Well, it’s time for another edition of Twin Tuesday but this one is a very very special one. You see, in this edition, we finally get to say hello and welcome to those sweet little twin boys we’ve been waiting for all this time. Welcome to the world Hudson and Cooper! Congrats to the proud new parents my niece Melisa and her husband Patrick and the grandparents including my sister Barb and her husband Mike! We’re all so thrilled to have these little guys here and I just can’t wait to go meet them in person.
For this Twin Tuesday post, I thought I would share my unsolicited advice to my niece (or anyone for that matter) on becoming a new mother. So here are my top 10 new mother tips:
- Don’t try to be super mom and do it all yourself. Ask for help when you need it. Speak up at the hospital, at home, wherever you need to. The hospital where my daughter was born had classes on things like giving the baby a bath and breastfeeding and I took advantage of every one of them. It’s not silly and doesn’t make you stupid to ask questions about being taking care of your babies- it makes you a good mother!
- A baby swing can be a lifesaver. It can gently soothe your baby long enough for you to grab yourself a sandwich or throw a load of laundry in.
- A rocking chair was another lifesaver for me and my daughter – there were times we sat in it together, crying our stress away and it calmed both of us down! My biggest tip for this is to set up a basket to sit beside the chair. I was nursing, so I had extra nursing bra shields in there, a couple of spare pacifiers, a snack and bottle of water for myself (breastfeeding was a huge challenge for us and there were times I felt like I was nursing all day long!!!) – anything that I might need while nursing. After all, there weren’t always others around to fetch things for me. Later I added diapers, wipes, a change pad, change of clothes and so on in it so it became a little portable baby and mama care station that I could take with me to any room we were in.
- Take a scrapbook page or two to the hospital and/or have it on sitting out at home so that visitors can sign it. It’s hard to remember everyone who comes to see you and it’s fun to have their own little messages written in there.
- Freeze some meals ahead of time and take advantage of takeout or premade meals at your store for a while. If anyone offers to bring you some meals, let them! You have more important things to do.
- Find a certain toy and place the baby beside it every month at the same time to take a photo. It’s amazing to see how quickly they grow from month to month!
- When you’re told to nap every time the baby naps, LISTEN. I kept wanting to use that time for other things – things I couldn’t get done easily while my baby was awake and then I was exhausted, passing out, and getting migraines. Take those naps!
- You might want a bassinet or cradle that you can put right next to your bed for the first little while. It was so much easier for me when breastfeeding and kept me from worrying about her because she was right beside me. Later, I put the bassinet right into her crib to gradually get her used to being in there instead before moving her right into the crib.
- If asked, let people know you’d love some baby clothing in bigger sizes. You’ll get SO much in newborn sizes and babies wear this size for such a short time. I had clothes given to me that went all the way up to a 3T and it was so wonderful to always have some pretty new things to pull out and use at every age.
- Now this didn’t apply to me as I only had one child, but I heard this tip and always thought it was a good one. If you’re thinking about having more children, make those big ticket items (the crib, the car seat etc) gender neutral so you can get more use out of it.
What about you? What tips would you give to a new mom (or dad)? Share your best ones in the comments below!
Leave a Reply