Me Time
NEW MOM SURVIVAL TIPS
By S. Jhoanna Robledo
When you bring home a newborn, you not only receive a giant outpouring
of love from well-meaning friends and family, you're also deluged with
lots of advice on how to manage things. You've probably heard a few of
them -- sleep when the baby sleeps, establish visiting hours -- dozens
of times. And while this is good advice, we wanted to hear some more
tips from moms about what really helped make the first weeks more
manageable. Here's what they said:
- Stock up on nutritious meals These days, most grocery stores
offer an assortment of wholesome frozen or prepared food items, like
soups, baked chickens, and light gourmet meals. So load up before your
due date or send someone out to pick up a last-minute meal once the
baby is born. "We bought lots of finger foods like chicken nuggets and
veggies that I could eat while nursing or holding the babies," says
Stacy Lu, a mother of two in Allendale, New Jersey. If you love to
cook, whip up larger-than-usual batches of food before your due date
and freeze them. If you'd rather get take-out, start amassing menus
from local restaurants that will deliver affordable, healthy fare
before you give birth.
- Send out an SOS "I accepted any help offered and asked
for it when I felt overwhelmed," says Marcia Smith, a New York City
mother of two. To make things even easier, Smith suggests enlisting a
friend to recruit your helpers if you need assistance; this way, you
don't have to make loads of phone calls and deal with the logistics. If
possible, schedule visitors ready to lend a hand -- ones who'll pick up
groceries or fold a load of laundry -- before you give birth.
- Stash bottled water around the house Elizabeth Brice, a
Pleasanton, California mother of two knew she'd need to drink lots of
water while nursing, but wanted to minimize trips to the refrigerator.
"I didn't want to get settled to breastfeed and then have to get up
again when I got thirsty," she says. So she strategically placed
bottles anywhere she expected to be feeding: next to the sofa, in the
baby's room, on her nightstand. Every few days, she or her husband
replenished the supply.
- Be a groupie The conjoined feelings of new-mom glee and
misery both love company, so seek out others in the same boat. Ask your
doctor or midwife for suggestions on finding a mother's group, or set
up a reunion among parents in your birthing class. "Support from other
people in similar situations is really helpful when you're tired and
new at the baby experience," says Olive Thaler, a San Francisco mother
of one.
- Channel your inner couch potato "I was up all hours
giving my son his bottle," says Dawn Ham-Kucharski, a Canton, Michigan
mother of one. "I was always tired and after a while, being up when
everyone else was asleep got boring, too." To make the night shift more
bearable, she rented silly slapstick movies and popped them into the
VCR while she fed the baby. Comedies were especially suited for the
job, Ham-Kucharski says, because they required little concentration and
made her laugh through the fatigue.
- Indulge yourself Therapists routinely advise clients to
pamper themselves when they're going through a hard time. Caring for a
new baby certainly qualifies as a challenge, so reward yourself
periodically. You don't have to break the bank by going on a daily
shopping spree, but splurging on something small -- a new tube of
lipstick or a gossip magazine to flip through at feeding time -- can
give you a boost when you need it. "I bought myself snakeskin boots to
make myself feel better in those early postpartum days when all my
clothes just didn't fit and I felt exhausted all the time," says Linda
Murray, a San Francisco mother of one.
- Hire professionals In the first month or two, your baby
should be your only major responsibility. It takes time, after all, to
get the hang of being a mom. That may mean taking your laundry to the
cleaners, hiring a gardener to tend to your back yard, or depending on
a cleaning service to scrub the toilets, even if it feels decadent. "We
just put aside extra money to pay for housekeeping for at least a month
or two," says Mollee Olenick, an Irvine, California mother of one. "It
was worth it not having to worry about cleaning the house on top of
everything else, too."
- Give in to tears If you're having a particularly
difficult day and you've tried everything else, cry it out.
Ham-Kucharski, remembers being unable to pacify her son and says it
helped to wail while he did, too. "It didn't quiet him down, but at
least I felt better afterwards," she says.
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About The Author
S. Jhoanna Robledo is a New York City freelance journalist and
mother of two. She frequently writes about parenting, women's health
and fitness, and children's issues.
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