Content

• Steps
• Tips
• Warnings

You have coped with nine months of pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period in the hospital. You are no longer woken up at night by the nurse to take your blood pressure, and you are now at home with your wonderful newborn baby. If you feel a little confused about your new role as a mother, here are some tips on how to stay healthy and happy for both of you.

Steps

1. 1 Don't expect everything to be perfect both from your side and from the side baby. It's more important to let things take their course. All you can do is endure this transition period. Remember that if you manage to feed your baby, change diapers on time and monitor his health, you are already doing a great job.
   • Don't compare yourself to others. For some, after the birth of a child, everything turns out easily and simply, while someone's baby is constantly crying or sick. In addition, it may simply be difficult for you to adjust to your role as a mother. However, any mother tries to do everything in her power.
   • Don't compare yourself to what you were before. The first month after birth is a month of tremendous changes. Your body has changed since childbirth, hormones affect you, and social, emotional and other changes are taking place in your life.
2. 2 Make it easy for yourself and store everything you need in the places where you will use these things.
   • To make feeding the baby more comfortable, place a comfortable chair in the nursery. Place a table nearby where you can place a water bottle, glasses, clock, radio, and any other items you need while feeding.If your partner is feeding the baby during the night, express milk or prepare the formula in advance. In general, try to keep about 10 bottles of formula in stock at all times. You can buy a ready-made mixture if this is easier for you.
   • If you yourself will get up at night, make it comfortable for you. You can even feed your baby without getting up. In this case, put a special crib next to the bed that opens from the side. Stretch out your arms, pick up the baby and feed him lying on his side.
   • If you are bottle feeding, keep all the ingredients in the formula in one place in the kitchen. At night, you will feel too tired to search all the boxes for the right ingredients. Try to put the right amount of dry matter for the mixture into a dry and clean bottle before going to bed, close the lid and place with a couple of bottles of plain water on the bedside table (water should also be measured). Dilute the mixture and feed the baby at night, and wash the bottles in the morning. It is possible to buy ready-to-use diluted formulas for night feeding, but this can cost a tidy sum. If the kitchen is far away (for example, on the first floor, and you sleep on the second), it may be worth buying a mini-fridge and putting it in your room so that you always have a couple of bottles in it.
   • You may have a cut in your perineum, which will require you to wash frequently, and for this you will need special tools. Also, the likelihood of hemorrhoids is not excluded. Stack up all the necessary items in the bathroom to make them easier to use, because the sooner you do everything, the sooner you will return to the child. Keep all the ointments, cold remedies, and anti-inflammatories you need close at hand. It is also helpful to stock up on a syringe.
3. 3 Sleep when the baby sleeps. Do not deprive yourself of sleep, because otherwise you will be too tired to take care of the newborn. Find out how many hours of sleep a day is enough for you, and try to get enough sleep, albeit in fits and starts. Resist the temptation to answer all emails while your baby is sleeping - you need rest too.
   • Place the baby on its back in the crib and be somewhere nearby. There should be no pillows, heavy blankets or toys in the crib. You can put a thin blanket under your child's arms and tuck it in at the bottom. If you decide to tuck your child into your bed, read articles on how to do it right. Below we will tell you what poses you should sleep in.
   • See your doctor if your child sleeps too much (more than 16 hours a day), as this could indicate an infection.
4. 4 Follow the schedule or skip it. Some mothers try to immediately establish a daily routine, others rely on the natural course of events. Whichever you choose, make sure your child is comfortable. The most suitable mode can only be found by trial and error. If you don't have to work, it doesn't really matter when your baby sleeps. Sometimes it's best to let your toddler sleep when he wants to, rather than trying to train him to regimen if he's not ready yet.
   • Try to arrange things in places and keep your home clean. This will make your child less likely to get sick, and you will feel safer and more pleasant to be in a clean tidy space, especially if you also work from home.
   • Help your child distinguish between day and night. Play with it during the day with the curtains open and skip the artificial light late at night. Change clothes at the same time so that the child understands that this one is for sleeping, and this one is for being awake. At night, you can swaddle your baby so that it is comfortable to sleep and so that he wakes up less.
5. 5 Watch for signs of postpartum depression, especially if you've given birth by caesarean section. More than half of all women feel fatigue, sadness and a desire to cry, and also cannot gather and recover from 3-4 days after giving birth due to a sharp decrease in the content of certain hormones in the blood. Don't ignore these symptoms and the resulting sadness or guilt. Talk about your emotional state with someone close to you and do not try to pretend that everything is fine with you if it is really hard for you.

Don't be afraid of your emotions. Some of them will be unpleasant, but that's okay. You adapt to new conditions, and your body produces all possible female hormones around the clock. Within three weeks, your hormones will stabilize and you will feel like you can move on. If after this time you do not feel better, seek help from an understanding specialist.

