Shaina Baird is on a mission is to support women through their pregnancy and postpartum journey by providing products that are centred around easing the discomfort, pain and inconvenience that can be experienced through all stages of pregnancy and birth. At Packages for New Mums, they also aim to bring awareness to the services available that support and empower women through pregnancy and beyond. They encourage you to celebrate the joy of motherhood with their beautifully curated packages, designed to pamper and support. Whether you’re looking for the perfect baby shower gift or a special treat for a new mum, they’ve got you covered. Here Shaina talks to The Natural Parent Magazine about the passion behind her business, the challenges she has overcome, the pros and cons of running her own business, and her hopes and dreams for the future.
The passion: What inspired you to set up your business?
I like to be prepared for certain things and childbirth is obviously a big one that you want to be ready for. There are so many things at play and once baby comes along, it can be hard to get what you need or to cater for yourself, so I found it important to get as much of the items that I needed for my recovery prior to giving birth.
During the process of seeking out what I needed for my postpartum recovery, I found that everything I needed could not be found in one spot. I had to go to a variety of different stores. This was so hard to do when heavily pregnant so I decided to look online. This was so time consuming because prices varied so much, delivery fees mounted up and I found some hampers were really glorified and not cost effective and still didn’t have everything that would be needed.
So this is where I saw a gap.
After the birth of my baby, I was expressing and this was super difficult for me as I have a condition that affects milk production, so every drop counted. Well I sent my husband to the shop to grab some more items for my recovery and he kept calling as he didn’t know what I was talking about and wanted some photos. In the midst of this, I ended up knocking over a bottle of my freshly expressed milk to get to the phone. That is when everything was set in motion to get Packages for New Mums started.
Later, I came to learn how lack of support tied with the pain of the recovery during the postpartum stage increased the risk of postpartum depression and was one of the causes for this, and that gave me more drive to get my business out there. I want to help reduce that number and bring awareness to how important looking after yourself is – and that you don’t have to suffer just because this is a natural thing and billions of women have gone through this. There are items out there to support you.
The launch: How did you start out in the beginning?
I first started selling on marketplace to see how things would go and once that went well, I set up my website and Facebook page. To launch, I advertised a giveaway whereby it was a competition and to be in the draw, people needed to like and share my page. You would get additional entries if you invited friends to the page. This was conducted on both the Facebook and Instagram platform.
The innovation: What was the biggest breakthrough for you with your business?
My biggest breakthrough was being able to source my items at prices that allow me to sell at RRP that the big retail stores sell at and having the permissions to offer concession prices and still be able to make a profit.
This means I can cater to people of all income brackets. Recovery is super important and these items should be accessible to all postpartum mums
Yin and Yang: How do you balance work and family?
I do my work mostly when my children are sleeping, so either during their day naps or after they are in bed.
If I can fit something in when they are playing and don’t need me, then I will work then.
On the odd occasion, they will be alongside me watching me put the packages together and ‘trying’ to help by cutting up some ribbon that I don’t actually need or cutting paper that I don’t actually use 😉
