Postpartum Care Kit for New Moms — Glamommy 18-Piece Recovery Set

Description

This postpartum care kit packs eighteen pieces into one box: a 16.9 oz anti-slip peri bottle, a 3.5 oz herbal cooling spray, four pairs of disposable underwear, eight postpartum pads, two reusable hot and cold packs with sixteen disposable sleeves, and twenty-four herbal cooling pad liners. It's built for a vaginal birth.

Most kits in this category are assembled by brands you've never heard of and photographed better than they're explained. This one is unusually well reviewed, at 4.8 stars across 749 ratings with Amazon's Choice on the listing, and the contents are genuinely the six things a hospital hands you or sends you home wanting. What the listing doesn't do well is tell you how to use any of it, or who shouldn't buy it. That's most of what's below.

There's a larger version. The same listing sells an Ultimate Kit with twenty-one pieces: six pairs of underwear instead of four, plus a foldable hospital bag, a delivery and nursing gown, and anti-slip socks. If you're buying this as the hospital bag rather than to go inside one, that's the one to look at.

This kit is not for a cesarean, and the listing buries it

The last five words of the last bullet read: "(NOTE: Not for c-section!)" They come straight after "Give the special woman in your life the gift she deserves."

That matters more than a parenthetical suggests. Roughly a third of births in the US are cesarean, and this kit is sold as a gift, which means the person buying it often isn't the person giving birth and has no way to know in advance how the birth will go.

The exclusion is fair, though. Three of the six items are perineal care: the peri bottle, the cooling spray and the cooling pad liners all treat the area between the vagina and the anus, and a cesarean doesn't involve it. ACOG's guidance for a cesarean incision is a different list: a heating pad or an abdominal binder, pain medication, and a feeding position that keeps pressure off the incision.

Two of the six items do still apply. You bleed after a cesarean the same as after a vaginal birth, so the pads and the underwear are as useful either way. If you're shopping for someone who's had a cesarean, or you're scheduled for one, buy those two things on their own and skip the kit.

How long to leave the ice pack on, and which side to use when

The listing's directions say to "apply the hot or cold pack directly to the affected area" and to "use for as long as desired." Amazon's own directions field then adds, in so many words, that no duration is given and no safety precautions are provided.

ACOG puts a number on it: an ice pack or cold gel pack on the perineal area for 10 to 20 minutes at a time, most effective in the first 24 to 72 hours after birth. Not as long as desired.

The hot-or-cold part needs unpicking too, because the answer depends on where you're putting it and the listing never says.

• Perineum, first three days: cold. That's the ACOG window above, in 10 to 20 minute stints.
• Afterpains, the cramping as your uterus shrinks: heat, on your abdomen. ACOG suggests a heating pad, and says ibuprofen tends to work better than acetaminophen for this one.
• Engorged breasts: cold. Glamommy's own photograph shows the pack tucked inside a bra, which is a real use, but it's the cold side you want once the milk is in.
• A cesarean incision: heat, per ACOG. Which is the opposite of the perineal answer, on a kit that isn't for cesareans anyway.

Warm the pack when the pain is cramping. Chill it when the pain is swelling. Twenty minutes, then off.

What eight pads actually covers

Eight pads and four pairs of underwear. Here's the scale, using ACOG's own number rather than a made-up one: soaking through two pads an hour for more than an hour or two is the threshold for postpartum hemorrhage, the point at which you call your provider. So the kit's entire pad supply is about four hours at a rate that counts as an emergency.

Nobody expects you to bleed like that. The point is the order of magnitude. Bleeding after birth carries on for weeks, and it starts bright red before lightening and turning pink over the following days. This is a kit for the hospital stay and the first day home. Buy a separate box of pads for the weeks after, and buy it before you go into labor, because nobody wants to be ordering maternity pads on day three.

Is the kit cheaper than buying the pieces?

Barely, and that's a more useful answer than the listing gives you. Here's the same job done with four things we already stock:

• Frida Mom upside down peri bottle
• TUCKS witch hazel cooling pads, 100 count
• Lansinoh hot and cold postpartum pads
• Frida Mom boyshort postpartum underwear

Added up, the four come to roughly what the kit costs. Call it a wash on price, then decide on what's actually different. The kit throws in the cooling spray, the eight pads and a box with a handle, which is why it works as a gift. The separates give you a hundred witch hazel pads instead of twenty-four liners, and a peri bottle with an angled neck built for the job.

Our honest read: the kit for the hospital bag and for gifting, the separates for the weeks at home. Plenty of people end up wanting both.

Why new moms choose it

• Six things in one order: nobody wants to build a postpartum shopping list at 38 weeks
• 4.8 stars across 749 ratings: unusually high for this category, and Amazon's Choice in maternity skin care
• Reusable hot and cold packs with 16 disposable sleeves: the packs go in the freezer or the microwave, the sleeves keep them hygienic
• Disposable underwear rated to a 28 to 42 inch waist: high rise, and stretchy enough not to tear getting them on
• 16.9 oz peri bottle with an angled nozzle: big enough that you're not refilling it mid-use
• It arrives in a gift box with a carry handle, which is the actual reason most people buy a kit rather than six parcels

Best for

• Packing a hospital bag for a planned vaginal birth
• A baby shower gift where you want to give something she'll genuinely use in week one
• Anyone who'd rather make one decision than six in the third trimester
• Second-time parents who remember what they wished they'd had in the bag
• Not for a cesarean, per the manufacturer, for the reasons above
• Not enough on its own for the full stretch of bleeding after birth. Eight pads doesn't get you through week one.

