Essentials for Postpartum Mamas About three weeks ago, our family grew from 4 to 5 with the addition of our newest babe, Luke. Our other two kiddos are 2.5 year old twins, so this last month has been… crazy, to say the least! We all are adjusting to our new life as a family of 5, and truthfully, the transition has gone really well so far. It still continues to amaze me though, that every baby is so different - no matter how many other children you have. And not just that, but even as a “seasoned” mama, there are still new tips and tricks I am learning in this newly postpartum stage that have made my life loads easier.   Some of these new tricks are things I really wish I had known during my first pregnancy, so I hope sharing them with you guys will help out some other soon to be mamas (whether you’re pregnant with your first or your fifth!). So what are my essentials for postpartum mamas? Here are my top 3!
  1. Prepare with a postpartum kit to keep in your restroom.

  One of the things I was so terribly prepared for after the birth of our twins was caring for myself postpartum. The hospital provided a few bare minimum essentials (like a peri bottle and some pads), but aside from that, I really had no idea how to ease the pain of the recovery process after birth.   This time around, I made sure to purchase a MomFrida Postpartum Kit + Upside Down Peri Bottle, and now I won’t stop sharing it with people. It includes disposable boy short underwear, ice pack pads (YES, those are a thing), cooling liners, cooling and healing foam, and the upside down peri bottle. This kit was an absolute lifesaver that first week postpartum!
  1. A silicone pump is the most convenient (and inexpensive) way to pump while nursing or on-the-go.

 

Photo courtesy of foodandnutrition.org

  This is a secret I really wish I knew the first time around! With the twins, I overproduced (a lot) those first few months postpartum. I was constantly pumping, and the worst was getting stuck at the hospital or a doctor's appointment or whatever longer than expected, and being in terrible pain on the drive home because I needed to pump so badly. The twins were also so small and eating so little, that their “meals” never emptied me out and I always needed to pump afterwards. Buying a silicone pump (they are less than $15!), or even two, is an amazing solution. When nursing (or even if you're out and don’t have the baby/your electric pump with you), these suction on to whatever side you aren’t nursing on and collect milk with literally no extra work from mom. Until your baby is old enough to nurse from both sides and really drink the milk you are producing, this is a great solution (and helps you build up a freezer stash of milk too!). Just be sure to have somewhere to periodically empty out the silicone pump - there is nothing like your newborn accidentally kicking the pump off and dumping 3 oz of milk on your couch. Can you tell I share that tip from experience?  
  1. Even if you exclusively pump, you do not need a SINGLE nursing bra. Here’s why…

Photo courtesy of parents.com

  This secret absolutely blew my mind when another mom friend DM’d it to me after I made a comment in a post about needing pumping bras. Nothing is more annoying than wearing nursing bras, then needing a pumping bra to hold your pump in place so you can have some free hands as it does its thing.   This YouTube video shows how to use your nursing bras (yes - the same ones you are wearing all day anyways), and convert them into pumping bras. And, I kid you not, this tip actually holds the pump in place better than the actual pumping bras do!   Not having to constantly swap my bra out throughout the day has been a game changer!   What are some of the other postpartum “secrets” or tips that blew your mind when you discovered them? What are other absolute necessities that a new mom needs in those first weeks? Tag or DM us on Instagram! @FITAID