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Postnatal Care for Mothers and Newborns

Highlights from the World Health Organization 2013 Guidelines

Background
The days and weeks following childbirth—the postnatal period—are a critical
phase in the lives of mothers and newborn babies. Most maternal and infant deaths
occur in the first month after birth: almost half of postnatal maternal deaths occur
within the first 24 hours,1 and 66% occur during the first week.2 In 2013, 2.8
million newborns died in their first month of life─1 million of these newborns died
on the first day.3,4
Considerable progress has been made globally in improving maternal health.
Around the world, 72% of women give birth attended by skilled personnel,5 and
the maternal mortality ratio has decreased from 380 to 210 per 100,000 live births
between 2000 and 2013. Yet, in South-East Asia and sub-Saharan Africa only
67% and 48% of women give birth with the assistance of skilled personnel,
respectively.5 Postnatal care reaches even fewer women and newborns: less than
half of women receive a postnatal care visit within 2 days of childbirth.4 An
analysis of Demographic and Health Survey data from 23 sub-Saharan African
countries found that only 13% of women who delivered at home received
postnatal care within 2 days of birth.6
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently updated global guidelines on postnatal care for mothers and newborns
through a technical consultation process. The new guidelines address the timing and content of postnatal care for
mothers and newborns with a special focus on resource-limited settings in low- and middle-income countries.7 They
complement other recommendations on maternal, perinatal and newborn health,8,9 as well as those recommendations on
which type of health care worker can safely deliver key maternal and newborn health care interventions,10 which went
through a similar guidelines development process.
Although this brief focuses on postnatal care, the importance of antenatal A Unifying Term—Postnatal Care
and intrapartum care within a continuum is recognized to have the greatest Because the interchangeable use of the
impact on maternal and newborn survival. terms “postpartum” referring to issues
pertaining to the mother and “postnatal”
This brief presents the WHO recommendations while highlighting changes
referring to those concerning the baby
and recommended best practices. It is intended to assist policy-makers, creates sometimes confusion, the
programme managers, educators, and providers involved in caring for women adoption of just a single term “postnatal”
and newborns after birth. Operationalization of these guidelines may help end should be used for all issues pertaining to
preventable death, improve health outcomes, strengthen community-based the mother and the baby after birth up to
health systems, address gender and equity issues, and emphasize respectful and 6 weeks (42 days).
women-centred maternity care.11 Strategies to improve quality and achieve Source: WHO Technical Consultation on
Postpartum and Postnatal Care. WHO/MPS/10.03.
equitable use of postnatal care should be selected to maximize population-level World Health Organization 2010
results in low-resource settings.

Postnatal Care for Mothers and Newborns 1

Best Practices: Postnatal Care for All Postnatal Care Highlights
Mothers and Newborns • Provide postnatal care in first 24 hours for every
birth:
• Provide postnatal care in the first 24 hours to all mothers ─ Delay facility discharge for at least 24 hours.
and babies─regardless of where the birth occurs. A full ─ Visit women and babies with home births within
clinical examination should be done around 1 hour after birth, the first 24 hours.
when the baby has had his/her first breastfeed. The baby • Provide every mother and baby a total of four
postnatal visits on:
should be checked again before discharge. For home births,
─ First day (24 hours)
the first postnatal contact should be as early as possible within
─ Day 3 (48–72 hours)
24 hours of birth and, if possible, an extra contact for home ─ Between days 7–14
births at 24–48 hours is desirable. Mobile phone-based ─ Six weeks
postnatal care contacts between mothers and the health • Offer home visits by midwives, other skilled
system may be useful. The content of postnatal care is providers or well-trained and supervised community
described in the next two sections. health workers (CHWs).
• Ensure healthy women and their newborns stay at a • Use chlorhexidine after home deliveries in high
newborn mortality settings.
health facility at least 24 hours and are not discharged
• Re-emphasize and support elements of quality
early. This recommendation is an update from 2006, and the postnatal care for mother and newborn, including
minimum duration of stay was lengthened from 12 to 24 identification of issues and referrals.
hours. Evidence suggests discharge is acceptable only if a
mother’s bleeding is controlled, mother and baby do not have signs of infection or other diseases, and the baby is
breastfeeding well.
• All mothers and babies need at least four postnatal checkups in the first 6 weeks. This is a notable change to
the previous guidance, which recommended only two postnatal checkups within 2 to 3 days and at 6 weeks after
birth. Now, in addition to postnatal care with two full assessments on the first day, three additional visits are
recommended: day 3 (48–72 hours), between days 7–14 and 6 weeks after birth. These contacts can be made at home
or in a health facility, depending on the context and the provider. Additional contacts may be needed to address
issues or concerns.

