No matter what the TikTok ads tell you, not everything you buy in life is a game-changer. But in the fourth trimester, some purchases genuinely are. In my own postpartum journey, the add-to-cart moments that had the greatest impact on my mental health often looked like support for my partner and myself—whether in the form of a meal kit or grocery delivery service or even just a great audiobook subscription for those late-night feeding sessions.
And the purchases that were for the baby? Those were still kind of support for me too. For example, with my first baby, I hadn’t planned on formula feeding, so I white knuckled through cracked nipples and clogged ducts in the early weeks of nursing and then felt unprepared when my supply dropped after I went back to work a few months later. When I was getting ready for baby number two, I picked up two cans of formula to stash in my cupboard just in case. The comfort in knowing I had a backup plan actually made my breastfeeding journey easier the second time around, and I was able to stick with it much longer.
But everyone’s fourth trimester journey is different, so we’ve partnered with ByHeart to share the purchases that 11 other parents said had the greatest impact on their postpartum mental health.
Latifah, 35:
A meal subscription service (for my husband to cook) got me through both the third and fourth trimester. The mental load of constantly answering "what's for dinner" is overwhelming.
Cassie, 36:
Small, impulse purchases that would make my life easier. For example, extra pump parts and extra sets of baby pajamas so that I'd have to do laundry and dishes less often. Or jeans in a size (or two) up from my pre-baby size for when I wanted to feel like myself again (and to give myself some grace in losing the postpartum weight). When I was waffling on whether I should buy a pricier sleepsack, a friend texted me, "What's $35 for a better night's sleep?" I ordered it that minute. It was a privilege to be able to do that, but she was also right.
Michelle, 34:
Combo-feeding was the best decision I made for my postpartum mental health, I instantly felt a sense of relief and less anxiety. It was important to me to find an option with clean ingredients that was made in the US (and I wanted one without corn syrup). Having a formula subscription option was a total lifesaver too. I stopped stressing about pumping enough for daycare, and I never had to worry about running out to buy more. I ended up deciding to wean earlier than I'd planned, but I knew that my baby would continue to thrive on the formula we chose for her.
Alainna, 38:
When our childcare plans fell through—daycare ran out of room for a new baby and put us on a waitlist—we hired a nanny who required that we let her begin working sooner than we'd hoped (three weeks before my return-to-work date). Though unplanned, it ended up boosting my mental health more than I expected: while I nursed, rocked, and bathed the baby, she kept me fed and hydrated, and provided a social outlet I didn't know I needed—and took care of the laundry, our toddler's messes, and more.
Brooke, 36:
A delivery subscription service (we used Shipt). We had a winter baby in the cold northeast at the height of Covid, so the last thing I wanted to do was run out for random little things. It takes a village and those shoppers were part of my village, especially when I returned to work and I could order things I needed and they'd be delivered to my house within the hour!
Dawn, 45:
Weekly house cleaning. Was the best money I have ever spent.
Emily, 40:
I already had a three-year-old when my twins were born, so we hired a night nanny to help with the transition. The real benefit of hiring a night nanny wasn't just that I got uninterrupted sleep. Any night I had a night nanny, I also woke up to a clean nursery, immaculate kitchen, and folded laundry. It made everything about the next day so much easier.
Jen, 44:
Period underwear. It was so freeing not to have to wear a pad, and it made me feel semi-human again.
Casey, 34:
I live in the northeast and had a December baby, so we paid someone to come plow our driveway last year. With a newborn, neither my husband nor I had the energy to get up at 5 a.m. to shovel. It was money incredibly well spent.
Madeline, 38:
My Nuuly rental has been a godsend. My weight fluctuated for years after my first pregnancy, so when I was expecting my second baby, I decided to rent my wardrobe through pregnancy and postpartum. It took the pressure off feeling like I needed to “snap back” after giving birth and prevented me from spending time and money figuring out how to dress myself as I lost and regained weight throughout my nursing journey.
Kim, 36:
Nighttime-feeding-shopping-scrolling is a real thing and I’d recommend saving a bit for it before you’re in it! It was definitely a form of self-care for me, so it was fully justified and helped my mental health.
Think a few cans of just-in-case formula might help your postpartum mental health too? ByHeart is a new kind of infant formula that uses organic, grass-fed whole milk (instead of skim). They launched with a 40,000-person waitlist, and were the first infant formula to be Clean-Label Project Purity Award-certified and own their entire manufacturing process from end to end. ByHeart’s formula includes prebiotics to help with gut health and a whey-to-casein ratio that’s the same as early breast milk (plus it’s made without corn syrup, maltodextrin, or palm oil). You can read more about them, including their ingredients and the results of the clinical trial they ran with over 300 babies at ByHeart.com.
This article is sponsored by ByHeart. Expectful’s free site, apps and emails are made possible by our sponsors. We limit our sponsored content to relevant partners that offer products and services we believe in and use ourselves.
