Now What?

All the books and the classes prepare you for pregnancy and delivery, but what about after your bundle of joy is here? What do you do when you get up to your hospital room? What do you do when you get home?

SLEEP

Listen if there is one thing, I can tell a new mom to do, it’s to sleep when you can. After your baby is born and you are brought to your hospital room for the next few days, take that time to bond with your baby. But when your baby sleeps you NEED to sleep.

I had a lot of visitors when I was in the hospital, and I appreciated all the love and support I had, but it made it very hard for me to rest. I had anxiety for the first few months after Asher was born, and I was not able to sleep unless he was sleeping next to me in his basinet. I felt like I needed to watch him at every second to make sure that he was going to be ok, and that made me a very tired, and emotional momma.

If you are ok with sleeping while someone watches your baby, then ask for help. Everyone wants to help you after you give birth. Ask your significant other to do the dishes, laundry and whatever else you need help with so you can rest while the baby rests. Ask your parents to come over for a few hours so you can get some sleep. Just don’t be afraid to ask for help because chances are you are going to get it.

It’s good to ask for help when you need it, but also know your boundaries. Everyone will have advice to give you, and sometimes you will come across the people that think they know everything there is to know because they had children. Your baby is your baby, and you know them best. If you want visitors to wash hands and then sanitize before they hold him\her then make that known. If you don’t want anyone kissing your baby, then make that known. Don’t feel awkward requesting these things from your visitors (this includes family). I felt awkward at first requesting everyone to wash their hands and not kiss him, but it is for his safety and that’s all you need to worry about.

Try to get your baby on a feeding schedule (it really helps). Every few hours I was trying to feed Asher, so I knew his belly was full and he would sleep a little longer during each nap. Breast feeding Mommas, keep your baby latched on, until he unlatches himself. I found that even when I thought Asher was asleep he was still feeding. You will be able to tell the feeling of a feeding latch and when they are just using you as a binkie. If you chose to try a feeding schedule and your baby is asleep when you would normally feed them, you can either wake them up if you choose or if you were like me and didn’t want to wake Asher up, pump. This will help your milk supply, as well as prevent you from leaking and having tender breasts.

I know it’s not much, but I hope this helped any of the new moms out there!