Life hacks for new Mum’s

Becoming a Mum, it's a rollercoaster. I didn't get it right, not every time. But I picked up a few good tips and here's the shortlist

1. When feeding, prepare your area before you snuggle in, it helps to have:

• A couple of pillows to prop you and/or baby in a comfortable position.
• A blanket laid out on the chair to wrap over your shoulders and around bubs, especially at night.
• A water bottle. Breastfeeding causes release of the love hormone, oxytocin, which ignites your thirst drive.
• During the day - your phone. Not because you should be talking on it necessarily, but because you need to message your mum and tell her to let herself in the front door to drop off the casserole because you aren’t moving for the next hour. At night avoid looking at your phone because the light wakes up your brain and it makes it harder for you to fall back asleep.

2. Sleep. sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep, sleep. Whenever you can. I cannot say that enough. Sleep.

3. Wear long sleeve pyjama’s to bed even in summer, getting up to kids at night is tough, but so much worse when you know you’re going to be cold.

4. Always carry wipes. That is all.

5. Embrace the big scarf or the shawl. Not only a neat fashion accessory that can be a handy cover for those little vomit stains on your top, it’s so easy to wrap about you and bubs for some privacy during a breastfeed and double’s up as an extra blanket when you live in Melbourne and get four seasons in a day!

6. Make your goal for the first few months to ‘achieve nothing’. You and I know that in fact your achieving so many tiny miracles and laying down the foundations of a healthy, happy, balanced human. But in terms of your old life, this may feel like you’re making very little progress. Go with this new rhythm. Embrace it if you can.

7. When you get out of bed to feed your baby at night, cover your sleep area with the doona otherwise it will be cold when you return to your bed and you will lose precious minutes of rest while you try to get cosy again.

8. Find a village. Family, friends, mother’s groups, play groups, facebook mum tribes. You need people with babies and kids around the same age as yours. No one else has the stamina to discuss poo’s, sleep routines, details about your nipples and breasts, food refusal, teething, leaps and thunderclouds except those who are also in that moment. You need them. You may need to find them. Go forth.

9. Learn how to do a pelvic floor muscle contraction correctly and do your exercises. You wouldn’t stretch your hamstring 3 times it’s length and do no rehab for it. The benefits of a healthy pelvic floor are far reaching and have a huge impact on your quality of life.
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10. Take a photo every day of your baby. A video if you can too. You simply cannot appreciate all the little expressions, dimples, giggles, even the tantrums and the mess. Sometimes taking a photo at the worst times helps you to realise that this too shall pass. It all passes, the good, the great and the terrible. And believe it or not, you’ll want to remember and smile, laugh or cry about it all.