Of course, every woman has a different journey during pregnancy but from our shared experiences with friends here are some ideas of delicate and nourishing gifts that were a delight to receive.
Pick a keyword and choose your gift:
Touch
Touch is a beautiful present for a pregnant woman who feels and sees her body changing drastically daily. To embrace the changes touch is a great support.
Self-massage is a great gift to give oneself and our booklet 'Body to Heart' is a beautiful way to introduce it. You can also make a delightful cream for your friend, which is suitable for almost every pregnant woman, have a look at our recipe to make your shea butter - almond oil cream, or follow our recommendations of already-made oils. Massaging oneself is a moment of relaxation, embracing, and connecting with the baby.
Being massaged by a massage therapist specializing in pregnancy massage is a true gift, which is a delight to offer every month to a pregnant lady (and to everyone, let's be honest here). We can recommend Jasmijn, in Eindhoven, Ombretta in Amsterdam, and Jessica & Mélissa in the Montpellier area.
If you have a smaller budget, we recommend making our cream and offering our free Abhyanga self-massage audio guide on a nice voucher.
Food
Food is a very sensitive subject during pregnancy as the taste changes a lot and many women suffer from disgust to nausea feelings. If you wish to offer food to a pregnant woman it may be good to check with her partner what is her taste at the moment. One of us turned out to be a chicken addict during her pregnancy after 8 years of being a vegetarian and disgusted by chocolate which is normally her addiction!
A recipe that we loved in the last weeks before giving birth (and to regain vitality after) which is known to give strength and support in the birth-giving is dates coated in ghee and cardamom (check the recipe here and pour your love into it).
Supplements can also be very supportive but also very personal, so for this one, it may be better to check with the mum-to-be. We love the supplements from Hollis, who are dedicated to women's health.
Knowledge
When being pregnant, women often have a lot of questions as everything is changing so quickly. Some books have supported our path in embracing, loving & supporting ways.
Only in french:
La Naissance en BD de Lucile Gomez
Mèr(e)veilleuse, Sandra Ambos
Bien vivre le quatriéme trimestre au naturel, Julia Simon.
Wisdom
Wisdom is different from knowledge as it is our integrated, experienced knowledge. Empowering a woman who is pregnant to tap into her wisdom is maybe the most beautiful gift to prepare her self-confidence for birth-giving and being a mum. A nice notebook with a pen can be supportive for her to journal along her journey.
We also loved the podcast from Sandra Ambos, who offers a space to relax, tune in and witness as well as connect to the future baby (only in French). In English, the yoga nidra from Uma Dinsmore Tuli is a true gift to recharge & connect with the baby.
One of us also wrote every week of her pregnancy to her baby to share how she was feeling. Those were wonderful moments for her and will possibly one day be a very special gift for her daughter. That’s maybe an idea to suggest on the card you give with the notebook :-)
To help create this dedicated time and space to feel, rest, witness or write, the delicate time candles of Ismini, Minimuc are a true supportive gift. They create a cosy atmosphere for a time of 30 minutes where the candle becomes the timer, allowing the future mum to focus on her little ritual undisturbed by her phone and other distractions.
Clothing
Adapted clothes for pregnancy can be so welcome, especially comfortable pants that allow the belly to expand beautifully. As well as clothes keeping the pregnant lady warm: think of a shawl made of natural soft material like wool... Second-hand can be a beautiful thing for this as usually the clothes won't be worn for more than a few months except for the shawl, which is very convenient for breastfeeding later as well, or moments of skin-to-skin with the baby.
Sound
A nice bola pregnancy necklace to create a sound connection between the mum and the baby can be a beautiful present. It is also a very relaxing ritual to let it roll over the belly and often babies react to it which is a subtle way to connect. After birth the bola can be put into a specific stuffed animal for the baby to keep hearing the familiar sound, making a continuity in sound from in-the-belly to out-of-the-belly. We love the bolas from Ilado.
I also enjoyed a lot doing singing pregnancy classes with Amélie (only in French, possible via zoom). It was what supported me in relaxing my body as well as creating a sound bath for myself that allowed my mind to relax. I used the techniques for my home birth-giving and am forever thankful for the support of Amélie.
Wishes
Les100voeux offers to create a patchwork 'wishes' blanket together with other friends and family members. The Blanket of 100 Wishes, or Bai Jia Bei, comes from an ancestral Chinese custom. The idea is to create a common gift: a blanket made from pieces of fabric offered by family and friends and for which everyone has made a vow of protection. The blanket can be used by the baby to play on and comes with a book that contains all the wishes.
A cute do-it-yourself idea is to create a baby mobile that contains your wishes for the baby. On pinterest you can find a lot of inspiration. Once we created for a friend a simple mobile made of branches, on which we hung folded origami with wishes for the baby written on them.
These are some ideas for presents for our pregnant loved ones, through sharing them we hope to inspire you to select and make some nourishing gifts.
Btw, these are all brands and gifts we like, no paid partnerships or the like, we hope you enjoy them!