I cannot believe that our Little Guy has been with us for a week already! It has been a whirlwind since he was born. Since he is jaundice, we’ve been making daily trips to the lab to check his bilirubin levels. Thankfully the last test showed his levels coming down, so hopefully we’ll be done with daily doctor trips!
This is the 7th newborn phase I’ve gone through and you’d think I’d have some great advice to share— but I don’t. As I think back to my other children’s first days, I realize that each one of them was different. Each newborn phase depended on various variables such as my delivery recovery, how well nursing was going, the ages of my other children at home, and my help support. I’ve bounced back great after several of my children’s births, and struggled for months with others. Thankfully with Little Guy’s delivery, things went very well and physically, I’m doing great. So I feel like I am able to tackle a few things and start working on our new normal. For this newborn phase I have three priorities:
1. Sleep
2. Nursing
3. Building Routines
Sleep:
All the motherhood advice books say to sleep when your baby is sleeping. I could never figure out how to do that if I also have to take care of other kids. If you are a mom with other young kids, it is hard to find time to rest during your day. I find that having quiet time at some point in the day is a necessity. Even if I can’t sleep, I can take time to regroup. If your younger kids nap, try to squeeze in a nap with them. I have been know to resort to DVD’s too. We all pile on the couch and “watch” a movie (they watch, I sleep.) If you have help, try to take a nap when help is around. Right now I take a nap after dinner when dad is home from work. That way I can handle all the night-time feedings. I have learned that if I feel rested (yes I know that sounds impossible with a newborn) I handle everything much better. I am calmer, less emotional, and have a better grip on things.
Nursing:
You would think that by the 7th kid I would have nursing down to a science. I don’t. In fact, nursing does not come easily for me! It takes a lot of work, stress, and tears. I tend to struggle with correct latching and/or thrush. With my little guy’s delivery, I was given one round of antibiotics due to Group B Strep. So now I have my nursing arsenal to try to build back my gut flora and my little guy’s gut flora, and hopefully head off any thrush infections. I am taking probiotics, eating yogurt, and drinking kefir. I also take grapefruit seed extract, Vit. D, and use essential oils to help calm myself before nursing.
Building Routines:
Since I do have other children, I find that in order to cut down the chaos, I need to start building new routines right away. Right now I’m focusing on bedtime and morning routines. With the holidays falling around my due date, we kind of let things slide. We took a much needed break. Now I need things to be a little more structured. I need the kids to be in bed at a certain time. I need them to know what they need to tackle when they wake up in the morning. So we have established a new house blessing chart (aka chores) and bedtime routines.
Since we also homeschool, we are also starting back with some school. My older kids have independent work and my younger kids will be working on a few things too. I keep it easy for me though. Most of the schoolwork can be taught with me sitting on the couch nursing or with the help of an older child. We will only do 1-2 subjects a day for awhile. My older kids will use this time to pursue electives and interest-driven studies along with a couple core classes that don’t require much assistance from me.
Take Time to Enjoy the Newborn Phase:
This time passes quickly! It really does. I want to soak in those sweet newborn baby moments– like how he holds my hand when he nurses, or how he scrunches up his little body in the crook of my arm. At night when he’s up, I want to enjoy the one-on-one time by praying over him. I’m not going to feel guilty about staying in my pj’s for most (or all) day (umm, I can’t say that ever made me feel guilty–lol!) I plan on taking it easy and slowly over the next few weeks.
Do you have any newborn phase tips to share?
Maureen, congratulations! Him’s a sweetie. I hate the jaundice and everything that comes with it (except the baby). Glad you’re getting out of that stage now so you can enjoy him without that silly light attached. It makes for cute pictures, but not so great for cuddling.
Congratulations!!! The first weeks with a new baby are amazing! (But exhausting!) We are looking forward to the arrival of #4 in May. Good timing for us to take summer break! Best wishes!
Awwww – such a cute picture of your daughter and your new son! Enjoy every minute of it.
Congrats! I also have an (almost) week old newborn. Homeschool does not go well for me when I am tired or stressed (like by the fact that my father-in-law was remodeling my kitchen while I was at the hospital and isn’t done yet, so the kitchen is a disaster.) So what is helping us is that instead of taking 2 weeks off for Christmas, we made 7 of those “vacation” days into school days. So now we are taking our vacation days right now. The kids are watching a lot of movies while I nap and I don’t feel the least bit guilty! When we do start back with school, we are going to ease into it and spend some of our time watching the Magic School Bus and other educational videos from the library.
What a cutie! Congratulations!
It’s amazing how much transitioning takes place with each new little one! The first week with all of mine was filled with joy, yet a complete blurr at the same time! I love the pictures of sibling love
You gotta just hang in there as you know. I have 6 and of all the stages (and I’ve been through all stages thru grandchildren) I found the infant years and lack of sleep the hardes
Now I need some baby cuddles! Congratulations! He is adorable.
I agree 100% with the movie and a nap. Sleep is very important to me if I want to be able to act human.
It’s nice to hear from another mom who doesn’t have that ‘natural’ experience breastfeeding. I breastfed all my children but hated just about every minute of it. It was NEVER easy for no matter how many Le Leche ladies come over to tell me it should be. I had milk and all but it was never the maternal experience I envisioned. It was rough. I muddled through but appreciate the women who can speak candidly about it. It’s nice to know I’m not alone.
Kristen,
I bf because it is good for my baby, but I can’t say I enjoy it. It has been a struggle for me! With my first I gave up because it was so mentally and physically exhausting. I’ve managed to stick it out w/ the others— and I”m glad– but it is hard work–lol!
You are such a great mama! And juggling so many needs. (bf did not come naturally for me either. I admire how you are doing your best for your little guy) Your super mama cape is growing larger with love. Many, happy congratulations!!
Congrats on your new little man! He is adorable. Mine all had jaundice too, and I think that makes those first recovery weeks so much harder. Instead of going to the lab for yet another checkup, I just wanted to stay at home and figure out the nursing thing!
Hopefully the latch is going better now since he’s a couple of weeks old, but if not, you may want to do a search and watch a video or two on “baby-led breastfeeding.” It’s a technique that REALLY helps with getting a proper latch in those first couple of weeks while you’re figuring things out with your new baby. I wish I would have known about it with my older kids, because it makes a huge difference. Of course, BFing gets easier the more you do it, and it sounds like you’ve got plenty of experience, but I just thought I’d share in case you’re still struggling.
Thanks for sharing! We are still working on the latch. Some days it is great–other days not so much. Now that he is getting more alert, nursing is going better. He would get sleepy and switch latch hold while nursing. I’ll have to look into baby-led breastfeeding.
Hi Mo, I’m passing this on to Rebecca. She’s due June 26th. She has a 33 month old son who is a real handful. I want to help with essential oils. Please give me a hint on which ones to use for calming. That’s a real issue for her. Thanks. I love this blog.
And what are you using the grapefruit seed extract for? We use it for irregular heart beat.
I use grapefruit seed extract to help combat thrush/candida.
Peace & Calming is one of the oils to use. I’ll send you an email with more information.