DIY Padsicles Recipe for Soothing Comfort after Delivery

Baby prep is in full swing and this DIY padsicles recipe was a must on my to-do list! This is baby #4 and yet I’ve never made my own padsicles before so I’m excited to give them a try after delivery!

What’s a padsicle, you ask? Well, basically a pad that’s also a frozen cold pack (hence the name ;) ) These are used after delivery to help with healing and soothing. If you’ve ever given birth in a hospital before you’re probably familiar with all the paraphernalia they set you up with afterward – mesh underwear, pads, medicated cloths, ice packs, healing spray, etc. And can we all agree that the ice packs are THE BOMB? I loved them so much. This is a way you can make something similar at home that’ll be cold and soothing.

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DIY Padsicles Recipe

What you need:

Overnight-sized pads – I try to avoid as many junky chemicals as possible, especially all up in such a sensitive area, so I went with these organic cotton pads
Aloe – Again, I tried to go with a natural version and not the fakey green stuff so I went with this one
Witch Hazel – Make sure to get alcohol free! I like this brand
Essential Oils – I used lavender, frankincense, and geranium (not a Young Living member yet? Grab your membership here)
4oz spray bottle

What you do:

Put 20 drops each of the lavender, frankincense, and geranium in the spray bottle then fill the rest of the way with witch hazel. Carefully open up the pads and spread a bit of the aloe on the pad – enough to get the pad wet but not totally soaked. You can use your (clean!) hands to do this but I used a silicone brush from our kitchen that made it much less messy. Once you’ve spread the aloe on then spray the pad down with several sprays of the witch hazel/essential oil mixture. Fold the pad back up and store in a ziploc baggie in your freezer.

I made 20 padsicles (that was how many pads came in the pack I bought) and this recipe was just perfect – I used up with bottle of aloe and the spray bottle of witch hazel + oils without having any leftovers or running out. It was the perfect amount! I think 20 will be plenty to get me through the first few days postpartum (I’ll be using actual peri ice packs for the very first day – you can see that info in my home birth kit post) but if I decide I need more I’ll grab some more supplies from Amazon and make another batch.

Update now that baby is here: The 20 pads I made lasted my about 4 days. That was plenty for me, however I didn’t have any tearing or stitches this time around so I think my overall soreness was less. If I’d had more trauma I might have wanted to use padsicles for longer and would have wished I’d made more, but as it was the 20 I made was perfect.

Want to watch this in action? Check out this video tutorial I made: