Caring for Postpartum Parents

Postpartum can be an extremely challenging time for new parents. While it can be the most exciting time of a parent's life welcoming a new baby, it can also be a transitional time or a difficult time too due to postpartum depression, lack of sleep, and major adjustments to a new way of life in general. 

Many women struggle with postpartum depression or the “baby blues” and if you know of a family member or friend who is dealing with postpartum depression symptoms, it’s best to reach out to a mental health provider or crisis lifeline to provide them the care that they need as well as offering aid and comfort to them. Untreated postpartum depression can be dangerous to the mother and to the baby and it’s best to be aware if your loved one requires medical attention.

However, some women do not experience postpartum depression, but still feel overwhelmed or need aid after giving birth. If you are looking for 3 thoughtful ways to support your postpartum friends and family members through encouragement or small acts, continue reading for our 3 tips. 

Cook a Meal

Food is a universal language. Cooking for someone communicates, “I love you and care for you” and there is no better way to care for a postpartum parent than food. With the arrival of a new baby, it is likely they are barely sleeping and creating delicious and nutritious meals are not at the forefront of their minds. 

Since the new parents have just recovered from pregnancy and delivery, it’s important they eat foods with whole grains such as rice, quinoa, and oats. Protein is a vital component of a healthy diet and especially new mothers need healthy proteins like eggs, chicken, beef, or salmon. Other healthy ingredients for a postpartum diet include legumes like black beans and chickpeas or nuts and seeds like almonds, walnuts, flaxseeds, and pumpkin seeds which help naturally balance hormones. These are simply our recommendations, and you should always speak to a doctor about what diet is best. 

Assemble A Postpartum Basket

If creating a meal is not your forte, another meaningful gift is assembling a postpartum basket. This gift is perfect for those who love gift giving and any new parent will dance out of excitement from receiving this basket. 

In your basket, we recommend essentials for the new momma like heating pads, ice packs, comfortable neck pillows, and herbal tea. You could include a sound machine for the baby and a pack of Baby Bottle Labels that will help moms keep track of when their bottles are being formulated. We also recommend self-care products like a cooling face roller to help depuff tired eyes or undereye masks to wear as a cure-all to dark circles.

A few bigger gift items could be comfortable slippers, a cozy robe, or a gift card to a parent’s night out for when the baby is a few weeks older. 

Offer Helping Hands

Oftentimes, giving your time is the best gift. Help can be the number one gift to a new mom or dad and will mean more to them than you might realize. Whether it’s babysitting, helping to cook or clean, or just coming over to spend quality time with the parents and the new baby, just being there and being available is the best thing you can do. 

If you offer to babysit to give the parents a date night, after the baby goes down to sleep – take a few minutes to clean and straighten out their house. If your friends are looking for ways to be more organized, we recommend sharing our labels and offering to personalize a pack of labels and help them label and organize their little one’s clothes, shoes, and bottles. 

Or if they have an older child, offer to take the older siblings out of the house for a few hours with an engaging activity like visiting the zoo or petting farm or attending an art class or reading session at the library to give the parents one less thing to worry about for a little while. 

You can even offer to go on a walk with the new momma and her baby or just regularly call and text to see if there is anything they need and be there for moral support when needed. 

Kindness Matters

Regardless of how you choose to support a postpartum parent, they will be infinitely grateful for your love and support. Kindness carries a far distance and especially during an exciting yet tumultuous time like postpartum, your kindness will really matter. 

If you’re searching for more ways to support friends and family around you with thoughtful ideas or meaningful gifts, make sure to check out our other blog posts here and follow our social media here.