Becoming parents for the first time is easily one of the most exciting, happy and nerve-wracking times of your life. While you are delighted, you also know that it will include a number of significant life changes; life as you know it will never be the same.
Whether your baby will be born in the next few months or you are already taking care of your brand-new infant—either way, congratulations!—there are a number of tips that will help you all to have the safest and happiest experience possible as a new family.
Say “Yes” to Help
For centuries, new parents had plenty of help caring for their newborns from extended family that lived in their village or town. Now, chances are good that grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins all live hundreds of miles away. You need and deserve all the help you can get to get through the first few months of parenthood and beyond. If friends and family offer to bring you meals, do your dishes, assist with laundry or rock your baby so you can grab a quick nap, by all means take them up on their offers.
Protect Your Good Name
During the course of your prenatal care, you probably had a number of appointments with your OB/GYN as well as ultrasounds, visits with midwives, prescriptions for prenatal vitamins and birthing classes. What all of these things have in common is that they all required you to fill out paperwork with your name, address, insurance information and other sensitive data. To help reduce your risk for identity theft, should there by some type of security breach in any of the aforementioned places, it is prudent to invest in an identity theft protection program. For example, LifeLock will continually monitor your personal information and alert you about any problems. And since parenting is also tough on the budget with all of those packs of diapers and the avalanche of baby gear, you’ll be pleased to know you can access a LifeLock coupon right on the website that will give you a discount of up to 30 percent off your first year of service.
Sleep When the Baby Sleeps—Well, Most of the Time
Many people will tell you to sleep whenever the baby sleeps. But if you are between houseguests, your BFF is not coming over until tomorrow and the pile of dishes is driving you crazy, give yourself permission to take 10 minutes to load the dishwasher prior to hitting the hay. Yes, you need sleep and snoozing when your baby naps is great advice. But you also want to feel on top of things and if you will be less stressed after taking care of a quick chore first, that’s fine.
Adjust Your Household Expectations
Readjusting your expectations for what constitutes a clean home will really help to save your sanity, especially when your baby is really young. Some days you will stay on top of things and the house will look pretty good and other days you’ll be rocking a fussy baby all day and there will be piles of laundry and toys everywhere—and that’s okay. Remind yourself that your home post-baby is a different, and much better place, and taking care of your youngest family member’s immediate needs will often take priority over cleaning up.
Remember to Have Fun
Sometimes when babies are brand new it feels like your infant is attached to you 24/7. It’s easy to feel all-consumed by caring for another person. If you feel stressed or overwhelmed, go out for a drive with your sweetie and your precious baby in the car seat, watch a funny show on TV, call or text some friends, hire a sitter so you can grab a quick bite for lunch or take your pooch for a walk with your baby in the stroller. Yes, taking care of a little one is a full-time job but it’s important to take care of your needs too, and doing something fun each day will really help.
Enjoy This Time of Life—It Goes So Fast
It may be hard to believe, but before you know it, your infant will be an energetic and chatty toddler. The early days of parenthood can be challenging but they do go by quickly, so do what you can to get the help and extra sleep you need while protecting your good name and taking the time for some fun activities.
