When Atticus was 2 days old we took our herbal bath and photographed it. This was not something that we did with Logan because I didn’t know about it when he was born. Herbal baths are something that I’ve seen popping up more and more in my birthy circle of friends and the birth photographers that I follow. I fell in love with the images that I have seen from these baths. The newborns floating silently in the water… so calm and peaceful. Sometimes alert staring up at Mom or Dad, and sometimes snoozing away. I knew that we had to do one this time around.

The herbal bath is not only this amazing, calming, bonding, womb-like experience for the newborn, but healing for both Mom and baby. The herbs that are selected help with postpartum healing to reduce swelling and speed recovery of the sensitive lady bits. The herbs also help heal the newborn’s cord stump and can help with things like cradle cap, diaper rash, etc. You can make your own blend of herbs by following different recipes online, or you can order the herbs premixed. My wonderful doula recommended a home birth supply company that sells the premixed bags of herbs cause I didn’t have the time to make my own. The mix that we purchased contains comfrey, uva ursi, German chamomile, shepherd’s purse, lavender, sea salt, St. John’s wort, echinacea purpurea, yarrow, and sage. You basically prepare the herbs like you would for a giant cup of tea. Boil water in a pot, seep the herbal mixture for 20 mins, strain out the herbs, and then add it to a bathtub full of water. Done. It was so easy, and so enjoyable.

During our herbal bath, Atticus needed to nurse, so I decided that we would turn our herbal bath photo session into a nursing photo session, too. We never took any professional quality photos of me nursing Logan when he was this young and I deeply regret it. I have some crappy iPhone snapshots, but that’s it. During my time nursing Logan, I have become a bit of a lactivist. From nursing in public, to nursing a toddler… to now tandem nursing and even using our business to promote breastfeeding by doing nursing photo sessions with a few of our clients. I’m not as outspoken as some, but I definitely consider myself a lactivist. So, as a warning… there is a lot of boobage in these photos. Just incase you are uncomfortable with that.

Now, without further ado…