Table 1. Provision of Postnatal Care to Mothers and Newborns: Policy and Programme Actions Based On the
New WHO Guidelines
WHO Recommendation 2013 Policy/Programme Action
RECOMMENDATION 1: Timing of discharge from a health facility after birth
After an uncomplicated vaginal birth in a health • Ensure respectful, women-centred quality carea is provided for all births.
facility, healthy mothers and newborns should • Review if increased infrastructure (beds, etc.) and staff in postnatal wards
receive care in the facility for at least 24 hours after are required to provide care respectfully and comfortably for women to
birth.* (NEW in 2013) stay longer.
* For the newborn, this care includes an immediate • Align policies (such as national institutional delivery incentive and
assessment at birth, a full clinical examination around 1 insurance schemes) with recommendation.
hour after birth and before discharge. • Adapt and use a simple discharge checklist.12
RECOMMENDATION 2: Number and timing of postnatal contacts
If birth is in a health facility, mothers and • Ensure that national standards, quality improvement tools and training
newborns should receive postnatal care in the curricula promote three assessments in the first 24 hours for the
facility for at least 24 hours after birth.a (NEW in newborn: an immediate assessment at birth; a full clinical examination
2013) around 1 hour after birth and again before discharge.
• Coordinate postnatal care with the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative13 to
ensure that facility-based procedures and outreach to the community
support optimal breastfeeding practices.
• Update facility-based providers and promote best practices in postnatal
care including pre-discharge counselling, according to the new guidelines.
If birth is at home, the first postnatal contact • Review current policies and programmes to strengthen delivery and
should be as early as possible within 24 hours of early postnatal care for home births by midwives, other skilled providers
birth. and/or well-trained, supervised CHWs.
(NEW in 2013)

2 Postnatal Care for Mothers and Newborns

 WHO Recommendation 2013 Policy/Programme Action
At least three additional postnatal contacts are • Ensure national standards, quality improvement tools, training curricula
recommended for all mothers and newborns, on and behaviour change communication (BCC) messages/materials to
day 3 (48–72 hours), between days 7–14, and 6 explicitly promote the three additional postnatal care checkups (a total
weeks after birth. (NEW in 2013) of four from birth in the first 6 weeks) through home visits and facility-
based care.
• Review/revise national monitoring systems to include the process
indicator for postnatal care visits—number of mothers/newborns who
received postnatal within 2 days of childbirth (regardless of place of
delivery)—for all births.
RECOMMENDATION 3: Home visits for postnatal care
Home visits in the first week after birth are • Determine how best to integrate home visits for postnatal care into
recommended for care of the mother and responsibilities and training of midwives, other skilled providers and/or
newborn. well-trained, supervised CHWs.
• Explore appropriate mHealth strategies to communicate with mothers
who may be difficult to physically reach.
a
WHO guidelines, Pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum and newborn care: A guide for essential practice, define this standard of care; they can be found at
http://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/documents/924159084x/en/.

Related Highlights from Other WHO Guidelines

• Encourage women to deliver with a skilled birth attendant at a health facility so they receive quality intrapartum and
postnatal care including administration of a uterotonic during the third stage of labour. Professional skilled care is important
for all women and newborns during labour, childbirth and the first day after birth.
• Promote respectful and women-centred maternity care where women are treated with kindness, dignity and respect.
Respectful maternity care is an essential part of postnatal care particularly in health facilities. It promotes best practices
(such as rooming in, unless separation is medically necessary), recognizes that women and their families should be fully
informed on all aspects of care, and values counselling as an opportunity to answer questions and address concerns.

