What are your tips for first-time parents?
I’m not sure if it is the economic crisis (people have more free time), because I’m getting older or because the seas are changing, but to me it looks like we’re in the middle of a new baby boom. A lot of people around me have had or are going to have kids soon: at work, among my friends, my family…
In fact, my sister is going to have a baby in three months and she’s starting to get everything prepared. I’ve been taking more interest in the Pregnancy & Parenting and Education categories to find out more about what she’s going through. I have to admit that it’s a much more complex world than what I first thought. For a start, as soon as you get pregnant everything becomes unclear: can you change your hair colour? what cheeses can you eat? can you keep your exercise routine?
Thanks to my sister and the Yahoo!7 Answers community I have discovered that most of these questions don’t actually have a yes/no answer (for example, you can eat almost anything as long as it is cooked, you can practice certain sports like swimming or yoga, but you need to be careful with contact sports).
Getting ready for the baby also isn’t easy. Which stroller should I buy? is a common question, and now I understand why. Last week I went to buy one with my sister and it’s really hard to choose between a wide range of functionalities, features and colours! There are so many things to plan, from how to budget for a baby to what sort of things do you need to take to the hospital when the big day comes?
Then once you get the baby home, it’s a whole other ball game. How do you dress a baby? (it’s still hard for me to picture myself doing it some day) and how do you change a nappy? Once they get a little bit older, you’ve got to think about what food to give them, how to teach them to speak, and how to entertain toddlers on a daily basis. I am sure that some of the tips will help first-time parents.
Now, here is my question (I’m sure my sister, among others, will be thankful for your responses!): What are your tips for first-time parents? Share your tricks to save money, how to make your baby sleep and what are the best techniques to relax after a hard day?
Share your knowledge!
This post is from our Guest Blogger – Silvia, the Spanish Yahoo! Answers Community Manager
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Very Important Things I Believe
*No yeast bread for mum – milk / baby. A yeast infection can cause fungus – sadness, depression, acromegaly etc search yeast infection.
*Avoid post natal depression with blackcurrants / juice or evening primrose oil with chia seeds daily, through mums milk, this makes a happy baby too.
*Vitamin C daily, for mum & for baby as low vitamin C may cause sids. Search Dr Archie Kalingkolas
*I keep Colloidal Silver or Olive Leaf extract handy to deal with any infections / viruses / parasites from sneezes or pets or unkosher meat.
*Cod liver oil for a beautiful baby, a plastic teaspoon of Cod Liver Oil daily.
*Camomile tea to settle a baby.
*Bio-Chemic Cell Salts for reflux, stress, excess crying, fever etc
*No soy or cows milk, mums & goats is best.
*No vaccinations, see douglassreport.com.au
*Eat fresh & natural for health & happiness.
*Protect baby from abuse, it’s never too early for sex education. Talk to baby, teach baby to tell Mum everything & the importance of personal body privacy.
*Train a baby well, to honor his parents. And you will have no trouble with a troublesome teenager.
you just enjoy the baby and relax while you have the child in your lap and don’t buy to many things people will give you most of it anyway
and I should know my three are 26, 24 and 20 years old plus I’m a grandmother of one
Best advice I can give you is to enjoy your little one. But remember, you are having a “person” not just a baby.
The little one will have it’s own personality, preferences, hopes and fears.
If you can teach your children to think, then you will be giving them a great gift. Never use closed ended questions where the answer is only “yes” or “no”. This will help with language and cognitive ability.
Always use adjectives eg: “let’s wear your blue shoes today” or “let’s get two socks and one jumper”.
You are their first teacher.
Read to them, even from a very early age. Have a special reading time everyday. And let them see you read for pleasure.
But most of all, relax and enjoy being a parent.
Hey there,
I’ve just completed my first year of being a mum and I’m also pregnant with my second child. The hardest thing with first-time mothers is that sometimes they don’t ask for help. If you are having difficulties with your baby, don’t be afraid to ask a close friend or even your doctor for help. I had post-natal depression, got the help I needed (yes medication), but I was able to get myself off them a couple of months later. Some mothers find they can cope with what their baby throws at them, while others can’t.
