We have got ourselves a newborn in the house. Woop woop.
Baby Gee is a couple of months old now and we have all just emerged from the new baby fog. Hurrah.
The haziness of the past few weeks has reminded me of what life is like with a newborn.
Knackering!
And if you have a pre-existing toddler in the house, you’ll have a whole new family dynamic to deal with and of course…enjoy.
While I have a few rare minutes to myself (no I’m not sat on the loo – the days of going to the loo alone are long gone) I thought I’d share a few hacks and tips that have helped me survive and enjoy the newborn plus toddler stage with my sanity relatively still intact.
1. Get Help
…Any help. We have been lucky to have lovely family and friends nearby that brought us lots of food parcels and offered to babysit Fee our toddler while we settled into newborn life again. My mum even came to stay for a week after Baby Gee was born. (Mum, IOU a big Gin).
If you don’t have family nearby, accept any offers of help/food/babysitting from friends/work colleagues/anyone! You will have the chance to repay the favours later. If your friends can’t help, unfriend them on Facebook (only joking) and think about maybe hiring a babysitter or a doula (a nice lady that comes and looks after you and the little ones so you can get…some…..s.l.e.e.p).
2. Get a Sling / Baby Carrier
I couldn’t live without my slings. We have two: a Hana Baby Wrap and an Ergobaby 360 carrier (more manly for Mr E). This is my one must have item that I would recommend to any new parent. It will allow you to drink coffee (probably cold) whilst holding baby, eat food (probably cold) whilst holding baby and chase after an errant toddler (probably hyper) while holding baby. Both my little ones wanted to be held ALL the time as newborns so having a baby carrier/sling was and is a lifesaver.
3. Always Order your coffee in a take-out cup
Even if you are planning on sitting down to enjoy your Cappuccino in the coffee shop.
Newborns and toddlers decrease the likelihood of that happening and increase the likelihood of you having to make a sharpish exit mid meltdown.
At least this way you get to take your coffee with you.
4. Get a Swing
This is my number two survival item. We have a Graco Baby Swing that we picked up from ToysRUs. Baby Gee loves to be rocked and held and while I do use the sling a lot, it can get tiring carrying her about all day. I found that the baby swing calms her and gives me a chance to; have a shower, wrestle my toddler Fee into her clothes and of course write blog posts 🙂
5. Minimise the stress of getting them dressed
If you are heading out for the day with both toddler and the baby, I would recommend getting baby ready first in the morning, then pop them in the sling/swing and get toddler ready and dressed second. Toddlers are not very patient creatures and often don’t like waiting around while you faff about with baby.
6. CBeebies is your friend
Don’t feel bad about using Kids TV. Your toddler won’t be permanently harmed if they watch a bit more TV than usual for a couple of months. Plus it’s amazing what you can get done during a 10 minute episode of Peppa Pig…
7. Look After Yourself
Take vitamins. Eat as well as you can. Sleep whenever you can. Go to the hairdresser (still working on that one myself). You can easily spend your whole time worrying about and looking after your newborn and toddler but if you don’t look after yourself you will burn out.
8. Don’t Stress the Mess
Enjoy the moment and forget the housework. Don’t worry if the dishes don’t get done or the house is a mess. Enjoy spending time with your newborn. You wont get this time back. Before long they will be up and running about and you will long for the days when you could just snuggle on the sofa together snoozing and watching daytime TV. That is, until a hyperactive toddler comes barging in and jumps on you both. Argh.
If you have any useful tips for life with a newborn plus toddler please add them in the comments below. And if you are reading this at 3am with glazed eyes and a newborn in your arms, you are not alone! I hope these tips make your life easier and I wish you lots of sleep…zzz.
