Belly Binding: Holding the Postpartum Body with Care
By Ekaterina Cupelin | Naitre Mère
The postpartum body is not broken. It is open.
It has expanded to the edges of what it knew—bones, fascia, identity—and now it asks to be held. Belly binding is one way of listening to that call.
For generations across cultures, women have wrapped their bellies after birth. In Malaysia, it's called bengkung. In Mexico, faja. In parts of West Africa, long cloths called wrappers are used to support the womb’s return. The practice crosses oceans and time, always with the same gesture: to bring warmth, containment, and gentleness to a body that has just done the unthinkable—created and released life.
But today, in our fast-paced, bounce-back culture, belly binding is often misunderstood. It’s reduced to aesthetics—to flatness, to “getting your body back.”
At Naitre Mère, I see it differently. Belly binding is not about erasing the signs of birth. It’s about honoring the body’s process of return, of integration. Of healing.
What Is Belly Binding?
Belly binding involves wrapping the abdomen with a cloth or support band in the days and weeks following childbirth. It’s traditionally done with long cotton wraps or special binders, often paired with warm oils, herbal compresses, and gentle massage.
It can:
Offer a sense of grounding and containment
Support posture and back muscles
Ease the sensation of “emptiness” that can follow birth
Encourage the uterus to return to its pre-pregnancy size
Promote rest by relieving physical discomfort
But most of all, it feels like being held. In a time when many women feel invisible, fragmented, or untethered, holding can be deeply therapeutic.
Warmth, Rest, and the Inner Fire
In many traditional medicines, including Chinese and Ayurvedic systems, the postpartum period is seen as a cold state. The body has lost heat, blood, and energy—and requires warmth to recover. Binding, especially when paired with warm meals, massage, and rest, helps restore the body’s inner fire.
But more than physical recovery, belly binding is symbolic. It is the ritual act of closing what was opened. Of saying to the body: You can come back now. You are safe.
A Note on Consent and Care
Belly binding, like all postpartum practices, should come from a place of invitation, not expectation.
Some women love it. Some don’t. Some need time to come into their new body. Some need no touch at all.
I always begin with the question:
“What would feel supportive to you?”
Binding is not a fix. It’s a tool. One way among many to honor the radical transformation of birth.
If You’re Curious to Try
I offer postpartum belly binding as part of Rituels in-home care sessions. Each binding is done with presence, warmth, and deep listening—sometimes in silence, sometimes with tears, often with laughter. It’s less of a treatment and more of a rite.
Want to know more or book a session? Visit naitremere.org/contact
Or simply reach out. I am here to hold you as you hold your baby.
In Closing
To bind the belly is to say:
You are not alone.
Your body is not forgotten.
You are still becoming.
May every mother feel held in the ways she most needs.
May your postpartum be slow, sacred, and yours.