When planning for a baby, we have everything ready. The nursery looks perfect. You persuaded your partner that the colour scheme is exactly right and you’ve found the PERFECT cot and Moses basket. Clothes of all ages up to 2 years are hanging fully organised in the wardrobe and stuffed toys are scattered tastefully around the room. You even have a lovely rocking chair for feeding the little bundle when they finally arrive.
Well done!! You have everything. Right???!!!
Well what about YOU, Mama? What will YOU need after your baby is born?
Postpartum Pads
You will need plenty of sanitary towels after the birth of your baby. The reason you need so many pads is that bleeding from your womb (uterus) will start soon after your baby is born. The blood mostly comes from the place where the placenta was attached. This means that you will have it whether you had a vaginal or a caesarean birth, although you’ll probably have less bleeding after a caesarean.
Peri Bottle
Your body goes through so much during childbirth. Believe me, there will be some DAMAGE down there. There will be stretching, there will be swelling, there will be tearing and there will be haemorrhoids!
Keeping your perineum stitches clean and dry is an important part of the healing process and reducing the risk of infections. Using a peri bottle, as well as managing cleanliness, allows you to reduce your discomfort on the toilet by diluting urine – which can often sting in the immediate days after a tear. Adding a little witch hazel to the warm water in the peri bottle can be very soothing and promote healing.
After use, very gently pat dry. Better still, go underwear free! Lay down a towel and lay on your side with your knees bent and together. It’s an excellent way to let the area breathe and heal. Just remember to close those blinds! ️
We recommend taking your peri bottle to the hospital to use straight away. Make sure that you’ve given it a wash in warm soapy water before use. Pack it into your hospital bag and you will be good to go from the very beginning.
Ice Ice Mama!
Using a perineal ice pack is another way to provide much-needed relief. Ninja Mama make a pack of two ice/heat perineal packs which is great as you can have one in the freezer ready to go while using the other one. Remember not to back to back ice. Let yourself go back to room temperature before using another pack. Heat therapy is also very useful and many women like to use heat therapy after the initial swelling goes down for relief from their stitches.
The doctor-recommended time for the use of ice therapy is a 20-minute window. This will give enough time to help ease the pain and swelling as well as the itching that many experience after a natural childbirth.
The instant perineal ice packs are perfect for those first couple of days postpartum when you’re still needing the extra convenience. They are also perfect to take to the hospital. We recommend to buy 2 x 5 packs of the instant ice packs for the convenience for the first couple of days and then you can move on to the reusable ones which can also be used for heat therapy if you prefer.
These ice packs are also the perfect size and shape to use on the c-section wound to bring down the swelling and ease discomfort.
Warm those boobies, Mama!
Placing a warm therapy pack on the breast before or during feeding encourages let down so helps make the process much more comfortable for Mama. It can also be used while pumping to help the milk flow and encourage let down.
These can also be used cold to reduce the swelling and pain related to breastfeeding.
A Soothing Sitz for your Ladybits, Mama!
Another wonderful relief for those sore lady parts is using a sitz soak. A sitz bath is a shallow bowl that you place on the toilet and sit in to soak your tender parts. Many women find this much more convenient and quicker than soaking in the tub (who’s got time for that when you’ve just had a baby??!). You can soak just in warm water or add a lovely natural sitz soak blend to promote the healing and ease the swelling, pain and often itchiness that women experience after childbirth.
