Being a new mom can be exciting. Overcoming all the challenges of pregnancy and giving birth can give you a feeling of joy. You can’t help but keep on smiling whenever you look at your little baby, and people can’t stop sending you congratulatory messages. But there comes a challenge. You haven’t raised a baby before, and you probably haven’t watched someone raise theirs. How do you make sure you don’t make mistakes in the process? Here are some common mistakes new mothers make and how you can avoid them.
1. Neglecting Your Partner
Having a baby can sometimes bring challenges to your marriage. You are no longer the carefree woman who comes home and spends their entire time with their partner. With a new baby, it means that you have to breastfeed, groom, and soothe them, which requires much of your attention. This can leave you with little time to spend with your partner. It even gets worse when you don’t have someone to help with babysitting.
But there are some things you can do to avoid making your partner feel neglected. If possible, hire a babysitter who will take care of your baby so that you can spend time with your spouse. Organize for date nights from time to time and spice up your love.
2. Comparing Your Little Ones with Others
Do you ever get yourself asking your friends so much about their babies? Like how long they sleep or which developmental milestones they have hit? Whereas it’s not wrong to ask, you can be unknowingly comparing your child to others. The truth is, each baby is unique, and they develop at their own pace. Don’t let anyone make you feel like your baby is developing slowly. If you are concerned about your baby’s development, it’s always good to see a doctor rather than ask for your friends’ opinions.
3. Declining Help
If someone offers to babysit, even if it’s just for a few hours, don’t decline the offer, as long as you trust them. Have they offered to do your laundry? Let them go ahead. Maybe you are that kind of a person who feels like you should do everything by yourself.
Now that you are a mom, you have to understand that your life has changed, and someone is demanding your attention, whether you like it or not. When someone offers to help you, let them do so and use that time to nap, have a walk or take care of yourself.
4. Not Dressing Your Baby Properly
Some moms make the mistake of either underdressing their babies, exposing them to cold, or overdressing them, making them sweat. As a mom, you need to make sure your baby is warm enough when the temperatures are freezing low. That means adding more and more layers. If it gets warm, remove some clothing from them.
Organic baby clothing, such as cat & dogma baby clothing, have gained a lot of popularity due to the many benefits they offer. They are durable and make a baby comfortable by wicking away moisture if your baby sweats when it’s hot. Some moms also dress up their babies in either too tight or too loose clothes. Neither of these is good for them. Too tight clothes make a baby feel stiff and unable to move around. Too loose clothes are also a bother and easily get bunched up.
5. Bathing Time Mistakes
Most babies don’t enjoy their shower a few days after being born, and that is understandable. They are still trying to adapt to a new world. With time, they will start to enjoy the moments. Some moms make some mistakes during showering time, like leaving the baby alone. You should never leave a baby alone in the shower, as they can drown easily. You should also be careful with the temperature of the water. Very hot water will scald their skin, and very cold water will expose them to cold-related illnesses like the common cold. Always have a thermometer to measure the temperature of the baby before showering your little one.
Being a new parent comes with challenges, and you can easily make mistakes. However, you can always avoid them by learning a thing or two about raising a newborn. If you have made mistakes before, there is still room for improvement, and no one should make you feel like a bad mother. You can never be perfect when doing something for the first time. And if you ever get another baby in the future, raising them will be easier since you will be experienced.