1. 1 Accept help. If you can afford it, hire a housekeeper to do the cleaning - have her come at least once a week or two. This will help you a lot. Also, do not refuse if family or friends offer you help with cooking or cleaning. Find a nanny for your child if you feel very tired. Consider inviting a doula. If your partner is helping you, thank them for all their efforts. Let him bathe the baby, change diapers, walk with him. A parent who feels appreciated for their efforts in caring for the child will seek to spend more time with the child, and in this situation everyone wins. Let your partner do everything themselves - they will most likely handle a diaper change as well as you! It is very important to share responsibilities, so discuss among yourselves how best to do this.
2. 2 Carry your baby on you at home and outdoors. It is convenient to roll a child in a stroller, but carrying him in a special backpack or sling is also not a bad option, especially when you are preparing food. Go for walks more often - it will be useful for both you and your baby, and a backpack or sling will help you with this. Your baby will feel more comfortable if he / she can feel the warmth of your body all the time.
3. 3 Change your diet gradually. If you ate your entire pregnancy for two, don't think you can easily jump to 1,400 calories a day. It may take several weeks for you to get used to the new diet. Try to have three full, healthy meals a day and provide some flexibility with snacks so your body can get used to it. Start exercising after your doctor tells you to. Sign up for a gym - not only will you get out of the house more often, but also be inspired by the example of young girls in tight clothes. Drink plenty of water and take a quality multivitamin suitable for breastfeeding mothers.
4. 4 Don't give up on communication with others. Some mothers prefer to rest without a child, others try to take it with them everywhere. It's a matter of personal choice. Whatever you decide to do, do not stop communicating with the child's father, close relatives and friends. Get to know moms like you and start participating in their gatherings (you can find them in places where babies are often and online). Limit the number of people who come to visit you, as small children can easily catch the disease from them. Remember that a person is most often contagious even before he has any symptoms of the disease.
5. 5 Know what to expect from your child. Do not be surprised if in the first days of life the child loses weight - this weight will return within 7-10 days. The child usually asks for food every 1.5-2.5 hours, eats enough, takes both breasts with each feed, uses 6-7 cloth or 5 disposable diapers daily and walks 3 or more times a day. Find a pediatrician for regular checkups. The first examination should be carried out on 3-4 days of life, the second - on 14.Ask your doctor any questions you have. Don't miss vaccinations. In the first months of a child's life, you will need to get several vaccinations, but if there are contraindications, they can be abandoned or postponed. Infants still have a weak body, and the immunity of a small child cannot be compared with that of a preschooler.
   • Young children often spit up. There is nothing strange or dangerous about this, but it is important to keep an eye on the baby's weight.
   • The umbilical cord will fall off in the second week of life. Until this happens, do not bathe your child in the bath, but wash him with a sponge. Do not fasten the diaper on your belly to dry out the navel area. If this area gets dirty, wipe the skin with an alcohol solution.
   • If your baby has been circumcised, lubricate the circumcised area with petroleum jelly to prevent the diaper from sticking to the skin.
6. 6 Think about what kind of protection you will use before you start having sex again (but you should only do this when you are ready). Avoid unprotected sex as you can get pregnant again within a few weeks after giving birth. It is recommended to return to sex life no earlier than 6 weeks after childbirth to give time to the sutures to heal and the body to recover. If you plan to breastfeed your baby and use it as the only method of contraception, check the available information on this matter.
7. 7 Have fun with your child. The first days and even weeks will be difficult, and you may forget what a miracle is now in your hands. Even if you get tired and stressed, remember to find joy in every day. Appreciate every minute, even if it is two o'clock in the morning, you are feeding the baby, and everyone is sleeping around. These months will pass very quickly. Believe it or not, someday you will miss them!

Tips

• If you want your partner to help you around the house or with your child, don't criticize how they handle it. It is more important to do something, not to do it right. Just make sure the child is safe.
• When a baby cries, don't take it as personal displeasure with you. Crying is the only way a child communicates with the world, because such small children cannot talk. Learn to understand the baby, and it will be easy for you to determine what he is crying asks. The baby may be hungry, need to spit up, or ask for a diaper change. Babies don't always cry when something is wrong, and some babies cry a lot in the first few months of life. There is no such thing as a good child, and there are no bad children, that is, children who cry just to annoy you.
• Read about how to calm a crying baby.
• Keep your camera close at hand and take one or two pictures of your baby every day. Children grow up very quickly, and you yourself will not notice how you will make a slideshow of children's pictures for graduation at school, and for this you will need a lot of photos.
• The most important tip is to ignore unsolicited advice. If the child and you feel good, then you are doing everything as it should.
• Ask for help and accept it. Being a mom is difficult, but you still have to do laundry, clean, cook, do car maintenance and other things. You will not get a reward if you pull everything on yourself.
• Count on the support of your partner - he will be pleased to help you. After all, this is your common child!
• Depending on the situation and your willingness or unwillingness to return to work, don't be afraid to make plans early. If you want to return to work, consider caring for your child while you are away. If you are staying at home, look for developmental courses for children and start chatting with moms who live nearby.

Warnings

• Feel your breasts and pay attention to even the slightest lumps, as breastfeeding mothers often have clogged milk ducts. If the situation worsens, see a doctor immediately.
• Take postpartum depression seriously. This is a medical problem, not a sign of a bad mother. This condition is treated and you will start to enjoy being a woman and a mom.
• Also see your doctor if your baby's skin turns yellow, as this could be a symptom of jaundice, a condition in which the baby's liver cannot process bilirubin (a byproduct of the breakdown of red blood cells).
• Find out which positions your child can sleep in and tell the people who are helping you. Explain that the child should sleep on his back. If he gets used to sleeping on his back and is then laid on his stomach, he may die from sudden infant death syndrome.
• Call an ambulance if you notice muscle flaccidity and tremors in the body, if the child has a high fever (over 38 degrees), if he sleeps all the time, or has very loose, watery stools.