Newborn + Postpartum
Game Changers
I spent my first years of my nursing career in the NICU, where I discovered my love for caring for infants. Meeting the needs of those innocent teeny tinies gave me purpose. I loved figuring out how each one preferred to be soothed, I loved their timely schedules, I loved everything about newborns. My days in the NICU made me even more excited to become a mama to my own babies one day. Which is why it came as a shock to me, when I did not have the picture perfect, blissful newborn experience with my first child.
My nursing brain was wired to be “baby oriented” only.
I completely disregarded the fact that I would have to be taken care of too! I was not at all prepared to take care of myself (I’m talking- no pads, nothing to help with pain, no special undies.. nothing. I sent my mom to the store to gather supplies the night I came home from the hospital with my firstborn *face in palm*)
While I totally neglected my own comfort and health, I became completely obsessed with perfection for my first daughter. If I didn’t feed at the exact time I was supposed to, to the minute, I was flooded with anxiety. I did WAY too much to try and make our schedule & environment “perfect”.. and if anything messed that up, it would ruin my day.
I completely missed the sweetness in the small precious moments that I’ll never get back. So I was determined to do things differently for my next baby.
Because here’s the thing.. babies are actually very simple. They require very few basic needs. *READ THAT AGAIN*
Why do we complicate babies? I’m not saying that having a newborn baby is easy (it’s actually quite the opposite) but why make the experience more difficult than it already is?
Babies don’t care if you’re breastfeeding position is a little off, or if you forgot to read one of the chapters in your What to Expect When You’re Expecting book, or if you didn’t capture the exact newborn photo you wanted, or if you accidentally missed a day of tummy time.
Those things are great, if you get to them.. but what a baby really needs, more than any of that, is their mama to be present.
I’ve pinpointed a few differences I’ve made with my second child that I believe made my experience EASIER, allowing me to be more present with my daughters (which resulted in me being a better Mama). These are in random order!
SNOO
Some love it, some hate it.. but it has allowed my husband and I to get more sleep and for that reason, we LOVE it! It can be pricey, for sure, but I think it is one of those items that is worth the splurge. Especially if you plan on having multiple kids and could use it again. My newborn was sleeping through the night at 2 weeks in the SNOO… enough said! Another reason why it works great for us is because we have a toddler who needs frequent attention. The SNOO provides a safe spot that we can quickly place the newborn in if we aren’t able to hold her in that moment. The SNOO slowly rocks her inside the basinet, so while she’s safe, I also know she’s comforted and doesn’t feel neglected.
You can buy it brand new HERE.
The SNOO is also available to rent monthly for $129 HERE. (that is about $4.25/day.. cheaper than coffee! Great deal.)
Another buying option- you can sometimes find one used on Facebook Marketplace for half the price! Just buy new sheets and sleep swaddles HERE and HERE.
2. Haakaa Silicone Breast Pump
I found this product to be super useful during the week that my milk came in. Some warn against pumping in the first 4 weeks of the baby’s life because your body is creating a “blueprint” of how much and how often your baby is eating. The blueprint will determine how much milk your body makes moving forward. When your milk comes in, it can be painful. Breast engorgement has always been especially painful for me! So the Haakaa Silicone Breast Pump provides just enough relief, while not sending a signal to your brain to make more milk. The Haakaa works by using a vacuum suction to slowly pull excess milk from the breast. So there’s no rhythmic suction like electronic pumps.
*TIP* Flip the top lip of the pump inside out before placing it on the breast.. then squeeze as much air out as possible.. then place it on breast, flip the top back to normal and let go of suction. (flipping the lip inside out will provide a little more suction than just squeezing it.)
You can buy the Haakaa HERE.
3. Padsicles
These were awesome to have handy the first few days after delivering! They’re like a homemade ice pack/medicated pad for “down there”. You just take them out of the freezer when you need them! It was great for the healing process and provided a lot of pain relief for me.
