The motherhood journey is a beautiful and complex one. With so many mixed emotions, it is natural that new parents would feel overwhelmed and would want to be ready for every possible scenario. A common question many new moms and almost every new parent have is about the things moms need for themselves when having their first baby, and that is what we will answer here.
The postpartum period starts after your baby is delivered and concludes after your body fully heals from the entire pregnancy experience. The entire postpartum period typically lasts 6 to 8 weeks. A new mama will experience a lot of changes throughout this postpartum time, both mentally and physically. You are discovering how to handle all the modifications required when you become a new mom. Along with learning how to take care of their newborn baby, the new mothers are also adjusting to life as a new family.
In order to have your strength back, you must take proper care of yourself. Throughout the first few weeks postpartum, moms need a lot of rest, a healthy diet, and assistance. A few things new moms need for themselves include a breast pump, nipple cream, baby carrier, etc.
A great way a brand new mom can prepare for her new baby is by making sure she has time for herself, a new mom care package, all the household essentials stocked up, all the breastfeeding essentials, and all the baby gear ready before delivery.
You are now set to return home and start a new life with your first baby after a successful pregnancy, labor, and birth. However, after you get home, you could feel lost and unprepared. Whether you like children, have concerns about your parenting abilities, or believe you have this parenting thing figured out you will be in for a shock. There will be an astonishing transformation in your life.
Your First Child and Preparing For It
Gather All the Baby Supplies
You should prepare, inspect, and buy a few items before the baby is born to ensure that they function properly and that you’re familiar with their use. When it concerns baby gear, less is more.
The two most crucial necessities are a properly fitted car seat and a secure sleeping area for the infant, such as a bassinet or cot. You should also build any extras you want to use, such as a baby swing or changing table. Some items won’t be used until the baby is older, but if you’ve got the storage space, you might want to put everything together now.
Prepare and Freeze a Few Meals
Begin premaking and storing meals in the weeks preceding your due date so you won’t have to worry about running low on food or having to rely on less healthful packaged foods and takeaways. You can’t constantly count on friends and relatives to volunteer to bring food to meet the newborn.
There are hundreds of recipes available that are simple to prepare, freeze, and then reheat. Increasing the portions for a home-cooked meal you’re currently cooking for supper is an easy way to fill your freezer. Eat half that evening, and freeze the remainder for another time. It’s very easy to become busy with taking care of a baby, but it’s crucial for parents to look after themselves as well. Consuming a well-balanced and nutritious diet is a vital part of this.
Gather Household Supplies
Running out of toilet rolls is the very last thing you want when tending to your newborn and are sleep deprived. Stock up on supplies like toilet rolls, hand towels, safe cleaning supplies, and daily-use personal care items like shampoo or soap well before the baby is born.
If purchasing in bulk doesn’t appeal to you, make use of technology and optimize as many grocery shopping tasks as you can using subscription services. By scheduling deliveries that occur monthly and every six months, you might just save money too.
Provide for Your Pet
Trying to make sure that everything is in place so that your pet can be cared for properly once the baby is born is another factor that, although it may not be required for everyone, is vital for many.
Stock up on supplies, snacks, toys, and any meds your pet may need, such as periodic flea and tick preventative, to make sure they are well taken care of. Additionally, if necessary, make arrangements for someone to remain with them when you are in the maternity ward or to bring them to be lodged.
If you’re concerned that they won’t get enough friend time, you may invite friends and relatives who are volunteering to assist in coming to play with them, take them on walks, or just spend time with them.
Prepare Prescriptions
Start filling medicines soon before the baby is due so you’ll have them readily available if you or a family member frequently takes particular drugs or you believe you may require them in the future. Make a list of the items in your medication cabinet and fill it with any over-the-counter medicines and first aid supplies your family may need.
Prepare Yourself for the Hospital or Birthing Facility
You should be ready for your stay in the hospital as the due date draws near. This entails being aware of the most efficient ways to the hospital and carrying extra baggage in case you have to leave right away. Remind yourself that less is more. You’ll have access to the majority of necessities in the hospital.
