No one knows your baby better than you, but in those early days of caring for a newborn some friendly, parent-tested advice sure does help! We asked New Zealand families what their top tip would be for making the days easier with a newborn and here’s our pick of the best.
Tips to make life easier with a newborn
- If you’re planning to breastfeed, make and freeze lactation cookies prior to the birth. (Hollie L)
- Prepare and freeze lots of meals before they’re born to take away some of the stress of trying to prepare dinner during the witching hour. (Marina R)
- Take any help you are offered and don’t sweat the small stuff like cleaning. (Sarah G)
- Do as much preparation the night before as possible – lunchboxes, have clothes/uniforms all ready so you start your day ahead. (Joanna M)
- Have nappies in trial amounts from multiple brands so you can see which ones fit best. (Nicola B)
- Make sure you have time out for yourself. Make sure you get a part of the day to relax and do something nice for yourself. (Mark V)
- Freeze leftover dinner servings as quick lunches – I found lunches the hardest to prepare with a newborn! (Carly C)
- Newborns are used to being in a noisy womb, music will help them relax. (Lorraine P)
- Ask for help when you are feeling out of your depth. You are not the only person to feel this way and people are always willing to help. (Melanie N)
- Direct sunlight is a great natural stain remover. (Marie L)
- Keep healthy snacks and water nearby when feeding your newborn. (Suzanne S)
- Just go with the flow, make a plan then let it go if you need to. (Sarah B)
- For parents with one or more toddlers and a newborn, have a busy box for the toddler(s) which comes out during feeding times with the newborn. Fill the busy box with fun little activities for the toddler so they don’t feel the need to get upset for your attention whilst you’re handling baby. (Aimme V)
- Just enjoy! Embrace that tiredness and love your messy house! Who cares about your giant washing pile overflowing off the couch and those stacks of dirty dishes in the kitchen!
Cuddle and snuggle that little bundle because before you knwo it they won’t be a newborn anymore. (Dee D) - Don’t freak out if baby is different to how they tell you in books, because each bubs is different! (Joanna-Marie V)
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Oh I wish I had these tips before my newborn. I was totally unprepared, looking back now and with the tips especially around having some meals prepared life could of been a bit easier in those early days. It was all worth it though, love watching my children grow
These tips would have been handy when my lil 3 was born. But sometimes even having these tips, they all go out the window with all different circumstances. The sleep when newborn sleeps was the dream that didn’t happen. 😛
Gosh I love newborns!! Our daughter is 5 now and I really would love that phase back again! I took 4 months off when we had her and my partner wasn’t working so decided he would be stay at home Dad. When I got home from hospital he did everything, cooked, cleaned, helped with bubs 🙂 Made it so much easier (especially as we were older parents lol). Would LOVE to do it all again but getting a bit long in the tooth unfortunately now :0
These are great advice I would have loved to have known about these when I had my kids. I think I did the best I could preparing dinner when the baby was happy, sleeping when the baby sleeped, asking for help when needed.
Great tips! I found just going with the flow worked for us. Trying not to let others’ advice or routines influence us. Because when I tried to change things, our “routine” as loose as it was, would turn to custard and I’d feel even more guilt.
Man some really great advise in there… Even 3 boys later i still didn’t think to like have tira amounts of nappies… Brillant! Love the one “their used to a noisy Womb”… So true! I had completely forgotten about that