EVERYONE talks about the newborn baby "bubble".
And while it's undoubtedly one of the most enjoyable and rewarding parts of first-time parenthood, it can also be exhausting and full of anxiety.
Whether you're anxious that your baby isn't feeding enough, isn't sleeping enough or if you have all the equipment you need for your newborn – there are so many things for new parents to worry about.
So paediatric nurse Hannah Love is hoping revealing her "five things you need to know as a first time parent" to Fabulous' Parenting Club will help.
"I’ve always believed that preparing for the baby itself is much more important – the first few weeks involve such a huge adjustment, even in parents with a lot of experience," Hannah explained.
"There is so much information out there it is so hard to filter the good and bad advice, especially with a sleep deprived brain."
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Babies are robust
"If you have seen an experienced midwife in hospital doing
your newborn check then you know they don’t treat a baby like a breakable ornament," Hannah said.
"Often when I see new parents with babies they are handing the baby like an empty egg shell, changing a nappy with such tender hands, worried about every move.
"Generally babies are pretty robust, you can change them without worrying you’ll break them and can relax if a small incident happens with a friend's toddler."
'Feeding on demand' can mean 'feed when your baby's hungry'
"Although lots of parents choose to go down the attachment parenting, feeding to sleep, contact napping and co sleeping route there is absolutely an alternative," Hannah said.
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"For parents that want their baby to have more of a predictable day, and sleep in their cot, then you can absolutely feed when baby is hungry.
"By doing this you avoid getting into habits of feeding to sleep and can encourage a more predictable day
with feeding and sleep.
"You can encourage this by ensuring your little one has some awake time after their feeds."
Babies are diaphragmatic breathers
"I don’t know any parent (including myself) that hasn’t spent hours looking for their baby’s chest going up and down," Hannah admitted.
"The reason it’s very hard to spot is because babies use their diaphragm (the big muscle that runs underneath their ribcage) to breathe.
"This means that their chest is pretty still when they’re breathing, you’d be more likely to see their stomach moving up and down.
"Therefore, please don’t worry if you can’t see your baby’s chest moving up and down.
"If you really want to check your babies breathing, then you can do this by putting your cheek very close to their mouth and feeling and listening for the breath coming onto your cheek."
ANY aged baby can sleep independently
"Even newborns can learn to sleep well," Hannah said.
"The notion that self settling is developmental is not at all true.
"I worked in neonatal wards as a nurse and every single baby self settled to sleep, we didn’t rock or feed them.
"These are the smallest and youngest babies. If they can, your baby can too.
"If you would like your baby to sleep on their own, in their cot this can be taught to any baby, at any age.
"There is never any need to leave a baby to cry to achieve
this.
"In order to help your baby sleep independently then you can do this by slowly changing their sleep habits, or encouraging the ones you want from day one.
"An example of this would be to hold your baby in the crook of your arm, on their back.
"This encourages them to be able to sleep on their back so they are more likely to be able to sleep in their cot when transferred.
"This is in comparison to letting them sleep on their tummy, on their chest.
"This encourages tummy sleeping which is not safe in their cot."
Don't spend loads on baby equipment
"Although it’s easy to get drawn in by all the different baby equipment, your baby isn’t going to be any happier, or more settled if you buy the whole shop," Hannah said.
"There are a few basics such as somewhere for them to sleep, a pram, car seat and clothes, the rest is ‘nice to have’.
"There are also some expensive pieces that I would strongly advise against such as video monitors – a basic sound one is much better and doesn’t encourage anxiety.
"A newborn only stays small for such a small while so don’t waste money on lots of outfits, they can be bathed in a sink, dried with a normal towel, they don’t need anything but water to wash, with and won’t even be in their bedroom for 6 months."
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Hannah Love is a Paediatric Nurse and Parenting and Sleep Expert. She has spent the last 25 years showing families that parenting doesn’t need to be exhausting. More importantly,
juggling work, life and a baby can be a pleasure.
She's put together a free newborn sleep workshop which is running on the 19th January, and you can access here.
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