The Postpartum Gap: What Medicine Overlooks and How do we Fix it

Despite advances in obstetric care, pregnancy and postpartum remain some of the most vulnerable seasons in a woman’s life. While medicine excels at managing pregnancy and delivery, it often overlooks the realities of recovery after birth. The true gap is not a lack of medical knowledge, but a lack of continuity, education, and support once a mother leaves the delivery room. Gaps between visits, dismissed concerns, fragmented follow-up, and minimal preparation for the fourth trimester leave many families navigating recovery alone. This session examines how postpartum is structurally under-designed — not because of individual providers, but because systems were never built with the fourth trimester in mind.

Drawing from experience as an emergency physician and postpartum care advocate, this talk explores what happens when warning signs are missed, when education is insufficient, and when mothers are expected to normalize symptoms that deserve attention. Attendees will gain insight into how these gaps contribute to preventable complications, maternal morbidity, and poor postpartum experiences, with disproportionate impact on marginalized communities.

Most importantly, this session focuses on solutions. We will discuss how education empowers families to recognize red flags earlier, how community-driven support restores continuity and trust, and how systemic change can reframe postpartum as a critical phase of care rather than an afterthought. Doulas play a central role in this work. Through collaboration between doulas and medical professionals, we can improve communication, strengthen advocacy, and build a more intentional, holistic postpartum care model that truly supports women beyond birth.