Are you preparing for the arrival of your little bouncing bundle of joy? You have probably read a lot of guides and articles online about what you can expect. However, there’s a lot that you won’t read about online. Here are some things that you need to be aware of that you might not expect after you give birth and welcome your newborn to the world.
New Parent Memory Trouble
It’s quite common for you to notice memory lapses. This can occur throughout the pregnancy and get worse once your pregnancy has been and gone. Indeed, you might find that you struggle to remember everything that you need to take with you to the hospital just as you are going into labour. That’s why you should make sure that you take a look at a must have hospital bag checklist. This will tell you everything that you need to take with you, both big and small. It will also ensure that your partner doesn’t have to take multiple trips back and forth to the hospital.
While preparing the items on the hospital bag checklist, you can also prepare some things that will be used after the baby is born. After buying things, you can sort them by usages or categories, such as clothes, toys, etc. It’s best to use custom die cut stickers to stick the personalised identification marks on your locker grid at home. If you’re making any clothes, you could also consider using a Dutch label shop to personalise them and make them perfect for your baby. This makes it easier to find and clean up later, clear at a glance, and not easy to forget. This method is best for memory lapses parents who have just given birth.
Some new moms are worried about issues with their memory, but it’s nothing to panic about. It’s incredibly common and it will get better as time goes on. Issues in memory are thought to be caused due to changes in hormones throughout your body when you are pregnant. It could also be due to the level of stress that you are under throughout this experience.
Severe Sleepless Nights
You have probably heard about issues with lack of sleep when you have a newborn, but it can be far worse than you imagine. Sleep issues can start as soon as your little one is born. It determines how restless your baby is and this can be a luck of the draw. Some babies will sleep peacefully through the night while others will scream for attention. It’s important to note that as a mom, you don’t have to respond to every cry, but you also can’t ignore your little one completely. Instead, you’ll learn as a parent which cries you can let slide and which you need to go for. Babies have different cries whether they are hungry, cold, or just want attention. This isn’t a fallacy, it’s been shown through research.
So, how do you deal with the issue of sleep? Well, the general consensus is that you should be sleeping whenever your little one is asleep. This means that you could need to deal with intervals of sleep that only last a couple of hours. However, some is always going to be better than none and a few hours can go a long way to giving you the energy that you need. A lot of moms are often worried about falling asleep because of issues such as cot death. It’s true that if your baby is choking in the night, you might need to help them. However, the pregnant brain is a remarkable thing. Once you give birth, your hearing senses are heightened to ensure that you do wake up if your little one makes the slightest noise. They just need to be close to you.
Pain And A Long Recovery
A common misconception, often heightened by representations of pregnancy and birth in the media is that once you deliver the baby, your problems with pain are over. Unfortunately, this is not the case and there are a few painful issues that you will need to deal with.
First, it’s possible that you tore during natural birth. If that’s the case, then this will need to be stitched up and lead to a short recovery time. If you have a C-section the pain can be more severe and last at least a few weeks. You might also struggle to lay down properly which can again lead to issues with sleep. If you have a c-section, it’s also going to be important that you don’t overstrain yourself. In other words, you need to make sure that you have the right support and that you are getting the rest you need, even when you are looking after your baby.
A Lot Of Sick
Babies throw up a lot, particularly during the first few weeks. While this isn’t true for all babies, it is a problem that certain moms can face. You need to make sure that you have at least a few spare changes of clothes for you and your little one lying around. It’s common for moms to be worried about the amount of sick that their baby is bringing up. However, there can be a variety of different reasons for this issue.
For instance, you might find that your baby throws up a lot if they are drinking too quickly. It’s also possible that they have a lot of trapped wind. This is why you need to make sure that you are burping your baby after every feed until you actively hear them give a little burp. It can take quite some time to burp your baby effectively. You can also get bottles that are effective at helping ensure that there isn’t an issue with wind. These are designed to stop the baby from taking in air when they are sucking if you are not breastfeeding.
Baby Blues
Finally, you could find that you experience the baby blues. These can be short or long periods of sadness and they are often incredibly difficult to deal with. The reason for this is that the feelings of sadness are often tied to birth and your baby themselves. You start to question whether you are a bad mother and if you can cope with being a new mom. There’s no strict way to deal with this issue. However, you might want to consider exploring therapy options. It can help to speak to someone, even if it’s just someone you know. One thing that you should never do is keep these feelings bottled up inside as they will often grow out of control.
We hope this helps you understand some of the key things that you might not expect throughout the first weeks after you give birth.