There are so many aspects to preparing for a newborn baby. From taking care of your own changing body and worrying about the pain of childbirth, to making sure you have everything you need for a newborn baby. We often forget to prepare our minds for life after childbirth.
With these tips, I hope to help you prepare yourself to have the best experience possible with your newborn baby.
Staying calm and confident in your abilities to care for your newborn so you can have days filled with love toward your baby, enjoying that time.
No matter how stressful some of those moments may be (with so little sleep), remember, they are just moments in time. You will get past them.
Cherish them because you will see that what your elders say is true: they grow up in the blink of an eye.
Accept That Things May Not Go As Imagined
It is best to keep an open mind when heading into life with a newborn.
As a pregnant woman, you may day dream about what life will look like with your new baby and how it will feel being a mom.
When I was pregnant, I would do the same! I would imagine holding my sweet new child and thought about how they would probably cry a lot because that’s what was portrayed to me in movies and hearing other moms complain about their babies.
But just realize that all babies are different. Some may need that extra attention, while some may be perfectly content most the time. Some may sleep a lot, while others may keep you up all night.
Just try to remember that your baby has gone through a huge change. They were comfortable in your womb where everything was just so, and warm, cozy, and dark.
During their adjustment period to the outside world, focus on being there for them and their needs. Try to be patient with them as best you can.
Just breathe and go with the flow.
Accept That Babies Have Their Own Schedule
There is a lot of talk about “baby schedules” on the internet. But truth be known, babies have their own schedules.
Some newborn babies will stay up many hours of the night and sleep all day. And as much as you try to change that, if you just go with the flow and rough it out with those long nights for a week or so, your newborn will eventually realize- we play in the day and sleep at night.
Relax and go with it instead of fighting it. Fighting it only adds more stress to the situation. And that stress is fed right to the baby.
The only schedule you should enforce with a newborn baby is feeding every 2-3 hours (and anything your doctor has directed you to do of course).
Trust Your Parenting Skills
As a new mom, you may be worried or not feeling very confident in your skills of caring for a baby. I was in that position when I was pregnant at least.
Worrying I wouldn’t know what to do when my baby won’t stop crying. But I’m here to tell you- it will all be okay.
You will figure it all out step by step, little by little. And if you can’t figure it out, whatever “it” may be, your pediatrician or your mother, sister, or friend are only a phone call away.
Filter Advice Received
Everyone thinks they know what’s best for your baby. They’ll try to give you parenting advice, saying “this is what I did when my kids were little” or “you need to do such and such this way because if you don’t, this will happen”.
Just remember- you are the parent to your child. You don’t have to take action on what anyone tells you they think is best for you and your baby. (Unless it is coming from a medical professional and your baby needs medical attention).
When receiving this parenting advice from whoever it may be, filter it through and use your own judgment on whether or not it is best for you and your child.
If you don’t agree with the person giving the advice, you can simply thank them for caring to share it with you, and move on.
For example, I’ve been told many times by a family member ever since my daughter was only few months old, that she needs to be sleeping in her own room.
My child is now a year old and my husband and I still choose to have her sleeping in our room.
There’s nothing wrong with either situation! This is just what we prefer for now.
At the end of the day, you are the parent to your child and you can do what you find is best for them and your situation no matter what others my think.
Plan To Focus On Nothing But Yourself And Your Baby
Caring for a newborn is exhausting. To make it even harder, your body is still healing from childbirth.
Therefore, go ahead and make plans to do nothing but care for your baby and your body for the first weeks postpartum.
This will allow you and your baby to bond, sinking into your daily rhythms, and getting used to life with a newborn as fluidly as possible.
You and your baby will essentially have the same needs: sleeping, eating, using the bathroom, and cuddling. To enjoy the first weeks with your newborn, plan to do nothing but those things.
Soak up every second of the newborn stage. Because that sweet tiny baby will grow up in an instant. So eat, sleep, love, repeat, and go with the flow.
Take Pictures
These few weeks of sleep deprivation will pass, and you will want something to remember all the good (and frustrating) memories and sweet times with your baby.
Get as many pictures of (and with) your little one as you can, because this tiny stage of their life wont last long.
