How to Survive Your First Week with Baby

By 4th February 2017Birdie Blog, Studio Chit Chat

No matter how excited we are about the arrival of baby, we all know that first week of parenthood is going to be a bit of a crazy learning curve; sleepless nights, round the clock feeds, and everything else that comes with learning to care for this little baby that is now in your lives.

These last few weeks my diary has been full of newborns coming in for their first photo shoot, so I’ve taken the opportunity to ask my clients, after ten days as new parents, what they would recommend to help you survive your first week with baby.

Here are my clients top ten tips to help you survive your first week with baby:

Be Prepared

Make sure you have all the basics you are going to need before hand. Think about you as well as baby and then you can just curl up and enjoy your newborn.

Ask for Help

Especially if are going to be in undated with visitors, get them to do something useful when they come over – wash up, make tea, let you get a shower.

Let your Loved Ones know when you are Struggling

It’s OK to cry and it’s OK to admit this is difficult – it is! Opening up and having a wobble with someone you love does wonders so don’t be afraid to do it.

Rest when they Sleep

Forget the house work (or get the visitors to do it), when baby is snoozing you should too, and if you can’t sleep, at least lie down and chill. Pop your favourite movie on and watch it with your eyes closed.

Good Coffee

If the sleep tactic isn’t working for you, this could be the perfect time to treat yourself to the coffee machine you’ve been eyeing up.

It’s Not for Long

When you are really struggling and you’ve been woken for what feels like the millionth time, try to remind yourself that it’s not for long. Every day it is going to get a little bit easier. Give your baby a cuddle and  remind yourself that you can do this, you can survive your first week with baby!

Set Small Goals

Especially if you are struggling to breast feed, just tell yourself you are going to do it today. You can stop tomorrow if you want to. The NHS site is great for help and advice with breast feeding.

Use White Noise

White noise works like magic for soothing your baby, I wrote about this last week, so click here for a more in depth read on it.

Listen to Yourself

Everyman and their dog will want to tell you how you should be caring for your new baby, but trust and listen to yourself and go with your own flow. You were built to do this so don’t be afraid to do it your way.

Get Yourself our for a Walk

Fresh air and sunlight make a world of difference to your perspective. Give baby and your new pram a whirl around the park and soak up a bit of vitamin D. Then you’ll be all set to curl back up on the sofa together.

survive first week with baby by getting out for walks

So there you go, ten real live tips to help you survive your first week with baby. A big thank you to all my clients who came up with suggestions for this post and I hope you found them helpful.
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