One of the best things I did to prepare for my postpartum healing was to make a DIY postpartum care kit. Having these postpartum recovery supplies ready set me up for success once I returned home from birthing my baby.
Read on to learn about the importance of making a postpartum care kit, plus the seven items you need for your own postpartum recovery.
(The contents of this post do not constitute medical advice. This post contains affiliate links. Click here to read our disclaimer.)
Ready to jump straight into making your own postpartum care kit? All of the items are linked here!
Why Make a Postpartum Care Kit
Postpartum recovery is not for the faint of heart.
You’ve just done one of the most physically taxing things you’ll ever do. Parts of your body may be torn. And you’re continuously bleeding from a dinner plate-sized wound in your uterus (from your placenta).
That would be enough to make recovery difficult. But now you also have a tiny, helpless person who is completely reliant on you for survival.
Days blend together. Your mind is foggy. You might not remember to do basic things like eat or use the bathroom if someone doesn’t remind you.
See also: How I Used ‘The First Forty Days’ Book to Plan My Dream Postpartum
Your postpartum recovery is incredibly important. But it’s hard to prioritize caring for yourself while you’re figuring out how to meet your baby’s needs. Plus, you’re so, so tired.
That’s where your postpartum recovery kit comes in. It includes everything you’ll need to care for the most tender areas of your body. And they’ll all be organized in a basket, sitting on the back of your toilet.
That way, when you go to the bathroom, everything is there, waiting for you to use it. You don’t have to expend extra energy or brainpower tracking down postpartum underwear or perineal spray. It’s all ready for you.
The best postpartum advice I can give you is: Assemble your postpartum care kit several weeks before your due date.
My baby came earlier than expected, and a lot of my to-do list didn’t get checked off. But I had managed to make my postpartum care kit before I went into labor. And that made all the difference for me when it came to recovering at home.
By the way, this would also make an amazing gift for an expectant mama, whether she’s giving birth to her first child and not sure what to expect or already a parent and in need of some help caring for herself.
Add Postpartum Items to Your Registry!
First thing’s first, add all of these items to your Amazon Baby Registry! I used my registry almost like a checklist to remind myself what I wanted to buy for postpartum. I was pleasantly surprised when some other thoughtful mamas gifted many of my postpartum supplies to me!
Even if you end up purchasing these postpartum care kit supplies for yourself, some of them may be eligible for the 15% completion discount if you put them on your Amazon Baby Registry. So even if you set their visibility to “Private”, I highly recommend you add them to the list!
Don’t have an Amazon Baby Registry yet? Well, what are you waiting for? There are so many benefits to this registry, including:
- 15% completion discount
- Gift bag with actually useful baby and pregnancy items shipped straight to you (My welcome bag from another well-known registry never materialized, but Amazon’s was great!)
- Group gifting option for more expensive items
- Easy for friends and family to use
- Free Prime shipping
Sign up for your Amazon Baby Registry now by clicking here. I promise you’ll thank me later!
See also: What Is a Mother’s Blessing? All About the Baby Shower Alternative
7 Items for Your Postpartum Care Kit
I found these seven items essential to my postpartum healing. I recommend including them in your DIY postpartum care kit so you’ll be set up for success after giving birth!
1. Tuck’s Medicated Cooling Pads
Tuck’s Pads are medicated pads with witch hazel. They come in an airtight plastic container to keep the pads moist and clean/sanitary.
These pads are designed for use with hemorrhoids, which are a definite possibility during childbirth. But they can also be very soothing for perineal tears, or, I’d you’re lucky enough not to read, for the soreness that comes from the intense stretching that happens in that area during vaginal delivery.
I would tuck (lol) one of these pads in my underwear or adult diaper each time I went to the bathroom for some natural relief, especially if I knew I was going to be sitting down for a while.
The pads always provided relief down there, especially when my tear started itching because it was healing. It helped me to know that I was using a medicated pad with natural ingredients since I was using it on one of the most sensitive parts of my body.
2. Earth Mama Perineal Spray
Perineal sprays provide cooling relief after giving birth. This herbal perineal spray from Earth Mama is all-natural. It contains witch hazel, cucumber, and essential oils and is free of chemicals and artificial fragrances.
I don’t know about you, but I’m very careful about what I use on the most sensitive areas of my body. I loved that Earth Mama’s perineal spray came through with the relief without using chemicals.
