10 Tips for Bringing Home a New Baby

I know many of my readers are young mothers like myself, and I actually know several people who have just recently had the privilege of bringing home a new baby. Here are some tips that may be helpful to new moms:

1. Stock up on diapers ahead of time. It always amazed me when my babies were newborns how quickly they went through diapers! It's not always the easiest thing to try and do bargain shopping when you have a newborn, so make sure you're watching the sales during your pregnancy. When you find a great price, grab a couple packs. It will save you from those late night runs to Walmart when you realized you're out of diapers!

2. Prepare freezer meals in advance. The last thing most moms feel like doing when they're sleep-deprived is trying to cook and then clean up. Before your baby is born, make double batches of dinner for several weeks. Eat one and put the other in the freezer. After your baby arrives, you can just grab a meal out of the freezer instead of having to cook.

3. Get Thank-You notes written before the baby is born. If you don't, they may never get done!

4. Take lots of pictures. I know for most people this is probably like, "Um...duh." I, however, am not naturally inclined to take pictures. It's just not something I think about doing. In those foggy new-mother moments, I'm even more inclined to forget. So, just remind yourself to do it if you're like me. :)

5. Take all the help you can get. It's not always easy to accept help, and different people will be comfortable with different levels of help, but I definitely recommend taking all help you can! If you have older children, let someone babysit them for a few hours while you take a nap or catch up on housework. If people offer to cook for you, don't refuse! Don't worry about being a burden. They wouldn't offer if they didn't want to do it.

6. When you're out with baby, keep hand sanitizer within view at all times. Most people will get the picture right away that you don't want them to hold the baby without using hand sanitizer first. If they don't, it will be very easy to grab it and ask them to use it as soon as you see any sign of their reaching for the baby.

7. Don't expect too much of yourself. Feel free to let the housework go a little, and peanut butter sandwiches for supper a couple times won't kill anybody. Keep your expectations simple, and if you have time for more, great! If not, you won't be beating yourself up.

8. If your baby uses a pacifier, buy lots of them. There is nothing worse than having an upset baby and you can't find the pacifier anywhere. I like to sanitize my little's girl's pacifiers by running them through the dishwasher. When you have a lot, you can do that because you should always have clean ones to use while the others are in the dishwasher.

9. Re-pack the diaper bag immediately after you come home from somewhere. It's not fun to think the diaper bag is fine only to realize the next time you're out that the pacifier got taken out or you've run out of wipes!

10. Ask other moms for advice. There's no one who will know better what that weird rash could be or what you should do when your baby's got a tummy ache.

The time with your newborn will fly by whether you do everything "just right" or not. Just have fun and enjoy this time with your little one!


I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Lysol® Wee Wisdom blogging program, making me eligible to get a $50 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click here.