Postpartum Recovery: Items to Help You Heal After Delivering Your Babies

This is a peri bottle to help you out during postpartum bathroom trips in the first weeks after giving birth. Some hospitals provide you with a water bottle to squirt water down below, but it can be tricky to get precise aim with those ones. These peri bottles are specially designed with a retractable nozzle that has an angled spout to make it easy to cleanse the hard-to-reach areas that you so badly need to clean without forcing you to bend awkwardly on the toilet. This bottle has a 12.7-ounce capacity and comes with a nozzle cover and waterproof travel bag, which is handy if you're trekking to and from the NICU in those early days after delivery.

If you're a first-time mom, you may not know what to expect after giving birth. To put it lightly, things can get…messy. And they'll stay that way for a while while your uterus comes down and your body recovers from your pregnancy. For the first week or two after you deliver your twins, you may wish to have disposable postpartum underwear on-hand. These ones are discreet and super absorbent and they offer maximum protection and coverage, so you don't need to be worried about leaking while you're focused on caring for your newborns.

These super-absorbent perineal ice maxi pads will provide instant cold therapy right where you need it in the early days after giving birth to reduce swelling and promote healing. These pads are fragrance-free and hypoallergenic, and they don't need to be placed in the fridge or freezer. Just bend and fold the pad to activate the cooling properties instantly.

If you aren't interested in disposable underwear, these postpartum undies might be more your speed. They're designed with upward compression in the belly area to slim, smooth, and support your abdominal muscles after giving birth, and they're OB-GYN recommended for postpartum tummy control support. You can wear a maxi pad or pantyliner with them as needed, and they're high-waisted and have a seamless body with a full-cut for full coverage.

These soft pads are formulated with witch hazel to cleanse and soothe itching and discomfort you may experience after giving birth (read: welcome to the wonderful world of…hemorrhoids). They can be folded to use as a temporary compress on inflamed tissue (they should only be used this way for a short period of time; follow directions on the packaging).

When added to the tub, this powder by Aveeno forms a soothing milky bath that provides relief for dry and irritated skin. It's made of finely milled natural colloidal oatmeal and naturally cleanses the skin to relieve itching.

If you're planning on breastfeeding your babies, you'll want to invest in some lanolin cream to help soothe yourself after feedings. Even if your newborns are great with latching, after dual feeds with your twins every few hours, you'll soon discover that you can only hold up so long before soreness, cracking, and dryness come a-callin' for your tatas.

The Twin Z Nursing Pillow is a foam-free and hypoallergenic nursing pillow for tandem feeding your twins. If you can get set up with dual feeding, you'll save a ton of time by being able to feed both babies at once. While the pillow is specially designed for feeding two babies simultaneously, it can also be used for supporting your little ones while you're bottle feeding each baby separately, for dual tummy time, for supporting two napping babies (while supervised), or as a pregnancy pillow for the mama-to-be before your twins arrive.

These are medical-grade silicone patches designed for scar prevention. They hydrate the incision and can help reduce the appearance of scars and promote healing at the site. This set comes with six reusable patches that are eight inches long, so they cover the entire scar. These patches support keloid bump removal during your recovery, and they can be worn while bathing or swimming. Each patch can be reused for up to seven days, and the set comes with a case to keep the patches clean.

Using a belly wrap or abdominal binder after a C-section can help support your abdominal muscles and provide comfort and stability for you. Be sure to discuss using a belly band (and how long you should wear it) with your doctor. Keep in mind that some people need to air out their incision, while others don't need to worry about this. Be watchful as you're healing and bring up any concerns about your incision or your recovery with your OB-GYN.

This is a 12-pack of disposable body wipes (for 120 wipes in total) for cleaning post-C-section. They're formulated with vitamin E and chamomile extract to cleanse and nourish your incision site. These hypoallergenic and deodorizing wipes are also latex-, lanolin-, and alcohol-free.

These panties have upward compression to push fluids away from your incision to help with recovery, plus a built-in silicone panel to reduce the appearance of the scar. UpSpring suggests wearing these around three or four days post-op (but to cover the silicone panel with a pantiliner until your incison is closed) and continuing to wear them until you're about 12 weeks postpartum, as the continued support helps during recovery.

Heating pads can ease pain at your incision site. This one by Pure Enrichment is made of a super soft microplush fabric and is machine-washable. It provides targeted heat therapy to relieve pain and tension and has six different heat settings. This heating pad is 12 inches by 24 inches and has a shut-off feature that kicks in after two hours. It also has an extra-long (nine-foot) power cable, and comes with an ergonomic LCD controller and a storage bag.

Ice packs can help with the swelling, itching, and discomfort you'll experience around your incision. These postpartum ice packs are flexible out of the freezer and can be reused throughout your recovery. They're the perfect shape to provide comfort along your incision. This set comes with two ice packs and two soft covers, which can be washed and reused as needed.

If you've just had a C-section, you've probably received doctor's orders to only lift one baby at a time. Even if you wanted to, chances are very good that you will not be able to lift both of your babies at once. And so, you will probably be feeding them one at a time while you're recovering. Having two single Boppy-style pillows available makes it easy for caregivers to do separate feedings at the same time. Even with having a Twin Z Nursing Pillow that we used often, also having dual standalone Boppy Pillows was integral to keeping our smooth operations running on a daily basis.

If you aren't prescribed pain relief medication beyond the first couple of days after you deliver your babies, you'll want to consider stocking up on these to relieve the pain while your body recovers.

These stool softeners will help make things move along more easily in the first few days after giving birth. While bowel movements are unavoidable, they can be difficult, irregular, and painful after delivering your twins, whether you give birth vaginally or via C-section. This is because pain medication, anesthesia, and hormonal changes can all contribute to constipation and / or issues with your digestive system.

If you're confident you won't need or want disposable underwear, these Infinity pads by Always are incredibly absorbent for the extra heavy flow you'll be experiencing. They're engineered with FlexFoam to fit closely to you and move with you, so you won't need to worry about leaks (well, you might still worry, but you'll be covered).

Whether you plan to breastfeed or not, you may experience lactation as part of your postpartum period. Note that milk production can be delayed (or may not even come in at all) for those who have had C-sections. If you do end up lactating, you may find these pads helpful, as you never know when you might end up with an unintentional leak. These nursing pads by Medela are very breathable and highly absorbent while still being very discreet.

Compression socks help improve circulation and reduce swelling in your legs, especially if you're not moving around much after your C-section. If you're headed to and from the NICU in those early days, you may be moving more than if your babies were with you at home, so it may be less of a concern, but I know some new mamas have found these compression stockings super helpful as all of the extra fluid worked its way out of their body after their pregnancies. These ones are bright and fun but are also breathable and they provide 15-20mmHg of gradient compression.