Simple 7 tips : Level 1 Settling with newborn(0 to 3 months)

“Congratulations on you new born baby who brings loads of joy and smiles to the family.” They also bring sleepless nights and hectic schedule to the family. A study shows that the parent of a new born loses 150 hours of sleep in first 2 months !

But wait! Don’t you think it’s natural way of baby’s settling phase ? While the tiny bundle of joy cannot change her patterns, let the brainy adults choose to handle this phase smart and peaceful.

Here are few tips that I write out of experience from me and my family :

1. Don’t force to sleep : Few mothers pat the baby for hours trying to make the baby sleep who is not willing to sleep. The baby will be playing , crying , pleading not to force her to sleep . So let the baby choose to announce about the sleep time. Rather spending one hour cradling her, spend that time playing with your little one , once she is tired, she goes to sleep with a simple pat.
2. Know ur baby’s temperature : Keeping the baby warm is a general advice from doctor coz the little one has grown inside a pool of warm water inside mommy’s belly. However, we need to look at  a. outside climate, b. room temp and c. baby’s comfort zone while we maintain clothing. My son (born in nov) loves to be in thinner clothes where as my daughter (born in Oct) loves to be wrapped and cuddled warm . So it’s important to understand the baby’s comfort in dressing her , this helps giving her nice naptime with less crankiness
3. Force to sleep : While we need not force the baby to sleep, we must take one slot to force ourselves to sleep while the baby sleeps. This is not just for the mommy but also applies to whoever takes care of baby especially during nights , make sure you take rest while the baby takes rest. It’s ok for ur household work to wait a bit.. But remember , only when u sleep and rest, u will get the energy to coupe up with little one’s wake up times 🙂 The baby never gets cranky, if we dont take enough rest and we dont plan things properly, we get cranky and blame it on the baby ! My nap time (along with baby) is 12 to 2 PM and thats when mobiles will be on silent and calling bells switched off. When I miss this even one day, I go crazy during the nights when she is awake.
4. Feed with love: Focus on baby when you nurse her , look into the little one’s eyes, talk to the baby, sing. It would be best if u r alone during feeding time and a big no to mobile phone while u feed your baby. Feeding is an art of bonding between mother and child. 
   
5. Make responsibilities fun : diaper changing, burping baby, dressing up, giving bath, putting baby to sleep – we have only the above list of responsibilities for 0to 3 months however these repeat throughout the day. So why not add some ‘feel good’ elements ?  While dressing up, Make the sibling apply moisturiser to baby’s feet. Enjoy dressing up ur baby with diff styles each day . Leave the burp time to daddy’s cuddle time. Let the grandma become cuckoo singing for the baby. While you can’t keep the place clean always, there is a short-cut to it. Have small boxes and place the clothes, toys and misc stuff into the box to keep place clean.
6. Mother’s diet : Whatever goes into ur stomach goes to baby’s stomach . So prefer to eat healthy food exclusively. Watch out if ur little one gets uncomfortable when u eat a particular food or a diff spice level. Make sure u have plenty of fluids too. Eating mild food is not a big sacrifice, its just for 6 months to 1 year and that makes the biggest health investment for your child in future. So, enjoy the feeding mom’s diet.
7. Avoid stress :  Just like how mother’s food matters to the kid, mother’s moods also reflects on baby’s moods. So avoid things and thoughts that put u to stress (which is not easy). Do get little time to manage ur passion, it relaxes u. I can’t pursue my dancing passion but I can spend few mins each day to blog an article or write a poem and I carry that energy throughout the day to keep me happy 🙂 it can be reading a page / drawing a cartoon : have a small ‘do’able passion for few mins.

These are the simple seven tips I have experienced (of course with my trial and error) . Feel free to add your tips too, let the level 1 settling period for your little one ( 0 to 3 months) be of more fun and less tiredness !

Happy Parenting !