DIY Postpartum & Baby Products

Disclaimer: It is very important to discuss any herbs or medicinal remedies that you plan to use with your primary care provider. Some people with sensitivities to flowers may experience allergic reactions to things such as Chamomile or Chickweed.

For more information regarding herbal use in pregnancy and postpartum, check out these resources: 

Susan Weed 
​Demeter Clark
​Aviva Romm

DIY Postpartum/Baby Products 
Part I 

Having been previously directed to the wellnessmama.com website by a friend of family, I decided to spend my free afternoon creating a few of the recommended DIY projects in preparation of my birth.

While the natural ingredients can be more expensive to purchase in the beginning, you tend to end up saving money in the long run by creating your own products at home, because they are usually more versatile and last for quite a long time.
 
We decided to start with the Postpartum Sitz Bath. Overall, I found the recipe very easy to follow. It required only mixing together the blend of recommend herbs to help promote healing after childbirth. 

Postpartum Sitz Bath
Link

In a mason jar, I combined:

¼ cup Comfrey Leaf
½ cup Lavender Flowers (mmm, my favourite scent!)
¼ cup Plantain Leaf
½ cup Red Raspberry Leaf (this makes great tea as well)
¼ cup Yarrow Flower
¼ cup Calendula Flowers
¼ cup Shepherd’s Purse
¼ cup Ova Ursi Leaf
¼ cup Epsom Salts or Sea Salt

After all ingredients were added I sealed the mason jar and put it in my handy, ‘After Childbirth Healing’ bin in my bathroom. I made sure to put some Muslin Bags in the bin as well so that I could skip straining the herbs from the bathtub and instead just soak with them. 

​According to Wellness Mama, this mixture can also be used in a peri-bottle to reduce any stinging that may occur during urination after childbirth (if you have any tearing or episiotomy, but also just to help with healing) and diluted for use around your baby’s umbilical cord as it dries.

With how simple the Sitz Bath recipe was, we then decided to try our hands making some Baby Oil as well.

Baby Oil
Link: This link lists several natural baby care items you can make! I will eventually be trying my hands at almost all (if not all) of them. Today, I will only be making the baby oil.

Warning: As always, before the first application of ANY kind of oil on your baby’s skin, put a drop on their arm to make sure your baby is not allergic to the oil. If you choose to use an oil other than one listed below, please research to make sure that the oil you have chosen is safe for your baby’s skin. Again, please check with your primary care provider if you have any questions or concerns about what may or may not be unsafe for your baby.

Ingredients:

1 cup Olive Oil or Apricot Oil
2 tablespoons Calendula Flowers
2 tablespoons Chamomile Flowers

For this recipe I decided to use Sweet Almond Oil instead of Olive or Apricot Oil. Sweet Almond Oil is highly nourishing and contains high level of Vitamins A, B2, B6 and Vitamin E. Mostly because I already had it in my pantry.

There are two methods of creating the oil that are recommended by Wellness Mama. One is a fast infusion, which involves heating the oil with the Calendula and Chamomile Flowers mixed in.

I am only 17 weeks pregnant and I have some time to kill before my baby gets here, so I opted to try the slow infusion method. This involves putting the oil and flowers in a mason jar and sealing it, shaking daily, for 6-8 weeks prior to use.

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I plan to create quite a few DIY postpartum and baby products. This is going to be a great money saving endeavor, and I find it very comforting knowing exactly what ingredients are in the things I will be putting on my body and on my baby.

Over the next few months I will be sharing more DIY recipes that you may want to try for yourself and your baby. You can follow along with my posts to see the recipes as I create them, or feel free to visit the Wellness Mama website and do it on your own!

These recipes were taken from https://www.wellnessmama.com,
​check out her website for more great DIY recipes! 

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