Best Practices: Postnatal Care for Newborns

• Strengthen postnatal care through home visits and at health facilities. Elements of postnatal care are re-
emphasized from the 2006 guidelines without many significant changes.
• At each of the four postnatal care checkups, newborns should be assessed for key clinical signs of severe
illness and referred as needed. Nine clinical signs (listed in Recommendation 4 in Table 2 below) have been
identified as danger signs that can be identified at home by a CHW or by a skilled provider in a health facility.
Evidence suggests that simple algorithms are valid tools in both settings.
• Continue to promote early and exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) within delivery settings including antenatal
care, at delivery, and in all postnatal care visits. Consistent with previous WHO guidelines, evidence shows
EBF reduces the risks of mortality and morbidity in the first month of life (compared to partial and predominant
breastfeeding) and improves post-neonatal outcomes. It also encourages improved birth spacing by delaying the
return to fecundity. Given the increases in institutional deliveries in many developing countries, policies and
programmes should actively promote facility-based counselling and support for EBF including counselling on
common breastfeeding problems and ways to manage them if they occur.
• Consider the use of chlorhexidine for umbilical cord care for babies born at home to reduce newborn
mortality. For newborns who are born at home in settings with high neonatal mortality (30 or more neonatal
deaths per 1,000 live births) it is recommended to apply chlorhexidine (7.1% chlorhexidine digluconate aqueous
solution or gel, delivering 4% chlorhexidine) daily to the umbilical cord stump during the first week of life. This is
a new recommendation, and clean, dry cord care remains the standard recommendation for newborns born in
health facilities and at home in low neonatal mortality settings. The use of chlorhexidine in these situations may be
considered only to replace application of a harmful traditional substance, such as cow dung, to the cord stump.
• Reinforce key newborn care messages among families and providers. WHO re-emphasizes key elements of
newborn care including delayed bathing, skin-to-skin contact and immunization. Given the vulnerability of
preterm and low-birth-weight babies, interventions are needed to identify these newborns in home and facility
settings and ensure they receive special care.

Postnatal Care for Mothers and Newborns 3

Table 2. Postnatal Care for Newborns: Policy and Programme Actions Based On the New WHO Guidelines
WHO Recommendation 2013 Policy/Programme Action
RECOMMENDATION 4: Assessment of the baby
The following signs should be assessed during each • Review and adapt available community-based and facility-based job
postnatal care contact, and the newborn should be aids for clinical assessments (such as integrated management of
referred for further evaluation if any of the signs is childhood illness, integrated management of pregnancy and childbirth)
present: stopped feeding well, history of convulsions, fast based on simple clinical signs of severe newborn illnesses.
breathing (breathing rate of ≥60 per minute), severe chest • Integrate recognition of clinical signs into CHW and skilled provider
in-drawing, no spontaneous movement, fever (temperature trainings.
≥37.5 °C), low body temperature (temperature <35.5 °C), • Review/revise educational messages to emphasize newborn danger
any jaundice in first 24 hours of life, or yellow palms and signs and care-seeking in counselling of pregnant and postnatal
soles at any age. women, families and communities.
The family should be encouraged to seek health care
early if they identify any of the above danger signs in-
between postnatal care visits.
RECOMMENDATION 5: Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF)
All babies should be exclusively breastfed from birth • Reinforce early EBF and EBF messages during pregnancy and during all
until 6 months of age. Mothers should be counselled postnatal care visits.
and provided support for EBF at each postnatal • Ensure breastfeeding is actively promoted in all health facilities.
contact. • Identify and address problems that prevent EBF (e.g., not initiating
breastfeeding within 1 hour after birth, not giving colostrum, giving
pre-lacteal feeds, breast health issues, mothers’ perceptions that their
breast milk is not sufficient, lack of knowledge about breastfeeding
frequently and from both breasts to ensure breast milk supply).
• Integrate lactational amenorrhoea method (LAM) and EBF messages
to ensure LAM criteria are followed and the major barriers to EBF
are addressed that threaten the effectiveness of LAM.
• Prepare mothers for transitioning their infants to complementary
foods with continued breastfeeding at 6 months and modern family
planning methods for mothers using LAM.
RECOMMENDATION 6: Cord care
Daily chlorhexidine (7.1% chlorhexidine digluconate • In settings with high neonatal mortality, ensure chlorhexidine is
aqueous solution or gel, delivering 4% chlorhexidine) available for home births for immediate use by mothers. Related
application to the umbilical cord stump during the first policy/programme issues may include: inclusion on the national List of
week of life is recommended for newborns who are Essential Medicines for Children; drug registration; local production
born at home in settings with high neonatal mortality or procurement; training; supply chain maintenance; and training
(30 or more neonatal deaths per 1,000 live births). community midwives and health workers, etc.
(NEW in 2013) • Reinforce community messages about clean, dry cord care and add
Clean, dry cord care is recommended for newborns chlorhexidine messages, as appropriate.
born in health facilities and at home in low neonatal
mortality settings. Use of chlorhexidine in these
situations may be considered only to replace
application of a harmful traditional substance, such as
cow dung, to the cord stump.
RECOMMENDATION 7: Other postnatal care for the newborn
Bathing should be delayed until 24 hours after birth. If • Review BCC messages and facility standards to ensure families and
this is not possible due to cultural reasons, bathing providers are informed on these key newborn care messages.
should be delayed for at least 6 hours. Appropriate • Review national policies and standards with WHO guidelines14 and
clothing of the baby for ambient temperature is revise/strengthen as appropriate.
recommended. This means one to two layers of • Encourage skin-to-skin care as part of kangaroo mother care, but also
clothes more than adults, and use of hats/caps. The to keep babies warm in cold environments and for all newborns for at
mother and baby should not be separated and should least 1 hour after birth.
stay in the same room 24 hours a day. Communication
and play with the newborn should be encouraged.
Immunization should be promoted as per existing
WHO guidelines.

