The Third-Trimester Checklist: When to Start Preparing Your Postpartum Recovery Kit
Most expecting parents have a hospital bag packed by week 36. Far fewer have thought about what happens on day four at home, when the baby is asleep on your chest, your body aches in places you didn’t know could ache, and the closest pharmacy feels like a long way off. That gap is what a postpartum recovery kit fills. It is a small stash of supplies for healing, and the timing of when you assemble it matters almost as much as what goes in. Here is a week-by-week way to approach it, so nothing lands on your to-do list at 2 a.m. after the birth. Why the third trimester is the right window Before you give birth, you have energy to spare, at least in theory. After, you have a newborn, interrupted sleep, and a body that is recovering from either labor or surgery. Shopping, comparing products and reading labels are all easier to do while you are still pregnant, even if you are uncomfortable. There is also a practical reason to avoid leaving it late. Babies do not always wait for their...