Preparing for Your Postpartum During Pregnancy: The Checklist That Changes Everything

You prepare the nursery, the layette, the hospital bag. Then baby arrives, and you discover that the hardest part was not finding the right pushchair, but eating a hot meal, sleeping three hours in a row and knowing who will pick up the older child from school. To prepare for postpartum is to deal with all that beforehand: organising, during pregnancy, the weeks that will follow the birth.

This is not a luxury. The World Health Organization reminds us that the first weeks after childbirth are a critical period for the health of both mother and baby. And in Morocco, women already carry most of the domestic work. Here is a concrete checklist, to begin in the third trimester.

Why plan for the weeks after the birth?

Because tiredness arrives before organisation does. Most women feel exhausted for several weeks after giving birth, notes Naître et grandir, sometimes with irritability or a roller-coaster mood. According to the CNGOF, the baby blues affects 50 to 80% of new mothers in the first days. This is not the time to look for a phone number or wonder what is for dinner.

There is also the question of sharing. According to the national time-use survey by the High Commission for Planning (2012), cited by Le Matin in 2025, women spend around 5 hours a day on household and family tasks, against 43 minutes for men. A baby does not lighten this split: it makes it visible. Our article on the mental load of new mums explains why talking about it early changes a lot.

1. Meals: fill the freezer

This is the most profitable move. The NHS advises cooking more and freezing portions, and accepting without hesitation dishes prepared by family or friends.

• From the 7th month, cook double two or three times a week and freeze half, in individual portions.
• Dishes that freeze well: harira, soups, tagines, kefta in sauce, pulses, cooked chicken, msemen or batbout.
• Label each box (name, date) and write the inventory on the freezer door.
• Prepare one-handed snacks for feeds: dried fruit, almonds, dates, cheese, wholemeal bread, fruit.
• Keep a standard shopping list on your phone, so you can hand it to someone else in one message.

If the family plans the traditional forty-day meals, all the better: you will find our benchmarks on these dishes and their nuances in the article on the nafsa and its traditions.

2. Help from those around you: who does what?

Naître et grandir recommends asking for help with meals, housework and older children, and the NHS suggests accepting that a relative watches baby while you nap. The most effective way is to decide beforehand.

Make a simple table, to display:

Fill it in with your partner, your mother, your mother-in-law, a sister, a friend. If your family lives far away, consider a home help for a few hours a week, to budget for now. And decide together on the visiting policy: one slot, one length of time, and nobody ill near the newborn.

3. Sharing with your partner: talk about the nights before they arrive

Paternity leave is short in Morocco: 3 paid days in the private sector, 15 days for civil servants. Your maternity leave is 14 weeks in the private sector, of which in principle 7 after the birth (details in our article on maternity and paternity leave). So you need to organise for the long run.

A few topics to settle together, before the birth:

• The nights: if you are breastfeeding, the NHS suggests that your partner takes over nappy changes and morning dressing so that mum can go back to sleep. He can also bring baby for the feed and settle them again.
• The tasks he keeps no matter what: shopping, the evening washing up, baby's bath, administrative errands.
• The paperwork: the birth declaration is made within 30 days at the civil registry office; it is an ideal mission for dad. Our checklist of formalities after the birth gives you the order.
• The alarm signal: agree on a word or phrase that means "I can't take any more, take over now", no discussion.

4. Useful numbers, displayed before D-day

Do not count on your memory at 3 a.m. Write on a sheet, and in your partner's phone:

• 141 (SAMU), and the fallback numbers: Civil Protection 15, Police 19, Royal Gendarmerie 177;
• the number of the maternity emergency unit;
• your gynaecologist or midwife;
• the paediatrician chosen during pregnancy (our advice on choosing a paediatrician in Morocco);
• the Anti-Poison Centre: 0801 000 180 (toll-free);
• a nearby on-duty pharmacy and a taxi or a neighbour reachable at night.

Add the signs that should make you call, detailed in our article on complications after childbirth. And book your six-week check-up now.

5. Care for mum: the kit to prepare

The maternity bag covers the stay at the clinic or hospital. At home, plan what you need to get through the first weeks:

• maternity pads or a washable postpartum brief for the bleeding;
• a handheld shower head or bottle to rinse the perineum and a soothing spray, useful after an episiotomy or a tear;
• breast pads and a nipple balm if you are breastfeeding, and one or two comfortable bras;
• a feeding pillow, which also helps you sleep better at the end of pregnancy: our nursing pillow guide helps you choose;
• loose clothes that open at the front, and a large bottle of water by the bed.

Find these items in the mum's hygiene section.

From the shop

Care for mum, to prepare before the birth

A washable postpartum brief, supplies to care for the perineum and nipples, a pillow for feeding and better sleep: enough to be ready, without buying everything.

• −21 %DoomooFlowly postpartum and period underwear, Black, XS-S-M – Doomoo355 DHinstead of 450 DHView product
• −35 %DoomooSofty nursing pillow, Flower Yellow – Doomoo403 DHinstead of 620 DHView product
• −9 %DoomooComfy Big nursing and maternity pillow, Tetra Brick – Doomoo619 DHinstead of 680 DHView product
• −9 %DoomooBuddy nursing and pregnancy pillow, Tetra Jersey Green – Doomoo810 DHinstead of 890 DHView product
• The whole aisle · Mum’s hygiene8 products online, delivered anywhere in Morocco.Open the aisle

Products sold by La Maison du Bébé, publisher of this magazine. Prices as of 12 October 2026; please check the product page.

6. Mood: have a plan, just in case

We prepare everything for baby, rarely for ourselves. Yet, according to the CNGOF, about 13% of women go through depression after the birth, and as many have anxiety disorders. The NHS advises asking for help if you cannot sleep even when baby sleeps, or if you feel hopeless.

Before the birth, identify a trusted person to talk to, and the professional to call if the tears last more than two weeks. Also keep, in your schedule, moments for yourself: a shower without baby, a walk, a friend on the phone.