Labor, delivery, postpartum

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Postpartum, postnatal care

Australia

• Australian Journal of General Practice
  • Postpartum nutrition: Guidance for general practitioners to support high-quality care [2022]
  • Postnatal care: The general practitioner visit [2022]
  • Exercise after pregnancy [2022]

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • How do postnatal care guidelines in Australia compare to international standards? A scoping review and comparative analysis [2024]

• Maternal & Child Nutrition
  • Quality of low-carbohydrate diets among Australian post-partum women: Cross-sectional analysis of a national population-based cohort study [2023]

• SA Health
  • Postnatal Care
  • Bladder Management for Intrapartum and Postnatal Women

Bangladesh

• International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
  • Assessing the Quality and Coverage of Maternal Postnatal Care in Bangladesh: A Comparative Analysis of Quality Postnatal Care among Home and Facility Births [2024]

• Scientific Reports
  • Inequalities in women's utilization of postnatal care services in Bangladesh from 2004 to 2017 [2022]

Bangladesh, Pakistan

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Comparison of inequality in utilization of postnatal care services between Bangladesh and Pakistan: Evidence from the Demographic and Health Survey 2017-2018 [2023]

Brazil

• Revista Brasileira de Saúde Materno Infantil
  • Postpartum period: study of guidelines for Primary Health Care [2025]

Canada

• Perinatal Services BC
  • Physical Activity During the Postpartum Period
  • Healthy Eating During the Postpartum Period

• Public Health Agency of Canada
  • Postpartum Care

China

• Archives of Public Health
  • Inhibitors and facilitators to the utilization of postpartum care in China: an integrative review [2022]

• International Journal of Nursing Practice
  • Experiences of postpartum Chinese women undergoing confinement practices: A qualitative meta-synthesis [2024]

Ethiopia

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Uptake of postnatal care and its determinants in Ethiopia: a positive deviance approach [2022]

• BMJ Open
  • Spatial patterns and determinants of postnatal care use in Ethiopia: findings from the 2016 demographic and health survey [2019]

• Ethiopian Journal of Health Sciences
  • Utilization and Determinants of Postnatal Care Services in Ethiopia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis [2019]

• International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
  • Postnatal Care Service Utilisation in Ethiopia: Reflecting on 20 Years of Demographic and Health Survey Data [2021]

• Ministry of Health Ethiopia
  • Implementation Guide for 24hours postnatal care and stay [2018]

• PLoS ONE
  • Home based postpartum care and determinants in Ethiopia: A multilevel analysis [2022]
  • Do mothers who delivered at health facilities return to health facilities for postnatal care follow-up? A multilevel analysis of the 2016 Ethiopian Demographic and Health Survey [2021]

Finland

• Journal of Bone and Mineral Metabolism
  • Incidence of Fracture Hospitalization and Surgery in Women Increases Steadily During the Puerperal and Lactation Period: A Retrospective Register-Based Cohort Study in Finland From 1999 to 2018 [2022]

High-income countries

• Scandinavian Journal of Medicine & Science in Sports
  • How Active Are Women in the First Year of Motherhood? A Systematic Review of Device-Measured Physical Activity [2025]

International

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Critical signs and symptoms for self-assessment in the immediate postnatal period: an international Systematic Scoping Review and Delphi consensus study [2025]
  • Essential components of postnatal care - a systematic literature review and development of signal functions to guide monitoring and evaluation [2022]
  • Discharge preparation and readiness after birth: a scoping review of global policies, guidelines and literature [2022]
  • Clinical guidelines for postpartum women and infants in primary care - a systematic review [2014]

• BMJ Global Health
  • WHO recommendations on maternal and newborn care for a positive postnatal experience [2024]

• Bulletin of the World Health Organization
  • Improving policy, financing and delivery of postnatal care services [2023]

• Global Health: Science and Practice
  • Current Approaches to Following Up Women and Newborns After Discharge From Childbirth Facilities: A Scoping Review [2024]

• International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics
  • FIGO pregnancy passport: A useful tool for women and their healthcare providers on health risks following pregnancy complications [2023]

• Journal of Global Health
  • Facilitators and barriers of implementation of routine postnatal care guidelines for women: A systematic scoping review using critical interpretive synthesis [2023]

• Journal of Public Health
  • Postpartum care indications and methodological quality:a systematic review of guidelines [2022]

• Journal of Sport and Health Science
  • A review of public health guidelines for postpartum physical activity and sedentary behavior from around the world [2024]

• Medicine
  • Effects of conservative approaches for treating diastasis recti abdominis in postpartum women: A systematic review and meta-analysis [2025]

• Médecins Sans Frontières
  • Postpartum period [2019]

• Obstetrical & Gynecological Survey
  • Summary of International Guidelines for Physical Activity Following Pregnancy [2014]

• PLoS ONE
  • Factors that influence uptake of routine postnatal care: Findings on women's perspectives from a qualitative evidence synthesis [2022]
  • What matters to women in the postnatal period: A meta-synthesis of qualitative studies [2020]

• Sultan Qaboos University Medical Journal
  • Women's Utilisation, Experiences and Satisfaction with Postnatal Follow-up Care: Systematic literature review [2022]

Iran

• BMC Health Services Research
  • A clinical guideline for the Iranian women and newborns in the postpartum period [2024]

Kenya

• Ministry of Health Kenya
  • Guidelines for Postnatal Care [2016]

Low and middle income countries

• PLoS Medicine
  • Length of Stay After Childbirth in 92 Countries and Associated Factors in 30 Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Compilation of Reported Data and a Cross-sectional Analysis from Nationally Representative Surveys [2016]

• World Health Organization
  • Focusing on postnatal care in low- and middle-income countries

