10 Tips to Help You Survive the First Few Weeks with Your New Bundle of Joy
Surviving Baby
10 Tips to Help You Survive the First Few Weeks with Your New Baby
The time you have anxiously been awaiting for the last nine months or so has finally arrived! Your baby is here and it’s finally time to bring your little bundle of joy home. Well, if you are anything like me, you will find yourself sitting on a gliding rocking chair looking down at a sweet little face and saying “what now?”
Maybe you had a relatively easy labor or a traumatic emergency delivery. Maybe your baby scored a perfect 10 on his or her Apgar test, or maybe something went wrong and your baby needs extra care. Whether you are going to raise this baby alone or have a large family to take care of already, there are a few ways to make every new mother (and father!) a little more comfortable in the first few weeks at home.
1) Get Help!: If there is one major fault that I have, it’s that I am stubborn and don’t like to swallow my pride and ask for help. However, this problem seemed to vanish the minute I brought home my new baby. He never latched on properly at the hospital and by the time we brought him home, he was on the brink of dehydration. Thank goodness my mom had come to stay with us or I would have lost my mind! Her support helped my tired husband and I get through the first night home. While having family stay with you during the first week may not be the right choice for some, it was a lifesaver for me. Once my husband had to go back to work, I also realized that maybe I needed a little help during my first week alone with my new son. I was lucky enough to be able to have my teenage sister stay with me for a week and help me ease into a routine. If you don’t have any friends or family that can provide similar support, see if you can afford the help of a post-natal doula who can ease you through the early weeks.
2) Put down the Spatula!: If you can avoid it, don’t even bother to turn on your oven the first couple of weeks home. Between feeding, changing and getting to know your baby you won’t have time to cook, let alone get enough sleep. Get your significant other to bring home dinner, order take-out, or stock up on frozen dinners before hand for at least the first week home. Some pregnancy books say to cook and freeze some meals for the first week home, but this just isn’t a reality for most. If you are lucky, you will have relatives bring you meals or come over and cook for you like I did. Bottom line: if anyone asks what they can do to help, tell them to bring you some nutritious and easy to eat meals!
3) Everything can Wait: Honestly, this was a rule that I broke myself. Not even a week after I had my c-section, I was at my house walking around and doing dishes. I was sweeping floors, sending out announcements, cooking and doing laundry all while taking care of my new baby. I was an idiot. Not only did I burn myself out but I became depressed because I suddenly realized that my life completely changed and I wasn’t going to be able to keep up with things like I used to. In short, rest as long as you can, even if you are an impulsive cleaner or worker like me!
4) Have everything ready: Hopefully by the time your baby comes you will have some sort of area in your home prepared for his or her arrival. Whether it is a full-blown swanky baby nursery or a dresser/changing table in the corner of your room, all of your baby’s things should be ready for his or her arrival. Have your basic layette and all bedding, blankets, washcloths and so forth washed in baby detergent and ready to go. Get a diapering station ready so that when you fumble to change your baby in the middle of the night, you won’t get frustrated looking for wipes. However, don’t stress yourself out if the nursery isn’t perfect before your baby comes as long as you have a good supply on hand of basic needs. He or she won’t care if you haven’t stenciled in all of the moon and stars yet.
5) Tag Team: If you are breastfeeding your baby, then you may end up feeling like that’s all you do the first few weeks of your baby’s life. Don’t worry, it won’t last! But you can still take the burden off yourself at feeding time by tag teaming with your partner. Make them become part of the process by handing the baby off for a change before a feeding or by pumping some breast milk so they can bottle feed and give you a break.
6) Limit Visitors: Don’t feel bad about telling Aunt Helen “Today’s not a good day.” Having an onslaught of visitors may be overwhelming for new parents during the first few weeks of baby’s life. For me, it was fun having all of my relatives over, and it gave me a break because they could hold the baby while I snuck away for a shower. Either way, make sure you turn away any visitors which may bring a cold or other illness into the house.
7) Get some rest: Resist the temptation to do the dishes while your baby naps and catch a few z’s instead. While this may be easier said than done, if you at least devote yourself to one nap a day with your baby, you will find that you feel a lot better and more energized.
8) Get out!: For some new parents, cabin fever may slowly start to set in with the new baby. Formerly active parents may feel restricted by having to stay in with a new baby. While you will get to bring the baby out for doctor visits, you may find that you don’t have the time or energy to go much anywhere else. Find the time! If your baby is relatively healthy, then getting out of the house will be just as good for him or her as it is for you. However, keep them shaded and comfortably dressed when outdoors and don’t take your baby to places like the mall right away where they may catch a plethora of illnesses.
9) Talk to someone: Feeling blue? It could be post-partum depression. While it is normal to feel sad, frightened, angry, scared, happy and just plain emotional after the birth of your child, deep depression should never last more than a few days. Talk to a trusted friend and get whatever kind of help you can to treat this serious disease, or you could end up hurting yourself or your baby.
10) Take time for you: That’s right, you still have to take care of yourself too! Taking showers, eating right and finding time for the things you love to do are still important even though you are a parent. Get your significant other to watch the baby for 15 minutes and get that shower in every day so you can continue feeling like your old self.
Whatever you do, make sure you enjoy your first precious and few early days with your new baby. They won’t be little for very long, so do whatever it takes to make life a little easier and less stressful during this time!