(I had two friends with due dates within 2 weeks of mine, and we got together one morning to have a little padsicle making party in our third trimester. We made around 50 to split between the three of us. We had a little assembly line going, it was hilarious and fun!)
Here’s how:
extra absorbent pad (overnights work well)
squirt pure Witch Hazel toner (alcohol free) all over the center of the pad
squirt aloe vera gel (I was pretty generous!)
add 3 drops of pure lavender essential oil (you can find the kind I use HERE)
wrap the pad up back in it’s original wrapping
place them all in a large ziplock bag and throw them in the freezer!
4. Postpartum Healing Spray
So my friend swore up and down on this healing spray! Without getting into too much detail, her sister used it religiously before delivery and was 100% healed “down there” about 3 weeks postpartum. She sprayed this on her lady parts religiously about 3 weeks leading up to birth and every day after birth until she was good to go.
I took her advice, did the exact same thing.. I didn’t tear and I felt 100% completely normal “down there” after about 5 days. Zero pain! And swelling was totally minimal.. just about gone after day 3. I was SHOCKED! Call it coincidence, call it second child luck? I’m not sure, but I didn’t ask questions!
This is the original spray, but she makes a copy cat version for her friends! Here’s the recipe.
•lavender
•myrrh
•helichrysum
•Roman chamomile
•frankincense
•tea tree
•witch hazel
•coconut oil
(She used these oils from Young Living, a trusted essential oil company! Grocery store oils don’t cut it.. too much other yucky stuff in them.. sorry. You can buy these oils HERE!
5. Bathroom Setup
While we’re covering the postpartum healing topic, I want to share this little bathroom setup trick! You’ll spend a LOT of time in the bathroom right after delivering your baby. So instead of running back and forth from your room, to the kitchen back to your bathroom gathering supplies when you need it, keep everything together in a cute little setup next to your toilet.
I made a PP healing basket a few weeks before my due date, so I was SET when I returned home from the hospital. It sat right next to my toilet and was filled up with pp undies, nipple cream, ice pads, witch hazel wipes, my pp healing spray and Peri Bottle.
EXTRA TIP: Go ahead and hang a big trash bag on your bathroom door handle. You’ll accumulate a lot of trash from wrappers, pads etc. Those little bathroom trash cans won’t cut it. This way, you don’t have to keep making trips to a bigger trash can!
All the pp care items that I used & LOVED are linked below!
6. Elvie Pump
Imagine being stuck to a wall for 30 minutes, holding two pumps to your boobs while your baby is crying for your attention.. now imagine blissfully doing the dishes, giving your toddler a bath, cooking dinner, going for a walk or DRIVING all while pumping at the same time :)
ENOUGH SAID!
I know this pump is expensive.. it is a luxury! To me, I wanted to make the process of giving my baby my breastmilk as easy as possible on me, so that I had no excuse not to. So I saved up for this product and I think it was worth every penny. Also, some insurances cover part of it! Check to see if your insurance will cover any of the cost HERE.
7. This Tanning Product
Okay.. I know tanning products don’t typically fall under “postpartum products”, but hear me out.
I needed a little something to help me feel physically confident right after delivery. I wasn’t messing around with the whole *lay around feeling bad for myself because I’m not living in the same body that I once had*.. nope. I don’t have time for that, I also don’t have room for the emotional toll that takes.
One of the reasons I love this product for pp is because it’s subtle but buildable. So you won’t look like “whoa that chick got a spray tan”, but it adds just the right amount of healthy color.
This is also made with organic olive oil, coconut oil, rosehip oil, vitamin b5, hyaluronic acid, and aloe vera, making it superrrr moisturizing! This also helps give it a really natural fade (not patchy.)
So mix a few pumps of this with your nighttime moisturizer + take 5 minutes to throw some makeup on every morning. You’ll feel pretty and fresh and it will change your attitude, I promise!
Click on the photos to purchase these tanning products!
