The newborn phase is full of questions and learning how to best serve yourself and your new baby. Here are a few tips on how to survive the newborn stage!
While you’re pregnant, you dream of holding your newborn and imagine the joys of the newest little one. I had many people tell me how hard having a baby was, but no one talks about what it feels like to be sleep deprived or what it feels like to be covered in breast milk and spit up. Here are a few key take-aways, and now my tips on how to survive in the newborn stage.
7 Tips on How to Survive the Newborn Stage
- Ask for help. You have heard this many times already, but I want to highlight how important that is! There is a reason for the saying, “it takes a village”, cause it does! Ask someone to help with the laundry, or to run the dishwasher.
- Do not listen to everyone about everything. I made the mistake of being a part of too many groups on Facebook and taking everyone’s opinions and then applying them to myself. Doing this may lead to heightened anxiety. By deleting social media, it was then that I was able to listen to my instincts. It is okay to take advice, but make sure you are in a healthy place to receive it.
- It is okay to rest. I really struggled with this one because my little one was born unexpectedly, over a month early. My garden was a hot mess when I arrived home and I just wanted to fix it! I was too eager and anxious to get back to what I was doing before he came into the world. You may feel the same way about a certain hobby or responsibility. However, my biggest advice is to rest and heal your own body before you head back into your hobbies.
- Have a basket with clean baby clothes and a basket for dirty nearby. This tip is more of an actionable tip. Being organized helps tremendously, but no one had a tip for laundry! Think about where you will be most of the time and stock it with baby outfits. Have two separate baskets, one for clean clothes and one for laundry. That way, you will not be walking the dirty clothes to the washer every time they spit up, which is a lot!
- Have your partner take one of the nightly wakings. While this is different for everyone, I had some milk saved so my husband could take one of the feedings at night. That way I could sleep a 4-hour stretch instead of 2 hours. Sleep routines look different for each family but try to create a routine where your husband can help you sleep a longer stretch.
- Communicate with your husband. While we all would love our husbands to be able to read our minds, they can not. They also are going through their own transition. It is important to discuss your feelings and needs with them. They are there to support you and want to help you in any way they can, so allow them too! Likewise, they will also have feelings they need to communicate, so discuss with an open heart and remember that you are on the same team figuring out this new lifestyle.
- Take a walk or get outside. This tip is another one you may have heard but I needed to highlight it again. Being outside grounds you back to reality and the fresh air helps to clear your mind.
Final Encouragements
As mentioned above, these are just a few things that I wish I could have reminded myself of when I first brought home our baby boy. I also wanted to mention that it is okay to not like the newborn phase. Every stage is different and you will love some more than others.
It is also okay not to bond with your newborn as you expect yourself to. There is an expectation on mothers that says you need to instantly be so in love with your baby. However, that is not the case. Many factors can go into why you may not feel that immediate bond, such as a disappointing birthing experience, feeling overwhelmed, exhaustion, and many other factors. However, this is just a season and you will grow and learn from your own personal experience! Soak up the snuggles and watch them grow into a wonderful individual.
What are some of your tips? Leave them in the comments to help other moms!
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