New Zealand

• Health New Zealand
  • Observation of Mother and Baby in the Immediate Postnatal Period: Consensus statements guiding practice [2012]

Norway

• BMC Public Health
  • Adherence of pregnant women to Nordic dietary guidelines in relation to postpartum weight retention: results from the Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study [2014]

• Patient Education and Counseling
  • Women report better experiences from maternity care after postnatal consultations: A cross sectional study [2023]

Pakistan

• BMC Public Health
  • Trend analysis of multi-level determinants of maternal and newborn postnatal care utilization in Pakistan from 2006 to 2018: Evidence from Pakistan Demographic and Health Surveys [2023]

Republic of Korea

• BMJ Open
  • Secular trends in postpartum weight retention from 2003 to 2012: a nationwide, population-based, retrospective, longitudinal study in South Korea [2020]

Rwanda

• Archives of Public Health
  • Prevalence of adequate postnatal care and associated factors in Rwanda: evidence from the Rwanda demographic health survey 2020 [2022]

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Factors associated with postnatal care utilisation in Rwanda: A secondary analysis of 2010 Demographic and Health Survey data [2016]

Sierra Leone

• BMC Public Health
  • Prevalence and factors associated with utilisation of postnatal care in Sierra Leone: a 2019 national survey [2022]

Sri Lanka

• Sri Lanka College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists
  • Postnatal care during hospital stay [2021]

Sub-Saharan Africa

• Birth
  • Postpartum Women's Experiences of Postnatal Care in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Qualitative Evidence Synthesis [2025]

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Only three out of ten women received adequate postnatal care in sub-Saharan Africa: evidence from 20 countries demographic and health surveys (2015-2022) [2025]
  • How women's experiences and perceptions of care influence uptake of postnatal care across sub-Saharan Africa: a qualitative systematic review [2021]
  • Opportunities to improve postpartum care for mothers and infants: design of context-specific packages of postpartum interventions in rural districts in four sub-Saharan African countries [2015]

• Italian Journal of Pediatrics
  • Determinants of postnatal care utilization in sub-Saharan Africa: a meta and multilevel analysis of data from 36 sub-Saharan countries [2020]

Tanzania

• Pan African Medical Journal
  • Prevalence and factors associated with early postnatal care utilization among women of reproductive age in Tanzania: analysis of Tanzania demographic health survey 2015/16 [2024]

Uganda

• BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth
  • Midwives’ perceptions towards the ministry of health guidelines for the provision of immediate postpartum care in rural health facilities in Uganda [2023]

• BMJ Global Health
  • Immediate postnatal care following childbirth in Ugandan health facilities: an analysis of Demographic and Health Surveys between 2001 and 2016 [2021]

United Kingdom

• British Journal of General Practice
  • The first 100 days after childbirth: cross-sectional study of maternal clinical events and health needs from primary care [2024]
  • Postnatal care: new NICE guideline for the 'Cinderella service' [2021]

• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
  • Postnatal care (Quality standard) [2022]
  • Postnatal care (Guidance) [2021]
  • Postnatal care

• NHS England
  • GP six to eight week maternal postnatal consultation – what good looks like guidance [2023]

• Right Decisions
  • Postnatal Care Pathway

• WISDOM
  • Postnatal Care Guideline Including Discharge from Hospital [2020]

United States

• Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
  • Postpartum Care up to 1 Year After Pregnancy: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis [2023]

• American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
  • Interpregnancy Care [2019]
  • Optimizing Postpartum Care [2018]

• American Family Physician
  • Postpartum Care: An Approach to the Fourth Trimester [2019]

• American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology
  • Fragmentation of Postpartum Readmissions in the United States [2020]

• BMC Health Services Research
  • Competing demands in postpartum care: a national survey of U.S. providers’ priorities and practice [2020]

• Clinical Obstetrics and Gynecology
  • Destigmatizing and Democratizing Postpartum Care: A "Black Woman-Person First" Approach [2022]

• JAMA Health Forum
  • Association of Health Insurance, Geography, and Race and Ethnicity With Disparities in Receipt of Recommended Postpartum Care in the US [2022]
  • Postpartum Cliffs-Missed Opportunities to Promote Maternal Health in the United States [2021]

• JAMA Network Open
  • Health Insurance Coverage and Postpartum Outcomes in the US: A Systematic Review [2023]
  • Association of Insurance Status With Provision of Recommended Services During Comprehensive Postpartum Visits [2020]

• Maternal and Child Health Journal
  • Delivery and Payment Redesign to Reduce Disparities in High Risk Postpartum Care [2017]

• Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine
  • Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Position Statement: Extending Medicaid coverage for 12 months postpartum [2024]
  • Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Special Statement: Postpartum visit checklists for normal pregnancy and complicated pregnancy [2022]
  • Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine Special Statement: A critique of postpartum readmission rate as a quality metric [2022]

• StatPearls
  • Postpartum Care of the New Mother

• Women's Health
  • Racial and ethnic disparities in postpartum weight retention: A narrative review mapping the literature to the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Framework [2023]

• Women's Health Issues
  • Postpartum Visit Attendance in the United States: A Systematic Review [2022]

WHO

• World Health Organization
  • WHO recommendations on maternal and newborn care for a positive postnatal experience [2022]
  • WHO recommendations on postnatal care of the mother and newborn [2014]
  • WHO technical consultation on postpartum and postnatal care [2010]
  • Raising the importance of postnatal care
  • Postpartum care coverage for mothers (%)

{Related topics}

• Topic
  • Postpartum infections
  • Postpartum hemorrhage
  • Postpartum depression, perinatal depression
  • Postpartum and postabortion contraception
  • Labor, delivery, childbirth
  • Breastfeeding