4 Postnatal Care for Mothers and Newborns

 WHO Recommendation 2013 Policy/Programme Action
Preterm and low-birth-weight babies should be • Develop approaches to identify and refer preterm and low- birth-
identified as soon as possible and should be provided weight babies, appropriate for home and facility births.
special care as per existing WHO guidelines. • Review clinical standards to promote special care, such as feeding of
low-birth-weight infants 15and kangaroo mother care.11

POSTNATAL CARE-RELATED RECOMMENDATIONS ON NEWBORN CARE FROM OTHER WHO

GUIDELINES
• Immediately at birth, all babies should be dried thoroughly and their breathing assessed. The cord should be clamped and cut
only after 1–3 minutes, unless the baby needs resuscitation. Routine suctioning must not be done.
• During the first hour after birth, the baby should be in skin-to-skin contact with the mother for warmth and the initiation of
breastfeeding.
• A full clinical examination (including weight, danger signs, eyes, cord) and other preventive care should be done around 1
hour after birth, when the baby has had his/her first breastfeed. This care includes giving vitamin K prophylaxis and hepatitis B
vaccination as soon as possible after birth (within 24 hours).
• When skilled health personnel attend the newborn, whether at home or in a facility, additional care should be provided. This
care includes basic newborn resuscitation with bag and mask for newborns not breathing spontaneously and full clinical
examinations at the recommended times.

Best Practices: Postnatal Care for Mothers

• Strengthen postnatal care for mothers through home visits and at health facilities. Elements of care are re-
emphasized from the 2006 guidelines without many significant changes. Postnatal care includes counselling on
family planning, maternal mental health, nutrition and hygiene, and gender-based violence.
Table 3. Postnatal Care for Mothers: Policy and Programme Actions Based On the New WHO Guidelines
WHO Recommendation 2013 Policy/Programme Action
RECOMMENDATION 8: Assessment of the mother
First 24 hours after birth: All postpartum women should have • Ensure that national standards and training curricula for
regular assessment of vaginal bleeding, uterine contraction, fundal skilled birth attendants include these elements of
height, temperature and heart rate (pulse) routinely during the postnatal care.
first 24 hours starting from the first hour after birth. Blood • Introduce or re-emphasize standards at the facility level
pressure should be measured shortly after birth. If normal, the using quality improvement tools and checklists.
second blood pressure measurement should be taken within 6
hours. Urine void should be documented within 6 hours.

Beyond 24 hours after birth: • Review national standards and trainings for skilled birth
At each subsequent postnatal contact, enquiries should continue attendants and CHWs include these elements of postnatal
to be made about general well-being and assessments made care.
regarding the following: urination and urinary incontinence, bowel • Introduce or re-emphasize standards at the facility level
function, healing of any perineal wound, headache, fatigue, back and for home postnatal care visits using quality
pain, perineal pain and perineal hygiene, breast pain, uterine improvement tools, job aids, and checklists.
tenderness and lochia.
Breastfeeding should be assessed at each postnatal contact. • Ensure national standards, quality improvement tools and
training curricula includes updated breastfeeding policy
about managing breastfeeding problems, Baby-Friendly
Hospital Initiative principles for facility births, and
community outreach.
At each postnatal contact, women should be asked about their • Review/revise national standards, quality improvement
emotional wellbeing, what family and social support they have and tools and training curricula to include emotional wellbeing
their usual coping strategies for dealing with day-to-day matters. assessment.
All women and their families/partners should be encouraged to tell
their health care professional about any changes in mood,
emotional state and behaviour that are outside of the woman’s
normal pattern.

