This is a joint giveaway with Code Name: Mama, Hobo Mama, and Natural Parents Network. I'm posting it here at Hobo Mama Reviews as well. You may enter at one site only. Please find the section marked "Win it!" for the mandatory entry and optional bonus entries.
This is a combined giveaway of two gifts from Earth Mama Angel Baby: our first-prize winner wiill receive the Mama's Postpartum Recovery Essentials Bundle, a $49 set; a second-prize winner will receive the Postpartum Bath Herbs from the bundle, available for $5.95. Two lucky readers will win one gift each, making this giveaway's total value $55!
Earth Angel Mama Baby's postpartum products are gentle and organic herbal blends that help soothe you back into health after a birth.
From our reviewer, Dionna at Code Name: Mama:
About Earth Mama Angel Baby
Earth Mama Angel Baby's (EMAB) beliefs about pregnancy and birth will resonate with my readers - they are guided by a "sincere faith in the natural process of birthing babies." Their products are created to support mamas and babies naturally with nature's gifts. EMAB uses "the highest-quality, certified-organic or organically grown herbs and oils for our teas, bath herbs, gentle handmade soaps, salves, lotions and massage oils. [Their] products are 100% toxin-free, cruelty-free, vegan, and free from all artificial preservatives, fragrances and dyes." EMAB does everything it can to "honor the earth and her valuable resources…. [They] use only eco-friendly recyclable or reused/reusable packaging and packing materials." They have even won an award from the Business Recycling Award Group for their green practices.
What does all that mean for you? It means that Earth Mama Angel Baby is committed to creating products that are good for you and your baby. I happen to know one of the mamas who works with EMAB - Alicia of The Soft Landing - and I am confident that she and the rest of EMAB are genuinely passionate about mamas and babies!
Postpartum Recovery Essentials Bundle
"Mama’s Postpartum Recovery Essentials safely and naturally addresses all the unpleasantries a new mama might be experiencing, like prenatal and postpartum hemorrhoids, episiotomies, cramping, postpartum vaginal swelling and bruising."
The bundle includes Mama Bottom Balm, New Mama Bottom Spray, Postpartum Bath Herbs, Happy Mama Spray, and Monthly Comfort Tea. I felt so pampered with these products!
Mama Bottom Balm
Of everything included in the bundle, this was my absolute favorite. Admittedly, Ailia's birth was pretty easy on my body. I had no tears and only minor bruising and skid marks. For those of you who have it worse (and I remember how bad it can be from my extensive bruising, swelling and skid marks with Kieran!), the balm helps everything: prenatal and postpartum hemorrhoids, postpartum vaginal swelling and bruising, episiotomies. My postpartum pain was made infinitely better when I used the Mama Bottom Balm. It soothes and cools your nether regions and promotes healing.
Mama Bottom Balm contains an organic olive oil base infused with healing organic herbs - St. Johns wort, yarrow, Witch hazel, Calendula, Shea butter, and more. You can keep it in the fridge for added coolness and relief.
Mama Bottom Balm should be on every expectant mama's must have list!
New Mama Bottom Spray
The bottom spray is also soothing, but it is a much lighter version of the balm. The spray is made with all-natural ingredients, including astringent witch hazel, antibacterial lavender, and cooling peppermint pure essential oils. I kept it on my toilet and sprayed it on each time I used the bathroom.
Bonus - both the spray and the balm should also work on diaper rash for little ones!
Postpartum Bath Herbs
Here's a tip: give yourself a day or two after birth, then put a kid's floatie on the bottom of the tub, run some hot water, and throw in one or two of EMAB's bath herb pads. Climb in, sit back, and say ahhhhhhh.
"100% Organic Postpartum Bath Herbs is a soothing, comforting blend includes salts, oatmeal and organic herbs that have historically been used to support postpartum women. Wound-healing, styptic and antibacterial herbs and salts help reduce swelling and speed healing of vaginal soreness, episiotomy and perineal bruising. Great for both prenatal and postpartum hemorrhoids too."
Happy Mama Spray
Happy Mama Spray is a light, refreshing spray that will surely be a hit to both pregnant and new mamas, as well as their little ones. The blend includes lime and ginger pure essential oils, and "there are no chemical fixatives to make the fragrance last an artificially long time." That means you can put a spritz on your wrist (or your toddler's) for a quick pick-me-up and inhale without worrying about artificial ingredients.
I've often used this spray to freshen up our bedroom and sheets - it makes climbing under the covers that much more enjoyable.
Monthly Comfort Tea
This tea's "100% Organic and Certified Kosher blend [was] created to jumpstart recovery immediately after childbirth, and for "that time of the month" when hormones are raging and your uterus and you could use some extra care!"
The flavor is delicious! It contains, Cinnamon bark, Lemon Balm, Nettles, Alfalfa, and Ginger. The combination is made to both help ease cramping and chase away the baby blues.
Take some of this into that bathtub for a little slice of heaven.
A Few More Thoughts on the Postpartum Recovery Essentials Bundle
Ailia's birth was much easier on me physically than Kieran's birth, and the same was true for my postpartum period. I'm sure part of that was because of the differences in their births - Ailia's labor and delivery were at home (Kieran's was at a birth center with a medically-minded midwife); my labor was shorter with Ailia, and I felt better prepared; Kieran ended up spending 5 days in the NICU, Ailia has been at home from the beginning. But another difference was that with Kieran, I did not have the benefit of any of the natural herbs and oils found in the EMAB products. The balm, spray, and bath herbs helped me heal faster, and the Happy Mama Spray and tea helped me emotionally. (Well, the placenta smoothies also played a big role!)
