What I have Learned (So Far) as a Mom

Welcome all of the new readers to my blog. (I hope that you are actually reading instead of just trying to win the photo session. Either way, I will take you.)

Here is what I have learned as a Mom (so far):

* Do not leave your bed for the first 3 day except to use the bathroom and maybe a shower. Dad can bring you food and anything else that you need. You need this time to relax and bond with the baby.
* Nursing has been one of the BEST things that I have done. The quiet moments that I have shared with my son while he has been nursing are beyond description.
* Don't give up breastfeeding if it gets hard. Find a good Lactation Consultant in your area and keep working on it.
* Snap bibs rock!!! Velcro bibs will wake a sleeping child.
* Make sure that you find a late night TV channel that you can watch during the many (many) early (early) feedings.
* Request blank cotton bibs over cute-sy ones. The cute-sy are just for show. They don’t absorb very much. You will need the absorbency unless you child has a lot of clothes that you don't mind changing every 15-45 minutes.
* Make sure that you register for items that are larger than newborn and 0-3 months. The child will grow out of them very quickly.
* Purchase a point-and-shoot camera and use it to document as much of the first year as possible.
* Take a picture of the child in every outfit that they were given. Provide those photos to the person that gave you the outfit. They spent good money on the item and are great to include in the thank you note.
* Buy The Happiest Baby on the Block. Calm crying babies in minutes or less with this new approach. The 5 S’s are great and helped us with our son during the first 3 months of his life.
* Learn how to swaddle. Babies need the comfort of being bound tightly to remind them of the womb.
* Invest in Halo Sleep Sacks to reduce SIDS. Halo has sleep sacks that swaddle.
* Purchase Baby Bargains. It has reviews of a lot of baby items and will allow you to purchase quality items and skip the ones that aren't as necessary.
* Wiper warmers are actually nice for small babies. The cold wipes made our son jump and cry. We are going to purchase cloth wipes soon and make our own solution. Cheaper in the long run and better for the environment.
* Invest in the up-front cost of cloth diapers. In the long run, it will cost you less and you will be helping save the landfill from non-biodegradable disposable diapers. We use SmartiPants that will last our son through potty training.
* Make your own baby food. It doesn't take long and you know exactly what you are feeding your child. I didn't want preservatives in his food. A great website is Wholesome Baby Food. You can then move to Wholesome Toddler Food when the child is a little older and can handle more types, and larger pieces, of food.
* Don’t be afraid to ask for help. We all want to be Mrs. Super Mom and do it all, but we can’t.
* Realize that you CAN survive on less than 5 hours sleep for months at a time.
* Realized that I could commit murder if my husband wouldn’t do what I ask, immediately when I ask for it.
* That I had that many tears in my body. I cried at the small things, sweet things, scary things, and sometimes I didn’t know why.
* Your child will not give you any warning on when they will spit up. It just comes out. It could be a little; it could be everything that he/she has eaten for the last 3 days.
* Make sure that you have several changes of comfy clothes in different places in the house. We are usually in the family room or the loft. I make sure that I have 2 extra shirts and one extra pair of workout pants in each of those rooms. My son has the uncanny ability to spit up on a shirt that I just changed into after spitting up on that one, too.
* Make sure that you have several changes of clothes for your child, too.
* Have a changing pad, diaper supplies and clean baby clothes on every level of the house. You don’t want to always have to go to a different floor to change a diaper or an outfit.
* Sanitize toys often. Wash, wipe or rinse toys with water then soak in a solution of 3/4 cup of bleach per gallon of water for 5 minutes. Rinse, then let air dry overnight in the sink. I have also started keeping a spray bottle of that solution handy for immediate sanitizing opportunities.

There are 7,436,936 other thing that I have learned that are not on the front of my mind. As they do come to me, I will mention those.


What have you learned?