so unless you are one of those alternate-universe-dwelling creatures from "i didnt know i was pregnant," you have a good 8 months to plan for and prepare for this tiny incoming (or outgoing, as it were) human to fall (haha, you wish) into your lap.
.
i read and read and read. jesse and i took a 3 hour class weekly for 15 weeks leading up to judah's birth. i even went so far as to ask my mom advice!
.
despite being pretty intelligent people with decent expectation-management strategies and a lot of book-knowledge on babies, our first night home from the hospital had me SOBBING in bed between an utterly flummoxed and sleep-deprived jesse and the tiny wailing nugget that was judah.
judah at 3 days old. so cute...and yet so capable of destroying us.
i think this feeling of being utterly clueless is a rite of passage for new parents. no article, list or product can save or prepare you for when it's your baby, your life, your sanity, your perineum all seemingly falling apart around you.
a lot of our confusion could have been avoided because it stemmed from having TOO MANY options. "do we put him in the swing, the bouncer, the moses basket, the sling?!?!" having so much information at hand and, for most first time moms blessed/cursed with many baby showers and an empty registry, so many things can make you crazy.
it wasnt until we had figured judah out and were expecting layla that i started to realize that we as a species (humans, that is) have survived for thousands of years (whether that is 5 or 5,000 thousands is a whole 'nother post) without all of these options. i found a peace in the fact that almost all my baby needed to get from single cell to functioning human life form in 9 months was ME, and that the same was pretty much true for the months after birth too.
that being said, there are definitely a few shining all-stars that were the glorious backup dancers in the feature performance of "mommy is all i need." whether i was a mama as a cave woman or a victorian wet nurse, or an empowered hippie mama of 2013, these gems would be getting crazy use in my cave/castle/wigwam(?) if i could get my mitts on them.
the rash-fighting heroes over at Boudreax's Butt Paste have asked me to put together a few of my go-to "secrets" or tips for new moms...all of which we learned the haaaaaard way. this works out nicely as their tubes of baby-healing goodness were already a part of our starting lineup of must-haves.
the rash-fighting heroes over at Boudreax's Butt Paste have asked me to put together a few of my go-to "secrets" or tips for new moms...all of which we learned the haaaaaard way. this works out nicely as their tubes of baby-healing goodness were already a part of our starting lineup of must-haves.
one caveat: the thing you hear over and over again is "every baby is different." that's totally true. but yall, i have had TWO WHOLE BABIES and these things worked magic on both of them, so, um, i dont know what more we could want, statistically, before declaring these recommendations LAW.
0. MAMA. like i said, this comes first. your boobs, your body, your smell and your intuition. even though you left the hospital and it felt like "are they really just going to LET me take this baby? without a permission slip from my parents?!?!" you are equipped genetically and biologically to care for this baby and to know what's best for it in almost every situation. dont doubt yourself.
1. SWADDLE. your husband is going to feel all awesome when he becomes the champion of origami-ing your newborn into a tight little glow worm of love just as well as the nurses as the hospital did. but youre both going to feel like crazy people when the little thing, despite being grown in anti-gravity fluid and having no muscles to speak of, hulks right out of that blanket like it was wet toilet paper.
skip the receiving blankets, pass on the velcro closure ones and just get the miracle blanket. it looks like a straight-jacket but it's secretly your best friend. because those little arms that you thought were so adorable on the ultrasound are actually out to destroy you. when the baby startles during sleep the arms that are so used to being tightly enclosed in a uterus with flail about, scaring and waking the poor tot up.
we used our first miracle blanket for months with judah and then again with layla until it literally started falling apart. we bought a new one and i made layla one from scratch so that we would never be without one. if we didnt have the swaddler, we didnt have a sleeping baby. simple as that. we held clinics one teddy bears to educate the grandparents and babysitters on how it was done.
lay-lay leaving the nocturnal to the owls.
