How To Prepare For Postpartum During Pregnancy
Wow, it has been sometime since I have been on here and submitted a post. But if you didn't already know, I have been on my postpartum journey these past couple months myself. But I think we have finally figured things out and created somewhat of a routine that we have got accustomed to. Which has led to freeing up a little bit more of me time!
If you are a first time mom, you may not know what to expect or how to prepare when it comes to postpartum. Although, with this being my second time around, I somewhat knew what I needed to do to make those first few weeks home with a newborn a bit smoother.
You are going to be tired, sore, emotional, mentally and physically exhausted, stressed. So please, do yourself a favor and implement these postpartum preparation strategies in order to ease your transition.
With that being said, lets go ahead and talk about how to prepare for postpartum while still pregnant.
Organize and Nest
Great news, this is something that already typically comes with pregnancy, so you may have actually already started doing this! The urgency to deep clean, organize, and get rid of things is something that third trimester moms experience.
When cleaning, make sure you clean those items that you don't typically think of, as I can tell you now, they most likely are not going to get cleaned for a long time after baby arrives. Vacuum/mop the floors, dust, scrub the toilets, clean the bathtub/showers, dust the fans, clean the baseboards, clean the windows, scrub the inside of your appliances, etc.
You can find an entire guide to productive nesting here.
When it comes to organizing, get your house set up exactly as how you would want it after baby arrives. Wash baby's clothes and get hung up. Get out all of your baby gear, and place where they are easy to get to when needed.
Get rid of all of those unneeded items. I went through my entire kitchen and got rid of all the gadgets I never use. I had four different can openers, three different blenders, that I had no use for, so I got rid of those that I didn't use. Get rid of all of those extra clothes, shoes, etc. that you no longer have a use for as well. When I was getting ready for baby number two, I also purged all of the items that I never used for baby number one.
Freezer Meals
I think out of everything that you do to prepare for baby, this is an absolute must. With Oaklynn, I had a friend bring me about ten freezer meals and I cannot tell you how much of a help this was. Literally, one of the best gifts you can give a new mom! So when I was preparing for Lawson's arrival I decided to make freezer meals of my own. It is so so nice to have these on hand! When you are trying to wrangle a toddler and feed a newborn that wants to eat every twenty minutes, it tends to get difficult to make a meal. Even when I do have time, I honestly don't feel like cooking much anyways, so I am so glad I made several of these! They will be sure to make your postpartum journey much easier!
You can find a list of 25+ easy freezer meals for new moms here.
Create New Mom Survival Baskets
One of the first baskets I made was a postpartum basket. Be sure to stock up on all of those postpartum essentials, because no one wants to run to the store in the middle of the night to purchase more. And if you are like me who lives twenty five miles to the nearest town, and not to mention a town of 3,000 people with not many stores. I can find myself waiting a few days for Amazon prime to safe my butt!
Some other new mom survival baskets that I made sure to put together are a diaper changing caddy, a breastfeeding caddy, the postpartum caddy, and an infant medicine caddy. These are extremely useful as it keeps all of your items organized and in one spot. And they make it easy to carry from one room to another.
Here is an entire list of all of the items that I put into each of my caddys!
Postpartum Wardrobe
When it comes to your postpartum wardrobe, the number one concept you are going to want to strive for is comfort. Move all of those oversized sweatshirts, t-shirts, sweatpants, etc. to the front of your closet!
If you are going to be breastfeeding be sure to stock up on nursing friendly tops as well as nursing pads. Be sure to stock up on postpartum panties and pads as well. With Oaklynn I only bought a few pairs of postpartum underwear, so I was constantly doing laundry. So with Lawson, I made sure to have plenty of undies!
This is one of my favorite posts! All of my favorite postpartum care essentials.
Stock Up On Household Essentials
Yes, I feel with pregnancy all you do is stock up, and the same goes for postpartum. Be sure to stock up on those household essentials! Because I can tell you, you are not going to want to be dragging a newborn to the store constantly.
Some items to stock up on include laundry detergent, dish soap, dishwasher pods, trash bags, toilet paper, paper towels, hand soap, shampoo/conditioner, body wash, paper plates, toothpaste, deodorant, cleaning supplies, batteries, etc.
Baby Proof
This is probably something that you have not even thought about yet, but they become mobile much faster than you think! And you might as well get it out of the way now, before you are completely exhausted!
You can find a list of baby proofing must haves here.
Congratulations mama! Whether you are in the beginning of your pregnancy journey, nearing that due date, or already in your postpartum journey I hope you found this post beneficial!
Thank you so much for stopping by! I greatly appreciate it! And if you loved this post, don’t forget to share/pin with all of your fellow mamas! And I would be honored if you followed my family and I on our Instagram journey.
You can find all of my favorite motherhood/baby/toddler products here!
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