Hailee Steinfeld and Josh Allen welcomed their baby girl in early April. So far, they haven’t revealed the baby’s name or birthday. Hailee often posts life updates to her Substack, Beau Society. Hailee recently posted some random thoughts she’s kept on her notes app over the last few weeks. She talked about Cannes fashion, being locked into this season of Survivor (girl, same!), and postpartum life. Hailee mentioned a book she’s reading called The First 40 Days, a cookbook for new mothers. Her takeaway from the book is that she needs to be kind to herself, especially right now. From E! News:
“My amazing doula has taught me so much about postpartum nutrition,” Hailee wrote in a May 15 post shared to her Substack Beau Society. “In general, she advised me to stick to warm foods during my postpartum recovery to help digestion and boost nutrient absorption, a philosophy that stems from Ayurveda.”
“Knowing this, my mom made me this amazing albondigas soup the other day,” she added alongside a photo of the dish. “It’s one of those rare soups that looks as good as it tastes.”
And as for what she’s been reading lately, the Sinners actress praised Heng Ou’s postpartum cookbook The First 40 Days, sharing that it’s made a notable impact on her motherhood journey so far.
“Every word has resonated,” Hailee wrote. “There’s a paragraph early on that talks about how even forty days after giving birth, you’re still in such a vulnerable state. People understand that about your new baby, but they don’t understand that about you, the mom.”
While the 29-year-old continues to navigate this new chapter, she’s trying her best to go easy on herself.
“I’m still in this early period,” she wrote, “and need to remember to be super gentle with myself in every way — physically, mentally, nutritionally, spiritually, all of it.”
I love what Hailee says about being gentle with herself. Women are so vulnerable postpartum. It’s easy to be hard on ourselves, especially during those early days. I would even expand those feelings of vulnerability beyond the first 40 days and into that first year. Everything you’re navigating is a “first,” and new moms are doing it without any prior context. You’re constantly concerned about your baby’s well-being. There’s also the added worry about what you’re doing right or wrong, whether it’s food, sleep training, or the emotions of adjusting to a new normal. It helps to remember that every woman’s postpartum journey is different. We need to give ourselves grace and try to remember that we are doing the best we can. It sounds like Hailee has a good support system, though. I hope she is soaking up every moment with her baby girl and that she gives us another update soon.
Photos via Instagram and credit Avalon.red
Yea give yourself 2 years or a lifetime who cares. There was such a trend for a while to ´bounce back’ after giving birth, fts glad that’s over
I have two Mexican-American friends who gave birth in the last year, and they both told me about eating only warm foods in the 40 days after the birth. And one said that the 40 day period was known as the cuarantena (quarantine). The new mom isn’t even supposed to go outside! The family is supposed to do the household chores and let the new mom rest.
Boxy Lady, I like that custom. I remember in the first months, I had an eyelash in my eye one day for 13 hours straight because I didn’t have a minute away from the baby. Now I can’t believe that I did not take even 30 seconds to put the baby down and go to a mirror and remove the eyelash. It was so incredibly stressful that it didn’t even occur to me to do that.