After you give birth, you’ll probably be in a nice safe hospital where they’ll give you everything you need. But what happens when you go home and find yourself with a battered body and a new baby? It’s easy to forget to think about yourself when you have a new life to protect, but postpartum care is important. Hopefully you’ve had a smooth birth, but even so, you want to protect yourself from infection and help yourself heal as quickly as possible.

My birth was very rough so I ended up trying most of the postpartum care products out there. Here are my recommendations based on what worked best for me.

3 postpartum products you need to invest in

1. FridaBaby Mom 2-In-1 Postpartum Absorbent Perineal Ice Maxi Pads: OMG these are a must have. I used a ton of them. These maxi pads are large and get cold when you  crack and shake them. The coolness lasts about 30-45 minutes. The pads have a sticky side that is easy to attach to your panties though I would say it’s not very comfortable to walk around with one in. It’s better to sit down and relax for the 30 minutes it’s working. Just enjoy the pain relief that comes from the cooling pads.

2. Sitz bath: Sitz baths are really going to help you keep your stitches or incision, if you have one, clean. These little basins fit on top of your toilet. Fill them with hot water or an infusion for healing and then sit in them for 20 minutes once a day. The warm water helps promote healing and aids in pain relief. I often did this after my newborn was asleep at night so I could get a full 20 minutes to soak.

3. Earth Mama Angel Baby Organic Herbal Sitz Bath: Hand in hand with the sitz bath is this herbal blend to use with it. Think of it as making tea for your lady bits. There are 6 sachets in this box. Each day you throw one in the sitz bath in boiling water and let it seep for some time. Once it’s cool enough you do your 20 minute bath. I felt like this mix kept my incision clean and free from inflammation. Plus you can reuse the sachets by popping them in the fridge to cool and using them as a cooling pad for some extra benefit. Word to the wise, don’t squeeze these to get the water out. They are pretty fragile.

3 postpartum products you can choose from

You do not need all of the next three products. I had them all and would advise you choose one in whatever form you prefer to use. They basically all do the same thing.

1. New Mama Bottom Spray Earth Mama: This perineal spray is soothing and easy to use. It comes in a two pack but I found using it everyday I only needed one. This mix of witch hazel and cucumber offers a nice cooling effect and the spray option was helpful for easy application. You can also spray it on a pad for extra relief.

2. FridaMom Perineal Medicated Witch Hazel Full-Length Cooling Pad Liners: This pad liners were nice, not gonna lie. They were easy to whip out and put on the ice maxi pads in particular. However, I felt like the liner material was thin (think baby wipes) and wasn’t sure it was actually making much contact with the areas that needed it most. Still, it was convenient and cooling with no mess to speak of.

3. FridaMom Witch Hazel Perineal Healing Foam: If you’re a foam person, this is the product for you. I liked that this product felt like it reached everywhere you wanted it to. I mean…foam right? But the downside is you feel the squishy foam when you move so I mostly used it at night when I was lying down. I feel like the other two products above did the same this this one did so really it’s just a matter of preference.

I used all three products. I started with the spray, put the liner on my night pad, and then dosed it with foam before going to bed. While I don’t think I needed all three products, I will say I never had any sort of infection or inflammation so who knows. Whatever I did seemed to do the trick.

3 postpartum products you can ignore

1. FridaMom Postpartum Maternity Catch-All Pads: These pads catch everything so you don’t need to worry if you’re bleeding, if you’re having bladder issues, or throwing clots. They are large, full coverage pads that give you peace of mind. And if they were $15 they’d be worth it. But at $55 do yourself a favour and just invest in some large maxi pads or adult diapers. They’re half the price and do the same job.

2. FridaBaby Mom Perineal Comfort Donut Cushion: Look, the ride home from the hospital isn’t great. Bumps are not your friend. But I had a pretty awful birth and made it home without a cushion. I did end up investing in one once I was home as I couldn’t sit at the kitchen table, for example, but I saw no extra benefit in the FridaMom version over a normal donut cushion. Again, save yourself some cash and go with the Amazon favourite over this cushion.

3. FridaBaby Mom Upside Down Peri Bottle for Postpartum Care: This upside down bottle can be helpful if you have an incision or stitches that needs help healing and you want to make sure it’s kept very clean. Those first few days are rough for sure. I did find this bottle useful for a day or two but honestly, any squeegee bottle can create a very similar effect and will cost you a dollar or two at the dollar store.

3 other postpartum products to consider

1. A hospital delivery gown: This isn’t postpartum, but if you are thinking about buying a delivery gown, skip it. Yeah, those hospital gowns you have to wear two of to cover your back and front aren’t the best thing ever, but think about it. Your water might break on you, you might bleed on your gown, you might get other substances on you. Hell, your baby is going to be placed on you out of the womb. It’s very nice to just swap out those gowns as they get dirty. And they will get dirty. So save the money and just go with what’s provided in the hospital.

2. Adult diapers: Yes, you need these. The first few days to weeks out of the hospital you will be bleeding and that’s normal. Get a few adult diapers to wear at night to make sure you’re not waking up every few hours to change your pad or worrying about bleeding on your bed.

3. Maxi pads: Have some extra large and thick pads on hand. I’m not talking about the nice little pads we use during regular periods. Get the heavy duty stuff. You want cushioning when you’re moving around or sitting during the day.

Other than the above, what helps most postpartum is extra hands to hold your baby while you recover or food so you don’t have to cook. When people started to visit and asked what they could bring, I always said food. You are recovering from a major event in your life and you’re doing it on little sleep with a crying newborn. Take help when it’s offered and when in doubt, ask for chocolate.