How to Use Leftover Birth Song Products
During your pregnancy, you enjoyed Lady in Waiting tea to nourish your body and prepare your uterus. Afterward, you soothed your body and hormones with Nurtured Mother and gave your body what it needed to make milk with Let There Be Milk and Nursing Nectar tea. You might have even used Fertile Ground to help encourage fertility to become pregnant in the first place! Your baby was wrapped in herbal goodness from his first Postpartum Herb Bath to the Cord Care Powder and Diaper Salve that helped protect and heal his body as it adjusted to the new world.
But now he’s getting bigger, his cord long gone, your uterus is back to normal and your milk supply has regulated...and you’ve got a stash of products just sitting around. Now what?
Not to worry. Your leftover birth song products have so much life left in them! Here are some ways to use up extra herbal remedies you’ve bought from us.
How to Use Leftover Birth Song Products
Lady in Waiting Tea
During pregnancy, Lady in Waiting tea soothes your queasy stomach, prepares your uterus for birth, and nourishes your body as it grows your baby. Don’t throw it out after birth, though! The uterine tonic red raspberry leaf is just as helpful postpartum and as your cycle returns weeks or months later. Plus, nettles and alfalfa still boost your iron, and lemongrass and peppermint aid digestion. Lady in Waiting is an all around nourishing, delicious tea anytime. Make a pitcher, add in some cranberry juice and pop in the fridge for a refreshing, healthy iced tea.
Stomach Soother
Did you know that the Stomach Soother tincture you bought for morning sickness can be used for baby’s colic or big sister’s tummy ache? Read the label closely for proper dosing, then enjoy calmer tummies for the whole household.
Nipple Salve
Diaper salve and healing salve go quickly, but we don’t always use up the Nipple Salve. As long as you have been careful about avoiding contamination in your jar of salve, you can re-use leftovers for just about any blister or “owie” that isn’t a deep, gaping wound. Your best bet to avoid introducing bacteria to your jar of salve is to scoop a little bit out with a clean, preferably unused utensil like a tongue depressor or a dry spoon fresh out of the dishwasher. Fingers and water are the quickest entry points for bacteria! As long as your salve looks, feels, and smells as expected, keep using it up on the many injuries a busy household can acquire!
Cord Care Powder
With as quick as a Cord Care Powder umbilical cord comes off, you’ve probably got a whole bunch left, just waiting on a shelf somewhere for another cord to love. Don’t let it gather dust! The powdered herbs worked their magic by drying up the wound, providing antiseptic properties to prevent infection, and (let’s face it) smelling nice. All of those qualities are still good for other injuries, too! Scrapes, cuts, and other “wet” goopy injuries just need a sprinkling of cord care powder before you add a bandage. The herbs will work alongside the body as they dry and protect the owie while a scab begins to form.
Nurtured Mother
The afterbirth contractions and hormone fluctuations can be painful, disorienting, and difficult to get through. Because our bodies are cyclical by nature, though, these are simply more intense fluctuations of the same hormones and cramping and struggles that you might experience during your menstrual cycle. Keep Nurtured Mother around for the PMS and other hormone fluctuations leading up to your first postpartum menstrual cycle. You might find it brings relief of symptoms when used near ovulation and menstruation.
Cesarean Recovery Spray
The purpose of a healing spray is to deliver cooling, soothing relief that also helps to heal without remaining moist on the injury. The actual liquid of the spray will evaporate quickly, while the healing properties remain. That’s why the recovery spray is good to keep around your herbal first aid kit, alongside Cord Care Powder. Spritz it onto clean scabs and cuts, let it air dry, then continue with your healing routine. It’s also soothing for sunburns and minor burns, as cools without sealing in the heat like a gel or salve would.
Postpartum Herb Bath
Didn’t quite finish up your herb bath stash? Save it in an air-tight container for a rainy day. Or, more specifically, for a yeast infection or other vaginal discomfort. Prepare the herb bath as a tea, then strain it into a clean peri-bottle from your leftover birth supply kit. Use the bottle to apply the bath after you use the restroom, delivering soothing, healing herbs to your itchy, uncomfortable vulva.
Little did you know, your stash of herbal products for birth and baby also started your very first herbal first aid and healing kit!