Changes to your lifestyle as parents
Caring for a new baby is a demanding, exhausting job that can turn your lives upside down. Fitting in all the demands on your time and energy can be difficult, but if you approach the situation sensibly and make plans together before the birth, you'll find you can cope with the disruption and manage to spend some time with your partner. It needs planning, but it's possible.
Keeping on top of it all
© DK
Taking care of your newborn baby will probably be much harder than you ever expected. For one thing, labour and birth are physically and emotionally draining; for another, you'll find that in the first days, there always seems to be one job after another, almost without a break.
Getting enough rest is vital. It's rare for a new baby to allow you to have more than four hours' sleep at a time at night, so it helps if you can catnap during the day. You need to eat well too, especially if you're breastfeeding. Keep on eating as well as you did throughout your pregnancy, and drink plenty of fluid.
Taking short cuts, such as occasionally buying prepared meals, at least for the first few months, will help you manage, as will getting your priorities right - having enough rest, for example, is far more important than cleaning the house or doing the ironing.
Avoid guilt
Feeling guilty seems to be a burden carried by most new parents, and quite a few well-established parents. Remember that you can only do your best, and that it's important to put yourself and your own health high on your list of priorities. Bear in mind, too, that it takes about a year for your body to get back to its pre-pregnancy state. Don't expect too much of yourself at first, because just after delivery you'll find that you have very little stamina and you'll get exhausted easily.
Find a lifestyle routine as parents
This doesn't mean training your baby to eat, sleep, and play according to your timetable but following his lead and fitting your life around his daily routine. You won't necessarily have to rearrange your entire lives to accommodate him; much of your routine and lifestyle can continue as before.
Sharing your baby's care
You'll get lots of offers from friends and relatives to babysit. Take advantage of these and let others share the care of your baby.
Dad
As far as your baby's concerned, her father is the second most important person in her life after you. Daddy can do anything that Mummy can - he can even give breast milk in a bottle, so it's important for your partner to take equal responsibility for the care of your baby.
Grandparents
They're usually itching to help and thoroughly experienced in childrearing, so can be the ideal people to help with babysitting and general baby care. Both grandparents and your baby will relish the contact, and this will help them to form strong bonds of affection from the very beginning.
Relatives and friends
Your relatives will probably enjoy helping you look after the new addition to the family. Friends may also be enthusiastic about baby care - and the ones who've already had children can provide invaluable support. Always make sure that childless or young assistants know how to handle a baby properly, but try not to watch so closely or anxiously that you make them feel uncomfortable - young babies are more resilient than they look.
Posted 30.06.2010
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