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I’ve always thought that after labor, women should be able to look forward to a nice quiet vacation and recovery time. Since of course this doesn’t happen and instead we get a precious and wonderful (though not always wonderfully sleeping) baby, and the lack of sleep that often accompanies, this recipe is at least a little (healing) pampering to look forward to after birth.
Herbs can be wonderful after birth and can help speed recovery times. I’ve used my healing salve on both a c-section scar and a small tear (after the second day) to speed healing and they worked great. This recipe is for an herbal infusion that is added to a relaxing bath to help ease any soreness and speed recovery. It can also be brewed and added to a Peri Bottle or cooled pad for extra comfort.
If you don’t have all of the herbs, even some of them will help… This makes a wonderful addition to a new-mommy gift basket along with some homemade natural baby care items and lotion bars for mom.
These are the specific herbs I purchased:
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup Comfrey Leaf
- 1/2 cup Lavender Flowers
- 1/4 cup Plantain Leaf
- 1/2 cup Red Raspberry Leaf
- 1/4 cup Yarrow Flower
- 1/4 cup Calendula Flowers
- 1/4 cup Shepherd’s Purse
- 1/4 cup Uva Ursi Leaf
- 1/4 cup Sea Salt or Epsom Salt
Instructions:
Mix herbs in a glass container or plastic bag. I used a half gallon mason jar. The proportions don’t have to be exact. Store for up to a year in a cool, dark, place.
How to Use:
- For bath use: add 1 cup of herbs to 2 quarts of boiling water. Remove water from heat and let sit for 20 minutes. Strain and add to a bath and soak for 20 minutes. Both mom and baby can soak to speed cord and perineum healing.
- Brew with the above ratios and add to a Peri Bottle for use after going to the bathroom.
- Pour some pre-brewed herbal mix on to pads and freeze for a pain relieving ice pack.
- Use a diluted mix around baby’s cord for healing.
Have you ever used herbs post birth? Did they help you? Share below!
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Do you add the Epsom salt tot he herb mix or just to the bath water once you’re ready to soak?
Hi there. This is great. My midwife made this for me for after my birth. I used it frozen on the sanitary pads as well as in the Peri bottle. It felt so great!
Question: I’m sorry if this has been asked before as I didn’t see it in the comments, but can I reuse/re-brew a batch of these herbs for another bath or should they be thrown away after first use? Thanks!
You can. They won’t be as strong, but you can…
Hi there, would you add a Himalayan or Dead Sea salt? Or would that be too strong or sting mommy or baby? I know salt has healing properties and I’ve seen other Sitz with option for Epsom or Dead Sea salt so wondering if I can add either or both salts to the mix. Thanks so excited to try this =))))
Either one should be fine…
Can this be made ahead of time? I’m due in 7 weeks and would like to get as much of the work done before baby arrives. Will it keep or lose it’s potency? Thanks!
Just mix the dried herbs and they will be fine. congrats!
Hello,
My friend just had her third baby and I wanted to make her some of this as a gift. However, since it will be difficult for her to find time to take a bath as it is I don’t want her to have to take the time to boil, steep, and strain the herbs. Can i do that ahead of time and just give her the tea or will the herbs lose their potency? Thank you!
I am looking at the mountain rose website to order herbs and see that it’s listed in ounces. How much would I need to order to have the 1/4 cup of each ingredient?
Four ounces of each should be plenty
Nifty! I think I’ll make this when I’m a little closer to delivering. Thanks for sharing!
I couldn’t find plantain leaf at my local health food store. And shepherd’s purse I could only find in tincture form. Will the sitz bath still be effective without these 2 ingredients?
Depending on where you live, you might be able to find plantain in your yard https://wellnessmama.com/5387/plantain-healing-herb/ but it will still be beneficial…
Sounds awesome! Hopefully I will get to try this!
Could you be any cooler? I used the New Mama blend (by Well in Hand, I think) after my first but didn’t have anything helpful but frozen pads for the other two. Put it in the peri bottle? Serious genius. Once baby 4 is here I can still benefit from some herbs even if there’s little time for a daily sitz bath. Wow. Thank you.
My midwife made me a super tea of those herbs when I went into labor and then I had some in a bath and some of it was used to soak cloth menstrual pads to put in the freezer. Anything frozen felt really nice down there since I had lots of stitches and swelling. The sitz baths were great!
She also said 7 days of rest for the first baby, 8 for the second, 9 for the third, etc.. While it seems so hard to manage it, we women should certainly be excused from work for a week or two for having a baby–jeesh! My husband gets *paid* leave when he is sick. I’ve always thought of starting a business of moms who kind of take over a household when a new baby is born to keep things going for a week or two!
Your business idea sounds heavenly, Jennifer. Our budget would probably only allow someone to come in an hour or two though.
You know, I think the same thing too, but wouldn’t it be great if we could work something like that into state funding assistance somehow? Is it in Sweden where moms *and* dads get 6 months paid leave? Really now, we should be able to come up with better solutions that what we currently have.
Back to the sitz bath–another idea when filling up the sitz bath is not an option is to pour it into a small spray bottle and just mist the sore area each time you go to the potty. If you’re home alone, or in family company, air drying (in a skirt) is helpful. I always found it rather tricky at our house, but sunshine down there is good too 🙂 A better idea for those summer babies!
Except Sweden persecutes homeschoolers-so the government giveth and the government taketh away according to their own wishes at any given moment.
The grass is always greener until one knows the subtleties of a system, I suspect.
Well said.
Become a postpartum doula! That would be wonderful.
That is a great business idea. I hope someday you or someone does just that! ?