Most Common Mistakes New Moms Make

1. Watching over your baby's "schedule"

Babies, especially the first year of life, have only one schedule: an erratic schedule. There's no point in trying to stick with it or even looking over it. There's no such thing as "at 8 o'clock he will fall asleep and at 10 he will wake up... then poop at 11:15...eat at 11:30...". Newborns will sleep when they want to, as long as they want to, even if it's freaking noisy in the room. Don't think that they will sleep at the time they slept yesterday. They will also cry and poop whenever they want to, and that's not in a schedule. What moms need to do is just attend to what the babies need for the moment. When time comes, around 6 months (3 months if you're lucky) their schedule will be predictable.


2. Dying to get your pre-pregnancy body.

Your pre-pregnancy body aka the good old days will remain a hallucination right after your delivery. Your tummy will be saggy and ridiculously big as if you're still preggy. But you cannot do your exercises yet because you're body is still recovering after delivery. Give your self some time. Accept that you have this ugly tummy for now but then after a year or two you can regain your body back. Patience is a virtue. For the mean time what you can do is wear a waist trimmer or girdle tightly (so tight that you could almost forget to breath) all throughout the day and even at night. This will help your muscles in the stomach regain it's tone and shrink eventually.


3. Prioritizing your baby 24/7

Who said you should attend to the monster every second of your life? Yes. You've read it right. You don't have to be there with the baby always. You need time for your self. Go on and take a bath, brush your teeth, savor your food. Just make sure to leave your baby safe or to someone else while you're doing that. Don't be guilty when you need to make that morning or evening routine. Babies can wait and that doesn't mean you love them less. If you forget to take care of your self you will be irritated and in turn you may channel the negative energy to the baby. A happy mom has a happy baby so take care of your self and be happy.

4. Worrying too much

Watching your baby sleep that you lost your sleeping time? Worried that the baby is not getting enough of your milk or wasn't able to burp? New moms worry too much about everything. Babies can survive in hostile environment. I mean, 2000 BC ago, there wasn't crib to put your baby to sleep, no formula milk, not even comfy clothes! Watch over your baby but do not exaggerate your worries. Just make sure he/she is sleeping safe, nothing that will cover the nose or else the baby can't breath. Burping a baby doesn't mean that you have to hear the burp sound. Just hold the baby upright for a maximum of 10 minutes then you can put him/her down. Milk coming out of the mouth and nose is normal as long as it's not in a form of vomit. You know vomit? It's when your stomach is forcing for food to go out of your mouth, that's not a good thing for babies. When you worry too much or panic, your judgement will be clouded. If something happens, monitor and analyze properly the situation then consult your pedia as necessary.

5. Putting your baby to sleep
Yup, you've read it right. Don't put baby to sleep. "Putting" baby to sleep means you try desperately to swing him/her to make him/her drowsy, thinking that it'll eventually lead to sleep. What I learned from my two babies (a one year old and one month-old) is that when they're really sleepy, they will eventually sleep, no matter how noisy the surrounding is. There could be some crying especially if they're over-tired but then they will sleep right away after a few attempt to soothe him/her. Usually when my toddler cries because she's sleepy, we'll just have to put her to bed, tap her bum and sing some songs, then she'll knock her self to sleep right away. For my newborn, I will just let him stay in bed and stare at the ceiling at midnight without any attempt to put him to sleep. I don't force him to sleep just because it's sleeping time. No, newborns don't know that 12 midnight is a sleeping time. If he gets sleepy, I will just carry him because, usually, babies need an assurance of safety before going to safe and there's no better place to find it than in your arms.

Remember: if babies are sleepy, they will sleep no matter what.

To avoid depression that you're baby's so fussy and sleepy but doesn't want to go to sleep, guide him/her to sleep when he or she is tired. This will make sure that he/she won't be over tired. This is tricky, sometimes I get it right, sometimes I don't. You just have to practice, trial and error would do, don't worry, if he/she cries, eventually he/she will stop crying, that's their nature.


This will be a good read for expectant and new moms: http://www.smartparenting.com.ph/pregnancy/labor-and-childbirth/life-after-giving-birth-expectations-vs-reality-lfrm