The performance of the birthing person in the postpartum period is an important indicator of the successful transition in their role as a parent and predicts behavior, self-efficacy, and infant care behavior [1]. Childbirth itself is one of the most significant life events [2]. Yet the postpartum period can be particularly stressful, with sudden and severe changes in one’s roles and responsibilities following childbirth [3]. Applying the specialized skills that birthing parents need to strengthen their role as the first caregiver of the baby, ensuring their health, and managing household affairs is often referred to as ‘maternal performance’ [4], though we recognize the need for future language to be gender inclusive [5]. Such performance is an important variable affecting infant care during the 12 months following birth and throughout parental life [6]. Postpartum maternal performance is a complex and multidimensional concept that includes self-care, care of the baby, infant feeding, family care, and social and occupational activities [7]. As this performance presents as stressful, there is a need to explore how the health of the birthing parent may correlate with performance in this context.The performance of the birthing person (often a mother) is influenced by several factors [8]. In the postpartum period, influencing factors may include mode of birth [9], infant mood and night waking [10], social support [11], depression [12], and anxiety [13]. Considering that depression and anxiety are both factors affecting maternal performance in this context, we hypothesized that general health and/or mental health may also be an influencing factor.According to the World Health Organization, health is defined as being not only the absence of disease or disability but also the optimal state of physical, mental, and social well-being, where mental health is the relative ability of a person to perform physical, mental and social roles [14]. General health is also one of the important indicators of personal and social health [15]. It has four subscales, including physical function, social function, anxiety, and depression [16]. People experience significant changes in their general health status during and after pregnancy and childbirth [15]. As such, studying general health in this context will be vital, particularly in the prevention of adverse outcomes associated with pregnancy and childbirth [16].Previous studies have identified significant relationships between maternal performance following childbirth and mental health (e.g., anxiety, depression, behavior control, and positive affect) [17-20]. Indeed, some child bearers with depression and clinical problems may experience lower performance [8] and functioning [7] when acting as primary carers for their newborn. Postpartum depression following childbirth can also have a negative effect on bonding with the infant at one- and four months post-childbirth [21]. Conversely, performance following childbirth can increase following a decrease in depression [22]. Yet, in one study, no significant relationship was found between postpartum depression symptoms and the quality of infant care [23]. Such inconsistencies require further examination in a variety of contexts, particularly in Iran, where limited studies exist and birthing people are reportedly less prepared for parenthood following childbirth [17, 24]. It is also not clear how general health (as opposed to mental health) may relate to maternal performance in this context. Considering the above, we aimed to determine the relationship between the general health of the birthing person (e.g., mother) and maternal performance following vaginal childbirth in the context of Iran.This cross-sectional study included participants attending health centers for their neonates to receive vaccinations two months following childbirth. Participants were recruited from health centers affiliated with the University of Medical Sciences in Tehran, Iran. Multi-stage sampling was used, and health centers affiliated with the university were first divided into two strata (west and northwest). Following the randomized selection of centers from each stratum, sampling occurred via the proportional allocation method. Continuous sampling was then used until the full sample size was reached among those who met the inclusion criteria. The share of each comprehensive health service center and the number of participants recruited to the study were determined by the total number of people who gave birth and were referred to the West and Northwest health centers overall. Information about the research and questionnaire was given to potential participants by one of the authors (M.CH.). Participants who gave their informed consent to participate were subsequently asked to complete the instruments in paper form. Sampling continued from April 2022 to February 2023.Where the standard deviation of maternal performance was equal to 0.24, taking into account an accuracy of 0.03 and with a confidence limit of 95%, the sample size calculated for a similar study based on estimating averages has been equal to 246, rising to 450 after additionally taking into account the possibility of incomplete cases [25].n = [(1.96) 2 × (0.24) 2] ÷ (0.03) 2 = 246All participants who met the inclusion criteria were Iranian and had experienced vaginal births resulting from either a low-risk or a high-risk (e.g., due to either diabetes, anemia, hypothyroidism, blood pressure, preeclampsia, a body mass index above 29, age > 35 or 18 years old), who were fully informed of the purpose and procedures of the study. Participants were also assured of the confidentiality of information. All methods were carried out in accordance with our study protocol, along with relevant guidelines and regulations associated with Iran University of Medical Sciences and professional regulatory bodies such as the Nursing and Midwifery Council. This research was conducted on humans by the Helsinki Declaration of 1975, as revised in 2013 (http://ethics.iit.edu/ecodes/node/3931).The data were analyzed using SPSS V.24 (SPSS). Following the assessment of skewness and kurtosis, the quantitative data were considered to be normally distributed. Descriptive statistics, including frequencies and percentages, mean and SD, were used to understand demographic and other variables associated with obstetric history. To compare the constructs of maternal performance, scores were normalized to a maximum score of 100. To calculate each construct’s normalized score, each score was subtracted from the minimum score related to that construct and then divided by the difference between the maximum and minimum score. The final result obtained was then multiplied by 100.To investigate the relationship between maternal performance and general health, independent t-test analysis was conducted. The level of statistical significance was set at p 18 years old), who were fully informed of the purpose and procedures of the study.STROBE guidelines were followed.The data and supportive information are available within the article.The current study was funded and supported by Iran University of Medical Sciences.The authors declare no conflict of interest, financial or otherwise.The authors would like to thank all who participated in this study.