Returning home with a newborn baby

• Learning to eat. 

• Learning to sleep through the night. 

• Managing a multitude of different and unfamiliar stimuli. 

• Developing a sense of trust. 

• Coping with rapid physical and mental development. 

• Learning everything about your baby, this “perfect” stranger who doesn’t come with a user manual. Just when you think you’ve figured them out, they change all over again. 

• Re-negotiating your entire life up until now. 

• Getting sleep. 

• Learning to feed the baby correctly. 

• Learning to live comfortably with the baby. 

• Sleeping as much as possible. 

• Relearning to relax and enjoy small moments throughout the day. 

• Gaining the confidence that you are the best parent for your baby. 

• “Wear” your baby. A baby carrier or sling will be a lifesaver at home. The benefit is twofold. The baby feels secure, and you have free hands to do anything else. 

• Breastfeed as much as you can and want. It is effective to breastfeed according to the baby’s demand and need, rather than on a strict schedule. Studies have shown that breastfed infants cry less and benefit from the mother’s antibodies. 

• Sleep whenever and wherever you can. Co-sleeping can be a lifesaver if it suits your family. If the baby is the only child in the family, it’s easier to sleep whenever they sleep. If there are other children, better time management is needed to ensure quality time with the older siblings. 

• Try to enable the baby’s first year be spent mostly with the mom and dad. Babies need to spend more time with their parents to gain confidence, rather than with another caregiver or grandparents. 

• Change your daily priorities for your well-being. The house doesn’t need to be spotless, and the clothes don’t need to be perfectly ironed. What matters is that you get enough sleep, eat well, and manage to enjoy a warm bath. 

• If you’re not working right now and spend a lot of time alone at home with the baby, don’t let yourself become isolated. Take a walk every day with that perfect, messy hair look, and why not, strike up a conversation at the playground with other moms with strollers or talk on the phone for a bit with a friend or a colleague. 

The change is significant, but the moments with your newborn are magical and will pass quickly as the newborn transitions into a baby and subsequently a toddler.