Related reading

If you're packing now, Mindy's new mom's guide to packing a hospital bag is the checklist this kit slots into, covering what the hospital actually gives you and what it doesn't. Her guide to the first month picks up where the kit runs out.

Explore more

This sits in our postpartum essentials collection, curated by Mindy Motta, FNP-C, alongside sitz bath soaks, witch hazel pads and nursing supplies. For the weeks after the kit runs out, the Thena organic sitz bath soak covers the warm-water half of perineal care that this kit doesn't touch. If you want a bigger box with a gown and a hospital bag included, the Momcozy recovery kit is the closest comparison.

A note from Mindy on the signs that need a phone call

I want to use this page for something a product listing never does, which is to tell you what the pads in that box are also good for. They're a measuring device.

ACOG's threshold for postpartum hemorrhage is soaking through two sanitary pads an hour for more than an hour or two. That is the number. Most people have no idea what "too much bleeding" looks like after birth, and in the middle of the night with a newborn, a specific figure is worth more than a feeling. Postpartum hemorrhage usually happens within the first 24 hours, but it can happen up to twelve weeks out, which is long after anyone stops watching for it.

Some other things worth knowing before you need them. Call your provider for a fever over 100.4°F, for vaginal discharge that smells bad, for redness or discharge from a tear or an episiotomy or an incision, for pain in any of those that gets worse rather than better, for a headache that won't shift or comes with vision changes, and for feelings of hopelessness that last more than ten days. Call 911 for chest pain, for gasping for air, for seizures, for severe pain low in your abdomen, for pain and swelling in a leg, and for any thought of hurting yourself or your baby.

On the spray in this kit. It's labeled drug-free, fragrance-free and alcohol-free, under a headline promising farewell to pain. Drug-free means there's no lidocaine or benzocaine in it, so whatever relief it gives comes from botanicals the listing doesn't name. Read the bottle before you spray it anywhere near stitches, and understand that it's a comfort measure, not your pain plan. ACOG's first step for this pain is ibuprofen, and it says ibuprofen is usually preferred while breastfeeding because very little of it passes into breastmilk. Acetaminophen is fine too. Ask about a numbing spray if you want one, because the medicated versions exist and your provider can point you at one.

And the thing no kit contains. Cold helps for the first two or three days, and then warm water helps more. A sitz bath, or just a squeeze bottle of warm water while you're on the toilet, does more for perineal pain in week two than anything in this box.

— Mindy Motta, FNP-C

FAQs

What should be in a postpartum care kit?

Six things cover most of it: a peri bottle for rinsing with warm water, maternity pads, disposable or high-waisted underwear, cold packs for the perineum, witch hazel pads, and a pain reliever. This Glamommy kit has the first five plus a cooling spray. What it doesn't include, and what most kits leave out, is anything for the warm-water half of perineal care after the first few days, which is where a sitz bath comes in.

Can you use this kit after a c-section?

The manufacturer says no, in the last line of the last bullet. Three of the six items are perineal care that a cesarean doesn't involve. The pads and the underwear do still apply, since bleeding after birth happens either way. For a cesarean, ACOG points to a heating pad or an abdominal binder for the incision, which is the opposite of the cold-pack advice for a perineum.

How long should you leave an ice pack on your perineum?

ACOG says 10 to 20 minutes at a time, and that it's most effective in the first 24 to 72 hours after birth. This kit's directions say to use the pack "for as long as desired," which is not the same advice. Set a timer, take it off, and give the skin a break before the next round.

How many postpartum pads will you actually need?

More than eight. Bleeding after birth carries on for weeks, starting bright red and gradually lightening, so a kit sized for a hospital stay won't cover it. Buy a separate box before your due date. As a reference point for how heavy is too heavy, ACOG puts the hemorrhage threshold at soaking through two pads an hour for more than an hour or two.

Is a postpartum care kit worth it, or should you buy the items separately?

On price it's close to a wash. Four equivalents from our own shelves add up to roughly what the kit costs. The kit wins on convenience, on the cooling spray, and on arriving in a giftable box. Buying separately wins on quantity, most obviously 100 witch hazel pads against 24 liners. If it's a gift or a hospital bag, buy the kit. If it's your own recovery at home, buy the pieces.

What's the difference between the Basic and Ultimate kits?

The Basic Kit has eighteen pieces and four pairs of underwear. The Ultimate Kit costs more and has twenty-one pieces, six pairs of underwear, and it adds a foldable hospital bag, a delivery and nursing gown, and anti-slip socks. If you still need the bag itself, the Ultimate works out sensibly. If you have a bag, the Basic is the one.

Is the cooling spray safe to use on stitches?

Check the bottle first. It's labeled drug-free, fragrance-free and alcohol-free, but the listing doesn't publish an ingredient list, and "herbal" covers a lot of ground when the surface you're spraying might be a repair. Ask your provider if you have stitches or an episiotomy. It's a comfort measure rather than pain relief, and ACOG's first-line suggestion for this pain is ibuprofen, which it notes is usually preferred while breastfeeding.

When should you call your provider after giving birth?

Right away for heavy bleeding that soaks two pads an hour for more than an hour or two, a fever over 100.4°F, foul-smelling discharge, redness or discharge from a tear or incision, worsening pain in any of those, a headache that won't clear or comes with vision changes, or hopelessness lasting more than ten days. Call 911 for chest pain, trouble breathing, seizures, severe lower abdominal pain, leg pain with swelling, or thoughts of harming yourself or your baby.