Skip to main content
Black Health logo Black Health

Free Toolkit

Black postpartum care: 6-week checklist

The follow-up visits, screening tests, and warning signs that should be on the calendar from delivery through 6 weeks postpartum. Built around the documented gaps in Black maternal-care follow-through.

What's in the toolkit

What this guide covers

Week-by-week checklist. Days 1-3, week 1, week 2, week 4, week 6: what should happen clinically, what to track at home, when to call your OB.

Warning signs that need 911 or ER. Severe headache, vision changes, chest pain, shortness of breath, calf swelling, fever over 100.4 with abdominal pain. Postpartum preeclampsia can develop up to 6 weeks after delivery.

The EPDS self-screen. Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale, 10 questions. Print and complete at week 2 and week 6.

Lactation and mental-health resources. IBCLC finder, Black Lactation Direct Service Providers, postpartum mental-health hotline numbers, our Maven Clinic and Mahmee reviews.

Get more like this

Subscribe to the Black Health newsletter for more guides like this one, plus a featured provider each week. Unsubscribe anytime.