If you're like many of our clients, you've invested a lot of
time into preparing for having a baby.
Friends and family may have done their share to welcome baby by
presenting gifts of clothes, toys, and necessities. You've gone about nesting and finding just
the right place for everything. All the
diapers are neatly stacked and waiting by the changing table. All the clothes are washed, folded, and put
away (unless you listened to your doula who said to wash only what you need for
the first two weeks and keep the tags on the rest, in case baby grows out of
that size before he or she has had a chance to wear every outfit). But what about you? Have you gotten your home ready for the
postpartum you? If not, we have a few
tips for preparing your spaces.
1. The Nursing Nook
If you've purchased a rocking chair where you plan to nurse,
don't be too disappointed if its most common use is as a gathering spot for
dirty clothes or clothes that need to be folded or put away. Many moms don't
want to be isolated from the family, hidden in the baby's room every two hours
to nurse. Prepare yourself instead to
have a mobile nursing kit to bring to whatever spot in which you may find
yourself nursing -- the sofa, the living room floor, the kitchen table, your
bed, the bathroom (yes, most moms will eventually have that moment of needing
to use the facilities and having a nursling who just will not wait). Your mobile nursing kit should include
anything you think you might need when you're sedentary and unable to get up
for 20-40 minutes.
In our kit, we have:
* A water
bottle (nursing moms need about half their body weight in fluids each day)
* High
protein snacks
* Fresh
fruit
* Reading
material
* Chargers
* A phone
* A burp
cloth
* A pencil
and sticky notes
* Breast
pads
* Nipple
cream (in this case our favorite go-to: plain cold-pressed coconut oil)
If you have a toddler or preschooler at home already, make
them their own mobile play kit. This
gives them something so they can occupy themselves while you're nursing,
wherever you are nursing. Change the
toys or activities out every few days to keep it fresh and boredom-free.
2. The Bathroom
Your time in the bathroom might be limited once you're a new
mom. It also won't likely be behind
closed doors. Still there are some
things that need to be taken care of.
Once baby is here, your uterus continues sloughing off lochia for a few
weeks. This might look like a heavy
period for a week or two and tapers off as your body heals. If you're being too active, you might notice
the flow increases. If this happens,
listen to your body and slow down (moms with stairs might want to consider
having a changing table on each floor of the house to minimize stair climbing
postpartum). Aside from bleeding, there
might be swelling and soreness. Pushing
too hard during labor might have caused hemorrhoids, which are uncomfortable
and need to be kept clean to heal properly. If you tore and needed stitches this will have
some extra discomforts as well. It's
important to keep the tools you'll need in any bathroom you might be using
regularly or have a mobile basket, lest you need to run through the house with
your pants down trying to find what you need (don't worry, we've all been
there).
In our cupboard, we have:
* A
peri-bottle, for a bidet-like rinse (a spray bottle will do too)
* Postpartumsitz bath herbs to help with swelling, soothing and healing (we make a concentrated tea to add to peri-bottles or you can
use it in a sitz bath)
* Sanitary
pads (you'll want heavy duty ones for at least the first few days)
* Bottom
balm and bottom spray (in case you don't want to DIY with herbs)
*
Witch hazel for help with swelling and itch (put some on sanitary pads to have in the freezer
for the immediate postpartum)
* Large wipes for cleaning or using as a compress with sitz bath herbs or witch hazel
* A towel
* Reading
material (should you get a few extra moments)
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