Post-Partum Products? Sitz baths and such?

[mrsbernstein]

Between the insistence of my midwife, her assistant and my mother...it'll be 3 weeks before I see the outside of my house after giving birth!  :-)

My mother is STRONGLY recommending sitz baths pp.  I was planning on purchasing the Earth Mama Angel Baby.

Any other suggestions?  And I'm not really "allowed" out of the house right now by myself...so I'd prefer things that can be ordered online.

Beside a sitz bath...what other PP "products" are must-haves (for mama)?

Thank you!

Mrs B

[greenmama66]

I too stay inside- in fact I follow traditional Chinese medicine protocols of NOT getting up out of bed (which many modern women do and can lead to all sorts of issues later on) and being waited on.

I usually use Wishgarden sitz herbs so that's what I have this time, I also have the Earth Mama bottom balm. Some women get roids so it might be nice to have a roid balm (I think Motherlove makes one) and it's nice to have some lactation teas/tinctures on hand (mine are from Motherlove, Wishgarden and a tea from Earth Mama).

Aside from that arranging cooking/housework for someone else to do is key so you can be taken care of and all you need to do is take care of baby.

I use Chinese herbs postpartum for recovery as well so for me those are essential as well as placenta medicine.

[MarineWife]

I prefer to stay home as long as possible after having a baby, too. I may only get 2 weeks this time before I have to get back to real life with my older kids. If I do, at least I'll only have to go out twice a week.

I got some EMAB New Mama Bottom Spray. I've been looking at PP herbs but I'm not sure which ones to get. I thought I had seen some a while ago that came in a pack that you could just drop in the tub and take a full bath rather than having to steep herbs for a sitz bath but I can't find it now. Anyone else seen that? I've also seen PP herb cold packs that sounded nice. I'm going to have a few regular pads filled with water in the freezer, maybe with some added witch hazel.

I'm not worried about getting any kind of lactation tea because I have always had an overabundance of milk. If you aren't going to eat or have your placenta encapsulated, maybe get some mood swing herbs, tincture or tea.

[azzeps]

Hi!

Almost 2 weeks post partum here, so I thought I'd share what I had for recovery purposes!

 - My birth kit came with an assortment of pads, mesh undies, Depends, etc. and I bought some NatraCare pads too, and it has been nice to have an assortment from which to choose.

- Perineal ice packs -  my birth kit came with two, and I wish I had bought a few more extra!  I tried freezing pads, and they came out too hard and frozen solid to sit down, plus they were too cold

- instant cold packs - from Walgreens in the first aid aisle - my mom brought these back, and I used a damp washcloth wrapped around for absorbency and insulation, and just put it in my undies and it was fabulous

- Earth Mama Angel Baby Mama Bottom Balm - LOVE this stuff!!! After I got over having to touch myself (ouch) to put it on, it felt really good, very cooling

- Tucks pads - I lined my maxi pads with these after putting on the bottom balm and the two together were very cooling and soothing for a good half hour or so

- First Aid Spray - not as effective at numbing as I had hoped, but I did try it in desperation

- Earth Mama Angel Baby Bottom Spray - not as good as the bottom balm, but it was nice.  However the sprayer stopped working, so now I have been pouring a little into my peri bottle and then adding water and using it like that

- Calendula tincture - was in my birth kit - my midwife told me to put a couple squirts in the peri bottle each time I filled it, for rinsing while I peed.

- Sitz bath herbs - I got mine from the company that did my birth kit www.radiantbelly.com and they were very nice.  Had to be steeped ahead and then added to the bath after straining.  Later on, I found I liked using the "hat" sitz bath instead of getting in the tub.  I really couldn't sit on my bottom comfortably in the tub so it is better on the toilet.  Now that I'm out of the Radiant Belly herbs, I am using the EMAB herbs which come in little tea bags.  These are nice too.  You have to steep ahead and then use the water you steeped in, and then you can also use the "tea bag" directly on your perineum.

- Sitz Bath hat for the potty - had to send DH out for one when I decided it would work better than getting in the tub.  I liked the water fairly warm.

- donut for sitting on - sometimes comfortable sometimes not.  It was an add on with my birth kit and I figured what the heck. 

For reference, I had only a small 1 cm tear that I decided not to have stitched, and ended up with a sizeable hemmrhoid. :-(

Hopefully my list will help someone!

[MarineWife]

Originally Posted by azzeps 

Later on, I found I liked using the "hat" sitz bath instead of getting in the tub.  I really couldn't sit on my bottom comfortably in the tub so it is better on the toilet.

This is good to know. I wasn't going to get a sitz bath but maybe I'd better jic.

I forgot about the cold packs. My MW suggested those. She did say to make sure you wrap them.

[mrsbernstein]

Thank you Azzeps!

I am ordering both the herbs and the hat now!  Oh, and a few more of the cold packs.  My birth kit also came with two...but they are so inexpensive...I load up on a few more!

Mrs B

[greenmama66]

Yeah I ordered 6 cold  maternity pad/packs but honestly the last 2 births didn't use them at all.

[azzeps]

I am having a harder time recovering than I thought which is maybe why I need all the cold packs. I am surprised that it seems harder than recovering from my c section! And I don't even have a bad tear. Just really swollen. I am battling a raging yeast infection now and I've swelled back up again so I was glad to have those ice packs from walgreens today. Mom got the economy box with 8 packs for 9.99.

Wishing you all speedy recoveries!