Oh my people. There’s just not a lot of beautifying going on at my house these days. With my 9 week old nursing every 90 minutes and my going-on-four year old soaking up the remaining 10 minutes, I’m lucky if I get to employ the basics of personal hygiene any given day.
So instead of raving over my Personal Touch Razor that’s about 439 years old and that basically hasn’t seen any part of my body since August (sigh), I’m gonna tell y’all about some products that I DO know something about here lately. Some things that have almost literally saved my everlovin’ life since the baby was born, that’ll maybe give you a couple items to add to your own shopping list if you’re expecting or to file in the recesses of your memory banks if you ever plan to have a little one of your own.
The first product, which, at first glance doesn’t sound much like it’d have anything in this big old world to do with motherhood, is Delsym Cough Suppressant. Right after my little Peanut made his big arrival, a cold swept through my household. Everybody else loaded up on Nyquil and Tylenol Cold and all those other sworn cold remedies, but me? Being a nursing Mama with a voracious little sucker to feed, I couldn’t take any of that for fear I’d harm him, or worse yet, cause the food supply to dry up. My local pharmacist recommended plain old acetaminophen (Tylenol) for my aches and pains, a menthol inhaler for my congestion, and Delsym for my cough. And it worked beautifully, twelve hours at a time as promised, and was safe for me and the baby. And I could sleep, in theory, without being wakened every couple of minutes with a coughing fit. I still got wakened every couple of minutes though, don’t doubt that for a minute.
Product number two’s more easily explained as a post partem supply. It’s good old Dermoplast. Seems many hospital maternity wards provide a can of Dermaplast for their new Mommies, although neither of the hospitals where I delivered did that. But luckily for me, many of my readers at FriedOkra recommended I have some on hand for my post-delivery owies, so I did. Well, I ended up having a C-section and didn’t have the particular owies I was expecting, so I thought my Dermoplast might go to waste. And then they hit. The ITCHIES! Both my incision site AND the areas on my "belly" (wink) that had been shaved prior to surgery were on FIRE with the itchies within 4 or 5 days of delivery. And Dermoplast worked wonders to put out that fire safely and cleanly. Good stuff, Dermoplast, whether that baby comes out the door or the window.
Lastly, a product quite obviously intended for new mothers, is Medela’s newly formulated tender care Lanolin. Now lanolin has been recommended for use by nursing mothers with sore parts for years and years. And when my first baby was born I used another leading brand which worked fine to soothe and help heal the cracked, blistered, and otherwise maligned Girls. Trouble was, that leading brand’s formulation of lanolin was very thick and sticky and applying it was as painful as the actual nursing, although admittedly it didn’t last nearly as long. But Medela’s new version is much thinner and smoother, and it glides on more effortlessly so you don’t have to grit your teeth and curl up in a little ball while you’re getting it where it goes. And in the end, it worked every bit as well to get those Girls back to their old selves again.
What about y’all? Did you find any post-partem products you’d never want to do it again without? Tell us about ’em the comments.
About Jo-Lynne
The thought of an easier form of Lanolin almost makes me wanna have a new baby just to try it. The old stuff was great, but… ugh, so difficult.
If I remember correctly, post partum I used to take Lecithin capsules from the natural foods market. I just looked it up to remind myself WHY I took it………and found that it is thought that LECITHIN, 1200mg 4 x a day helps to prevent plugged ducts.
I was introduced to Dermoplast by the hospital when my first child was born (26 years ago!) and we still use Dermoplast at our house as our all-purpose first aid spray. Good stuff!
As someone who has had a lot of trouble with her c-section scar tissue, I can recommend giving it lots of love and attention. Wheat germ oil capsules, popped with a needle and squeezed all over the incision will help the skin clear up. There’s also some stuff called “renavator” that i used that literally made my scar disappear. If you want some, let me know and I’ll see if I can figure out how to get you some.
I did not use a toilet if I did not have the little can of Dermoplast that the hospital sent home with me. Oh, it was priceless while my stitches and girly bits were healing.
I also would not have lived without the triple nipple cream prescription from my doc. When my nipple cracked lanolin just didn’t cut it any more. But after one day with the nipple cream I was no longer screaming every time she latched on.
I also continued to rub my belly area with The Body Shop Body Butter in Coconut every day and I swear it help the skin recover quicker and tighter after delivery.
Besides the Dermoplast (ahem), my best post-partum beauty supply item was a bottle of 2-in-1 shampoo-and-conditioner. Now I know it’s not the best for my hair, but at least I could take a (very) quick shower and have a clean head without having to take forever. I like to believe that cleanliness does not have to be a luxury. (says she with only one baby)
I became a Delsym convert last winter when my son came down with a hacking cough/cold. Delsym does a great job of silencing that nighttime cough.
I’ve never heard of Dermaplast (all my kids were born via c-section) — but kind of wish someone had clued me in! Maybe I’ll pick some up for general first aid. Thanks for the tip!
My life saver has been an abdominal binder. It helped hold in all the things in my belly that I thought we going to fall out from my c-section scar! It really did wonders!! I have used it post-partum twice and the second time took it to the hospital with me….you guys know the ride home from the hospital your man hits every bump within 50 feet of the mayo and mustard!!