Preparing For Baby
Indispensible Preparing For Baby Tips From A Mom Of Four!
Preparing for baby properly is essential if you are hoping for smooth days after your little bundle of joy comes home.
The more prepared you are before baby arrives, the smoother his or her transition into your life will be.
If you're a first time mom to be, you are probably feeling a little overwhelmed by the prospect of having a new addition to the family. You may be excused for wondering how on earth you can prepare for such a life changing event.
You will be relieved to know that there are plenty of things you can do to make your post-partum life easier!
Here are my top fifteen preparing for baby tips to help you get ready for the big day...
My Top Fifteen Tips For Preparing For Baby
1. Create A Practical Baby Nursery
Preparing the nursery room for your precious bundle is, without doubt, one of the best parts of being pregnant and preparing for baby. It's so exciting and it's a wonderful outlet for all the love welling up inside you for this little person that you haven't even met.
But don't let your excitement get the better of you to the extent that you can't use your nursery room when it's finished.
While it is supposed to be beautiful it also has to be practical.
Find out how to create a practical baby room design here...
2. Gather Your Baby Goodies Together
Next to preparing the nursery there is nothing quite as thrilling as preparing for baby's arrival by packing away those brand new tiny booties and onesies in the nursery room.
Get hold of a good layette list and make sure you have everything you need well before baby is due.
3. Baby Proof Your Home
You won't have the energy or inclination to do this after the six weeks of sleepless nights and sore body parts that come with your new born package, so tackle it now and get it done.
It's so important for your baby's well-being and you'll find that the safer you make your home the more relaxed you will be about having a new little person around.
Start with the nursery room. Your little one will spend 70% or more of her time here in the first year. Almost perfect doesn't cut it in this room - it has to be absolutely 100% safe!
Click here for a complete nursery safety checklist...
4. Choose A Baby Name
This is one part of preparing for baby you want to have done and dusted as soon as possible. It's not always easy finding a name that you and your partner agree on and that won't send some other member of the family into a ballistic fit. (Family can be funny that way!)
It may take a while to find just the right one and it can be stressful - you don't want to add time pressure to the mix.
Here are my top ten tips for choosing babies names...
You can find some excellent baby name books here...
5. Organize Your Home
If your home is a bit cluttered, now is the time to make a change. For one thing
clutter is not safe for babies - they get their fingers into everything. And if you don't want your papers and CD's being randomly re-allocated by pudgy fingers in a few months time, you should do it now and have your stuff arranged the way you want it.
In addition, tiny babies come with a staggering amount of baggage for their size. In addition to creating a space all of their own, preparing for baby means finding nooks and crannies for things like their bottles, baby swing and play gym. Not to mention the stroller, carry seat, high chair...
For help with preparing for baby and organizing and storing all that baby stuff, click here...
6. Prepare Some Freezer Meals
The first few weeks after baby's arrival whiz by in a bit of a blur - mostly because you haven't slept.
Cooking is not going to be at the top of your priority list.
However, if you are breastfeeding, fast food is not going to cut it, neither is going hungry. Even if you are bottle-feeding, you still need to keep your strength up.
Pre-prepared frozen home-made food is the solution. Just whip it out and warm it up.
Make sure you have a good supply!
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7. Set Up A Meal Planner
When you set up your meal planner make sure to think
"quick and simple".
Now is not the time to worry about being excessively health conscious, budget conscious, or gourmet conscious! You just need to get some good, wholesome food in your face before you pass out!
This will kick in when you have exhausted your supply of carefully hoarded freezer meals.
Your baby is now two to three weeks old and you still aren't getting much sleep!
Most days you won't have time to get out of your pajamas, let alone try to think of something to cook!
Having a meal planner simplifies matters immensely. It tells you what to cook when, what to buy when and generally saves your tired brain from the pressures of thinking!
8. Make Friends With The Internet
With a new baby to look after and not much sleep to do it on, time will be of the essence. Standing in queues at the bank or supermarket is not going to be fun.
Do yourself a favor while you are preparing for baby and
set-up internet banking and shopping facilities now. Even if you only use them for a few months after baby comes it will be well worth the time it saves.
9. Think Convenience
There are many ways to
make your new life with baby easier by making use of simple convenience items.
Ideas include paper plates and cups, to cut out washing the dishes, and disposable wipes, for quick cleaning of bathrooms and kitchens when your mother-in-law is on her way over. Now days you can even get biodegradable ones!
Who has time for cleaning the bathroom when there's a new born in the house?
10. A Tumble Drier
This one is my little preparing for baby treat - a little expensive I know, but I simply could not have survived the first few months and hundreds of baskets of baby clothes without my tumble drier.
You know you sometimes have to change newborns more than three times in one day - right?
11. Pack Your Hospital Bags
This one goes without saying, but please
don't leave it too late. You need to take a surprising amount of stuff with you - it's best to be organized in good time.
34-36 weeks is a good time to start preparing for baby's arrival by packing your bags. Babies do have a habit of surprising us and arriving early.
The more prepared you are for labor, the more relaxed you will be when it arrives. You don't need the stress of packing bags while you're trying to hold a towel in place because your water just broke!
Get all the information you need about packing your labor bag here...
12. Pack Your Diaper Bags
Yes I did say
bags, it's not a typo. For maximum "new mom sanity" you should have
at least two if not three diaper bags packed and ready to go.
There are plenty of new things to remember when you go out with your new baby without having to worry about your diaper bag - it's easy to forget! I know it sounds silly, but you'll see what I mean when the time comes.
Instead of taking two minutes to gather your things and get out of the house, it will now take you fifteen.
(That's assuming baby does not decide to poo or spit up all over you or develop sudden hunger pangs just before you walk out the door! In this case,
leaving the house can take anything up to an hour!)
Don't worry though. You will become an expert at juggling six different things and managing to get out in less than five minutes. For the first few weeks though, take my advice and
keep a packed and ready to go diaper bag in a nursery room cupboard, in your car and in the back of your stroller.
You can thank me for this sanity saving tip later!
13. Think About Your Income
In today's tough economic climate, sacrificing your income to stay home with your baby may not seem like an option.
You may be planning to return to work after the birth.
But what happens if you get there and you just
can't bear the thought of handing your precious baby over to someone else for the day?
Part of preparing for baby involves not underestimating the power of the bond that you are already forming with your baby while it grows inside you.
Prepare now and find a way to earn an income from home so that you can be there with your little one.
Find out how I'm doing it here.
14. Read Up On Baby Development
Having a brand new life completely dependent on you for its survival can be a little overwhelming to say the least.
You will find yourself worrying about whether your baby is making too few or too many poos, sleeping too much or too little, eating enough or too much, growing too fast or too slow, to mention a few!
A basic knowledge of normal baby development and milestones will provide
great peace of mind during the first year.
Get yourself a good book and start reading!
You can find more books here in our
infant milestones book store.
15. Find Out About Common Baby Ailments and Cures
Along the same lines, little things like
diaper rash, cradle cap, constipation and colic will be enough to throw you into a frenzy during those first few sleep deprived months.
In most cases these issues are nothing to worry about and
can be cured quite quickly and easily.
You'll save yourself countless visits to the clinic if you read up on the basic common baby ailments before your baby is born.
Another book for your shelf!
You can find more books here in our
infant health book store.
(Note: The above advice is in no way intended to discourage you from taking your baby to the doctor or nurse in the case of illness. Again, the more you know about baby ailments, the better you will know when your baby needs professional help. As a general rule: If in doubt, see a doctor.)
If you need more help with preparing for baby, don't miss my
baby checklist section. Make sure you have everything covered.
If you can't find what you're looking for,
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