Postnatal Care for Mothers and Newborns 5

 WHO Recommendation 2013 Policy/Programme Action
At 10–14 days after birth, all women should be asked about • Review/revise national standards, quality improvement
resolution of mild, transitory postpartum depression (“maternal tools and training curricula to include counselling for
blues”). If symptoms have not resolved, the woman’s psychological postpartum depression.
well-being should continue to be assessed for postpartum • Ensure linkages/referrals to available maternal mental
depression, and if symptoms persist, evaluated. health services for evaluation.
Women should be observed for any risks, signs and symptoms of • Ensure linkages/referrals within facilities and at the
domestic abuse. community level to available gender-based violence
services.
Women should be told whom to contact for advice and
management.
All women should be asked about resumption of sexual • Integrate messages on postpartum pregnancy risk and
intercourse and possible dyspareunia as part of an assessment of family planning, including LAM and postpartum
overall well-being 2–6 weeks after birth. intrauterine contraceptive device (IUD).
• Review national health management information systems
tools to construct new feasible postpartum family
planning indicator(s) to be tracked and reported (e.g.,
percentage of postpartum women accepting a
contraceptive method prior to discharge [disaggregated
by method: LAM, postpartum IUD, postpartum tubal
ligation, condoms]; percentage of women bringing
children for vaccination who accept a family planning
method in the same visit).
If there are any issues of concern at any postnatal contact, the
woman should be managed and/or referred according to other
specific WHO guidelines.a
RECOMMENDATION 9: Counselling
All women should be given information about the physiological • Review/revise national standards, quality improvement
process of recovery after birth and told that some health tools and training curricula for skilled birth attendants and
problems are common, with advice to report any health concerns CHWs to include these elements of postnatal counselling
to a health care professional, in particular, signs and symptoms of and care, particularly the addition of screening for
postpartum haemorrhage, pre-eclampsia/eclampsia, infection and thromboembolism.
thromboembolism. (NEW in 2013) • Introduce or re-emphasize standards at the facility level
and for home postnatal care visits using quality
improvement tools, job aids, and checklists.
• Review/revise educational messages to emphasize
postnatal danger signs and care seeking in counselling of
pregnant and postnatal women, families and communities.
Women should be counselled on nutrition. • Emphasize with mothers and their family members the
importance of eating a greater amount and variety of
healthy foods.
• Review/revise national standards, quality improvement
tools and training curricula for providers to ensure
adequate counselling skills on nutrition in the context of
local practices and taboos, particularly adolescents and
very thin women.
• Review/revise CHW training curriculum, CHW job aids
and BCC materials to emphasize key postnatal nutrition
messages.
Women should be counselled on hygiene, especially handwashing. • Review/revise CHW training curriculum, CHW job aids
and BCC materials to emphasize hygiene and handwashing
for postnatal (especially if the woman experienced a
severe perineal tear), newborn, and infant care.
Women should be counselled on birth spacing and family planning. • Integrate messages on postpartum pregnancy risk and
Contraceptive options should be discussed, and contraceptive family planning, including LAM.
methods should be provided if requested.

6 Postnatal Care for Mothers and Newborns

 WHO Recommendation 2013 Policy/Programme Action
Women should be counselled on safer sex including use of
condoms.
In malaria-endemic areas, mothers and babies should sleep under
insecticide-impregnated bed nets.
All women should be encouraged to mobilize as soon as • Review community messages for family members, such as
appropriate following the birth. They should be encouraged to partners and mothers-in-law, to encourage them to help
take gentle exercise and make time to rest during the postnatal ensure the woman eats enough and avoids strenuous
period. physical work.
RECOMMENDATION 10: Iron and folic acid supplementation
Iron and folic acid supplementation should be provided for at least • Review national standards, quality improvement tools, and
3 months after delivery.b training curricula on postnatal iron and folic acid
supplementation for postnatal mothers.
• Strengthen iron and folic acid distribution and compliance
among postnatal mothers.
• Review/update national standards to remove vitamin A
supplementation for postnatal women16 and transition to
promoting dietary sources of vitamin A for postnatal
mothers.
RECOMMENDATION 11: Prophylactic antibiotics
The use of antibiotics among women with a vaginal delivery and a • Review/revise national standards, quality improvement
third or fourth degree perineal tear is recommended for tools, and training curricula to include use of antibiotics
prevention of wound complications. (NEW in 2013) for women with a third or fourth degree perineal tear.
There is insufficient evidence to recommend the routine use of
antibiotics in all low-risk women with a vaginal delivery for
prevention of endometritis.
RECOMMENDATION 12: Psychosocial support
Psychosocial support by a trained person is recommended for the • Review/revise national standards, quality improvement
prevention of postpartum depression among women at high risk of tools, and training curricula on counselling for postpartum
developing this condition. There is insufficient evidence to depression.
recommend routine formal debriefing to all women to reduce the • Ensure linkages/referrals to available maternal mental
occurrence/risk of postpartum depression or to recommend the health services for evaluation.
routine distribution of, and discussion about, printed educational
material for prevention of postpartum depression.
Health professionals should provide an opportunity for women to
discuss their birth experience during their hospital stay.
A woman who has lost her baby should receive additional • Review/revise national standards, quality improvement
supportive care. tools, and training curricula to integrate culturally
appropriate services (including counselling) for women
experiencing miscarriages, stillbirths, and newborn deaths.
a The WHO guidelines, Pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum and newborn care: A guide for essential practice, that define this standard of care can be found at
http://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent/documents/924159084x/en/.
b Currently, there is no evidence to change this recommendation. WHO is working on developing specific guidelines for maternal nutrition interventions after

