4 Things Every New Parent Should Know

Newborns are amazing and adding one to a family is a big change for your professional life, your personal life, and basically every aspect within and outside.

While every person on the streets will offer their two cents on your pregnancy or newborn, it's important to smile and nod and trust your best judgment when it comes to making decisions for your baby and family. There are plenty of people hoping that they'll be able to help you out, but every baby is different and what worked for them might be the exact opposite of what you and your new child need.

But, getting some general advice and suggestions can help you be prepared with more ideas and solutions to try when your little one arrives. So, hopefully, these 4 tidbits of information will prove useful for you.

Doctors’ Visits

It’s common sense to make sure that as soon as you know you’re pregnant you should go to a doctor, and have many, many visits before delivering.

Some parents try to scrape by with the bare minimum number of checkups, but doctors have trained for years to help you and your little one. For instance, it is common for our child to have a fever. But we are not aware of what might be the cause of this illness, check Friso's article for some helpful information. They are full of information for both medical as well as behavioral needs and questions. They are also often going to be the first ones to identify if there is any concern in your pregnancy or baby’s early development and help guide you through the process of resolving it.

While asking questions may seem awkward and strange knowing all the nitty gritty details about newborns is one of the best ways to keep them safe and to keep you informed on how to best take care of your newest family member!

Make Friends

Finding other new and expecting mothers is not only helpful, it can be an invaluable resource when all else fails. Obviously, medical professionals can help you when a baby is sick, but what about if you need someone to just talk to about your child? Having someone else to talk to that are going through a similar experience can be a really great way to make friends and finding important emotional and practical support during some stressful times.

Great ways to find other mothers in the area could be finding prenatal classes before the baby is born or other infant classes after birth. Socializing your newborn is also pretty important and having another child around their age is a great way to do that! It’s also important to look after your mental wellbeing as postpartum depression is a very real thing and having friends and family close by can be a great way to vent feelings and help steady you in times of need. Friends can also recommend professionals or locals who specialize in Newborn Photography if you're wanting to have photos made of your precious little bundle of joy.

Diet

Perhaps one of the biggest areas of contention in current culture – the best diet during your pregnancy and for baby.

Friends or family may tell you that you can't eat “that,” but the doctors will say it's fine. Who’s right?

Obviously, how your body responds to different foods may change during the pregnancy, but keeping yourself healthy, even after the baby is born, is absolutely important. Breastfeeding is also always considered the healthiest option for the newborn, but it can be really difficult sometimes and is not possible for every woman. There's a lot of give and take that comes along with breastfeeding, and educating yourself is the key to success. While substituting formula may send some mothers into a rage, for others, it may be the only way to ensure that baby is able to get enough of the nutrition he or she needs.

Ultimately, you have to do what you believe is best for you and baby. Strive for healthy habits, but know that what that looks like for you and your baby may have to be different than what it looks like for someone else.

Sleep Schedules

Plenty of people will have warned you, and it's no secret that having a newborn around is going to mess with your sleep. But waking up at all hours of the night to comfort a baby doesn't have to be as hard as everyone says.

Things like co-sleep cots are usually discounted by fearmongers, but websites like https://www.cosleepercots.co.uk/guide/ are great resources that tell you all about how you can practice perfectly safe co-sleeping. Actual co-sleeper cots can be enormously helpful to a new mother, as well as the baby, by allowing safe proximity and ease of access to the baby. Co-sleepers can actually be better for mother and baby than other types of cribs and have even been shown to help with development. Co-sleeping, or noise machines, and humidifiers are all great ways to help your baby get to sleep, but remember, each baby is different so it might take some trial and error!

It's important that with a new child around, you take advantage of the resources you have! Like doctors to ask questions, friends, to ask favors, and the helpful resource of the internet to find articles and research papers to help find information and answers to questions you might be having.