How to survive your first week with your newborn

I spoke to a new mom a few weeks ago who got to the hospital at 8:23 am, gave birth at 10:45 am and was released at 5 pm. She was so happy to be in her own home with her new babe. I ask her about her recovery, she looked at me clueless. The hospitals don’t prepare you for postpartum and even more now during COVID. You go from having lots of help their to NOTHING, no instructions. And whatever you're told while there you'll be recovering and on meds so you won't remember a thing. So how do you transition home and survive the first week with your newborn? ⠀⠀⠀⠀

Here’s how:⠀⠀⠀
You will forget to eat so every time someone about asks the baby, tell them what food you’re hungry for. Ask for @grubhub gift cards, ask them to drop off groceries. Try to eat something fresh at each meal, salads with softer leaves (like butter lettuces, easier on postpartum digestion), carrot ginger miso dressing (ginger warms the womb, miso high in iron), cut-up fruit, fresh squeezed juices (the greener the better), smoothies and sooooooup!!! Read more about soups an warming foods here.

Tap beloved aunties and MILs for their old-timey soup recipes . Stocks made very slow on the stove. I love bone broth - homemade is best. (there are businesses that will charge eight dollars for some flavored water in a glass jar, not the same as crock pot broth that jelly-fies in the fridge! mmmm Collagen!).

Who can self-quarantine with you before the baby comes and two weeks after? Night time is when the blue loneliness come, especially as your spouse or partner is sleeping and you are awake, awake, awake! In the midst of these twilight hours, drink tea and learn scripts and affirmations for the future, when you’re alone and the baby blue feels creep in.⠀

Schedule deeper rest ... divide the hours between 12 am and 6 am into two segments. If you have a partner/spouse give them either the 12 am to 3 am shift, or 3 am to 6 am shift. Whoever is “on call” responds to baby’s needs during that time, including cuddling, soothing, diapering, and skin to skin. For shift when the breast/chestfeeding parent is at rest, the non-feeding parent does EVERYTHING. Let the tears (lochia, and milk, etc) flow. ⠀

Lastly, you’ll need our postpartum recovery box to soothe all your vaginal or c section achiness and soreness. Check out our postpartum recovery products here. From vaginal soreness, hemorrhoids, stitches and bleeding. Our products speeds up healing and helps you recover faster. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