How to Create a Body Care Routine that Works for You

Well, well, well. Look at you, mama. You’re glowing! Maybe it’s those surprise fourth-trimester hormones (who forgot to mention that earlier?), or it’s the sheen of a full-body panic sweat as you change your baby’s fifteenth meconium diaper of the night. 

Blame casting aside, it’s time you start thinking about how to create a new daily body care routine that can be maintained through the coming days and nights of taking care of your little one. As a new or expectant mom, you’ll always make sure your little cherub is clean, warm, and smelling like a field of jojoba and lavender, even at the expense of your own daily care routine. In fact, you’re likely going to have unshowered days when you think to yourself, I sure hope spit-up is good for my skin.

In this new life of motherhood, you’ll need a new body care routine paired with the proper self care essentials—a system that works for you. And by works for you, we mean really, really simple. Fortunately, we’re here to be your guide and enjoy healthy skin!

Body Care Tips for a New or Expectant Mother

Here are some tips for creating a body care routine that works for you as a new or expectant mother:

• Take all your body care products
• Put them in a cardboard box
• Place the box under your bed
• In 18 years, when your child leaves for college, remove the products
• Apply

Of course, we’re only joking! But there is a grain of truth in all this silliness—your life is different with a newborn in it. You need to adapt, and so do your beauty and wellness routines. Just like your new mothering life, your new body care routine has to be one that treads the fine line between what you need and what you want. This brings us to our top three tips for creating the perfect body care routine to achieve glowing skin. 

Tip #1: Prioritize Your Body Care Needs

Begin refining a new body care routine by thinking about what you need. These will be the body care rituals that you absolutely cannot give up. Although different for every mother, three common body care (meaning from the neck down) elements that most new mothers need daily are:

• Cleansing – Different from your face wash, but equally important, your body cleanser should lather you up and then rinse off easily. Try using a washcloth or loofah for extra cleaning power after applying a gentle cleanser, like our Mama’s Gotta Glow Face + Body Wash, to the skin. 

While facial cleansers have to be gentle on the tender skin of the face, body cleansers can have a little more oomph—but that doesn’t mean they should contain harsh detergents, synthetic dyes, or artificial fragrances. Always read the ingredient lists in your body care products to be sure you know exactly what you’re putting on your skin.

• Exfoliating – Sloughing off dead skin cells, especially on the knees, elbows, and heels should be one of your go-to body care routines no matter your skin type. A body scrub that leaves you feeling shiny all over can be part of your daily skincare routine, or a routine you implement 2–3 times a week, to help support healthy, glowing skin. Plus, you can rub your body scrub in with circular motions for a little massage as you go. That wonderful, tingly feeling is a great little boost when you’re feeling tired or stressed.
• Moisturizing – After cleansing and exfoliating, it’s vital to your body's skin health that you follow your shower with a good moisturizer. From your neck to your toes, you need to lock in moisture immediately to help nourish and hydrate your skin. In fact, your skin might be particularly dry right now due to changing hormones, so make sure to lather up with a nourishing body product, whether it be a body cream vs lotion or vice versa. Try out our moisturizing Glow On Body Cream 

Be aware, however, that whatever is on your skin will also be touching your baby’s extremely sensitive skin as you cuddle, feed, and play together. Watch out for moisturizers, as well as stretch mark lotions and nipple creams, that contain harmful or toxic ingredients. Opt for an organic nipple cream so you can reset easy that your baby is in safe hands. Also, pay special attention to moisturizing your hands because they sure are busy these days!

Tip #2: Consider Your Body Care Wants

On the other side of the body care spectrum from your needs are your wants. These are the routines that you enjoy but can let slide without guilt, sadness, or that frowny look from your mother-in-law, so they shouldn’t be part of your daily body care routine.

Instead, let these body care elements become once-a-week, once-a-month, or only-during-a-complete-lunar-eclipse events. Some of these wants might be:

• Manicure and pedicure
• Masks
• Massages
• Dead sea salt bath
• Gua sha or dry brush rituals
• Skin treatments

Tip #3: Stay Flexible

When it comes to parenting, staying flexible is key to your success. And the same is true for your new daily body care routine. Clinging rigidly to the maintenance of a certain body care ritual might leave you feeling frustrated. 

While it’s important to have a plan for a good body care routine, it’s also important to be able to adjust that plan without guilt when you need to.

Creating Your Daily Routine

Once you've identified your needs and separated them from your wants, it's time to fit those needs into a daily care routine. To keep your routine efficient, we recommend getting an egg-timer. See the setting for soft? That's about 3 minutes–the same amount of time it would take to cook a soft egg. That's what you get. 

