The postnatal period from the immediate postpartum period to six weeks postpartum is a physiologically and psychologically challenging time in the reproductive life of a woman and a time when a significant proportion of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality can be prevented. In spite of efforts to increase global and national funding for antenatal and intrapartum care, postnatal care has been relatively under-resourced and mothers are often discharged within 24 hours to 48 hours after birth with little formal education on newborn danger signs, breastfeeding, mental health, and family planning. This chapter is a conceptual overview of the evidence supporting the provision of structured, hospital based postnatal care education for mothers. It discusses the worldwide and regional prevalence of poor postnatal care, the variation in maternal knowledge across different areas of postnatal care, the lack of knowledge that mothers have of the care they receive, and the evidence supporting structured educational interventions around the time of discharge. The chapter focuses especially on the Kerala context, where relatively good health indicators are accompanied by low levels of formalised, non-standardised post-natal education and where a significant level of psychological distress during the post-natal period can be measured, and places this evidence within a planned programme of post-natal care education research conducted in the district hospitals of Kollam. The conceptual basis used for structuring the programme of postnatal care education is that of General System Theory, conceptualizing the programme as a system of input (the mother and her socio-demographic context), throughput (structured, multi-domain education) and output (improved knowledge and practice), supported by an ongoing feedback process. The chapter concludes that postnatal education must be structured, multi-domain and reinforced through multiple encounters beyond the hospital stay, and includes implications for nursing practice, nursing education, and health policy and a case for rigorously evaluated, comprehensive postnatal education programmes of the kind proposed for Kollam district.