5 things every new parent needs in the fourth trimester - Make your life easier 😅

5 (surprising) must haves during the fourth trimester!
1. Batch cooking!
Use those last few weeks of pregnancy to try and cook up as much a storm as you can!
Ideas include - curries, chilli, lasagne and soups, among many others! Here’s a link to my red lentil dahl recipe which is perfect for freezing and yields 10 PORTIONS 😅
• Easy Red Lentil Dahl r...
Also if anyone asks you if you need anything in the early days of baby, don’t be afraid to ask for food, we got lots of treats and they were so handy when you’re really low on energy!
2. Swaddle
We initially swaddled Alexander up in a Tommeetippee grobag, when he didn’t seem to like it we abandoned the idea, until 8 weeks of sleepless nights later I swaddled him using a standard blanket and the standard swaddling technique found here 👇🏼 and it worked like a charm!
• How to swaddle a newbo...
When transitioning out of the swaddle, we left one arm free at a time until he was used to having both arms out, for us this took around 2 weeks of alternating arms! He finally settled without being swaddled at almost 4 months.
3. Dummy (pacifier)
We were adamant we were not going to use one! However Alexander loves it, it settles him down and helps to let him know when it’s sleep time.
We initially bought the tommeetippee standard breast like soother but quickly realised it was too heavy for him! And it fell out constantly! So we bought the tommeetippee ultra light soother which has worked much better for him.
For advice on weaning off the dummy, here’s a link to Emma Hubbards UA-cam below 👇🏼
youtube.com/@E...
4. Baby wrap
I can’t recommend getting a baby wrap enough! Alexander had lots of trouble sleeping and as soon as he went into the wrap he fell fast asleep, this meant we could have skin to skin naps whilst I made and ate lunch, tidied up around the house or just generally got on with my day!
I bought a Moby wrap, simply because it was the cheapest option, however other wraps I considered were the Gaia and Freerider, although these might come in funkier colours, I couldn’t see the value in spending more money, especially on mat leave pay!
I paid £40 and it was definitely worth it! You could also find some second hand ones on Vinted, eBay or Facebook marketplace if you have more time (I desperately bought mine from Amazon and got same day shipping)
www.amazon.co....
5. Breast pump
I never thought I would need one, I assumed my massive jugs were finally going to come in handy! But no sadly I had a tongue tied baby and low milk supply!
Without a pump I would not have been able to breastfeed, was it hard work? Hell yes!! Was it worth it? Hell yes!! Now Alexander is exclusively breast fed and it’s very easy to just pop my boob out when he needs feeding as opposed to getting bottles ready.
We bought the lansinoh double breast electric pump, it was expensive but has saved a lot of time and money over the long run. I do recommend this pump it’s been great to use and very easy. It’s more hospital grade than fancy (paying too much for the brand) grade.
Here’s the link to the exact one I bought
www.amazon.co....
And finally… a great partner is definitely needed to get through having a baby together! Support each other, be kind and try to stay positive, this too shall pass!
#maternityleave #mumlife #baby #newborn #firsttimemum #firsttimemon #momlife #parents #fourthtrimester #tipsforparents #parenthack #mumhack #momhack #motivation #batchcooking #swaddle #dummy #pacifier #breastpump #breastfeeding #breastfedbaby #babywrap #moby #support #bekind #positive