What Does a New Mom Need for Herself after Birth? 10 Essential Things
Even if your postpartum wish list may be a little less than your baby’s, there are still a few things new moms need for themselves immediately after giving birth.
Big Pads
You will need them both at home and the hospital.
While you’re in the hospital, the staff will keep you well-stocked, but you should also have at least a few packets on hand at home to get started.
The wonderful news is that your pregnancy will be over. The worrying thing is that when you suffer postpartum bleeding, you will soon enter the heaviest and bloodiest period of your life. You will expel lochia, a mixture of blood, tissue, mucous, and liquid from your uterus, for six to eight weeks.
Within the early days, it will start very heavy, but before it completely stops, it will start to feel more like spots. The maxi pads, which offer full coverage and are thick and long, will make you feel the most comfortable.
Mesh Undergarments
You’ll need them while in the hospital and for many days at home.
You’ll receive one or two inexpensive pairs while in the hospital, but you might want to purchase three to five extra to keep on hand at home.
Mesh underwear is just what you need after having your new baby, remarkably expanding to easily hem in the above-mentioned enormous maxi pads as well as all your postpartum appendages. It supports you without biting into the skin or in any way pressing, squeezing, or pushing your soft belly and sensitive parts. They’re also completely disposable.
While you’re there, your hospital will provide you with a few pairs, but if you wish to continue wearing mesh underwear beyond the first few pairs, it may be a smart move to buy a few packages beforehand.
OTC Painkillers
For almost a week after postpartum, many doses are required. The hospital will deliver them while you’re there, but you must have your own stock.
To lessen the pain of a C-section or vaginal childbirth, most hospitals will start you on a prescription of extra-strength ibuprofen after you give birth. You may carry on doing it at home or, if you’d rather, switch to acetaminophen. Painkillers can also lessen the discomfort of postpartum cramps, which develop when your uterus starts to return to its pre-pregnancy size.
Perineal Analgesic Spray
Have at least one vial in your birth bag and another at home because you might or might not receive any from the hospital.
If you deliver vaginally, you’ll require a topical anesthetic that may be applied directly on your vagina for precious, sweet postpartum comfort; if you’re having a C-section, you can disregard this advice.
To put it mildly, your pelvic area just went through a terrible event; it will take a while for it to recover, but until then, it will ache. Numbing spray will be helpful.
Squeezable Perineum Bottle
You could be given one to take from the hospital, but you really only need one.
Never undervalue a small plastic squeeze bottle after childbirth. It will greatly improve the ease of postpartum urination when loaded with warm water.
Your perineum might become dry and crusty over with lochia, in addition to being uncomfortable after having a baby. This may make urinating unpleasant. However, a perineal squeezing bottle can be useful. To soften, moisturize, and cleanse your perineal region before and after peeing, spritz it with a little spray of water.
Stool Softener
The recommended amount is 1 to 3 capsules every day until your bowel motions are once again regular.
After you give birth, you can feel like your hard work is through, but if you haven’t had postpartum bowels yet, you’re still not quite out of the woods. The majority of women experience constipation after delivery, in addition to feeling rather anxious about having to press or struggle so soon after having their new baby.
Starting to prepare your intestines for motion once you give birth will make this process easier. Stool softeners are best used as preventatives for constipation because they don’t actually help you go but make it easier to release the contents of your bowels.
To put it another way, begin using the softeners before you become constipated, and ideally, your initial bowel movement a few hours after having a new baby won’t be as difficult as labor.
Lactation Support
According to the World Health Organization, lactation should continue as an essential component of an infant’s nutrition until the child is at least two years old and should be done exclusively until they are six months old. Researchers are aware that breastfeeding is beneficial for mothers’ and newborns’ short and long-term well-being.