Just kidding! You get the medium setting—crank that baby to 5 minutes, tops.

But, in all seriousness, no matter how much time you give yourself for your self care routine (whether it's the length of a micro-nap by baby or more) here are three tricks for fitting a successful and enduring body care routine in your newly hectic schedule:

• Streamline your products – Don’t clutter your shower ledge or your bathroom counter with products that you won’t be using often. To streamline your care routine and de-clutter your mind, put away any items that you won’t be using every single day. Having a clean, tidy starting point will leave you feeling accomplished and ready to change all the poopy diapers ahead. 
• Multitask – This is a good time to try out body care products that do double-duty. How about using a combo face and body wash, like our Mama’s Gotta Glow Face + Body Wash? Having one product that can do two jobs will save you time, keep your bathroom neat, and help out on those sleepy mornings when you’re just as likely to reach for diaper balm as you are for toothpaste.
• Invest in quality products – With your new pared down routine, you’ll want to be sure that you are using the best possible quality products on your skin, hair, and beauty. This is a chance to invest in a really good set of essentials that you can rely on. But, as always, be sure to read the ingredient labels on all your products to know exactly what you’re putting on your body, as your baby will also come into contact with them. Try our gentle silicone free conditioner that leaves the whole fam's hair feeling silky + smooth from babes to mamas. 
• Make peace with yourself – Every single day, you need to serve yourself a big helping of self-love. After all, motherhood is tough, both physically and emotionally. The hormones, stress, and constant pressure of new parenthood are no joke. So let yourself find a natural and satisfying groove as a mother—never force yourself into anything that doesn’t work for you, whether it be a feeding or body care routine.  

Whenever you start to feel stressed, simply repeat this phrase to yourself: you don’t need to be perfect; you don’t even need to shower. Whatever amount of grooming you can achieve on a daily basis is amazing and more than enough. 

Re-Creating Your Daily Routine

After you've created a new skincare routine for your body, you’ll likely have to create a new schedule for yourself. Because guess what? Your baby will be trying out new routines all the time, so that means you will, too.

Showering in the morning? Not anymore! Now it’s midnight.

Whether you suddenly have time for a daily body care routine that includes cleansing, exfoliating, toning, and moisturizing, or are confined to a simple body cleanse, it’s important to be prepared to adjust and re-adjust your routine to fit your ever-changing schedule. 

Regardless of your schedule, keeping your body needs at the forefront of your daily routine can help ensure you feel refreshed and rejuvenated every single day (no matter how many dirty diapers you have to change). And above all, just remember: you’ve got this! 

For Every Moment of Motherhood, Trust Honest®

Motherhood is a wild adventure, filled with massive changes and unexpected surprises. And while the essence of motherhood is putting your baby’s needs ahead of your own, it doesn’t mean you should forget about yourself entirely. By prioritizing your body’s needs and implementing a variety of beneficial self care tips, you can create a simple and effective daily care routine that will keep you feeling your best.

At Honest®, we’ve made it our purpose to help you navigate all these new waters with the best clean baby care products, pre and postnatal mama care products, and beauty care products. So whether you’re looking for a hydrating moisturizer for yourself or a calming shampoo and body wash for your little one, we’ve got you covered. In fact, if you need something special just for you as you enter this new stage, try our Honest® Mama Beyond the Bump kit.

No matter where you are in your motherhood journey, Honest® is there with you every step of the way. 

Sources: 

Joyce, A. (2019, May 9). Defining Motherhood. Washington Post. https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/style/wp/2019/05/09/feature/the-protector-the-multitasker-the-holder-of-rocks-10-moms-define-motherhood/

Skin Changes During Pregnancy. (2021, December 9). American Pregnancy Association. https://americanpregnancy.org/healthy-pregnancy/pregnancy-health-wellness/skin-changes-during-pregnancy/

Newborn care: 10 tips for stressed-out parents. (2020, November 17). Mayo Clinic. https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/infant-and-toddler-health/in-depth/newborn/art-20045498

Wnuk, A. (2018, February 28). How Pregnancy Changes the Brain. Brain Facts. https://www.brainfacts.org/brain-anatomy-and-function/body-systems/2018/how-pregnancy-changes-the-brain-022818#:%7E:text=in%20pregnant%20women.-,Pregnancy%20shrinks%20the%20brain’s%20gray%20matter%2C%20the%20pinkish%2Dgray%20tissue,social%20cognition%20and%20caregiving%20behaviors