Keeping the Peace With a New Baby
Bringing a new baby home is full of transition, and our team member Hannah is about to welcome her first little bundle of chaos later this month. As the mother of two September babies myself, I’m here to tell you that while being very pregnant in the later months of summer isn’t awesome, welcoming a new baby in the fall is pretty spectacular. The weather is likely starting to cool down and you have the joy of the holidays on the horizon - and who doesn’t love a sleepy newborn to pass around at Thanksgiving and Christmas? While there are some incredibly wonderful things about a new baby no matter what time of year it is, there is also an element of disarray that they tend to bring to their new homes. Did you know that babies require A LOT OF STUFF? Ok, require might be a strong word, but we do tend to supply them with a lot for their first few months, and maybe-just-maybe some of us are providing a little too much stuff…enough stuff to really stress a person out. What I decided I “needed” for my first baby and what I needed for my fourth baby were quite different, so I’m here to share with you some of what I learned in that time so that you don’t have to wait until your fourth baby to figure it out like I did.
#1 Have Less
People will tell you newborns are messy, and that is 100% true. There is no shortage of bodily fluids when dealing with a new baby. People will also tell you that because they’re so messy, you need 100 newborn and 0-3 month onsies/sleepers, blankets, swaddles, and burp cloths. I know the idea of doing laundry more frequently when you’ve added a whole new person to your home seems counterintuitive, but this baby is about to make a mess on his clothes, his bed, your bed, and anywhere you lay him, so believe me when I tell you that doing laundry is about to become a very important part of your routine. And because of all of these trips to your washing machine, you’ll be cycling through the same onesies over and over again. Have enough to get you through a few outfit changes every day for 2-3 days, and then call it “enough.” Oh, and this baby is probably only going to be wearing pajamas for the foreseeable future so you can go ahead and return all of the fancy 0-3 outfits your friends got you for your baby shower. Keep it simple, keep it comfy, keep it less.
#2 Buy Less
This feels like the same tip as #1, but it’s actually quite different. When I say “buy less,” I don’t necessarily mean “have less,” but rather, don’t buy everything you have. Babies are all different and the thing that one mother tells you is an absolute necessity might not work for your family, your baby, or your parenting preferences. For example, my best friend had her first baby 11 months before I had my first baby, and her baby LOVED his swing. He napped in the swing, slept in the swing, and had content awake time during the day in the swing. She couldn’t live without her baby swing, which meant I believed I would definitely need a baby swing. In fact, I got TWO baby swings because we had a spacious home and I assumed we would want a swing in multiple places since the baby was going to love it so much. Guess what? My baby hated the swing. She would immediately start screaming if I tried to put her in it, and try as I might, I could never get her to like it. Thankfully, one of the swings was from a garage sale and the other one was given to me by a friend, so I didn’t get too upset that we’d invested in swings that our baby hated. Your baby might be like my friend’s baby and love love love a swing, and he also might be like my baby and detest it. You won’t really know until you try to use it, so my advice with almost all baby things, especially large baby gear like swings, bouncy seats, travel cribs, and highchairs, is to borrow if you can. Unless you and all of your friends have babies at the exact same time, your friends with kids likely already have some of the items you want to try just sitting in storage, so ask them if you can take that swing or bouncy seat off their hands for a few months. They’ll get the item out of their home temporarily and you won’t have to drop any money on any gear that you don’t end up loving. It’s a win-win!
And on the topic of borrowing, don’t forget that you get to eventually be the one dolling out gently used baby items for your friends to borrow. This is a great way to hold onto baby items you might want to keep if you’re planning on having another baby without the burden of storing it.
#3 Create Stations
When we were in baby season, we lived in a house with three floors, which meant a lot of going up and down stairs. It didn’t take me long to realize that it wasn’t functional for me to have every baby item in the baby’s bedroom because every time she needed a diaper change, I’d have to trek up 1-2 flights of stairs. And do you know how often a baby needs a diaper change? I quickly discovered the magic of baby stations. On each floor I had a small stash of items we needed such as diapers, wipes, nursing pads, burp cloths, and a pacifier that I prayed my babies would take that none of them ever did. We kept each station contained to one of these handy diaper caddies, and if the baby needed something, we just went right for the closest caddy instead of journeying to the baby’s room. You’re already working really hard as a new parent; find ways to make things a tiny bit easier when you can.
Babies are full of surprises, so you’ll likely run into a “baby stuff” question that we didn’t address here as you’re navigating the new baby waters. We’re always here to help. Feel free to drop us a question DM on Instagram, and don’t forget to follow our Like To Know It account where we’re sharing all of our baby must-haves this month.
— Colleen
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