What Your Hormones Are Doing Week by Week

WHAT YOUR HORMONES ARE DOING WEEK BY WEEK 📉

A simple guide to the invisible forces shaping how you feel right now

Malama Clinical Team · Month 1 Postpartum · Post 39 of 265

A lot of what you are feeling right now — the tears, the rage, the sweat, the fog, the unexpected joy — is hormonal. Not in the dismissive way people sometimes mean it. In a real, physiological, "your body just went through something enormous" way.

Here is what is happening, week by week.

🌊 Week 1: the hormone cliff

During pregnancy, progesterone and estrogen were sky-high — especially in the third trimester. The moment the placenta is delivered, those levels drop. Fast. Sharply.

This is called the hormone cliff. It is the biological reason Day 3 is so hard. Your estrogen drops, oxytocin surges and then settles, prolactin rises to make milk, and cortisol spikes to keep you alert. All at once. On no sleep.

This is not weakness. This is one of the most dramatic hormonal shifts the human body experiences.

🩸 GD note: Cortisol peaks around Days 3 to 5 postpartum. Cortisol tells your liver to release stored glucose, which can temporarily raise blood sugar. If you had GD, this is worth knowing — a few high readings in the first week are not unusual and do not necessarily mean diabetes has persisted.

📅 Week 2: the wobble

Estrogen and progesterone are still low. Prolactin is high if you are nursing. Cortisol is starting to ease slightly. This is often when the initial fog lifts just enough that you realize how hard the first week was.

Sleep deprivation is now compounding everything. Even one longer sleep stretch — four to five hours — can meaningfully help your emotional regulation.

📅 Weeks 3 and 4: slowly stabilizing

Hormones begin to settle into their new postpartum baseline. This is not the same as your pre-pregnancy baseline — especially if you are breastfeeding, because prolactin suppresses estrogen.

Many moms notice mood starting to stabilize around week 3 or 4. Some do not — and if that is you, that is worth paying attention to. Mood that does not improve after two weeks may be a PMAD, not just hormones.

🌿 What this means for you

• Your feelings are not random — they are biological and they make sense
• The hardest hormonal days are usually Days 3 to 10
• Things usually begin to ease around weeks 3 to 4 — but everyone is different
• If your mood is not improving by week 3, talk to your provider

You are not losing your mind. You are navigating one of the most complex hormonal transitions of your life. That deserves respect — not shame. 🤍

Malama Clinical Team · Month 1 Postpartum · For education only, not medical advice.