birth.

Postnatal Care-Related Recommendations from Other WHO Guidelines

Continue to ensure all women who give birth receive active management of third stage of labour and close monitoring
immediately after birth as part of their delivery care that reduces the risk of postpartum haemorrhage in the postnatal period.

Postnatal Care for Mothers and Newborns 7

1 Every Newborn, An Executive Summary for The Lancet’s Series. May 2014.
2 Nour N. 2008. An Introduction to Maternal Mortality. Reviews in Obstetrics & Gynecology. 1:77–81.
3 The Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation (UN IGME). 2014. Levels & Trends in Child Mortality, Report 2014. United Nations

Children’s Fund.
4 Lawn JE et al. 2014. Every Newborn: Progress, Priorities, and Potential Beyond Survival. Lancet 384:189–205.
5 WHO. 2014. World Health Statistics 2014. Geneva: WHO.
6 Warren C, Daly P, Toure L, and Mongi P. 2006. Postnatal Care. Pp. 79–90 in Opportunities for Africa’s Newborns: Practical Data Policy and

Programmatic Support for Newborn Care in Africa, edited by J. Lawn and K. Kerber. Cape Town, South Africa: Partnership for Maternal, Newborn
and Child Health.
7 WHO. WHO Recommendations on Postnatal Care of the Mother and Newborn. October 2013. Geneva: WHO.
8 WHO. 2013. Recommendations on Maternal and Perinatal Health. Geneva: WHO. Guidelines on maternal, newborn, child and adolescent health

approved by the WHO guidelines review committee.

9 Ibid.
10 WHO recommends optimizing health worker roles to improve access to key maternal and newborn health interventions through task shifting

(WHO, 2012).
11 For information and resources on respectful maternity care, see http://www.k4health.org/toolkits/rmc.
12 WHO guidelines recommend a safe childbirth checklist such as

http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.137%2Fjournal.pone.0035151#s5.
13 http://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/bfhi/en/.
14http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/publications/maternal_perinatal_health/924159084X/en/index.html.
15 WHO. 2011. Guidelines on Optimal Feeding of Low Birth-weight Infants in Low- and Middle-income Countries.
16 Vitamin A supplementation in postpartum women is not included in these guidelines. More information can be found at

http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2011/9789241501774_eng.pdf.

This brief was made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for
International Development (USAID) under the terms of the Leader with Associates Cooperative Agreement GHS-A-00-08-
00002-00 and the Cooperative Agreement AID-OAA-A-14-00028. All reasonable precautions have been taken by the World
Health Organization and USAID to verify the information contained in this publication. However, the published material is being
distributed without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied. The responsibility for the interpretation and use of the
material lies with the reader. In no event shall the World Health Organization be liable for damages arising from its use. The
contents are the responsibility of the Maternal and Child Survival Program and do not necessarily reflect the views of WHO,
USAID or the United States Government.

Requests for further information on this brief or permission to reproduce or translate this publication should be addressed to
MCSP Communications, e-mail: info@mcsprogram.org. For further information on the WHO guidelines, please contact
reproductivehealth@who.int or mncah@who.int.

© World Health Organization and Jhpiego 2015. All rights reserved. WHO/RHR/15.05.

WHO Department of Maternal, Newborn, Child and Adolescent Health

http://www.who.int/maternal_child_adolescent
WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research
http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth

8 Postnatal Care for Mothers and Newborns