As mothers around the world marvel that Kate Middleton went home from the hospital mere hours after giving birth to her third child Monday, the largest group of women’s doctors in the U.S. is urging a major shift in the way physicians care for mothers of new babies.
Instead of waiting six weeks for a mother’s first postpartum checkup, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists now recommends a “fourth trimester” of ongoing treatment for mothers of newborns.
