This is a small post on my first week new born essentials, these 4 things helped me so much when our little one was first born so I highly recommend all of these and I can Imagine at least one will help a new mum in some way.
Painkillers
I honestly don't know what I would have done without pain killers in the first week. I had to get stitches on my down stairs so as you can imagine or have experienced it was extremely painful. I was so uncomfortable and all I could do for a week plus was sit on the couch and not do anything. It was hard a lot of the time because I wasn't able to interact with my new baby and enjoy her. All I was, was the milk bar and I spent many days feeling down and upset about not being able to change her nappy or anything. Luckily with having pain killers and salt baths made me start to feel more myself and I could get back to normal more quickly which definitely helped my feelings in regards to looking after my baby.
Nipple Cream
This was a life saver for me. In the beginning I'm not going to lie breast feeding wasn't easy for me. Due to having Diamorphine during labour both me and Erica were absolutely shattered, which then made it difficult to feed my new baby. Erica wasn't latching properly and I had been awake for just under 2 days so you can only understand how difficult it could be. My nipples were really badly cracked and painful. But with in a day of applying nipple cream they started to heal and made it so much easier to feed my little one. It was such a big goal for me to breastfeed my new baby and those first two days I felt so useless and miserable not being able to and having to use formula. She had no problem with formula which was great and using formula in general isn't a problem either because they have everything that they need in them and they are so close to breast milk. But because my labour didn't go to plan and now breast feeding seemed like it wasn't working I became really upset and was really hard on myself. But thankfully using the cream consistently after every feed my nipples adapted and Erica started to latch properly and both combined made it easier every day to feed and I can now say I am still solely breastfeeding 6 weeks later and I'm so proud of myself for getting this far and sticking with it even though it was extremely tough in the beginning. If you go through a time like I did, don't be hard on yourself you are only doing the best you can, and it can be extremely tough and hard work. The last thing you need when you're exhausted is feeling like you are not doing the right thing (which I did), just remember you are doing the best job in the world and thats being a mother. Do what suits your body and lifestyle and try and not listen to anyone. I know it is easier said than done because I know how it can be, but looking back I know my baby and as long as she is happy and healthy thats all that matters.
Lip Balm
Another must have, but this wasn't just a post delivery thing I normally have really dry lips and when I was in labour they seemed to get overly dry due to gas and air and general dehydration. So I have been using this Nivea one, Nivea is always a good go to moisturiser in general it definitely does what it say and with it being around for such a long time you can't really fault it can you? So if you suffer from dry lips especially during the winter months go and pick one up!
Dummy
Now I know this is something not everyone is in favour of, but a dummy was our life saver. I was very resistant in giving Erica one in the beginning and we had been home for a few days and she really wouldn't settle at all. We knew she had been fed, changed and everything that she needed but just kept crying. I finally gave in and she took it straight out my fingers pretty much and went straight to sleep. We got a pretty good few hours sleep that night and we haven't looked back. She doesn't always favour the dummy but sometimes when she just needs a cuddle and something to comfort her she will take it to drift off to sleep and normally spit it out once she is in a deep sleep. If she needs fed there isn't even a chance of her taking the dummy, she just wants the boob and she will cry and cry until she gets it. I normally catch the signs early enough but sometimes she is just too fussy. The dummy is a great tool and it works wonders for us, but every baby is different and sometimes you just need to call to their needs.
So those are my first week new born essentials, leave a comment and/or message me on Instagram or Twitter to tell me if you have a new born essential that I should try out!
Fiona xx
No comments:
Post a Comment