Top 10 Postpartum Tips (From A Mom Who’s Been There)
These are the 10 real, no-fluff products I used & swear by for postpartum recovery.
I’d like to preface this by saying that I had a crash c-section for my first birth and my postpartum journey looked a lot different than a lot of women’s most likely did. My daughter ended up requiring an extensive 2 month stay in the NICU at a different hospital than the one I gave birth at, due to a birth injury. Needless to say, my “birth plan” did NOT go as planned — and looking back, I laugh at the essential oils & flickering battery powered candles I brought, among a million other things, to the hospital. When crap hits the fan, it really puts it all into perspective. Okay, back to the list.
C-Section Must Haves:
Belly Binder / Faja — THIS IS A MUST. My hospital had me wrapped up in this belly binder when I woke up from anesthesia. This thing helped me so much. Without it I felt like everything was all kinds of loosey goosey. My muscles were SHOT. But this thing felt like it held everything. I will say though, this thing made me VERY ITCHY. But I was also postpartum and super sweaty from the hormones, especially at night, so I think that is why I was so itchy. I still wore it for awhile though. https://amzn.to/4mAtAL8
Silicone Scar Tape for Surgical Scars — I loved these. I couldn’t use them until my doctor gave me the OK to wear them, which I think was at 6 or 7 weeks postpartum, but I liked them because it felt like it kind of protected my incision/scar area. The c-section scar felt very sensitive when my clothing touched it and these scar tapes helped protect it. I don’t think I used it as much to minimize the appearance of my scar, but more to just protect it and keep it from rubbing against my clothing. The cool thing about them is they come in a large roll that you can trim to fit your scar. You can wash them, pat them dry & reuse them for up to 7 days & they reapply just as well after each use. Definitely recommend them. https://amzn.to/3SbPVRg
Breastfeeding/Pumping Must Haves:
3. Bravado Designs Pumping Bra Hands Free — I absolutely believe this is a MUST HAVE for pumping. I never got to breastfeed because my daughter was an aspiration risk secondary to her birth injury, along with laryngomalacia & tracheomalacia, so she required thickened feeds. But I did pump and she was exclusively “breast fed” until she was about 4.5 months old. I loved this pumping bra because it connected to my regular nursing bra super easily. And it had the openings for the flanges on my pump to insert into. I’m telling ya, if you’re exclusively pumping this is a MUST. https://amzn.to/4dmXNc5
4. Medela Breast Milk Storage bags — throughout my pumping journey I probably used thousands of storage bags. They were essential to store my milk properly in the freezer, as well as be able to organize my milk in a way that was helpful for me to grab and go when we needed to or to be able to know exactly how much to get out each day for my daughter. *WHY I LOVE THESE BAGS* I searched around for deals on Amazon on bags and ended up getting several different brands that I ended up writing negative reviews about, because all other brands except this one, had holes in the bag or something ended up happening with them. Countless times I would I put my breast milk in other storage bags, freeze them and during the thawing process, I would come back and all of the milk was gone because of a hole in the bag or something. It was so frustrating because if you’re a pumper, you know how precious every drop of milk is, because exclusively pumping is NO walk in the park or picnic on the beach. It’s WORK and when my hard work was just gone down the drain, I was so upset. These Medela bags were the ONLY bags that held up time after time and the only bags I’ll buy myself, for friends or recommend to anyone. https://amzn.to/4k2ffFy
5. Earth Mama Organic Nipple Butter — I loved this butter. I put it on my nipples before every pumping session and I swear it helped me so much with the pain/chafing of my nipples. It smelled great and was so oily and I just loved it. I would also use it on my lips as well and it’s very moisturizing. A little goes a long way with this – which is great, because it lasted me such a long time. https://amzn.to/3YLHeRh
6. Nursi Luna Flange Inserts 10PCS — trust me when I say, you need this if you are pumping. Not everyone’s nipple size is the same and breast pumps don’t come with every single size — so using the correct size falange makes a HUGE difference comfort wise AND supply wise when pumping. Buy this pack and try the different inserts, I promise it will make a world of difference. You can also use this nipple ruler to find out what nipple falange size you are. https://amzn.to/430hIu6 I found it to be more helpful buying the pack and just using the inserts to see which one felt the best but here’s the link to the ruler if you prefer to measure then buy only the size you need. https://amzn.to/4mlWtdG
7. Glass Breastmilk Pitcher (32 oz) — I used this everyday, once I knew it existed. Because my daughter ended up needing a G-Tube to leave the NICU, all of her milk had to be measured very well to ensure I wasn’t wasting my breastmilk with her feedings because I needed enough to prime the tubing on her feeding pump, plus what she would actually be getting fed, and really not a lot more because it could only be in the bag for 3 hours and then I had to clean the bag to prevent bacteria from building up in the bag. It was a very finicky process. Along with attempting to feed her every three hours by mouth with my thickened breast milk for 30 minutes, then having to feed the rest of what she didn’t drink through her G-tube & on top of that still needing to pump every 3 hours, I needed to manage my time well and very efficiently. I found that if I just poured all of my milk from the day that I pumped into this glass pitcher and put it in the fridge, I was able to measure it all in the storage bags all at one time in the evening versus doing it 5-6 times a day. In hindsight, maybe it didn’t really give me back much time, but in the moment, it sure felt like I was making my life a bit less chaotic. https://amzn.to/3SbSRgK
Postpartum essentials aside from breastfeeding & c-section related:
8. Postpartum Underwear — I loved these, honestly. They were nice because they weren’t tight around my belly yet they still gave me that feeling of being covered and held together. I like that I could use it all day and I was able to put my pad in it, no problem, and get done what I needed to get done. There’s a reason they’re a best seller! https://amzn.to/43fAXyE
9. Overnight Diapers — This one seems to be a bit controversial in the postpartum mom world, but I don’t care. These were great for overnight and I did not care that I was wearing a diaper. I was bleeding so much that it was nice to have a built in pad and they kept me feeling clean until the morning. https://amzn.to/3ZitgXe
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