Postpartum recovery can be a difficult thing. Taking care of your body after having a baby is sooooo important! Here are the top 7 things every new mom should have in her post-partum survival kit.
One of my dearest friends on the planet just had her second baby yesterday. I’m so ecstatic! This little girl is just TOO cute!
But babies come into the world in {usually} a painful way; whether cesarean or natural, birth always takes a toll on the mama. As I was thinking about what I could give to my sweet friend who just went through childbirth, I started thinking about how some must-have post-partum items would probably bless her.
Let’s be honest, having a baby wreaks havoc on your body and, ahem, lady business. The days immediately following birth should be filled with self-care, even while you pour into caring for your newest family member. Your body has gone through a lot.
After having four babies of my own, I’ve discovered a few things that help in that very important healing process.
My top 7 must-have post-partum items are…
1. Post-partum Sitz Bath Tea
2. DIY Soothing and Healing Spray
3. Padsicles
4. Ultra Thin Overnight Pads
5. Cranberry Juice and Sparkling water (with coconut water for electrolytes)
6. Lactation Cookies
7. Giant Water bottle
Don’t worry, I’m going to explain these postpartum must-haves in detail
(Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase, but you will not be charged a penny extra! And mama, I never recommend products I don’t love or believe in. I so appreciate your support)
Note: Most of these items are awesome for cesarean post-partum care, too
My first two babies were c-section babies, and I can attest to how awesome these are for both types of post-partum recoveries.
Related post: 6 Things that Surprised Me About C-Section Recovery
(This post is going to have a little TMI—however, this is important stuff, and things I wish I knew before my births!)
1. Post-Partum Sitz Bath Tea (not for drinking…for soaking the lady parts)
After my first cesarean, I was completely shocked at how sore I still was “down there” when I didn’t even push anything out!
I also was NOT expecting (and was never told) that I would have the worst period-like bleeding of my life after a c-section, too (I knew this about vaginal births, but for some reason didn’t know it still applied after a cesarean).
Things are definitely still tender, even after a c-section.
So if you’ve had or are planning a cesarean birth, don’t dismiss the post-partum Sitz Bath Tea. It could end up being very soothing. You just have to make sure you take a very, very shallow bath, so as not to get your incision wet.
Post-Partum sitz bath tea is absolutely awesome to help with healing. I mix my own blend of herbs (which I’ll tell you about soon), but you can also buy post-partum sitz bath tea from Etsy, Amazon, or probably a local co-op type place.
This is the one I like: Earth Mama Organic Sitz Bath
To make your own sitz bath tea you’ll need
- 2 cups calendula
- 1 cup chamomile
- 1 cup yarrow
- 1 cup Epsom or sea salt
- 20 drop lavender essential oil
- 10 drops clary sage essential oil
For my own mix, I purchase all of the herbs from Amazon or Starwest Botanicals in bulk, so it can be a bit of an investment up front. But all the ingredients can be used in other DIY recipes
(I use calendula for homemade first-aid ointment, diaper cream, and even *drinkable* tea. Chamomile is good for just about everything, including diaper cream, teething tincture, drinkable tea, and eczema lotion. Yarrow is AWESOME for little kiddos when they have a fever (it helps reduce fevers naturally). I make a yarrow/chamomile/peppermint tea with raw honey and lemon that my kids love. It is incredibly healing).
Directions to make sitz bath tea
- Add all the herbs to a big mixing bowl
- Add the salt, and then drop the essential oils onto the salt for better absorption and potency.
- Mix it all up and store in a tightly seal jar or bag.
To prepare the tea
Take ¼ cup of the mixture and steep it in 2 quarts of boiling water for 5 minutes to make a tea concentrate. Strain the leaves out with a colander and store the tea in a 2 quart jar.
How to take a sitz bath
Fill the bathtub about two inches full with warm water. Some women have said they prefer cold sitz baths, but warm water was definitely more soothing for me personally. Try both and see what brings the most comfort to you! Then pour in one cup of the tea concentrate and swirl it in.
Soak in the mixture for 15-30 minutes.
A couple notes as you go through this:
- I liked to either drape a towel over my shoulders or wear a shirt/sweater while I soaked. You don’t want your upper body freezing, since it’s such a shallow bath!
- I’d also suggest having a stack of towels that you don’t really care about getting messy to pat yourself off after you soak. Some black dollar store kitchen towels are a great option. You do want to dry things off gently when you’re done soaking.
- This sitz bath mixture is also fantastic in a peri bottle to bring relief if using the restroom is painful for you. It’s extremely soothing to use half warm water and half tea concentrate in the bottle and squirt as you go or immediately after. (Please tell me you got a peri-bottle from your midwife or hospital?! If not, you must have someone who loves you pick one up for you.Walmart or Walgreens should have them. You can get one from Amazon as well, but I’d say you need it sooner than even two days Prime time).
2. Padsicles
These. Saved. My. Life.
Ok, I’m exaggerating. But only a little.
It’s basically taking large pads and pouring healing ingredients on them, freezing them, and then icing, eh hem, down there to bring immediate comfort.
Seriously, they were so soothing and helpful after my natural birth.
What you need to make padsicles
- Pads
- Aloe vera gel
- alchol-free witch hazel
- clary sage essential oil
- lavender essential oil
How to make padsicles
- Open a large or overnight pad, while still leaving the bottom attached to the wrapper.
- Pour alcohol-free witch hazel over the length of the pad until wet, but not totally soaked.
