In this YouTube vlog, Natalie Barnes shares a detailed one‑month postpartum update, introducing her newborn daughter Arabella and walking viewers through her physical and emotional recovery week by week. She reviews the postpartum products she found indispensable—Always Discreet adult diapers, Frida Mom peri bottle, ice packs, heating pad, Derma Spray, period underwear, and a postpartum belly wrap—explaining how each helped her during the first three weeks. Natalie describes her daily routines: frequent showers, hydration, Tylenol use, B12 supplementation, and walking with the baby. She outlines how she tracked Arabella’s feedings, diaper changes, and naps using the Nara Baby app, and how the app enabled caregivers to stay informed. The vlog covers practical newborn care tips such as cue identification, sleep strategies (crib, car seat, baby monitor, “Hey Bear” video), and outdoor exposure. Natalie reflects on the emotional challenges of postpartum life—crying, soreness, feeling “gross,” and the importance of support from her partner Sam and her mother. By the end of the month she feels more settled, understands Arabella’s preferences, and expresses deep love for motherhood. The video concludes with a call to action for viewers to like, comment, and share their own newborn experiences.
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Hi guys, what's up? It's Natalie Barnes. Welcome to or welcome back to my YouTube channel. So in today's video, I wanted to do a 1-month postpartum kind of video and kind of talk about how that's going and also show you guys Arabella because she is 1 month. She turned 1 month yesterday. The 20th, which is really, really cool. She is sleeping right now. Sometimes during the day she just doesn't want to be put down, so I have to carry her everywhere with me, which I love, so it's fine. Okay, so in today's video I'm gonna be talking about basically what I used for postpartum, what I feel everyone should have that's actually worth getting, what I'm gonna explain to you guys week by week how I was feeling. I know what I went through my first week of postpartum, like throughout the weeks. Don't forget to follow me on all my social media, everything will be in the down box below. So yeah, let's just get on with the video. Some of the products I recommend if you are having a baby that you will need for postpartum is— first thing I would say is the Always Discreet diapers for women. When I came home from the hospital, they gave me these like mesh— they're like mesh boy shorts and basically pads. And obviously you just had a baby, that's not going to work. But these diapers that I got, amazing. They held everything in. I felt like I wasn't even wearing anything, and it was just really convenient at night. So 10 out of 10, would recommend those. I also got the Frida Mom peri bottle. It's like the bottle that you use to like squeeze whenever you go to the bathroom. 10 out of 10, definitely would recommend that. The hospital gave me one that didn't have the little spout curve, so that was really hard to use. Um, thank God I didn't have to use that. Yes, that is definitely something I do recommend because you're gonna need that for like the first 2 weeks of going to the bathroom. Next thing is ice packs. A lot of people make their own. I know you can do pads with witch hazel. I think I'm allergic to witch hazel because I tried witch hazel and didn't really work for me. It was like really painful, so I don't recommend that. But ice packs are amazing. I took a lot home from the hospital, um, I still have a lot left too. I also used my heating pad a lot. I would switch off from heating pad to ice pack, heating pad to ice ice pack. The heating pad was more for like my lower back, kind of like butt area. Um, and then the ice pack I put between my legs just to like help me. I also got the Derma Spray, which is a spray for itching, pain, and I forgot some— it's like itching, pain, and cuts, I think. And what I would do is I'd spray it in the diaper and then put the diaper on, and it felt amazing because it was really cold too. And yeah, the only bad thing about that is you get diaper rash. Pretty bad if you put too much on, so be careful with that. And then finally, pads. Um, my last week, I want to say week 3, I switched over to pads, which helped me a lot. I also got the Victoria's Secret period underwear. That helped a lot too. I felt like really normal like week 3 because I didn't need the diaper. It wasn't that bad for me. I mean, everyone's different, but I feel like the period underwear made me feel very, very, very, very normal. Um, and I'd probably get more if I ever do have another kid. So those are all of the products I 100% recommend. I also recommend getting one of those wraps for your stomach, um, just to kind of like suck you in and hold you in. I wore that maybe my first week and a little bit of my second week, and then I was kind of over it. But it made me feel very like tight and secure and like my stomach wasn't like popping all over the place. I do have pictures of like what my stomach looked like throughout the week, um, and I'll insert them right here. Okay, yeah, so my first week, things I did was I tried to go on a walk 3 days postpartum. I felt like it