It is so easy to get lost in pregnancy and birth but preparing for postpartum is equally important. The 4th trimester is magical, raw, beautiful and messy. It’s such a weird season. You’re ecstatic to have your baby earth-side and healthy, but your body couldn’t feel more foreign in all the ways, all while running on little sleep and trying to keep this new tiny human fed and happy. We made this handy list to prepare you and your family for the chaos and magic of the 4th trimester. Having certain items ready to go when you are postpartum can really help your mental and physical health during this time as well as ease burdens for your support system so they can support you and focus on rest and bonding alongside you.
1. Prep and freeze meals in advance: There are so many freezer meal recipes, and they can relieve the stress of cooking healthy and healing meals during postpartum. Being able to dump a baggie of already prepared, nourishing, frozen dinner in the crockpot eliminates a ton of stress and even clean up. We’ve made up a custom pinterest board for all things postpartum freezer meal prep. One of the fun things we’ve seen our clients doing recently is instead of a baby shower or one last girls night out before the baby joins us is having a nesting party where everyone helps batch cook/prep freezer meals.
2. Keep a honey-do list for visitors: Your family and close friends will ask what they can do to help when they visit. Often families will offer to help by holding the baby so you can tidy up. That's not really helpful. Visitors should come over to support you and your household so you can focus on your postpartum recovery, rest and bonding. Asking someone to do one small task can help you focus more on yourself and baby, and help you stay calm so tasks don’t pile up. You could also have a friend start an online postpartum meal train where family and friends can bring over a home cooked meal. A small white board on the fridge with the list you can direct their attention to will help if you aren't good at asking for help. This is especially helpful if you have a postpartum Doula coming in. Having a list of things for them to accomplish while you’re feeding your baby will help you divide and conquer.
If you have a postpartum meal train set up, be aware that often, people will expect to come in and meet the baby and if your train consists of half the church or neighborhood, that's a lot of visitors. One of our favorite tricks is to note in the postpartum meal train that a cooler will be on the front porch for drop off and that the new family is resting but you are very grateful. Asking for disposable serving dishes and noting and allergies aversions/preferences is a must as well! No one wants to worry about returning someone's favorite pyrex 4 days postpartum or disliking the food brought.
3. Lean on a trusted support person when things are getting hard: Although it is completely normal to experience strong and often conflicting emotions postpartum, it’s healthy to talk them out. Having a friend, therapist or trusted family member to turn to is awesome. Don’t try to hold it together by yourself. Picking someone who can hold space and give you a safe space to express all the feels without judgment or “you shoulds”. A postpartum Doula is an excellent option if you are lacking an adequate and abundant support system. It’s also good to express how you feel to your partner. You might feel frustrated that they “don’t understand.” Although your feelings are completely valid, keep in mind there is no way for them to understand unless you explain it to them. Think back to the start of your pregnancy journey; we had no idea what our own moms or friends were really going through! So, take your partner through things day by day, week by week. Speak up when you feel extremely emotional. By sharing all the hard things, you allow them to be there for you. The Orlando area has an amazing selection of specialized LMHC in the postpartum period.
4. Get a Postpartum Doula: A postpartum doula is a trained and often certified, professional who offers support to new parents and their families in the first few weeks or months after giving birth/bringing the baby home. They provide help to new parents while you adjust to life with your new baby and a growing family with practical and hands-on support such as newborn & care, light housework, meal prep and light cooking, dog walking and toddler wrangling if you have older children at home. A postpartum Doula provides evidence-based information and resources on topics like infant feeding, sleep, bonding, and newborn care. They assist with breast or bottle feeding, bathing, and diaper changes.
Postpartum doulas help families adjust to the challenges of the postpartum period, also known as the fourth trimester. Their role is based on the philosophy of women supporting other women during childbirth and parenting. Having a postpartum Doula is shown to reduce postpartum mood disorders by 57.5% (1) . They do all of this with an open heart and open mind so never any judgment or guilt. They are here to uplift you and your family when you need it most. We have a wonderful team of amazing Postpartum Doulas that serve the greater Orlando area.
5. Stock up on the necessities and get organized: Get two 3-tiered rolly carts. Stock them with everything you need for diapering, feeding/pumping where “homebase” will be. Often people set up their homebase in the nursery but pro-tip, it will likely be in your bedroom next to your side of the bed for the first week postpartum then in your main living space typically on the comfy sofa after that. If you have a larger home, you may want two of these. The last thing you want to do is run from room to room after you’re home with a new baby – you need to rest and heal. Have the cart accessible so it can easily be restocked by you or by visiting family or friends. Use the cart for baby necessities and stuff you’ll need postpartum. Think diapers, wipes, and diaper cream, your pump, burp cloths, a few snacks, chapstick and extra water bottles for you.
6. And don’t forget your own necessities for postpartum healing: having a similar caddy in your bedroom bathroom and any others near your mail living space would be great so you have access to all your postpartum healing supplies. These are a game changer.
Padsicles. Frida ma’ma has great east ready made ones. Stash a few in each caddy. We like these homemade ones too to keep in your freezer.
Perineal spray and or any of the pads and sprays they send you home with from your birthing facility. You’ll want this every bathroom trip for the first week.
Adult diapers/pads. If you are sensitive to pads or those, we LOVE period panties. Target sells Thinx ones for just under $20 each and wash them like you would cloth diapers. Spraying them with peroxide a few min before you wash them will help but do a hot wash with vinegar in the washing machine
Take an Everything shower as often as you can. When you're a freshly postpartum mama, finding time for regular showers is just not really happening. Even if you can 2 times a week, it will make you feel like a new human. It's the little things that refill your cup.
Remember, you have a placenta sized “wound” in your womb. Doing too much will make you feel like crap but it also comes with risk so treat the first 2 weeks postpartum like you are on modified bed rest. Go to the appointments, walk from bed to sofa to the bathroom (pee as frequently as you need to feed your baby) but dont go walk Target or the mall.
Change your pad regularly even if your bleeding is minimal. We want to keep your bottle clean and dry while it heals.
7. Don’t forget to support yourself with supplements and nourishing foods: Your body has been through a lot. Now it needs time to recover. Some of our favorite are:
collagen, magnesium, omegas, prenatals are still important, iron a few x a week, drinking bone broth, red raspberry leaf tea, coconut water to name a few.
Know that those first five to six weeks after giving birth can be really hard physically, emotionally, and hormonally. Get through those first few weeks, and then it’s usually smooth sailing from there! But if you do feel something is extremely off, then trust those feelings and get checked out. See a pelvic floor therapist, talk to your midwife or OB, find a therapist who knows how to take care of postpartum families. We have several awesome ones here in Orlando. There is no shame in realizing something is off physically or mentally and getting professional help. You know your body best. Whatever you need, know there is no shame in needing it.
Hope this helps you in your postpartum prep!
-The In Joy Birth team
Serving Oviedo, Orlando, Winter park and surrounding areas.
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