- Put 3 drops of clary sage essential oil and 3-6 drops of lavender essential oil on the pad
- You can smear a tablespoon of aloe vera gel over the top, but that’s just a bonus.
You could also use the sitz bath tea concentrate to soak the pad and then freeze.
3. Soothing and Healing Spray
Oi. Yes. This spray is directly for your lady business, but could also be sprayed onto your pad for extra comfort and healing.
This must-have post-partum item also help speed up recovery and brings added healing benefits with any tearing. If you’ve had or have stitches down there, you know you definitely want the healing process sped up as much as possible.
Some people add peppermint oil to this as well for an added cooling effect. I would say start with one drop added to the recipe below, if peppermint oil does sound appealing, and go from there.
If you’d rather purchase one I recommend this one: Earth Mama Perineal Spray
What you need to make perineal spray
- ½ cup distilled water
- 3 T aloe vera gel
- ½ cup witch hazel (alcohol free, trust me!)
- 6 drops lavender essential oil
- 6 drops clary sage essential oil
How to make your own spray
- Mix all these ingredients together in a pourable measuring cup and then pour into a spray bottle.
- Use as needed! It’s not a bad idea to reapply every time you use the bathroom, following the peribottle rinse.
4. Ultra Thin Overnight pads
Ok, I know this seems like a DUH, but I seriously didn’t know they made ultra thin overnight pads for the longest time. When I put together my first post-partum kit I just grabbed the biggest, super soaker, overnight pads I could find.
But after my third child, the hospital gave me these amazing ultra thin pads to take home. Umm, what have I been doing with my life?!
They’re totally what I recommend to expecting friends and are a must-have post-partum item, in my opinion.
There is something so awesome about NOT having a giant, bulky pad that feels like a diaper AND it doing its job, man!
Learn from my mistake and go thin.
These worked phenomenally and made things more comfortable by not adding unnecessary bulk: Always Ultra-Thin Overnight Pads with Wings
5. Cranberry Juice and Sparkling Water (with coconut water for electrolytes)
I know this sounds like a strange must-have post-partum item. But hear me out.
After my first c-section, my nurse asked if she could get me anything to drink. I was still in a bit of a haze to be honest, and just asked for some water. She looked at me so compassionately and asked, “does some cranberry juice and lemon soda sound good to you?”
Ummm, YES!
For some reason that sounded like the best thing ever. I drank so much of that stuff afterward.
All through my hospital stay, that was my drink. I don’t really want to think about how much sugar I consumed in 48 hours.
Once I got home, I healthified it quite a bit, but continued to drink it almost constantly in the following weeks.
It’s now one of those signature things I buy in advance for each post-partum recovery, and for friends after they have babies.
I’m not sure what makes it so incredibly satisfying, but all of my friends who have tried it agree with me. There’s gotta be some science behind it. If you know, jump in and tell me why!
You’ll need
- Cranberry juice (no sugar added) or a cranberry juice blend
- Sparkling lemon lime water
- Coconut water
- optional: raw honey, coconut sugar, or naturally sweet juice like apple juice
To make a refreshing post-partum drink
- Start by filling a glass with ice
- Pour about 1/3 of the glass full with cranberry juice (no sugar added)
- Fill another 1/3 of glass with sparkling lemon/lime water
- Top it off with coconut water for added electrolytes
- Since the sparkling water doesn’t have added sugar, you might want to add some raw honey, sweet juice (apple/cherry, anyone?), or coconut sugar to taste
6. Lactation Cookies
I was.so.hungry all the time after giving birth! I’ve breastfed all four of my kiddos. Pregnancy hunger is NOTHING compared to breastfeeding hunger. Oh. Man.
Having lactation cookies ready was super helpful for me. I made a couple bags and froze them towards the end of each pregnancy. That way I had a healthy, deeply satisfying snack for those major munchy times.
There are so many lactation cookie recipes out there, but these are four important and helpful ingredients to include in any recipe:
- Flax seed
- Brewer’s yeast
- Nut butter or nut flour
- Oatmeal (preferably soaked 8-24 hours to help with digestion)
They all help with breastmilk production and contain nutrients to help keep up supply, but flax seed, oatmeal and nut butter/flour (I especially like adding almond) also help you feel and stay full and satisfied.
Lactation cookies would still be an important post-partum item even if you aren’t able or planning to breastfeed simply because of the nutrition density in them. Your body is doing so much recovery, and these ingredients are going to help support your body’s healing as well.
The recipe I use is this one: Easy Gluten Free Breakfast Cookies
You would just add in a tablespoon of brewer’s yeast when you mix in the flour.
You could just call them mama’s cookies. Or breakfast cookies.
And don’t let me fool you, there is nothing in these cookies that would be bad for your man or other kiddos. You could share these cookies with your family (but calling them lactation cookies kept my husband away from them) if you’re feeling that kind and generous. Just to clarify.
Don’t want to make them? I’ve heard good things about these: Booby Boons
7. Giant water bottle
Last but not least, a giant water bottle is a very important must-have post-partum item!
I mean it.
Like, G-I-A-N-T water bottle.
I can’t even tell you how thirsty I was after every single birth. For MONTHS. It is never so easy to get in 8+ cups a day. I kept my giant water bottle with me everywhere around the house.
I always had it with me. Even in my sitz bath.
It was either full of ice water or it was full of cranberry juice and sparkling water.
How about you? If you’ve given birth already, do you have any must-have post-partum care items? What would you add to your list?
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