Yep. I already decided that momming is a verb. I mom it up all the time. Today I just wanted to write something for parents that only have one or two young babies.
Tips to help you care for your newborn.
1 Watch this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgkZf6jVdVg&list=TLmmomz43XYfU
Seriously, it can change your life. If a baby is making the "ow" sound, swaddle, lay down, provide a sound machine and walk away. If a baby is crying for being super tired and you are rocking, changing positions, changing their diaper, singing and bouncing them - it isn't what they want. They will freak out more, confuse you more and you will feed them when they aren't hungry. So watch that video, listen to what they are telling you and don't give up if it didn't work the first time.
2 Gas relief. Just because you aren't hearing farts doesn't mean your baby isn't crying over gas pains. I had no idea that the need to burp and fart were causing my babies to not eat efficiently, causing them to spit up a lot more, preventing them from sleeping and causing them pain. There are a lot of gas relief options out there, my favorite is digestZen. It is amazing, you apply a tiny amount to their tummy and it works 100x better than anything I've tried before. I love it!
3 Breathe. You sing your favorite songs and accept whatever your baby does with a calm attitude. With our first baby crying, my husband and I would feel awful, "what do we do?!" We were so stressed and thought our baby would die if we couldn't calm him immediately. Now, when a baby cries, we hold them, speak softly and even in a low, sweet, yet mocking tone say, "oh no, the world is over!" Yes, babies will cry like the world is over. But it is not, we know that, so we need to help them feel that. When our sweet preemie came home from the NICU and she was still hooked up to a monitor showing her heartbeat, I could not believe what happened. I knew skin-to-skin was good for babies and it helped with bonding, but had no clue how powerfully healing it can be. Her heart rate was high, in the 190's for more than ten minutes... I thought the monitor was malfunctioning! Still, I was looking online what a normal pulse was for a baby her age and size and came across the suggestion of skin-to-skin to lower heart rate. I undressed her and put her against my chest. I think it took all of one or two minutes until she went down to the 160s and stayed there. I was amazed! I think ME being calm, helped her become calm. So calm parents have calmer babies! Try it.
4 Following that line of thinking, encourage daddy to have skin-to-skin time, yeah even if he has a hairy chest. This helps them bond with each other. It is weird to people that aren't parents yet, but shower with your baby. Who cares about their gender, just make sure another adult is home, the floor is grippy and you have a good hold on them. They love the water and they love being held - I think a warm shower being held by a parent is heaven on Earth for babies. Rarely will they not enjoy this. <3
5 If you are breastfeeding, PLEASE read my blog post about bottle-training.
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