For New Parents: How to Adjust to Life With a New Baby
You’ve planned for your baby’s arrival for 9 months, taken NCT courses, hypnobirthing and pregnancy yoga but what happens now that your newborn is here? It can all feel like a chaotic whirlwind amongst piles of nappies, dirty laundry and you can’t even shower or get off the couch because baby just wants to cluster feed. Having a new baby is a tough adjustment and it can be hard to feel like yourself again as a new parent. Having a bit of support in a multitude of ways helps take a bit of the pressure off you. There are a multitude of ways to help you adjust to life with a new baby.
Tips for Self Care With a Newborn:
Try To Take A Nap So You Can Care For Your Baby Properly & Keep Yourself Healthy
I know everyone says it and new mothers scoff at it but try to take naps. A new mother can not survive on so little sleep nor is it safe for baby. Forget cleaning the house and try to nap when baby sleeps or get someone to take baby for even an hour just so you can take the edge of tiredness off. My biggest struggle with having a newborn was getting used to the lack of sleep, it was hard on me mentally and physically. It felt like such a huge adjustment to have a new baby in the house. It felt like it was hard to be a good mother when I was struggling so badly with tiredness until I forced myself to get some sleep by asking my husband to watch baby. No one can do it all on so little sleep.
Get Any Support You Can to Help You Adjust to Life With A New Baby
If your husband can’t help because he has to work or you don’t have parents that live nearby, a great way to get through those early days is to hire a night nanny or doula. A night nanny helps with baby during the nights and only wakes you for feeds. Hiring can help you get through the hardest part when you are feeling desperately tired.
A doula does a mixture of everything. They support you in pregnancy, birth and after birth. Postnatal doulas are amazing because they can help around the house, help you get naps, watch older children, make meals and help assist the family in any way needed. Being able to have someone take care of your needs as you are adjusting to your new life so you can focus on baby is so helpful. While you may never have thought of hiring someone to assist with the postnatal period, it can help improve your mental health dramatically as a little bit of self care and rest goes a long way.
Create A Basket With Baby Essentials For the Night Feeds
I love having a basket on my nightstand stocked with nappies, wipes, cream, extra baby grows, muslins, water, snacks, iPhone charger etc so that I’m well stocked up for any late night feeds. I hate getting out of bed in the cold night so having everything at hand when baby has their next poo-nami is so helpful and makes life easier when you’re struggling to stay awake!
Make Freezer Meals and Meal Delivery to Make Life As A New Parent Easier
I really struggled with simple things like making myself meals in the first few weeks with my first born. It felt so hard just popping toast into the toaster when I had a cluster feeding newborn and I was ravenous with breastfeeding. Having good snacks on hand to keep up energy is essential and nutrient dense foods like cheese and crackers, fruit, peanut butter, hummus and veggies, oats and cereal. Anything healthy to keep your energy up as you will find yourself starving when breastfeeding.
Helpful meal delivery companies like Gousto, Allplants and HelloFresh help take the planning and shopping out of your hands and give you a quick healthy option for dinners. It can be so hard to find the energy to actually grocery shop with a newborn baby!
Get Out of the House For Fresh Air to Help Your Mental & Physical Health As A New Parent
With a newborn it can be easy to get trapped into a cycle of nappy changes, napping, soothing baby and endless breastfeeding sessions. You may find it has been days since you’ve left the house and it can leave you feeling sluggish. After a night of no sleep it can actually feel great physically and mental to get some fresh air, go for a walk or visit a friend. A simple walk around the block can leave you feeling more refreshed or if you’re feeling adventurous you can join a baby group!
There’s so many baby groups in Southampton that focus on newborns with musical and sensory activities. This is great for baby and for you to meet new friends with babies of a similar age. You might even find they become lifeline friends! Many of my clients love meeting up with many of their NCT friends when they all have their babies and have stayed friends for years as they developed such a deep connection when they became new parents.
Self Care is A Must As a New Parent With a Newborn
Self care for a new mother is incredibly important for their mental and physical health. However it can be so hard to so much as take a quick shower and wash your hair never mind indulge in lots of time to yourself. However, there are moments you can steal a bit of self care like by trying to take advantage of those cluster feeding sessions and watch some Netflix in bed or read a book (I love the kindle app on my phone as this means I can read at any time with a baby in my arms). I also love to call friends and family and FaceTime them as they love to see baby and it makes me feel very connected to family. Chatting to my loved ones always helps my mental health immensely.
Tell your family when you need help and try to arrange a time for them to come help you. Whether it’s cooking you a meal or letting you sleep, it can be so important to get an actual break as you are adjusting to life with a new baby. On the contrary it is always important to tell visitors no if you need time to yourself. Sometimes when friends and family are visiting it can actually feel exhausting because you end up entertaining them, feeding them and don’t get to sleep when baby is sleeping when you really should be to help you rest up for a night of wakings with your newborn.
If you need help, there are a multitude of baby support groups in Southampton. A great initiative is the Southampton Breastfeeding Network. It helps promote breastfeeding in public and also provides many breastfeeding support groups. There are groups that occur three days a week and help support you with any problems you are having with breastfeeding. It is also a chance to talk to new mums.
Book Your Newborn Photography Session
The old cliche is a cliche for a reason, time really does fly and you will find that before you know it those lazy days feeding baby in bed with their little baby sighs and their tiny fingers curled around yours will come to an end. Soon you’ll be chasing a crawling baby around the room trying to make sure they don’t put absolutely everything in your mouth and then their first steps which lead to them using the couch as a climbing gym. I’ve learned having my own two, they just grow so fast and your heart will ache for them to be tiny in your arms once more. The only time machine we have to do so is with photography.
Getting a newborn photography session done at the time might not feel high on your priority list as you try to adjust to life with a newborn but the images will be memories you do not want to lose. As your little one grows and they turn into an adult, the photographs will become more an more valuable as you look back on just how tiny they were as they fit so perfectly in your arms. They’ll take you back to their tiny baby sighs, their soft breath on your face, their silly little expressions and the pure love you felt.
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