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A friend of mine just told me that she is pregnant with her first kid. The baby will be born in February.
In her email, she asked all of us old pros for parenting tips.
I of course told her to read BeAGoodDad and BeAGoodMom because all good parents should be reading them.
But I realize that in addition to my huge wealth of made up on the fly knowledge, that there are a lot of people reading this blog that actually do have good advice. So I open the comments to your favorite parenting tip to give to a mother about to have her first baby.
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I am no expert but speaking from experience.
1)Go full breastfeeding (unless you have medical reasons), at least for 6 months. Better still, longer.
2)If you hear conflicting views, trust your gut feelings.
3) Take middle path. Don’t go to the extreme for whatever you do.
4) Lastly, don’t take parenting as a chore but a fun thing to treasure and enjoy with your baby. Learn to relax don’t to be too stressed out.
Also to visit parentwonder.com
The biggest one for me is “go with the flow”. After the baby’s born, if you’re late to something, don’t sweat it. If the floor doesn’t get vacuumed as often, don’t sweat it. If the bathroom needs to be cleaned, don’t sweat it (until you reach the point where you can’t stand it anymore – then ask for help if you need it). You’re probably the only one who cares about that stuff anyway!
1) No changing diapers in the middle of the night (just disturbs the little one)
2) Be selfish now – meaning whatever you really want to do for yourself do it now. Travel, go to the movies, eat out, enjoy yourself because those days will be much harder once the baby arrives
3)Read to the baby from the moment they come home, even though it will seem they don’t comprehend. Just hearing the language will help them with talking and seeing books will instill in them a love for reading.
4)Enjoy your time with the little one. Having a little one is the hardest thing I have ever done, but totally worth it.
Good Luck!
The favorite bit of advice I got when I was preggy is “never just say no – explain why so they understand, even when babies and you don’t think they get it.” We did this with our little one and she almost always respects the answer (except when my explanations are far-fetched and we both know it).
This will sound strange but on my third child, my favorite bath supporting product was not working. He sqirmed enough to get out and then the whole thing gets out of control. So, I decided to take out the support and just let the baby lay in the bath with a wash cloth behind his head to make it soft. The water level was just up to his ears. He loved it — he could kick and splash and not be restrained. I could relax more. In the end, he’s a real water baby and I think it was because of this technique.
Let other people, especially your partner if you have one, hold the baby and take care of the baby, so you don’t become the ONLY person the baby is used to. Trust your partner and caretakers to decide what the baby needs. Make sure you get out and about as soon as you can, with and if possible without the baby. You’ll have so much more energy to enjoy babyhood if you don’t have to be the 24/7 expert and go-to person, and if you start building that pattern early on, you won’t have to make a huge adjustment when you’re finally ready to go to the movies again, or when you want to go out with friends and leave the baby with someone else for a few hours.