TIP:
avoid the areas right around your eyes and mouth!
for a deeper tan, reapply this in 24 hours
use a tanning mitt for the body
8. To Wear!
Here are a few of my favorite pieces to wear right after baby! (go ahead and grab each item and put them on rotation.. you won’t need anything else!)
9. Bouncer
I LOVE this bouncer! You can fold it up to be paper thin, and it’s super light- making it my favorite portable baby item. I bring this thing EVERYWHERE. My parent’s house for dinner, girl’s night, our community group meetings, (my friend even brought her baby to a wedding and placed her under the table in this thing lol!) It’s not electronic, so you just bounce it with your foot. If you work from home, you can stick it under your desk and bounce with your foot while you work on the computer!It’s really simple to clean- you just pull the one piece of fabric off in one swift motion and throw it in the wash. I definitely recommend adding this item to your registry!
10. Grace
I grew so much between my first and second child. Becoming a mother completely changed who I was… in the absolute best way possible.
I also experienced two early miscarriages in between my two successful pregnancies.. I also think that helped shape my vision of motherhood.
I kept a list of my thoughts about motherhood in the note section of my phone. It’s messy and disorganized because I would jot something down quickly when I thought of it.. but I like it this way, so I’ll leave it!
“Let go of perfection. Schedules, tummy time, milestones, feeding positions, sleep.
This time is FLEETING.
Don’t get so caught up in details that do not matter. You will miss this sweet time. It’s over in a blink.
Lay down when you’re able to. Take the time you need to recover. It’s not a race. Your body needs this time.
Give your body grace.. and then give it some more! You just created a whole human. Your body has been drastically changing for 9 months. It’s not going to magically snap back to where it was 3 weeks postpartum. So don’t waste any time picking yourself apart in the mirror right now.
Your body will go back in time and with a little bit of discipline and good decision making.. it’s not a race. This is just the season you’re in. Just relax.
Hold your baby.. often. One day, you won’t be able to anymore.
Dishes and laundry don’t have a deadline. You don’t get this time back. Go spend it with your babies.
12. Mama Phone Hacks
(I hope this one doesn’t come across as ungrateful.)
I am way less responsive in the first few months of my baby’s lives. I tend to get pretty overwhelmed with it, actually. I feel so much guilt for letting text, calls, emails and DMs pile up. I know that people reach out to offer help, send well wishes or check up on baby because they care so much.. but the reality is that responding to a ton of messages takes up a lot of time. When the babies finally fall asleep and give me a ‘break’, I have piles of laundry, dishes, a husband who is hungry and craving time with me, a shower that I desperately need to take and sleep that I need to catch up on. So spending an hour or two on the phone to catch up just doesn’t happen that often, unfortunately. I feel so yucky and rude when I don’t respond for a while! I’ll read all the messages when they come in, smile and think of what I want to respond, and then like clockwork- someone spits up, cries, crawls up onto a dangerous piece of furniture etc. (One thing I’ve learned after becoming a mama is to give other mamas more grace.)
So I’ve discovered a couple of solutions that help!
Press and Hold!
Voice Memos
You know you’ve made it to the “mom club" when you start sending voice memos instead of written out texts. It will probably feel awk the first time, but once you send your first, you won’t go back! It seriously saves so much time. You just hold down a button and talk out your thoughts like a walkie talkie. I swear, all the conversations with my mom friends are just a million voice memos back and forth!
2. Auto Reply
There’s a little workaround on the iPhone for an auto reply to texts! This comes in handy when you KNOW you’re about to be really busy and not able to respond, but don’t want to be rude or people to think you’re ignoring them. If someone really needs you to see their text, they can respond “urgent” and their text will notify you! Here’s an example of what I set mine to say.
Here’s how: settings > do not disturb > scroll down to ‘do not disturb while driving > click activate > manually > back > click auto reply to > all contacts > back > click auto reply > type in your message! > go back to settings > click control center > add do not disturb while driving to controls.
Here’s what my control center looks like when I have it turned on!
