What They Don't Tell You About Babies As a New Mom

This is an ongoing list of things new mom's I have met, including me, have learned post delivery.

Crying
Like all new babies, our baby cried a lot, but not enough for colic. We learned that the crying was usually related to a trapped gas bubble. So we learned to burp the baby during feeding to help decrease the pain associated with gas. Another trick for getting rid of the gas to was bring the babies knees into its chest. (My husband likes to sing "Pump it Up". He claims that the less you can get the knees to your baby's chest, the more bubbles that are trapped). This would help push the gas out the other way. These little tricks really helped ease our baby's pain and decrease the crying. With baby #2, I'm so much more relaxed as a mom knowing he is either crying because of hunger, diaper change, or trapped bubbles.

C-section
One of the things we (3 other moms I met early on) were all surprised about was getting stretch marks AFTER delivery on our bottoms. Baby #2 stretched me differently, so be prepared that that's part of the deal.

Cereal
When starting your baby on solids (which can start as early as 4 months as directed by your doctor), you can start babies on cereal. We went with rice cereal as directed, only to run into trouble with constipation. An alternative to rice cereal is oatmeal, which does not cause constipation. AS the baby gets used to solids, you can introduce veggies and fruit. We also included veggies and fruit in the cereal. We found this was a great way to introduce new veggies and fruit to our baby.

Getting the Nursery Ready
Being a first time mom, I didn't know what was necessary for a newborn versus what was for looks. Instead of spending a ton of money on a nursery remodel, we bought wall clingies from Target that would come off the wall easily when the baby got older and we wanted to change the theme. Second, I enlisted the help of a friend who had children to help me organize the nursery. She told me what she kept within reaching distance and what could be put away for later. This made life so much easier when the baby was here.

Phone
Having a phone that could access the Internet was a life saver the first few months of bringing home the baby. I highly recommend it! The phone allowed me to access my email, Facebook, and other mindless activities so I didn't feel I was out touch and helped to keep my mind stimulated.

Internet Websites - BabyCenter
Baby Center and other websites are great to join because you register your baby's age and are sent weekly emails on your child's development and common issues at that age. There are also forums for asking questions, you can share articles on Facebook with your friends, and find ideas for playing with your baby as they get older.

Sleep When the Baby Sleeps
As hard as you try, sometimes you just cannot sleep when the baby sleeps, especially when they are waking you every hour to two hours. Even if I got one nap in, it threw off my night schedule where I couldn't fall asleep until later in the evening. And I was exhausted all the time. For us, the sound of advice of "sleeping when baby sleeps" is more practical as the baby gets older and is on a nap schedule. Right now, my husband and I know our son will take a long nap three hours after waking up in the morning with an optional afternoon nap. So we sleep during the morning nap otherwise we know there is no other opportunity unless one of us watches the baby while the other one sleeps.

Driving
My first son was not one to fall easily asleep in the car. MY second son reminded me how red lights are not the friend of a parent with a newborn. Some tricks I learned with my first son was to have songs to sing because I sang "10 Little Monkeys" over and over, but it calmed him down. We also left the little light on in the back of the car so he wasn't so scared. Now that he's older it's not a problem, but that first year was tough. We didn't know what kind of drive we would have.

Managing Your Time (Some Tips From Kaiser)
Set Your Priorities: Every evening make a list of the most important things to do tomorrow. Don't forget to try to set aside relaxation time for yourself.
Divide and Conquer: List the main components and the time they'll require for an overwhelming job. Then plan specific blocks of time in your schedule for each.
Double Up: Do two things at once. You might have a business discussion while going for a walk.
Delegate: Everything doesn't have to be done your way. Good time management includes lightening your load by handing over responsibility to someone else.
Laundry: To save sorting time and avoid mismatches, buy your child socks in only one style and one color.
Errands: Make it a habit to consolidate errands and appt instead of making small trips.
Cooking: Keep food simple, easy, and nutritious. When cooking a main meal, make extra so you can freeze in meal-size portion for dinners another time.
Family Matters: To help organize family matters , keep a big calendar on display. You can use different color pens to mark member's activities and appt.