How to save money? If you can live without the internet, get rid of it. We gave up on the internet for six months before our daughter was born and only got it back on when we knew that we could afford it.
Buy clothes airers and only use the tumble dryer for the baby’s clothes and your underwear. That way you don’t need the dryer on for a long time.
Always look for specials in catalogues and on clearance racks in stores. You can get really good clothes for only a fraction of the price. If one of the supermarkets has a special on nappies, try to stock up on them, that way you’re not running to the service station one night in a week. Same with formula, if there is a special, grab what you can.
Now how to make babies sleep? Well in my opinion, you should never cuddle or rock your baby to sleep. This gets them into a nasty habit, which means that later on that’s the only way to get them to sleep. You need to start off right from the very beginning to get the baby to self settle. This means you wrap them up and put them either in their cot or in your bed (whichever one you choose) and don’t touch them. I would probably have some music playing all night because then when they get to 1 or 2 naps a day, the housework won’t disturb them as they are used to noise.
Best way to relax after a hard day? It depends on what you’re interested in. I love books, so i wind down with reading (or reading in a nice hot bath with lots of bubbles). Do something that you want to do and make sure you don’t get disturbed.
This is not the be all and end all either. There is lots of different opinions and ways to do things, especially with babies. The best way is to take all the advice you get and choose the one that fits in with you. Also, don’t be afraid to tell anyone, including mothers, that you hear what they say, but that you have a way to do it. Sometimes mothers try too hard, and push their advice onto you when you don’t want it.
One last thing…..if your mother or other friends tend to describe how hard labour and the birthing is, ignore them. You are different from everybody else. Every baby is different.
My mother told me that she had labour pains for 3 days before giving birth and then I had colic for 3 months. (Poor mum) Well my labour lasted less than one day and I haven’t had any major trouble with my daughter. So you see, everybody is different and mothers always learn to cope.
Hope I helped…..
well….. we would say
give them freedom
addvice them
let them take chances
and let them pay for their own mistakes
=]
Rear kids with lots of love, and discipline. That has always worked and did with our 5 kids.
Ours slept through the night by the time they were 6 weeks old, and were never any trouble. How did we do it? Love and discipline.
skype: sandygm2
Make sure you have help. If you live in an extended family you probably won’t have any problem but if you live in a nuclear family unit you will feel like the living dead after a while from lack of sleep.I think it’s crazy, the way we live in tiny units. The stress of bringing up a child reveals all our own unresolved difficulties. (For instance, a crying baby will trigger our feelings from when we were a crying baby if we were not given what we needed at the time-food, comfort or company for instance. This isn’t to criticise our own parents because they were in the same boat from their own upbringing and so on, back and back) You will be giving and giving and you need to receive as well to keep your own energies and emotional reserves topped up. Good luck with the new little one, they were the most wonderful part of my life, I hope they will be of your’s.
Trust your maternal instincts and if you ever get stuck, there are loads of phone numbers you call call and speak to a friendly nurse.
okay first things first. Don’t panic. Breathe and take it one day at a time.
I had my son when I was 21 and I was estranged from my family so I was absolutely panicky from start to finish and boy did that cost me.
Secondly, there are support groups for almost anything now and if you feel you are having trouble adjusting to your new life as a parent speak out and seek help.
And lastly, babies are so much more resilient and stronger than we think, some more than others. Again, take everyday as it comes. The weeks, months and years will pass so quickly. Cherish every moment of it.
1) Do not be scared of accepting help from others. If someone offers to bring you a meal or do some ironing or cleaning- Accept!! It is not a sign of failure.
2) Listen to all advice given with an open mind – but you don;t have to follow it all!! Even a first time parent will instinctively know when an idea tried by others is not going to work for them.
3) Child raising books are a guide, not gospel.
4) Take time out for yourselves. Once the little one is in bed, spend some quality time together.
