Baby/Newborn Tips
Keep a grocery bag in the trunk of your car (and DH's) in which you have an extra outfit for yourself and a small bag of baby essentials- paci/bottle/clothes/diapers. There will be a day when you walk out of the house and drive off w/o your bag
Triple wrap the mattress- mattress cover/sheet, mattress cover/sheet, mattress cover/sheet... Then when the baby pees (or worse) the bed in the middle of the night, all you have to do is pull off the top layer!
Keep an extra onsie/sleeper in random places. On the changing Table, in the pack n play or bassinet. If you have to change LO for any reason, it's easier if there is clothes nearby and you don't have to leave LO to find something. Same goes for Burp rags and bibs. PITA to look for.
Keep Ziploc Bags in the Diaper bag. That way if baby gets any cloths dirty you can seal them in a baggy. Also works well for dirty diapers if you can't throw them out right away.
When your baby is crying and he/she simply won't stop, our natural inclination as mothers is to try every last trick in the book to make them stop crying-checking the diaper, offering up the bottle or boob, placing them in the bouncy seat or swing, danging brightly-colored toys in front of them, etc. Sometimes babies are just too over-stimulated, and the best thing you can do to calm them down is put them in a carseat or bouncy seat (without the vibration turned on) and just turn it so they're facing a plain wall. Sometimes just having NOTHING going on around the baby is what will help to sooth them.
If you have more than one floor in your house, set up a fully stocked changing station on each floor. Also, really learn how to swaddle. I know they make those Swaddle Me things but, in a pinch, knowing how to do a good one - quickly - with any old blanket is worth it's weight in gold.
If you make no noise at all you are training your LO to sleep in complete silence. Then when there is noise they won't be able to sleep. Just remember that noise at a constant level is easier for them to tune out. It's the sudden loud noises like slamming the doors that could startle the baby awake. It's not a big deal because then you can help them go back to sleep and eventually those noises won't do anything.
Stock up now on batteries for your baby gear. You don't want the batteries in your baby's favorite bouncer or swing to run out at 3am and have no fresh batteries in the house.
Just because your DH does something differently, doesn't mean he's doing it wrong. Back off & let him do it that way if it's not hurting the baby.
Follow your instincts. You're going to get so much advice from everyone, including random strangers who tell you to put socks and a hat on your baby even if it's 100 degrees outside. You know what's best for your baby.
Don't put your newborn in a cute outfit in the hospital until they are ready to go home. Let them wear the hospital clothes - if they are in the nursery and spit up/throw up/poop, the cute clothes could get thrown away or put down the hospital laundry chute.
Slather their bottoms with olive oil (I would think baby oil would work too) right after birth, it helps keep the meconium from sticking to their little butts so that those first few diaper changes aren't a tarry sticky battle.
Triple wrap the mattress- mattress cover/sheet, mattress cover/sheet, mattress cover/sheet... Then when the baby pees (or worse) the bed in the middle of the night, all you have to do is pull off the top layer!
Keep an extra onsie/sleeper in random places. On the changing Table, in the pack n play or bassinet. If you have to change LO for any reason, it's easier if there is clothes nearby and you don't have to leave LO to find something. Same goes for Burp rags and bibs. PITA to look for.
Keep Ziploc Bags in the Diaper bag. That way if baby gets any cloths dirty you can seal them in a baggy. Also works well for dirty diapers if you can't throw them out right away.
When your baby is crying and he/she simply won't stop, our natural inclination as mothers is to try every last trick in the book to make them stop crying-checking the diaper, offering up the bottle or boob, placing them in the bouncy seat or swing, danging brightly-colored toys in front of them, etc. Sometimes babies are just too over-stimulated, and the best thing you can do to calm them down is put them in a carseat or bouncy seat (without the vibration turned on) and just turn it so they're facing a plain wall. Sometimes just having NOTHING going on around the baby is what will help to sooth them.
If you have more than one floor in your house, set up a fully stocked changing station on each floor. Also, really learn how to swaddle. I know they make those Swaddle Me things but, in a pinch, knowing how to do a good one - quickly - with any old blanket is worth it's weight in gold.
If you make no noise at all you are training your LO to sleep in complete silence. Then when there is noise they won't be able to sleep. Just remember that noise at a constant level is easier for them to tune out. It's the sudden loud noises like slamming the doors that could startle the baby awake. It's not a big deal because then you can help them go back to sleep and eventually those noises won't do anything.
Stock up now on batteries for your baby gear. You don't want the batteries in your baby's favorite bouncer or swing to run out at 3am and have no fresh batteries in the house.
Just because your DH does something differently, doesn't mean he's doing it wrong. Back off & let him do it that way if it's not hurting the baby.
Follow your instincts. You're going to get so much advice from everyone, including random strangers who tell you to put socks and a hat on your baby even if it's 100 degrees outside. You know what's best for your baby.
Don't put your newborn in a cute outfit in the hospital until they are ready to go home. Let them wear the hospital clothes - if they are in the nursery and spit up/throw up/poop, the cute clothes could get thrown away or put down the hospital laundry chute.
Slather their bottoms with olive oil (I would think baby oil would work too) right after birth, it helps keep the meconium from sticking to their little butts so that those first few diaper changes aren't a tarry sticky battle.