Becoming a new mother can seem overwhelming, so make things easier on yourself! Minimize trips to the store by investing in reusable products. Utilize the milk that your body works so hard to produce… that just doesn’t seem to come out at the right time. Spend less time washing soaked clothes and sheets by using reusable pads to protect them. If you are about to welcome your bundle of joy into this world, hopefully this list will help you prepare. I chose to breastfeed my children, so most of these products surround nursing.
This post contains affiliate links, which earn me commission if you make a purchase. However, I swear by each of these products. I have used these exact same products for each of my children, and still use some for other purposes to this day.
Nursing Pillow
Using a nursing pillow saved my back! It also helps baby feel extra cozy when he’s cuddled up to you during nursing sessions. Both of my children used to fall asleep on their nursing pillow after feedings, and just scooping up the pillow along with the baby would help me to easily transfer them to their bed without jostling them around too much. You can wrap it around the front of your body, or around the side of your body to accommodate different latching techniques, or sensitive or swollen midsections. When baby is learning to sit up or crawl, it can also be used for propping during tummy time. These are also ESSENTIAL if you need to travel with your baby on the airplane. Plus, they double as an oversized neck pillow.
Haakaa (Gen 2 with Lid)
Everyone has a different nursing experience, and a different balance of milk production. Some people need to use pumps and supplements to increase their supply, while others have an oversupply and deal with extra leaking and potentially painful engorgement. Haakaas can help both. While I would definitely recommend a full scale electric breast pump if you are planning to have exclusively-pumping sessions (pumping without baby latching on during the session), I 100% recommend incorporating a Haakaa into your nursing sessions. Haakaas collect the milk that leaks out of “the other” breast while baby is nursing. They provide gentle suction to encourage expression (and thus production), and you can manipulate how much suction it provides by adjusting how you wear it. They are awesome companions to hand-expression if you need to express in a pinch (no pun intended). They can also be used to help relieve clogged ducts by filling the bottom with a warm solution of Epsom salts and/or essential oils and wearing it in the shower.
I’ve used both Gen 1 and Gen 2. Gen 2 has a suction cup base that makes the Haakaa way more stable when you set it down after unlatching. I have cried over spilled milk one too many times with my Gen 1 Haakaa. That brings me to point 2: Get the lid. Not just the cute little flower stopper. Especially if you are clumsy or if your baby likes to flail their arms. Trust me. You will be thankful you had a real lid on it.
Reusable Nursing Pads
Reusable nursing pads seemed like a no-brainer. Especially in the first few months of nursing, your breasts will leak at inopportune times throughout your day. Reusable nursing pads are typically a soft cotton on one side, and a waterproof barrier on the other. They are way less bulky, more comfortable, and less toxic than disposable nursing pads. (Though in a pinch, I have cut a disposable panty liner in half and stuck that in my bra.) They are usually shaped in circles, and are just placed right inside your bra. I recommend getting a few pairs, enough to change them out once or twice during the day, and still have some to last a couple days. Remember to wash them regularly and do not let them sit soiled for more than a couple days, or the milk they collected may start growing stuff.
Reusable Underpads
Have you ever used disposable doggy pee pads? Or what about those disposable blue and white paper pads? Those are disposable underpads. Most nursing homes will use underpads (or “chucks”) to keep the beds of their residents dry overnight. Why not use them at home? Underpads come in many different sizes, and are made with a soft absorbent material on one side, and a waterproof barrier on the other, and are machine washable to reuse again and again for years to come. I recommend getting underpads that are at least 3 x 2 feet in size. You can use these under yourself if your breasts tend to leak a lot at night, on the couch during postpartum bleeding, as a protective layer under your baby’s bedsheets, and under your child as they grow up and begin wetting the bed. We keep a stack of them in our children’s room, and go through at least 2 a day (one under each child during nap times).
Freezer Tray for Breast Milk
I was blessed with not having to pump a whole lot. I was able to take my first baby to work with me for the first few months of her life, then they converted us all to telework due to COVID. Because of this, I didn’t buy my first box of single-use milk storage bags until I was traveling for medical treatment with my second baby. I did store extra milk I collected with my Haakaa by pouring the contents each night into a freezer tray. When you are no longer nursing, you can use the tray for DIY baby food, or just big ice cubes.
Officially, I don’t recommend exceeding the storage capacity of the freezer tray. But if you do transfer the frozen milk to longer-term storage, learn from my mistakes. Once frozen, I would pop out the cubes of breast milk and store them in a labeled bag in the freezer. If you do this, make sure the bag is both airtight with the air squeezed out (to prevent freezer burn) and stored in the back of the freezer (not on the door, where your stash could inadvertently thaw if the freezer door doesn’t seal shut).
Boobie Tubes
Boobie Tubes are a product by Earth Mama Organics. These magical coil-shaped grain-filled sacks can be used hot or cold on your sore breasts. They work just like a rice-filled sock, but are shaped for use on your breasts. I kept mine in the freezer, and heated them up in the microwave when needed. They felt amazing used warm when I had a clogged duct. And they were so relieving used cold on sore nipples when my baby and I were working through latching issues. Again, just wear them around the house inside a loose fitting bra. I still keep mine in the freezer, after both of my children have been weened, in a cloth pouch for use as an ice pack.
Organic Nipple Butter
Earth Mama is my favorite Non-GMO, food grade, baby-can-eat-it safe nipple butter. I cannot speak highly enough of it. My first born and I struggled with our latch for a while, which meant soreness for me. Whenever my nipples would get sore or cracked, my routine would be to gently rinse them, soak them for a minute in a salt solution (1 tbs salt dissolved in 2 cups water, in a shallow dish on a low surface that I could bend over), let them air dry, then generously apply the Earth Mama nipple butter. I still use it on chapped lips and on cracked skin on my fingers and feet.
BONUS: DIY Padcicles
These aren’t exactly reusable or necessarily “green,” but they are super helpful and provide so much relief for any soreness after delivery. You can find recipes on Pintrest, but it’s pretty simple. Just buy a pack of maxipads, open each pad one by one, squirt a line of aloe vera and a line of witch hazel on each, spread the mixture around with a spoon so it covers the pads, fold them back up in their wrappers, and stick them all in a bag in the freezer. Use them in the first couple weeks after delivery to maintain hygiene and provide powerful relief at the same time.
Along the lines of “not necessarily green”: There is no shame in adult diapers if you run out of that disposable underwear. I mentally struggled with this one. Get the pretty ones with the flowers on them and feel like the the powerful woman you are for creating and delivering a whole human being into this world.