Postnatal means happening after a birth. Postnatal care, postnatal depression, the postnatal period.
The period runs to about six weeks and is when most maternal complications occur, which is why postnatal checks exist at all. America says postpartum, particularly for postpartum depression, and the two terms mean the same thing.
1adjectivepostnatalHappening after a birth.
“The midwife came to the house for her postnatal check a week after the baby arrived.”
postnatal is a quality.
Post-, after, plus natal, from Latin natus, born.
Old English
post
Middle English
post
English
post
English, today
postnatal
From post- + natal. From post + natal. First use appears c. 1831. post comes from Middle English post, from Old English post. Middle English post, from Old English post (“pillar, door-post”) and Old French post (“post, upright beam”), both from Latin postis (“door, post, doorpost”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA