzli learned from community midwives, inter-generational teaching of midwifery and postpartum care
• Sobada, a style of Mexican massage learned from midwives
• Role of sobadora and midwives in Mexican culture
• Midwives considered sacred and highly respected in the community
• Cuarentena (first 40 days after delivery) considered a sacred time, woman needs to be taken care of
• Baño pos-parto as an indigenous tradition from Aztecs
• Temescal as a type of sweat lodge during postpartum
• Heat/Cold aspects of Mexican traditional medicine (drinks, food, body, etc.)
• Returning heat back to body after pregnancy and birth
• Metzli's first postpartum experience in U.S. after Mexico
• Conversation with husband to plan for postpartum experience while in U.S.
• Recommends no household chores in early postpartum, plan for finances, explain significance of postpartum time for mother and baby
• Postpartum ceremony Metzli does includes sobada, herbal bath with spiritual rituals, massage breasts, sweat lodge
• Women can do bano posparto anytime for healing
• Use herbs, bath, discuss birth stories to heal, ask spirit of herbs to help heal wounds from births
• Connection between body and spirit for healing
• Belly binding
• Healing done in community with other women
• Describes postpartum experience while baby was in NICU
• Acceptance of difficult pregnancy, birth, infancy period
• Gap in culture of community and postpartum care

Resources

website https://www.lunamama.net/form__map

IG: @lunamama_services