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Hey there friends. Welcome to the better postpartum podcast. I’m your host Angel Swan, crunchy mom, coffee addict and postpartum doula turned new mom, coach. This podcast is your audio guide to not just surviving but thriving during those early and newborn days. If you want to care for yourself, your household and your baby with confidence, grab your earbuds because this is the only podcast that you need. So what do you say? Should we get started with today’s episode? Let’s do this. Hey, friends. Before we get into today’s episode, I just wanted to remind you to go to my website and grab my free postpartum planner is the ultimate tool to guide you through building up your support system. Even if you don’t think you have one. It’ll help me know who you can rely on for all the things baby care, breastfeeding, help meal prep, divvying out household chores and baby duties between yourself and your partner. I really went all in when I created this planner to give you the most holistic postpartum planner out there. So you can grab that at my website, Angel swan.com. Or check this episode description for the direct link. Now for today’s episode, today, we are going to talk about something that I know most of you have dealt with. This is like a story I hear all the time. So let me paint the picture for you. You created your baby registry. And if you’re listening to my podcast, it’s probably your first baby. And you’re just trying to get all the information that you can to be successful and thrive during this transition into early motherhood and good for you. You are my people. So when you go and create your very first baby registry, there’s a lot of different opinions about what needs to go on there. From baby gear to clothes and diapers and whatever. It’s all good stuff. But it’s also just stuff, okay. And while I do think that having the right stuff is important, I also believe that there’s a lot of out of the box gifts that you would definitely benefit from. But a baby registry app isn’t going to like recommend it for you, you know, they have all the like little categories. And the things that I’m going to suggest to you today are never on there. This is stuff you’re going to have to add yourself. But it’s super super. It’s just gonna be a game changer once you hear this, okay. And I know a lot of you guys are probably being gifted like mountains and mountains of clothes, more clothes than your baby will ever need or ever be able to wear and most importantly, more clothes than you will ever have time to sift through. And then you’ll have a cluttered nursery and feel bad because you’re not using all the things that have been gifted to you. Because it’s just too much. There’s literally not enough time to get there. All those gifts. Oh, sorry, I’m being triggered by this because I’m just remembering. I said no clothes, please for the love of God. We have clothes for our baby for the first year. And guess what people bought me clothes, clothes and more clothes. And I was like, Are you really and I you when I’m telling you I had mountains of baby clothes. I had 10 big trash bags stuffed with clothes for my daughter. Do you know how much of that she wore. Not much you guys because I am a minimalist and I love like capsule wardrobes. Also I love not having to like have a crapload of laundry to do all the time. And doing the capsule wardrobe thing is like really good for that. So Jenny did not wear most of that stuff. So instead of like in this is like I’m talking about baby registers. So like I guess technically like before you have your baby, but a lot of you have already had your babies. And that’s great, because this still applies to you.

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Because people still give you presents, you know, they’re just like, oh my god, I saw this key thing at the store. Can I get you anything? Baba bah. Like it still happens? People still get you gifts. And when they’re like, what do you what can I get for you? You probably have maybe an idea of something that you want. But maybe you’re afraid to ask for it. And so I recommend you actually just like keep that baby registry going okay, so that when you have someone who wants to buy you something, you just send them a link, and they can contribute in a way that makes sense for you and your family and your current situation. So what can you ask for when your family and friends really want to buy you things but you already have all the stuff like the thought of just receiving, unpacking, washing, sorting, putting away one more frickin onesie or baby rattle? is making you anxious or is triggering you? Like, what can you ask for instead? Let’s talk about it. Okay, let’s talk about some amazing out of the box gift ideas that you will actually use and love. Alright, the first one is a diaper fund, not actual packs of diapers, but a diaper fund. Okay, this way, you don’t end up with 20 packs of newborn diapers, and then when your baby grows out of them, because they grow so freakin fast, you don’t have any diapers in the next size up, because everybody’s like buying diapers for the newborn, right? And newborns go through a lot of diapers, but they also grow really fast. Or, you know, if you’re like me, and you really, really want to use cloth diapers, but literally no one believes that you’re, you’re actually gonna keep up with it. You’ll just use your diaper fund, dip into that and buy the actual cloth diapers that you want, instead of having a crapload of like, disposable diapers that you’re just going to give away because you’re an eco conscious person, and you don’t want to throw them away. And you know, someone could really use them. So you donate them. But then guess what, now you have no diapers, diaper fund, people get the diaper fund, I can’t even count the number of diapers that we gave away. Because people gave them to me. I didn’t need them. And I didn’t want them. Okay. It’s just frustrating. It’s so frustrating. I know that you’re frustrated too, right? You’ve got to be why do people buy these things? I don’t know. Some people who have just had a baby, they usually get you the best gifts. But then like the people that had a baby like 3040 years ago, they don’t remember. So we have to guide them with our list. Okay. Next, I want to say a lot of the gifts that I’m going to recommend to you today are going to be funds like little pools of money that people can contribute to, for like services and other things. And this is something that you can set up on your baby registry, just make sure that you set it as like a high priority, so that it grabs people’s attention. And when people ask you like what can I get for you, you just send them the registry link. And then, you know, like I said before, your registry doesn’t have to die when your baby is born. So just keep that registry page alive. and update it so that your friends and family can come back to it to see what they can get for you as the months go on. Because I can almost guarantee you that the gifts will keep coming after your baby is born. So just set up these little funds on your baby registry, and then send the registry link to anyone who wants to give you a gift. Okay, now on to the next gift idea, which is a postpartum doula fund.

