The weeks that follow childbirth can be magical, overwhelming, enlightening and just plain exhausting. Every mother’s journey to motherhood is unique, but being supported and prepared can make the process that much easier to navigate. Bare Mum, a new wellness brand founded by Amelie Cazzulino, is designed to do just that. We speak to Amelie about Bare Mum’s postpartum recovery kits and what we can do to destigmatise this transformative period.
When do you feel most wild and alive?
Experiencing new things and getting out of my comfort zone. Whether it’s travelling, trying a new hobby or starting a business, I’m naturally curious and trying out something new is my favourite thing to do. I think it’s important to be grounded in life, but I always try to push myself and seek out movement as well.
Talk us through the moment you decided to create Bare Mum
After being diagnosed with endometrial polyps, I realised for the first time that my journey to motherhood might not be as straightforward as I had once imagined. I had long wanted to be a mother but all of a sudden, I needed to know exactly how to best prepare myself for what was to come.
I eagerly delved into the sea of information (and misinformation!) around preconception, pregnancy and birth, and I realised that when it came to postpartum, the focus seemed to quickly shift from the carrying mother to the newborn baby.
Postpartum care for the newborn mother felt overlooked, with women expected to mostly figure things out on their own, put aside their needs to immediately care for their baby, all the while performing in their new role positively. Friends and family spoke reluctantly of the challenges they had faced following childbirth and how difficult it was to navigate the transition into motherhood for fear of being judged.
So I set out to create Bare Mum to demystify and destigmatise what goes on during this transformative period, empower new mums with evidence-based information, and provide practical solutions to support their unique journey.
Tell us about your curated postpartum care packages
Our line of innovative birth recovery products is the ultimate care kit when it comes to being postpartum prepared. It can go straight into a hospital bag and makes for the perfect baby shower gift that will actually get used. Our care kits include thoughtfully designed personal care products, comfortable wearables and organic topicals.
Our Complete Recovery Care Kit is the most comprehensive of our range. It covers all types of births and includes all the essentials for a comfortable birth recovery. From perineum swelling to stitches care, the Vaginal Birth Care Kit supports healing after a vaginal birth. From postpartum bleeding to incision care, the C-Section Birth Care Kit supports healing after a caesarean birth. The Bare Essentials Care Kit includes the basic essentials and covers all types of births. It makes for an affordable gift for new mums.
Knowing that birth doesn’t always go to plan, we also have a thoughtful returns policy in place where anyone who has received a Vaginal Birth Care Kit and has had an emergency c-section can exchange their unused product, free of charge, to ensure every new mum has exactly what she needs.
The postpartum period is an overwhelming time in many ways, but rarely are the difficulties, both mental and physical, discussed. What can we do to break the taboo around postpartum health?
Open up! Although it can leave you feeling vulnerable at first, there is so much comfort in sharing and knowing that you’re not alone. And how can women know they’re not alone if we don’t talk about our difficulties? Because I can assure you, someone else out there is feeling exactly the same way as you.
With that said, I think it’s equally important we, as a society, acknowledge that the transition to motherhood comes with its challenges and we need to normalise talking about the negative experiences and feelings it can bring. Only through empathy and compassion can we better support new mums.
This is why I started Bare Mum, with the mission to better prepare women for the unfiltered realities of motherhood and support new mums through their unique journeys.
It’s important for new mums to be careful about potentially harmful ingredients in topical products. Can you tell us about your ingredients?
Many major brands use harmful additives, fillers and chemicals in topical products which disrupt our hormones and expose us to carcinogens. It was a non-negotiable for me when creating Bare Mum that our skincare products be 100 per cent all-natural, organic whenever possible, and hypoallergenic for sensitive skin.
Our topical range was formulated and developed by Australian experts with the greatest care and tested on new mums only. It contains active ingredients of the highest quality, meticulously selected for their unique healing properties to provide new mums with immediate and safe relief post childbirth. Our effective formulas are made without harmful ingredients like parabens, mineral oils, animal-derived ingredients, artificial fragrance or colour.
What are you doing to minimise the environmental impact of your brand?
In an ever-evolving world of sustainability, we strive to make decisions that work towards reducing our ecological footprint every step of the way. For us, sustainable thinking starts with thoughtful designs, resource-efficient materials and a responsible production process. When mums purchase from us, they buy products that have been made with care and purpose.
Most of our products and packaging are designed to be used and reused and when they are not, we make sure they are made of sustainable materials that can be easily and responsibly disposed of. All our boxes are made in eco-friendly cardboard that is 100 per cent recyclable and our bottles are made in endlessly recyclable glass or plastic.
We’re always looking for ways to improve and next on our agenda is becoming carbon-neutral.
What’s next for Bare Mum?
While we’ve just launched our birth recovery range, we have been working in the background on our next line of postpartum essentials, which will revolve around making new mums’ breastfeeding journey a more comfortable one. You can expect similar products to the ones in our birth recovery range, with some natural extensions plus a surprise or two.
For more information, visit baremum.com.au or @bare.mum on Instagram.
