Lately, I've been thinking about what strategies I have learned to not only survive the day, but to thrive in it and enjoy it.
Newborn stage:
- If you have an incredibly fussy newborn like I did, it is always good to find ways to alleviate their distress while keeping your calm. Going outside worked far more wonders than all the shushing and rocking that the books encouraged.
-Use an infant bouncy seat in the bathroom in order to get a shower and keep baby close.
-Relax. This too shall pass.
-Write down your baby's eating and sleeping times to see if any patterns develop and try to adhere to a flexible schedule.
-Read blogs and check email while nursing. Rent or borrow seasons of your favorite T.V shows if you have a baby that takes a long time to nurse.
-If the baby's noises, grunts, or even presence is keeping you awake, move them to the other room and keep the doors open. You'll hear them when they wake, but get some sleep in between.
Baby (not mobile) stage:
-Exersaucer, Exersaucer, Exersaucer!
-Put the exersaucer in front of a full length mirror and let your baby "talk" to themselves
-To keep baby entertained during family dinnertime, put them in a Bumbo seat in the middle of the table.
-Baby wraps are great for wearing baby while doing activities.
-Getting them in a more consistent routine will make everyone more than happy.
Baby (crawling):
-Set up safe play areas so that they can explore while you get things done.
-Put fun toys on the lowest bookshelf for baby to discover.
Toddler stage:
-Keep things interesting by changing activities often.
-Have them play only in their room for a short time then move to other actvities.
-Keep different toys in every room of the house.
-Go on walks...often.
-Get lunch and dinner ready before they wake from naps or start becoming fussy.
-Use teething biscuits as a distraction while preparing dinner if you didn't get it done early enough. :)
-Give them plenty of time to play alone and then spend some intentional time reading or playing with them.
-Teach your child what is off limits and stay consistent so that you won't have to keep getting them out of things...
-Always clean the kitchen after each meal so that it doesn't get too overwhelming by the end of the day.
-Use naptime as time to refresh yourself and also get chores done.
-Let them play in their crib after waking.
-Interact with them while you do chores and let them help with simple tasks.
-Take your time and remember that everything with a toddler is much slower.
this is a great list, krista! isn't the the learning curve of motherhood crazy fascinating?
ReplyDeletegreg and brittney taylor are actually some of our best friends. we all worked at camp together and now they are having a baby so we get together a lot to talk baby stuff :). how do you know him??