This set would make a wonderful gift for any expectant mama, but if your budget is more limited, I'd highly suggest the Mama Bottom Balm.
From our reviewer, Lauren at Hobo Mama:
I received the Postpartum Bath Herbs to try, just before the birth of my second son, Alrik.
After the birth of my firstborn, Mikko, I felt very tender down there, both physically and emotionally, even though I hadn't sustained much damage. I knew I wanted to have sitz bath herbs on hand, because soaking in a warm, herb-steeped tub every day with newborn Mikko helped heal me in both aspects. I believed the warm water and gentle herbal concoction the midwives had recommended sped blood flow to the tender area, and knowing I was doing something helped reassure me that everything would knit back together in time. (It did.)
With Alrik's pregnancy, I was a little frantic when his birth was approaching and I didn't have any herbs ready for postpartum use. Earth Mama Angel Baby to the rescue!
These pads were really interesting. I had thought you'd just use them in the bath, and you could — but the directions actually recommend putting them right against your skin. I liked that thought, having the beneficial herbs making direct contact, so my sister-in-law helped brew some up for me in the first few days after the birth.
Once again, I didn't have extensive damage, but I did have one unfortunately jagged tear that required stitching. Plus, everything just felt a bit out of place for awhile, so I was glad to have time to rest and heal.
You steep the herbal pads like you would tea bags, and then you can either use them slightly cooled, or freeze them to give your bottom even more of an "ahh" sensation.
The organic, herbal ingredients were all that my midwife would have suggested, in one easy purchase:
Sea salt, Avena sativa (organic oatmeal) kernel meal, Achillea millefolium (organic yarrow) flower, Hamamelis virginiana (organic witch hazel) leaf, Plantago major (organic plantain) leaf, Calendula officinalis (organic calendula) flowers
My one complaint was that the pads are very delicate, particularly once they've been steeped. I tried to reuse one that had been in my underpants by tossing it into the bath, and it immediately burst apart. That was all right — there's nothing wrong with an herb-strewn bath (except for the cleanup). You have to be extremely gentle not to burst the pads when handling them, so warn any postpartum helpers.
Other than that, I enjoyed them a lot and liked the convenience of bundled and beneficial herbs in pad form.
BUY IT!
You can order the Postpartum Recovery Essentials Bundle, or any of EMAB's pampering products at their website. You can also find EMAB products on Amazon.Besides postpartum care, Earth Mama Angel Baby also offers lines of products for pregnancy, breastfeeding, and baby, to pamper yourself and your little ones in all stages of birth and babyhood.
WIN IT!
For your own chance to win one of these two prizes from Earth Mama Angel Baby, enter by leaving a comment and using our Rafflecopter system below.One winner will receive the Postpartum Recovery Essentials Bundle; a second winner will receive the Postpartum Bath Herbs. Contest is open to UNITED STATES mailing addresses only.
MANDATORY ENTRY: Link to one product you would like to try from Earth Mama Angel Baby. You must enter your name and email address in the Rafflecopter entry system for your entry to count, after leaving a comment on this blog post.
Leave a valid email address so we can contact you if you win. Email addresses in Rafflecopter are not made publicly visible. Please leave the same valid email address in your mandatory comment so we can verify entries. If on Blogger, you can enter it like this to foil spambots: mail {at} naturalparentsnetwork {dot} com
This is a joint giveaway with Code Name: Mama, Hobo Mama, and Natural Parents Network. You may enter at one site only, and we'll be recording IP addresses to ensure that there are no duplicate entries. That said, please do visit and enjoy all three sites!
BONUS ENTRIES:
See the Rafflecopter entry system for bonus entries to increase your chance of winning after completing the mandatory entry. All bonus entries are entered directly into Rafflecopter. Give it a try, and email or leave a comment if you have any questions!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Contest closes March 4, 2012 at 11.59 p.m. Eastern Time.
Disclosure: Our reviewers received sample products for review purposes.
Amazon links and some Earth Mama Angel Baby links are affiliate links.
We try to seek out only products we think you would find
relevant and useful to your life as a natural parent.
If we don't like a product, we won't be recommending it to you.
See our full disclosure policy here.
Amazon links and some Earth Mama Angel Baby links are affiliate links.
We try to seek out only products we think you would find
relevant and useful to your life as a natural parent.
If we don't like a product, we won't be recommending it to you.
See our full disclosure policy here.
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Information About Our Reviewers:
Dionna Ford, Author of Code Name: Mama
Dionna is a lawyer turned work at home mama of two amazing kids, Kieran and Ailia. You can normally find Dionna over at Code Name: Mama where she shares information, resources, and her thoughts on natural parenting and life with little ones. She is passionate about issues regarding attachment parenting, breastfeeding (particularly breastfeeding beyond infancy), RIC, and gentle discipline. Dionna also co-founded NursingFreedom.org (a site dedicated to normalizing breastfeeding), is a regular contributor on API Speaks (the blog sponsored by Attachment Parenting International), and co-hosts the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting.
Lauren Wayne, Author of Hobo Mama
Lauren works and writes at home with her husband, Crackerdog Sam, their preschool son, Mikko, and hobo baby Alrik. At Hobo Mama, Lauren blogs about natural and attachment parenting, breastfeeding, babywearing, cloth diapering, green living, and more. Lauren offers reviews and giveaways of natural parenting products at Hobo Mama Reviews and gives a behind-the scenes look at blogging and novel writing at LaurenWayne.com. Lauren co-hosts the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting and has been featured on Eco Baby Steps, Knickernappies, NursingFreedom.org, Catapult Magazine, and BlogHer.