was okay to do. I I mean, I didn't get like any clearance or anything, and when I told my doctor I went on a walk 3 days after, he was like, "You're kind of crazy, but if you feel fine, go for it." So I did that. It was really nice to get fresh air. Me, Sam, Tank, and Arabella went on the walk, and we didn't really go far because I was so sore, but I knew I like needed to move my feet a little bit. So I did that the first week. I drank lots of water. They tell you to stay hydrated because obviously when you're in the hospital you have IV and you don't really think about it. So I had so much water by my bedside at night, during the day. Then I noticed my boobs were really leaking really badly and I'm not breastfeeding, so I had no idea what to do. I had no idea what to do, and then I went on Google and I looked up how to stop your boobs from leaking and they said cabbage leaves. So I literally wear a really tight sports bra and put the cabbage leaves inside the bra and then switch them every like 4 hours. That I felt helped a little bit, but not really because obviously your boobs need to leak for them to go back down. So would I recommend that? Probably not, but it was fun to do. I also took showers 2 times a day because I just felt like I needed to. I would take one in the morning and then one at night. I still do. Um, but before I would do it just because I felt kind of gross from the day. It's literally like you're on your period almost, and you just feel gross. You just want to shower. I had a lot of spit-up on me from her, so I don't know. I showered 2 times a day, and I still do. And I was also on Tylenol every 4 hours, and then I would try to cut back. By the end of the week, I'd be like 1 Tylenol in the morning, one Tylenol in the afternoon, one maybe at night if I really needed it, but that was only if I was sore. I'm not the type of person that like takes a lot of medicine. Whenever I need it, I try to get over it, like let it pass. I also wore my waist trainer. Like I said, I do recommend getting one. Mine's like a 3-in-1. I don't know, I think I got it off of Amazon. I can leave a link down below of where I got mine, but But yeah, I wore that just trying to feel more secure. And then I also started tracking her feeding and her going to the bathroom. Obviously the doctors want you to do that to make sure you're on time on when she's eating and also how much she's pooping and stuff. Um, I do have the app right here. It's the Nara Baby, I think. Let me see. Yeah, Nara Baby. And it just has basically a tracking for food and when she went to the bathroom last. You can also do her naps. There's like a lot you can do. And what I really like about this app is your husband, boyfriend, fiancé, whatever— anyone can track when they're— when she's going to the bathroom or when she's feeding. So let's just say you go out and you leave her with your parents. Um, or like a caregiver, they can track when she ate last, when she pooped last, so you know, um, or when she's taking a nap, which I really like. And then it also tells you how much she's growing. You put it in whenever you go to the doctor's. I really, really like that app. So how I felt the first week— I feel like everyone feels completely different just because everyone's birth is so unique, but this is how I felt the first week coming home from the hospital and kind of trying to get back to normal. I felt everything was like extremely hard to do. I remember coming home from the hospital and trying to shower and dropping one of the shampoo cleanser things on the floor. And obviously if you have stitches, it's very hard to bend down, plus you're sore. So I like freaked out. I started crying because I like, I'm so used to doing stuff by myself, kind of. Not by myself because I get a lot of help, but I'm so used to doing like simple things by myself and to not even be able to do that. It was just like, oh my gosh, I hope this does not last forever. But I was very, very sore. I found it really hard to do normal things, um, like I said, like taking showers, getting into bed, going to the bathroom. On top of all that, taking care of a newborn, it's just a lot. Thank God Sam helped like a lot because I don't know how like single moms do this or single dads do this with no help. I could not even imagine. Um, I was very emotional the first week. I cried about everything. I still cry a lot. I think that's really normal, just to cry it all out. We live in a 3-story house, and our floor is like— sleep is like on the first floor, and then the kitchen's on the second floor. So trying to go up there, the stairs, was so hard. Um, if possible, if you do live in a house like that, try and move everything downstairs. We have our formula maker downstairs, we have our sterilizer downstairs, and that has helped so much. And then my boobs were leaking, which was really, really bad and really, really annoying. Um, that's another reason why I was showering twice a day. I try to shower in the morning and then at night just because I felt so gross. Okay, so the second week— so the second week, things I did was I tried to relax more, I stayed in bed a little bit more. I'm just trying to let my body recover from the week prior to that. I was still taking 2 showers a day. I was still drinking lots of water. Um, I tried to do small little walks, even if it was like to the mailbox, to the car, to like anywhere. And then I also started taking B12. Um, I used to take B12 before I was pregnant and during pregnancy. And I did not know B12 helps with your boobs leaky. And if you're someone like me who's not breastfeeding and just don't want leaky boobs, start taking the B12 early. I swear by it. I'm pretty sure that's what helped me stop my leaky boobs. Um, I felt a lot happier. Um, I was still not sleeping as much because I was— her schedule was really weird. She hated the bassinet. I did not know what to do. Obviously I did not want her sleeping with us. Um, and then I was like, she's going in her big girl crib. Oh, Mimi, is she okay? Yeah, so we just put her in her crib and she fell asleep. Thank God we have a baby monitor. So I remember thinking week 2, it was so hard trying to figure out her cues. I guess babies have 5 cues. One's like if they're hungry, one's if they're sad, one's if they're like uncomfortable, tired. There's like a lot. So I was so unable to learn her cues, and still like it's difficult for me. It helps to know when she's hungry, when she has a poopy diaper, all of that. And then I was still trying to get back to normal, which was also really hard for me to understand that like you don't need to rush into getting back to normal anytime soon. Like, this is your new normal, so like, get prepared. So now week 3, I got her kind of on a schedule and we kind of figured out what her schedule was, like, on feeding, on what time she should nap, and kind of all that, so I can gauge my day around her. Um, I was trying to bring her way more outside, even if it was just sitting on the balcony or going on walks or even like going to get smoothies like you guys saw in that one video. Um, we would just— we were trying to get her more outside because obviously fresh air is the best, but we obviously— but we also didn't want her being around people at all. Um, we started taking her to places. Um, I started showering once a day, but then I went back to 2 times a day. Um, and then I tried to do Tylenol once a day, and then from there I would just stopped taking Tylenol towards the end of the week because I didn't feel like I really needed it. Um, I tried making more time for myself, even if it was just like face moisturizing, filming and editing a video. Thank God Sam helped me a lot and my mom helped me a lot. Um, and I just felt the need to clean up a lot too. The nursery, our room upstairs needed to clean. And how I thought I felt really happy I got a little more sleep, and then understanding our new schedule, which was really hard, um, like I said in the beginning, but now I really, really understand it. Well, now that I'm 1 month postpartum, I really, really understand our schedule. I know what she likes, what she doesn't like, what she wants, what she doesn't want. And a lot of time what she wants is just me, just to hold her like I am now. I'm literally wearing a wrap. She hates to be by herself and she hates to fall asleep in her crib alone. So what we have to do is get her in her car seat to make her fall asleep because she loves her car seat. And then from there we take her and put her in the crib. She loves her show Hey Bear. If you guys never heard of Hey Bear, it's great for their eyes, I guess. It's like sensory images. But it's on YouTube and she absolutely loves it. It's like one of the things that doesn't make her cry. I love staying home with her every single day and doing stuff with her, even if it's like tummy time or doing stuff like this. I just, I love it. She's starting to be way more sassy. She was already sassy, but like she's way more sassy now. Like I said, her favorite, her favorite show is Hey Bear. She's obsessed with my mom. My mom can make her fall asleep. My mom can make her stop crying. It is the craziest thing ever. Currently drinks 4 ounces, which I think that's like a lot, but she's not really throwing up at all, which is good. Um, I think she's turning into a mommy's girl for sure, but I think that's just because like I'm around her way more. Sam works. I think that could be another factor on being a mommy's girl. I mean, I don't mind it. But yeah, she's definitely a mommy's girl. But yeah, I like absolutely love having her around me, on me, smelling her breath that smells gross. And she loves compliments. I think that's so funny. Like, she'll literally be crying her head off and then someone will give her a compliment like, oh my gosh, you're so pretty, or like, that's the cutest baby ever, and she stops crying, which I think is so funny. But yeah, I love, love, love being a mom. Just like watching her grow, and I cannot believe it's 1 month. Like, I cannot believe this. She's been here for like a month. Anyways guys, that is it for today's video. What? You don't want to stop the video? That is it for today's video. Don't forget to like, comment, and subscribe, and I will see you guys next week. And don't forget to comment down below, um, how you're doing with your newborn if you do have a baby. Let me know how that's going. Thank you guys so much for watching, and I'll see you guys in my next video. Bye, guys!