5) A little tip that works for me: When I get up in the morning, there is nothing worse than walking into the itchen to a sink full of washing up. If you do nothing else before bed, wash the dishes! You would not believe the difference it can make!! Try it.
dont buy a cheap stroller.buying a stroller is like buying a car,you get what you pay for.remember your child will be in it for a few years and a lot of cheap ones dont go the distance.
when you became a parent for the first time make shore your doing it for love not money buy lots of nappies ask for help get plenty of rest keep cats out side also pay attention to your partneter to buy a good pram with plenty room for nappies etc take plenty of photos good luck show alot of love
be prepared early, and when you finally have your new bub, rest as much as possible. If visitors are a problem put a sign up in a prominant spot saying that you are resting but please call back later as you would really like to see them. Most people don’t mind this little thing and it is better for you in the long run. Remember to relax as much as possible and if you find people trying to tell you what to do, just take it in and say “thankyou for your insight i will keep it in mind”.
And most of all enjoy your new bub, because trust me , they grow up to quickly.
JUST RELAX!!!!!! New mothers put WAY to many pressures on themselves to be perfect. Believe it or not, your baby will tell you what it wants (you will soon learn all of the signs just by its type of cries.) Eventually all babies will crawl, walk, talk etc, each baby might just do it a bit earlier/later than other babies. It’s not a competition either, just enjoy the most beautiful thing on the earth by looking deeply into your babies eyes & breathe in their beautiful innocence. It truly is the most amazing thing.
Tip 1 – Take 10 mins each day to just sit & relax, believe it or not, the washing can wait.
Tip 2 – don’t put babies bibs in the dryer undone with other clothes, they will stick to anything within a 10km radius & pull/tear good clothes.
Tip 3 – (should have listened to this one myself) Let everyone who offers to do house work, washing, cooking anything!
Tip 4 – BUY A SLOW COOKER, have a home cooked meal ready by spending only 15 mins preparation at about 10am to have a fully prepared meal at about 5 or 6pm. Heaps left over for the next day or to freeze because you could be so tired from lack of sleep that the last thing you want/need to do is cook again. True!!!!
Tip 5 – Have fun, it is amazing.
Pease do remember no smoking, no using of drugs and also no drinking of alchol. These are the very important things that must bear in mind.
Sleep well and eat well be free of stresses……
I am not a mother personally, but I took care of four that were not my own, so I guess you could say I was pretty close. Sometimes, the instinct to be a mother it just there, Somehow, when you have the baby form a newborn, you just know what that person needs. It is really important to budget money. Not so much time, because with children, that is not easy to do, especially when they are really little. The first couple weeks are torture. No sleep, barely eating, barely showering, and forget cleaning the house…uh uh. Most importantly, if you have someone helping..husband, friend, etc. let them help you. DO NOT become too clingy with the baby, because you will become very aggravated. Learn to laugh when they are in their terrible two or whatever, because children throw tantrums. I just laugh, and it makes sense because they expect you to say that’s bad, and when you laugh, they are totally confused. Really just enjoy your baby (person) because it does not last forever. Just relax, take a deep breath, and it will come to you. Good luck!
No 1. most important quailty needed to be a good parent: PATIENCE.
Don’t sweat the small stuff, and accept that things will get out of your control sometimes. If you’re going through a tough patch, always remember that this, too shall pass. Don’t put pressure on yourself to be perfect.
Your life is about to change forever, so enjoy it!!!
get the baby whispher book by tracy hogg, it is easy to understand and she puts things in laymen terms. i used it with both my children and i buy it for all my friends that are having children. also drink plenty of water if you are breastfeeding and eat a high protein,fat diet. the baby is taking everything from you and you need to replace for yourself and the baby, breastfeeding mums burn up to 2000 calories aday.
With all the information mentioned here, there’s nothing I can add. Every thing a new mother/parent needs have been suggested already.
The best preparation for a new baby is simple: L-O-V-E From the day the baby was conceived and born to this planet Earth. Give the new born baby a tender and loving hug always.
Thankyou St Jude for answering my prayers
Start of poor and work you way up in life.