Due to the difficulties they face, many moms may decide to quit lactating before they would like to. Women may be able to resolve these issues and continue breastfeeding with good support and care. Wherever they reside, women may continue to lactate for as much as they desire by understanding what type of support is available to assist them with the process.
Nursing Pads
If you intend to primarily breastfeed or nurse, your milk will begin to come in 48 to 72 hours after giving birth. There will also be leaking before as well as between feedings.
You’ll need absorbency pads to put inside your nursing bra to function as a buffer between your clothing and your leaking nipples, except if you prefer to be washing your clothes thrice too often, as you will be anyhow. You can choose between soft biodegradable pads or reusable cotton pads.
Pumping and Nursing Clothes
While having maternity clothes at home is a need, having them at the hospital is a plus.
New moms will want a few of them, as well as possibly a few tops that are suitable for nursing. Although nursing sleeveless blouses that easily latch or unlatch from the straps are definitely worth the investment, they don’t have to be specially made tanks or shirts; button-up tees or blouses, hoodies with zippers, or knitwear with deep v-necks work just as well in an emergency.
Regardless of what you decide, make sure you have sufficient supplies to alternate between washings and all those rapid changes when the baby throws up everywhere around you.
What Can New Moms Not Live Without?
Car Seat
Since the hospital won’t allow you to carry the baby home without it, the infant car seat must be the first thing on the priority list of new parents. This can also be an amazing gift for a mom’s friends to bring as a gift.
Obviously, there are also other options, such as having a baby at home or using public transit. However, bringing the infant home in a baby carrier is what happens in most situations.
Besides purchasing a car seat, you must make sure that it is fixed properly. Get on a call with the highway patrol or a professional car seat installer to guide you in installing the seat correctly and demonstrating how to secure the infant in place.
A Cot or Bassinet
Once you bring the child home, he will require a secure sleeping area, such as a cot or bassinet. It can also be a lovely gift for a baby shower gift.
You can get by for the time being with simply the bassinet because your infant is so young, in case you decide to space out your purchases. However, he could outgrow it at 3 or 4 months, in which case the crib would be the appropriate replacement. Naturally, you’ll also need crib bedding and fitted linens.
Breastfeeding and Formula Mix
Even before your infant arrives, he will require a means of feeding. Some people will need formula, something that many hospitals will supply. Others will have a more effective nursing experience if they have the necessary supplies.
You should have bottles available for feeding, whether you’re pumping milk or relying on a formula. Additionally, burp cloths will shield you from spit-ups regardless of the feeding technique you use.
Breast Pump
A nursing pillow should be the first thing a breastfeeding mother has. Using a cushion makes breastfeeding so much simpler. Additionally, a breast pump enables you to do so if you want to increase your milk production (or if you need to be completely away from the infant).
Wipes and Diapers
Everyone understands that infants require many diaper changes during the day. For the upcoming several years, a loaded diaper bag, as well as wipes, are a need.
Initially, purchase one box of baby diapers before upgrading to size one. Before deciding to purchase a large quantity at once, you may want to try out a few various brands. Additionally, those having a “pee indication” strip on the front are useful. Reusable diapers are more expensive at first, but they wind up being more affordable overall.
Since cotton pads are softer on a baby’s skin than traditional wipes, you can try using them instead. However, normal baby wipes are used most frequently in the long run.
Changing Pad or Table
You’ll want a spot to change the infant. This often entails a changing table with shelves or diaper storage space. Technically, you could just use a changing pad instead of the table. If so, it is advised to leave the pad on the floor rather than the bed.
Self-Care Is the Best Care
Eat nourishing meals like bread, green vegetables, fresh fruit, lean meats, and fish to keep healthy after giving birth. Hire a cleaning service to help you with household chores and get food delivered if you feel too tired to cook daily.
If you are nursing, keep hydrated by drinking water anytime you feel thirsty since your body requires liquid to create a milk supply. Taking care of yourself will be a much-appreciated gesture. You’ll feel better and be able to enjoy this particularly special experience with your child.
