New Mom Advice — The Basic Bitch Blog

If you’re a new momma, or even an experienced momma I don’t need to tell you how crazy of a time motherhood can be. Especially those first few weeks after giving birth. If you’re waiting on your bundle’s arrival, this post is definitely one you want to read! I think on this crazy train called motherhood, knowledge is power and all us momma’s need to support one another by sharing our tips and tricks. What works for one momma may work for the next, or maybe not the next? Maybe the momma after the next momma? That’s the beauty of it, there are so many tricks to motherhood out there that if we share away something is bound to work for you and your babe. The list below are some things I did to make my life easier prior to baby arriving and lessons I learned after my babe arrived and in the last 8 months of being a new mum. I hope this post helps at least a few momma’s out!

Before Baby Arrives:

In my personal opinion skip the maternity nursing bra’s. This opinion is also coming from someone very small chested, even in the prime of breastfeeding. I invested, or well actually inherited hand me down, sports bra’s. I own one nursing bra and for me personally maternity bra’s are not comfortable. Your boobs are going to feel forgein to you when milk starts coming in and you start breastfeeding. As if they aren't yours anymore. A maternity bra just made it all that more uncomfortable and not feeling like me. I lived in a size bigger then normal sports bra's as my “maternity bra”. They were super comfy to wear around the house, sleep in at night and I also found wearing the breast pads with the sports bra’s was more comfortable too. For breastfeeding all I did was pull the bra up over my shoulder, easy peasy. Given that they were handed down to me I saved a lot of money by not buying a few expensive maternity bra’s, however sports bra’s are cheaper then most maternity bra’s so win win on the price category too!
Prior to your baby’s arrival I 100% recommend making freezer meals. The last thing you want to do or have energy for after baby arrives is making dinner. Pinterest has a HUGE variety of freezer meals to get inspiration from. I made some veggie soups, vegetable curry, I pre-made Rosemary chicken, taco and fajita mixes. I also pre-made a bunch of smoothie mixes so I could easily throw them in the blender for an afternoon snack. Also don’t be afraid to ask friends and family to make you some of your fave meals to freeze that they’ve made for you in the past. One friend makes a mean Shepard’s Pie my husband and stepdaughter love so I asked her if she’d be willing to make that for us, which of course she was! I swear we had about 2 weeks of pre-made meals in the freezer, plus in the meantime we had people come by with homemade meals or takeout which helped so much! We were well fed those first couple of months which was greatly appreciated.
Speaking of freezing, buy yourself those big thick overnight pads and soak them with some witch hazel and freeze those suckers for after delivery. The coolness and witch hazel is very soothing for all those battered lady bits. Also witch hazel is great for relieving haemorrhoid pain. TMI? Get over it, if us mother’s don’t talk about the realness of postpartum then we will only be feeling more isolated after birth.
Trust, your lady bits are going to need all the help they can get so as well as those frozen pads, I highly recommend the New Mama Bottom Spray. This is great to use after going to the bathroom, helps soothe any stinging pain.
Pack yourself a healthy snack bag for the hospital. Honestly we all know food at the hospital is crap, and depending when you’ve given birth there may be nothing to eat after pushing that babe out and you are going to be starving. I gave my husband a list of what he needed to prep once contractions started and my “snack bag” consisted of fresh cut veggies with hummus, fresh cut fruits (strawberries and blueberries, watermelon), I had pre-made peanut butter powerballs which I froze and he had to just put into the bag. I think there were also some cheese and crackers in the bag. I specifically bought Vitamin Waters to rehydrate and get my levels all back to normal. I also suggest a cooler bag to pack all this stuff in.
Pack your own pillow from home to bring to the hospital. I wanted to do this from the get go knowing hospital pillows suck but in leaving the house for the hospital after asking my husband to grab the pillow, he forgot. So I was stuck with the crappy ass hospital pillow. Also in triage before getting your delivery room they only allow one pillow and at home gripping/cuddling a pillow was helping with my contractions so I had to reinvent my contraction game once we got to the hospital. Not fun.
Equip your nursery with a dimmer switch. Sometimes my husband can be so smart! He made this decision and it’s genius. I could feed and change her in the middle of the night without turning on the big bright lights and completely waking her up. It’s also great now for starting to signal bed time by dimming the lights low at night when unwinding from her bath.
Get yourself a notebook to jot down all those cute moments or milestones. You can choose to put all these in a more organized “My First Year” book later on or in my case I’ve written it out as little letters for my baby girl to read when she’s older.