2. WHITE NOISE same idea. it was really ambient-ly noisy in the womb. blood rushing, heart beating, constant muffled noise from outside. pure silence is not a friend of a sleeping babe (or anyone, really). we are white noise machine addicts. we have owned probably 6 different models of machines and by far the best one is this one by homedics. i dont think they are even sold new anymore, but we got our first one as a hand me down and then snagged up one for layla's room on ebay.
think about how easy it is to fall asleep on an airplane or a train. thats white noise. during dead silence any little noise disrupts your brain. but when there is constant LOUD ambient noise like and engine or an ocean, the little creaks of a house, a car passing, dog barking or adults taking in the living room dont disrupt sleep because the brain isnt startled by them since it is constantly "hearing" the white noise.
we had travel versions of these machines when the kids were in infant carseats that just velcro'd right on.
we use these every night still in both kids' rooms. if we forget to turn them on, the kids are up as soon as jesse and i open a door or speak above a whisper. i will not be held prisoner in my own home. i have earned the right to scream about "project runway" or to have 1.5 glasses of wine and run into the wall while dancing up on jesse without my kids waking up. this is america, dammit.
3. BUTT PASTE. diaper rash. it just plain happens. and it is awful. you've never felt your ovaries clench up in anguish until you've opened a diaper and seen a little nut-pouch or tiny-vaginie bright red and irritated. the horror of the diaper rash monster, "Rashadon" with its electric red laser is perfectly illustrated by Boudreaux's in its attack on Butt City.
thanks to the aforementioned baby showers, we had every possible diaper rash cream conceived by modern science.
in the end (see what i did there?) our favorite has been the boudreaux's. it doesnt have that screaming-loud diaper rash cream odor (which is nice and baby-ish at first but then just smells like PAIN), it goes on so much smoother, softer and in a lighter coat than the old school stuff, and seems to immediately soothe the fire down below for the babies. i also love that it isnt bright white (it's skin tone) and cleans off super easily
when we started getting the kids to sleep through the night (no longer waking up every few hours to eat and change diapers, i would anticipate the burn from the pee being against their skin for so long and swipe on some Boudreaux's in anticipation of impending flames. i love that it prevents and protects against the rash even starting.
when we started getting the kids to sleep through the night (no longer waking up every few hours to eat and change diapers, i would anticipate the burn from the pee being against their skin for so long and swipe on some Boudreaux's in anticipation of impending flames. i love that it prevents and protects against the rash even starting.
the hippie in my loves the all natural version of the butt paste for little flare ups (like the time layla discovered lemonade and peed citric acid for 2 days and had just a little scorch) and then we use the regular or extra strength stuff that has the zinc oxide in it for the really bad cases (like when they are pooping lava during a stomach bug).
with layla hilariously adamant against potty training (she literally will poop one raisin-worth in the potty, bring the potty to us, demand her treat and then proceed to drop the remaining 90% of the deuce in her diaper after assuring us "i duhN!"...little mercenary) we are still well-stocked with the Boudreaux's at our house. we even still use is on judah when he "forget" to tell us he has pooped and doesnt get wiped. a few hours later he will be sporting some wicked skid marks and when he calls "baby rash," and then he gets a dose of the good stuff where it counts.
GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED
BlogHer is giving one of you a $100 VISA GIFTCARD.
Leave a comment with your best diaper rash tips, and read the rest of the rules here:
Sweepstakes Rules:
No duplicate comments.
You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods:
a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post
b) Tweet (public message) about this promotion and/or to share the above video; including exactly the following unique term in your tweet message: "#SweepstakesEntry"; and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post
c) Blog about this promotion and/or the above video, including a disclosure that you are receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post, and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post
d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry.
This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be notified by e-mail. You have 72 hours to get back to me, otherwise a new winner will be selected.
The Official Rules are available here.
This sweepstakes runs from 3/18/13 - 4/15/13
Be sure to visit the Boudreaux's Butt Paste brand page on BlogHer.com where you can read other bloggers’ reviews and find more chances to win!
with layla hilariously adamant against potty training (she literally will poop one raisin-worth in the potty, bring the potty to us, demand her treat and then proceed to drop the remaining 90% of the deuce in her diaper after assuring us "i duhN!"...little mercenary) we are still well-stocked with the Boudreaux's at our house. we even still use is on judah when he "forget" to tell us he has pooped and doesnt get wiped. a few hours later he will be sporting some wicked skid marks and when he calls "baby rash," and then he gets a dose of the good stuff where it counts.
GIVEAWAY NOW CLOSED
at
12:00 PM
