Before I got pregnant I remember regularly thinking to myself "Once the baby comes I just have to make it through the first three months and I will be golden." Especially to a first time parent, the newborn phase is kind of terrifying. I heard all kinds of horror stories about babies that cried six hours a day, and babies that literally never slept, and at that point in their lives there's nothing you can really do about it. You can't reason with them, you can't start sleep training; you just have to buckle up and push through. Luckily I was blessed with an extremely easy baby. I attribute most of my easy breezy newborn/infant months to him. However, I do believe a few products made things a whole lot easier on both me and Milo.
1. Manual Breast Pump: About a week after Milo was born I got a really high fever and found out that I had a UTI from the catheter they put in at the hospital. I was completely miserable and could not stop shivering. Combine this with being incredibly sore from an episiotomy and 2nd degree tearing, as well as the overwhelming task of nursing my baby (Milo wasn't such a good nurser the first couple weeks) and I was basically a wreck. I didn't know how I was supposed to take care of a week old baby when I could barely manage to get out of bed. Thanks to my breast pump I was able to pump enough milk so that my mom could get up with Milo in the night and feed him while I slept and tried to fight off the infection. (Kudos to my mom for that too, btw. She's the best). It was also super nice when I had to go back to school a week later to be able to pump for the babysitter. I've never tried an electric but the manual is perfect for me. I think if I were going to be working full time and have to rely more heavily on pumping that I would opt for the electric, but otherwise the manual has been great.
(I actually have the Ameda pump, but I've heard really good things about Avent.)
2. Nipple cream: This is more of a mommy essential then a newborn essential, but I figured if your nipples fall off they won't be very useful for feeding, so it works both ways. I'm just going to say that nothing is quite as painful as nursing those first few weeks. You NEED this. Trust me. I bought the Lansinoh kind from Target before giving birth to have with me in the hospital. I used it a couple times after Milo was first born, but then my doctor came in a prescribed me this magical jar of antibiotic goodness. The label says it's "Newman's 2% Ointment" and basically it's nipple cream mixed with antibiotics. I highly recommend asking your doctor for a prescription of it before you leave the hospital. The Lansinoh stuff is good and totally sufficient, but Newman's is serious magic. I got a little jar of it and I still have about 1/4 of it left. (A little goes a long way) The main reason I like it better is that it's less sticky than the Lansinoh ointment. Also if I put it on at night after Milo's last feeding, I am good as new in the morning.
3. White Noise Machine: I bought one of these when Milo was 3 or 4 weeks old. I knew that having background noise was helpful to babies, but I wasn't sure which option to go for. I read a few blogs about the little stuffed animals that play womb noises and whatever, and found that people were generally dissatisfied with them. The common complaint was that they were too quiet. I also read that plain ol' white noise works best with a lot of babies, rather than ocean sounds or womb sounds. (Not that those are bad or don't work) So I went and found a super cheap white noise machine with a volume dial that goes super loud. Plugged it in, stuck it under the crib and turned it all the way up. Worked like a charm. Milo sleeps way more soundly with it on. Also now I can lay him in his crib wide awake and as soon as I flip on the sound his eyes flutter shut and he is out.
Another nice benefit is that it blocks out most other sound so Andrew and I can be as loud as we want while he's sleeping and not have to worry about waking him up.
4. Wubbanub: I got the frog wubbanub as a baby shower present and I first I just thought it was super cute and fun and that was about it. Then Milo was born and I realized it was GENIUS. Here's the thing. Babies are really really bad at keeping pacifiers in their mouth. They'll suck on it for a little and then it'll fall out of their mouth and then they'll scream until you put it back in. Over and over and over again. The cool thing about the Wubbanub is that you can use the stuffed animal part to prop the pacifier up so it doesn't fall on the floor or to the bottom of the carseat if when the baby spits it out. I especially use this when he's going to sleep and prop the frog up against the side of the crib so that if he spits it out, it's still just sitting right there where he can easily grab it again. Brilliant, I tell you. Another great thing is that babies love to hold on to stuff and grab things and this gives them the perfect thing to hold onto for security (which also helps keep it in their mouth). So basically, 10/10 for the Wubbanubs. They are amazing. (And there's so many dang cute animals to choose from. Seriously. I want them all)
5. Swaddle Sack: There's two things about babies that you should know: they love to be swaddled (even if they scream while you're swaddling them, I promise they love to be swaddled) and they're very wiggly and good at undoing any swaddle. I used receiving blankets for Milo the first week or two he was home. He wasn't very wiggly yet and still rolled up into a little ball that made him super easy for swaddling. But as he got bigger and more wiggly, the blankets stopped being enough to hold him. He'd always break out of his swaddle at night and then his arms would flail (babies have crazy reflexes) and he would wake himself up and start crying. My friend gave him a couple SwaddleMe sacks and I was hooked from the get go. They're super easy to use, and they have crazy strong velcroe that your child is never going to bust out of. I also like it because the fabric is super lightweight and there's lots of wiggle room for their legs. I still put Milo in this for every nap and every night and he sleeps so much longer than when I don't use it.
Honorable mentions:
I just have to add these two videos to this post because they are so important.
The Happiest Baby on the Block Andrew and I watched this when I was newly pregnant and seriously couldn't believe how amazing it was. And it works too! Lifesaver. (I suggest getting the DVD from Netflix and not paying for it because it's one of those things you need only watch once and it's not really that great of a DVD. Just a really great method)
This video I found when Milo was about a month old. And it was SO HELPFUL. It's basically this lady who discovered that babies have 5 distinctly different types of cries that all mean different things, and it teaches you how to differentiate between those cries so you can figure out what the heck your baby wants. I don't use all 5. The most helpful to me were the hungry and the burp/uncomfy cry. It used to be that if Milo cried I just assumed he was hungry but turns out sometimes he just needed a good burp or two. Amazing stuff right there.
AND THERE YOU HAVE IT. That was painfully long, but when I was pregnant I was always looking for anything that would be helpful in the postpartum months, so hopefully I can help someone out there too! And be sure to let me know if there's anything super awesome that you feel made all the difference with your baby! I'm always up to try new things. :)
No comments:
Post a Comment