The bottle this spray comes in is designed to spray upside-down. I can confirm that it works! You can also use this herbal spray to make “padsicles” by applying it to pads, wrapping them back up, and storing them in the freezer until you’re ready to use them.
See also: 15 Must-Haves for a Comfortable Pregnancy
3. Postpartum Underwear (aka Adult Diapers)
You might think that you won’t need adult diapers after giving birth, but trust me – you do.
You can expect to bleed for a few weeks following birth as your uterus releases its contents from your pregnancy.
While you can just wear pads from the beginning, bleeding can be quite heavy at first, and postpartum underwear provided the absorbency I needed while also being comfortably cushy for an area that was pretty achy.
Also, I hate to be the one to tell you this, but for a little while after giving birth, you are more likely to wet yourself. The sudden change in weight/pressure that was sitting on top of your bladder makes it harder for you to tell when you need to use the bathroom. If this happens to you, I promise you’ll be thankful you chose to start out with adult underwear.
Depends are honestly the way to go. I found them comfy and durable, I never had any issues with them tearing, and they fit well under my clothes if I ever got out of bed to visit with company in the living room.
4. Organic Pads
After a few weeks, you likely won’t need the coverage of adult diapers for your bleeding. But you’ll likely still be bleeding a bit, and even after it has finished, you’ll continue to produce lochia for a few weeks. This is a great time to transition to organic pads.
Lochia is the vaginal discharge you release after birth. It’s a combination of blood, mucus, and uterine tissue. There are a few different stages of lochia. Bleeding is the first stage, and it eventually becomes a yellowy-white mucus. (1)
Although the last stage of lochia is nowhere near as messy as the first few days of postpartum bleeding, I preferred to continue wearing a pad during that time. There was an odor, and I wanted to be able to easily change the pad for hygienic purposes while I was healing.
I highly recommend using organic pads without fragrance, like these ones. You’ll be more easily aggravated in that area, so removing potential irritants is a must.
See also: The Best Prenatal Yoga Props for Your Pregnancy Yoga Practice
5. Peri Bottle
If you give birth at a hospital or a birth center, they’ll likely send you home with a peri (perineal) bottle like this one to help you cleanse after using the bathroom.
If you give birth vaginally, wiping after using the bathroom can be tricky for a little while. Instead, you can fill your peri bottle with warm water to gently cleanse the area, then pat dry with toilet paper instead of wiping.
The standard peri bottle does work, but it can be a little challenging to use, especially if you’re actively bleeding. Consider upgrading to a peri bottle with an angled neck like this one from Frida Mom. That way, you won’t have to do any gymnastics to clean up after using the toilet.
6. Bidet Attachment (Bonus!)
If you want to upgrade even more from the standard peri bottle, I can’t recommend adding a bidet attachment to your toilet enough. It’s always there and ready. You don’t have to refill a bidet attachment or worry about it running out of water like you do with a peri bottle.
We’ve had this bidet attachment for more than three years, and I love it. It’s easy to connect to your existing toilet. In fact, I installed it myself!
Some helpful postpartum advice I received was that spraying water with a peri bottle or bidet could lessen any stinging you experience while using the bathroom. So I would turn the bidet on the lowest pressure setting while using the bathroom. It helped a lot, and I found it a lot easier than using the peri bottle for the same thing.
The only downside is that the bidet attachment I have doesn’t hook up to hot water. I didn’t mind it during my healing process since I’m used to the water temperature. But if you’re looking for a little extra comfort during your postpartum healing, this bidet attachment from the same company will hook up to your hot water so you have both temperature options.
See also: 5 Best Prenatal Yoga Mat Choices for Pregnancy
7. Basket
Finally, I highly recommend keeping your postpartum care kit in a basket on the back of your toilet seat. This keeps everything organized and easily within reach when you need it. You can also keep an eye on when you’re running out of one of your postpartum supplies so you can restock it.
It’s important to use a basket that fits on the back of your toilet so you’re not bumping into it. I couldn’t find the basket I used for my postpartum care kit on the internet since I’ve had it for a while. But this basket and this option both fit on the back of a standard toilet seat and would give you plenty of room to organize your postpartum supplies!
Everything Linked Below
Ready to make your own postpartum care kit? When you do, I would love to see it! Tag @mamaembodied on Instagram so I can admire your postpartum recovery basket!
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