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You had to know I was going to list that one, right? I mean, come on. I am a professional postpartum doula. That’s what I do in my like, in home clients, right? And then my online clients, I’m coaching you. But it all comes from being a professional postpartum doula. And I know how important it is to have someone like me, be physically present for you, especially during the first two months postpartum. A postpartum doula is a professional caretaker for mom and baby. And we also do like light housework to keep things in order. We do meal prep. We have breastfeeding experience and support, emotional support. We’re basically like a mother’s helper on steroids. We’re there to like, anticipate your needs. Take care of stuff before you even have to ask because we just know what it takes. We know what it takes to help you really thrive and be comfortable. And we’re there to have your back. Okay. And like I cannot express to you how amazing your postpartum experience can be. When you have a postpartum doula at your side, you’re going to get more rest, you’ll get reassurance and he’ll significantly reduce your risk for postpartum depression and anxiety. This gift on your registry needs to be one of the highest priority items, okay? If he usually there’s like a low, medium high, this one’s got to be like the top priority. If nothing else, we need a postpartum doula up in here. Okay. The next gift idea is a professional baby proofing service fund. If you live in a small town, I don’t really know I don’t you probably won’t have a service like this available. So maybe before adding this to your registry, just do a quick Google search to see if there’s any professional baby proofers in your area. Basically, these professional baby proofers come to your house, they do an assessment and they tell you what they recommend like which products would be best for you You How many of them you’ll need, where they’re going to put them. And then they present all that to you. You guys agree, what you want to have installed. And then these people come back with all of the equipment and tools, and they install everything for you. I got to see this firsthand with one of my clients recently, it was bananas. It was so cool. I wish I had something like that. When I was making my registry or really just asking people for stuff because I’m at a point now like, I’m just doing it all myself, but wow, professional baby proofers would have been absolutely incredible. So they come in and they put in like, cabinet locks, furniture anchors, so that your you know, your furniture doesn’t tip over. baby gates, toilet lid locks, like literally anything you’d ever need. They think of it. Maybe you don’t know what you need, they know what you need. So you won’t have to worry about like cutting out a poorly written instruction manual for a baby gate as you’re trying to assemble it. Can you tell that I’m speaking from experience? Putting let me tell you, Okay, putting up our baby gate at the top of our stairs, at our new house was one of the most frustrating things I have ever done. And I am a very handy woman, okay. Do not even get me started on that freakin baby gate. I was causing that thing out so hard. Oh, so definitely, if professional baby proofing services are available near you, add that to your list. Alright, another cool gift idea. This is for if you’re still pregnant. Okay, so if you’ve already had your baby, I’m sorry, you can’t do this. But if you’re pregnant and listening, I know that I have pregnant listeners out there. So I’m listing this one. This is a fun for placenta encapsulation. This is definitely one of the like crunchy or mom things that you can do. And you know, I’m a little crunchy.

