My best friend just had her first baby boy. She is going to be a wonderful mother who will learn quickly, but she had NO experience with children prior to getting pregnant. I am no expert, but since I spent the better part of my life babysitting and nannying, while my other friends made money waiting tables, she came to me for some help. So here it goes--this goes out to all the new moms, moms-to-be, or just moms who relate with a crying infant and an undeniable desire to just take a shower…
10 Tips for New Mommies
1. Drown out the noise during naptime--put music or a fan on in your baby’s room when they are sleeping to drown out any extra noise. They sleep longer and it allows you to get stuff done around the house without worrying that you are going to wake your baby up when you finally get him to sleep.
2. Treating a colicky baby without medicine—Colic stinks for everyone because the baby can’t get comfortable (and neither can you). The baby I nannied for had terrible colic and her doctor suggested that we lay her on her back and bicycle her legs. This really helped her. You can also try holding her facing outwards so her legs are free to kick, and sometimes, if you hold her face down across your arm so her head is kind of peeking out around your elbow, that helps as well.
3. Strap on Your Bjorn--infants love the beating of your heart; it soothes them and replicates the womb, so one of the best ways to calm them is to strap on a baby bjorn and put her in it. You can do most everything (dishes, taking care of your other kids, laundry etc) with one a bjorn on and they tend to fall asleep and are pretty relaxed in it (just make sure to hold their heads when/if you bend over since they might slip a little).
4. Rocking Time on the Dryer-- If your baby is having trouble sleeping, try putting her in a car seat and putting it on the washer/dryer while it’s on. My friend’s mom used to do this when she had twins and it kept them quiet and asleep for twice as long as they would normally sleep—probably not so good for your electrical bill though, so just use this option if you’re desperate
5. Let them fall asleep on you. I know there is A LOT of opinion about whether or not to let your kid sleep with you, but in these first months, your goal is to spend as much quality bonding time as you can. They will NEVER be one month again. A lot of people will tell you not to let her sleep on you because she won’t ever be able to fall asleep on her own, but you can train babies to do that at 6 months almost as easily as at 3 months, so just enjoy it and let them sleep with you!
6. Offer your thumb--If your baby is acting hungry and it’s not time to eat yet, let her suck on your thumb or the side of your thumb, and it will hold them over for awhile (if he doesn’t like pacifiers).
7. Put it on Repeat-- Babies tend to like soothing music and if they are upset and you sing the same song quietly in their ear, this tends to quiet them down. I have sung Row Your Boat and Twinkle Twinkle more times than I could ever possibly count.
8. Keep Your Ears Open-- Babies tend to have different cries for different needs. If you listen for it, you will be able to gauge whether your baby is tired or hungry.
- Open a Book—it’s never too early to instill a love for reading in your child. Babies like to read books no matter how old they are; they are fascinated by them. Start reading those 5 page board books now, so they get used to it and by the time they are old enough to hold them, it will occupy them long enough so you can have a cup of coffee or read one page of the newspaper. *check back for the best baby book suggestions
10. Have your baby’s favorites at arm’s reach—It is difficult to have everything you need exactly when you need it when there is an infant around. Once you get into a daily rhythm (and you will), the baby will go through phases where he/she likes certain books, toys, blankets etc. better than others. Have a basket in the rooms that you spend the most time in and keep those baby savers close by. Trust me, once you are finally comfortable with the baby on the couch, you don’t want to readjust the baby just to run upstairs to get his favorite pacifier.
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