The fourth trimester begins the moment your baby is born and lasts until they’re about three months old. The term “trimester” essentially speaks to your baby’s development, so if the first three trimesters in pregnancy document the stages of your baby’s development, the fourth trimester is the developmental stage where your baby adjusts to being out of the womb. It is a time of great emotional and physical change where they rapidly grow in mind, body, and cognitive capacity.

But while the fourth trimester refers to a continuation of pregnancy and your baby’s development, it is also the firsttrimester of motherhood—a radically different and transformational new phase in your life.

This time is huge for new parents. A new life has been born, and now you are responsible for its survival. This time is full of excitement, awe, doubt, fear, panic, euphoria, and everything in between. One of the biggest and potentially most challenging parts of being a new parent is living with a new level of uncertainty around how to even do this thing called parenting.

During pregnancy, your baby was safely taken care of inside your body, but now that this tiny being is outside the body, a whole new set of psychological, physical, and cognitive skills are required.

During these early stages of motherhood, you will likely be constantly on high alert for your baby’s needs, questioning everything you do and worried about their safety. This is natural. In fact, you are evolutionarily programmed to keep this little being alive, which is also why these instinctual alerts can feel very intense at times.

It can be exhausting to be on guard all the time, so we’d like to offer a few mindful meditations that will help calm your worrying mind during this intense fourth-trimester phase.

Mindful meditations for the fourth trimester

A mindfulness meditation practice can help you live with your worrying thoughts without judgement, so you can experience them with less emotional suffering. Accepting your thoughts as they are will help you feel less stressed and agitated.

There are a lot of different techniques to choose from, but here is a good place to start:

Ten-minute daily meditation. Pick one time of day that you know the baby will be asleep or being looked after by your partner, and you have ten minutes to yourself. Sit in a chair with your back upright and your feet firmly on the floor. Set a timer for ten minutes. Close your eyes and breathe. It can help to focus the mind by counting the breaths on the inhale. Count to ten, and then come back to the count of one. When your mind wanders, keep going back to counting the breaths. As you’re counting your breaths, observe how your body feels and what thoughts are circling your mind. See if you can simply notice without judging.
Body scan. You can lay down or sit on a chair to do this. Take a deep breath, and then take a mental tour of every part of your body. Start with your head and then move down to your neck, shoulders, arms, torso, legs, and feet. Go really slowly, breathing into each part of the body and noticing any tension as you scan your body. When your mind gets distracted, simply notice and bring your attention back to each body part.
Moving meditation. If you find meditating sitting down a little difficult or if you find it hard to stay awake, you may prefer moving meditation. You can use any activity, such as walking, eating, or simple stretching. Or you could even do it while feeding the baby. The point of this exercise is that you are present with what is happening. If you’re taking a walk, then observe your surroundings and name everything you see, either out loud or to yourself. The same goes for feeding your baby. Observe your baby as if you have never seen them before. Or if you're eating, what is the smell and texture like?

These exercises help you to become present and therefore create more space in between thoughts. The result is a feeling of peacefulness and ease as you adjust to this new period of life.

What is the fourth trimester of pregnancy?

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