After Baby Arrives:

The backpack diaper bag my dreams are made of.

This was something I did not have and 100% wish I had gotten, a baby sling. It would have made those first few months so much easier to have both hands free. The carrier is too big for a new born babe so you can’t use that when all the baby wants to do is be up against you.
Another item I wish I had purchased is a backpack diaper bag versus an over the shoulder bag. The over the shoulder bag are a damn hassle and awkward. I found a few times when going to lift up the babe in the car seat the bag would sling over almost hitting her. A backpack diaper bag is so much more practical. I’m just sticking with the over the shoulder bag I have because I spent like $70 on the thing!
Forget the damn decorative change pad covers. In the first day home I changed the cover pad 3 times and never put one back on after that. It’s just the ugly white plastic pad, which is way easier to clean when a mess occurs.
Also forget 2 piece outfits (shirts & pants), especially for a fall/winter babe. I found pants, a shirt and socks outfit was such a pain in the ass. Her shirt was always riding up exposing her belly when you carried her around. I’d put a t-shirt undershirt underneath but then she’d get too hot. Baby’s constantly lose their socks, so I don’t even know why baby socks are a thing? Mommylife is complicated enough, so make life a little easier by sticking them in cute zip up onesies. They’re easier to do diaper changes, or outfit changes and baby seems to be more comfortable in a onesie.
Get yourself a portable or pocket size Purell sanitizer for your diaper bag. There will be times when you have to change your babe in the back of your car and there is no tap around to wash your hands! I also suggest getting the portable Diaper Genie to attach to your diaper bag. That way you won’t be leaving your stinky diapers at grandma and grandpa’s!
Your baby is probably going to go through, what seems like an out of the blue, clingy stage. In researching “why is my baby so clingy” around the 6 weekish mark your baby starts realizing you and them are not the same identity. However they don’t understand the fact that when you are in a separate room you're just actually in another room. They can’t see you, so therefore in their developing mind you no longer exist. So they cry and cry and cry. They fall asleep and you put them down and they immediately wake up and cry and cry some more. You’ll just have to suck it up and be with your baby 24 hours a day. This is where the baby sling would have come in super handy. Did I mention you should buy one of these? If your babe falls asleep and you want to try and put them down, put them down with a shirt you wore the day before or slept in. This might help them stay asleep a little longer and give you a few minutes on your own, to you know pee.
You’ll need a “mom tribe”, a couple of new mom friends you can text at anytime to ask “is this normal?” I had 3 friends I texted at all hours on the regular and I don’t even think they know how much they helped out in those first few days. You know where your hormones are insane and you’re wondering are you being a good mother? You need someone who truly understands the hecticness of a newborn and someone whose just been there. Thank you to my momma tribe girls Sam, Brittany and Carol. No question was to much for them and they would text back so fast all the while attending to their own families and lives. Brittany even one night told me she is usually up at 2am with her baby so feel free to text her, my mom tribe was extraordinary!
Forget your baby being in a routine, honestly it’s not going to happen for awhile and you’ll stress yourself out trying to make your baby stick to one. Once baby starts sleeping longer or through the night is when a routine finds its own way. For me that was around 4 months. With that being said though, our routine is a rough blueprint. Sometimes she takes a longer morning nap, because she needed it that day. Sometimes she wants to eat every hour, other days she’ll go 3 hours in between eating. Depends on the day. You need to let your baby decide for itself what they need or don't need. Don’t force a nap or force food because you’re following a timed schedule.

I’m going to stop the list here, because it honestly could go on forever. This was just a few things I felt were the best to share and if you’re in need of some tribe members for your momma tribe I’m happy to be a part of it! Momma’s I’d love to hear what tricks or tips you have for expecting or new momma’s… share in the comments below so any mum reading this can see!

Happy Mother’s Day Momma’s!