12:04  

Sometimes I think about having another baby just to eat the placenta. That’s it’s a meme that I saw online. And I was like at but actually, but actually, I would try it right. I didn’t do it with Jenny and I kind of wish that I had but we were just so poor at the time. And this Placenta Encapsulation comes with like a luxury price tag. That’s why you want to put a fund on your registry so people can contribute. But a lot of moms have found that consuming their placenta after birth significantly improves our mood, which decreases your risk for postpartum mood disorders, increases production of oxytocin or your love hormone, decreases your stress hormones restores your iron levels by or after, like the bleeding that happens after birth called leukemia. And it increases your milk supply. So there’s a lot of benefits to it. I went to have a placenta encapsulator come and speak on the podcast eventually. Still trying to find just the right person to come and talk to you. But we’re going to have that sometime soon, hopefully. But anyway, it’s a great idea to ask your friends and family to contribute money towards this presenting capsulation fund if that’s something that you want to do, if you’re still pregnant, obviously you have to plan ahead for this stuff. Oh, okay, the next thing on the list, another kind of crunchy thing on there. But honestly, I think we need to de crunch reify this it’s babywearing Okay. babywearing is not just for crunchy moms. It’s for moms who want to get stuff done. Okay. And if you’re like me, you want to get stuff done, because part of your self worth is wrapped up in whether or not you’re being productive, right. That is just like that’s a personality trait for me at least i Oh, if I if I can’t get stuff done, I get frustrated. Like if there is a wrench by plan. It’s just it just derails my day. And babywearing is the thing that really saved my sanity. And if so, great, forever rewind, everyone. So this can be a fun, fun, fun, I feel like half the time I’m saying fun. I’m saying fun with a D on the end, okay. But this can be a fun or if you know like how much the class is going to be or if they have like a gift certificate that Pete someone can buy. It just depends on like how you pay for it, but you can put that on your registry. So if you want to keep it simple, just make another fund for like the amount that you know you need to take the class because babywearing is one of the most important things that I teach my clients because without it you’ll be trapped. You’ll be trapped in a cycle where all you do in a day is hold your baby and it’s easy to lose sense of self and sense of worth like when all that you can manage in your day. is holding your baby babywearing gives you so much freedom to do the things that you need to do and the things that you want to do. Okay? Whether that’s getting your chores done getting a manicure, whatever, like baby wearing is essential to thriving during the postpartum period. Okay. Next up, if you are working mom, you might want to add this fund to your registry, which is a daycare fund, because holy moly daycares are expensive, especially if you live in my area, the DC metro area. Wow. So expensive, but also so necessary for a lot of parents. If you’re not doing daycare, this could be your nanny, find your babysitter, fund your mommy’s helper fund, basically, like lump that together as a child care fund, and put it on your registry. And then last but not least, add a fun experience to your registry, something that’s gonna get you out of the house, something where you can go and have fun experiences with your baby, with your family. It can be kind of hard, you know, to find things to do with your baby like you’re looking at them. What am I supposed to do to entertain this little creature all day. So some fun things for both of you that then if they’re really small, they’re probably just going to sleep but at least you get to get out, right. So some fun things might be like, a membership to yours. local zoo or aquarium. Those are really great, especially as the babies are growing up and then get into toddlerhood, that’s like that is a membership is the gift that keeps on giving because you buy it once for like the year and then you’re set. You can go whenever you want. Any day that you’re bored, you don’t have anything to do. You just go and it’s great. And maybe like as your baby gets older, really like closer to their first birthday. Then a membership to like a baby gym where they can go and just tumble and like flip flop and do baby stuff on mats.

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All that good stuff. They love it. One gift that I personally have really loved is a subscription to the highlights Baby Magazine. I used to get highlights when I was a kid I didn’t know it was still thing. So this baby magazine is there. Many magazines are really small. They’re for babies, and they’re laminated in such a way that it’s like near impossible for your babies to destroy them essentially. They’re also vanilla scented, so it’s kind of weird, but I’m not mad about it. It just it’s bizarre. They’re vanilla scented, I you know the first time I got one I was like, this is weird. Smells like vanilla is supposed to smell like vanilla. What’s happening in here. And I googled it and they don’t advertise it as vanilla scented, but everybody else is like their vanilla scented, so I’m not crazy. But anyway, tangent. Wow, tangent. So to wrap it up, right? What do all of these gift ideas have in common? Money, money is one thing, you need money to pay for services that are actually going to benefit you so much more than the stuff that you typically receive as gifts. So money for services is the key here. Or you know if there’s gift certificates for the services get that too. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh, I forgot this in my outline. You guys. Okay, bonus bonus bonus bonus gift idea. A fund for a housekeeper? Do I need to say anything more? Funding for a housekeeper. Let’s just add that to the list right there. Because, wow, you’re going to need help keeping your house clean. I don’t care how amazing you are at prioritizing your tasks. You got a housekeeper would be incredible, because they can actually deep clean your house. You know, maybe you can probably manage the dishes in the laundry but like deep cleaning, like who’s actually going to clean your baseboards, let’s be real. A housekeeper. But anyways, look at that we got a bonus in there. Wow, that was an excellent one. I can’t believe I forgot that. Anyways. You don’t need 100 different outfits for your baby. You don’t need 30 different toys for your baby there are small they don’t need a lot. What you do need is support okay, and that support can look like professional services that we talked about today. So you know, just something to think about. Those are all the gift ideas that I have for you today. If you if you have any cool gift ideas that you would like to share, please let me know. You can DM me on Instagram at Angel dot Swan or send me an email to Angel at Angel Swan calm. I’m always looking for more things like this that I can recommend to my clients. So if you’ve got an More ideas. Please tell me what they are. And please, if you learned something new today, and you love these episodes that I’m putting out, do me a giant favor and leave me a five star review on Apple podcasts, you seriously have no idea how much it means to me to get those ratings and reviews. And not only does it make my day to see your reviews, but each review helps to boost this podcast in the parenting charts. And then when that happens, more moms like you will be able to find this podcast and learn from it too.

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All right, friends, that’s all that I have for you today. Thank you so much for listening. I will talk to you soon. Bye. Bye.

20:44  

Thank you so much for listening to the better postpartum podcast. Here’s what I want you to do next. If you loved what you heard today, would you do me a giant favor and leave me a written five star review? Those little love notes that you leave are the perfect way to thank me for putting out these episodes just for you. Seriously, it would mean the world to me. Next, take a screenshot of the episode you’re listening to right now and share it on your Instagram stories and make sure you tag me at Angel dot swan. That’s SW o n so that more moms can find this podcast and hopefully get the advice and encouragement they need to truly thrive with their babies. And don’t forget to come back every single week for more nuggets of wisdom and truth bombs about the early motherhood journey. I’ll talk to you next time. Bye bye