POSTPARTUM HERBAL BATH

Hi guys, my name is Megan. Welcome to my channel. Today I want to teach you how I make my own herbal postpartum bath. Now after you have just gone through labor and had a baby, your lady bits are going to need some extra attention. And I love using natural things and herbs and essential oils and all things like that as much as I possibly can to heal and keep all the toxins and chemicals out of my house. And so one of my favorite things that I used for healing when I had my daughter was this herbal postpartum bath. I am actually now around 32 weeks pregnant with my second and so I'm just getting this all prepared and ready and so I figured I would show you guys how I make this and why I love all these herbs so much and what they're good for and so let's just get right into this recipe. So the first herb that you're going to need and this is kind of the main herb in this recipe is plantain leaf. Plantain is an ancient plant that is used for healing. Most people nowadays actually don't even realize how amazing it is. It's mostly viewed as a weed. People have no idea all the amazing qualities plantain has and they just treat it as any old weed. And it's funny because a lot of the plants people consider weeds are actually some of the most beneficial plants for you. It's natural antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties make it great for speeding up the healing of wounds and for any itching or pain associated with skin problems which makes it an awesome addition to this herbal bath because it's pretty inflamed and painful down there. You may have torn so there might be some open wounds and plantain is just really going to help heal that area even faster. Plantain has some amazing cooling properties. The next one is calendula flowers. Not only does this flower smell really nice but just like plantain it has anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial properties which again are just super healthy in healing postpartum. Plus I think it makes this tea look really pretty too. The next herb is witch hazel. This herb also helps reduce inflammation and any skin irritation. This is great for hemorrhoids as well and it's also an astringent so it can help a lot with any bleeding you might have going on. Next up is lavender flowers. Lavender is just very relaxing and stress relieving and so if you have any stress about how the birth went or anything it's obviously a little stressful becoming a mom especially for the first time but even every time after that it's it's just a huge life change and so lavender is very just relaxing. It helps you just de-stress and let it all go. It also contains antimicrobial properties so it can help keep infections away which is really important. That's the last thing we want going on down there after just giving birth is an infection to start. Plus just like the other three previous herbs it helps heal wounds and take down inflammation so this is another really great addition to this herb bath. And then the last one is chamomile flowers and this serves basically the same purposes as the lavender. It's just really calming and relaxing and has a lot of the same benefits as the other herbs that I've been talking about. Plus the flowers just look really pretty in your bath. So that those are all the herbs we're going to be using today. You can also add in some really good high quality salts. I have some pink Himalayan salt here that I normally add to my bath salts. I'm not going to add any today because I do make my own bath salts. I actually have a video film that's going to go out after this video but it's how I make my homemade bath salts and I will link that in the description so that when it goes live you guys can see it as well. But if you don't want to make both things you can just add these salts right to these herbs and it's going to just give you all the benefits of all the minerals that are in the salts and it's just really great. So then for supplies I just have a large bowl here for mixing everything up. I have a one cup measure and then a mason jar for storing everything in. So first you're going to do one and a half cups of the plantain leaf, one cup of calendula flowers, one cup of witch hazel, one half cup of the lavender flowers, and one half cup of the chamomile flowers. And then you're just going to mix it all up in your bowl and we're just going to put it right in our glass jar for storage and it is all done. This recipe makes enough for approximately nine baths depending on how you measure it. I normally do one half to one cup of this every time I take a bath and so how you make it when you're going to take a bath is you just take a large stockpot of water and bring it to a boil. Then you pour in your one half cup to one cup of herbs, stir it in, and then just leave it to steep for a nice long time. I like to at least leave it for an hour that way you get a lot of those great herbal benefits pulled out of those herbs. And then once it's all done steeping you just strain it out. You can put it pour it right in your bath like this but I generally don't just because I don't want to clog up our plumbing with the herbs. They might be fine but I don't feel like risking it because that's not that's not going to be a fun thing to deal with is a plumbing problem when you've just had a bath. And then I just draw a half bath of nice warm water and pour my tea right into there and then I just sit there and let it soak for a nice long while and then once I'm ready I will fill the bath all the rest of the way up and take a normal bath. You can even bring your baby in the bath with you at this point if their cord stump has dried up and fallen off and just relax and enjoy your bath and this is just really going to help speed up the healing and plus baths are just so relaxing and just make you feel better. So this is just one of the many things that I'm preparing for the postpartum period. I'm working on a postpartum preparation video for you guys that I will link if it's all done. I also have a blog post with this recipe that I will link. It has a printable recipe card so you guys can print it off and have it nice and easy. You don't have to watch this entire video every time you want to make this. I hope this was helpful and I will see you in my next video. Bye!