Your baby has arrived. Now what? Five tips for New Moms
When I was a new or newer mom I searched and searched for a blog mama who would give me an exact how to list. I had no idea what I was doing. I kept thinking, someone tell me what to do and when and I’ll do it!
Advice I wish I had been given in those early days
The truth is we all have so many varying circumstances in our lives that no one individual mama could give the perfect “how to” advice for the rest of us. However, we can share ideas with one another. I highly encourage each of you to ask the Lord to show you what will work specifically for your situation and your family. I was once skeptical about how well that would work, but He is faithful and He has given us the Holy Spirit to guide us. When I started praying specifically for His guidance, everything changed for the better.
1. Simplify
I didn’t realize it at the time but a huge part of the problem for me back then is that I had way too much stuff to manage. You will hear me say this a lot here because it has been life changing for me. Minimize, minimize, minimize! Use dishes that are easy to clean and care for (Hello Corelle) or in desperate times of exhaustion use paper. Have far less toys, clothes, hobby supplies, and digitize cards, letters and physical pictures. Check out Dawn from The Minimal Mom on YouTube. She has inspired me so much!
2. Get Rest Whenever You Can
Wake up when baby wakes up, sleep when baby sleeps. This gets trickier when you have a baby and a toddler. My best advice there is try to get your toddler to nap during one of your babies naps. I know this can be challenging as babies’ nap times often change.
I tried to take a nap when my husband came home or when my mom came over for a bit. My husband would always let me sleep in on his day off to try to catch up a little. My hubby is a night owl so oftentimes he would keep the baby with him when I went to bed. I would nurse the baby, and go to sleep. Two or three hours later my hubby would bring the baby in to nurse again. Then we would all go to sleep. My arms reach co-sleeper was a life saver for nursing through the nights. This also helped my babies feel like they were in bed with me.
3. Nourish Your Soul
Use nursing times or cleaning times to listen to a bit of an audiobook or read on the kindle. For your quiet times try a Bible listening app, listen to sermons or podcasts. These are things I did that helped me to feel mentored or nourished spiritually. Some of my favorites are Sally Clarkson, Read Aloud Revival, and Mama Bear Apologetics. I love listening to scripture on my Dwell Bible App. However, if you don’t want to pay for Dwell I used to use the Bible.is app and loved it too. Some of my favorite Pastors to listen to are Tony Evans, Matt Chandler, John Piper, Max Lucado.
4. Get Out for a Daily Stroll
Get a good stroller and take a daily walk in your favorite neighborhood, park or country road. This is great with a friend or another family member. I encourage walking though even if it’s just you and baby. Just make sure its a safe area!
5. Date Your Spouse
Now this is one that my Grandma advised me on. When we had our first two children we were surrounded by family that could babysit. I nursed on demand which for my firstborn was every two hours. Still my mom or aunt would watch her long enough for the hubby and I to have a coffee, dinner or movie date. We did enter seasons when we didn’t have babysitters nearby or couldn’t afford one. You can still have a date. Once the kids go to bed dress up nice for each other, order in and have dinner or a movie night at home. We lived very rural so we couldn’t get delivery but one of us could go to town and get a to go order and bring it home. If you can’t afford to get food from a restaurant one of you can cook a nice meal or desert.
To learn more about Salt and Light Homemaking go here.