How Much Energy Do You Use Postpartum? Understanding Your Body’s Real Workload
Most people think the life changing event is birth itself. However, the real marathon begins after the baby arrives. The postpartum period (often called the fourth trimester) is a time when your body is healing, producing milk, recalibrating hormones and adapting to the demands of a newborn.
All of that requires a tremendous amount of energy. Often much more than new parents might expect!
Let’s break down where that energy goes and why you may feel unexpectedly drained.
1. Your Body Is Healing (Even If You Feel Okay)
Whether you’ve had a vaginal birth or a C-section, your body is undergoing major internal repair. Tissue healing, blood volume changes, organ repositioning—all of it requires:
Extra calories
More rest
Higher nutrient demand
On average, the body burns hundreds of additional calories per day just through healing processes. Even if you do no extra physical activity, your internal systems are working overtime.
2. Hormonal Shifts Use Energy
Post birth hormone changes are intense:
Estrogen and progesterone drop rapidly
Milk-producing hormones surge
Stress hormones fluctuate
Hormone regulation itself is metabolically demanding. This contributes to feeling:
Fatigued
Foggy
Emotionally overwhelmed
It’s not in your head your endocrine system is running a full, energy-heavy reboot.
3. Sleep Deprivation Multiplies Energy Use
Waking every 1–3 hours means your body never gets deep, restorative sleep. Studies show that chronic sleep fragmentation can:
Increase energy expenditure
Reduce physical and mental performance
Slow healing
Intensify hunger signals
You’re burning more energy just trying to function.
4. Feeding Your Baby Uses Energy, No Matter How You Feed!
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is one of the most energy intensive things the human body can do. On average, it burns:
300 to 500 extra calories per day
That’s basically the energy of running several miles, but without leaving the sofa…!
Formula-feeding parents
While it doesn’t burn physiological calories, formula feeding still involves:
Night wakings
Bottle prep
Cleaning
Feeding sessions that can last 20–40 minutes
These activities add to your mental and physical workload.
5. The Mental Load Is Heavy
Caring for a newborn means constant:
Decision making
Monitoring
Learning
Problem solving
Cognitive load uses real energy. The brain consumes up to 20% of the body’s total energy on a normal day sometimes more when you’re under stress or learning new tasks.
6. Emotional Energy Counts Too
Postpartum life includes:
Joy
Anxiety
Worry
Identity shifts
Emotional calculation: “Is the baby okay?”
Emotional labor drains your reserves as surely as physical work.
7. You're Doing Physical Work All Day
Even if you don’t “exercise,” you’re constantly:
Lifting the baby
Rocking
Carrying
Getting up and down
Bending
Walking around the house
These micro-movements accumulate. Many new parents are shocked to learn they walk several miles a day without noticing.
So… How Much Energy Do You Actually Use Postpartum?
While every person and birth story is different, most postpartum parents use: Hundreds to thousands of extra calories per day from healing, feeding, stress, and physical activity.
More mental energy than almost any other stage of life. More emotional energy than you can quantify.
This is why postpartum exhaustion is real!!!
What Does This Mean For You?
You need more rest than you think.
You need more nutrition than you think.
You are using more energy than you ever have.
Feeling tired is not failing—it is biology.
Postpartum is one of the most energy-intensive periods of life, and acknowledging that is the first step to giving yourself the compassion, support, and recovery time you deserve.