Addressing the “postpartum cliff” may be as simple as a sending few text messages
Most pregnant people are in regular touch with their maternity care providers over the course of nine months, with ever-more-frequent visits, tests, and scans as their due date nears. For many patients, this is the first time in their lives they’ve been in such close, routine contact with the health system.
Then, after delivering the child, this attention all but vanishes. Mothers are told to schedule a follow-up postpartum visit with their maternity care provider about six weeks after birth, and that’s about it. This is despite the fact that 52% of maternal deaths happen in the year following birth, and that maternal conditions like preeclampsia, gestational diabetes, and postpartum depression (PPD) all warrant monitoring after a baby is born.
