First Few Things to Learn as Parents

Being parents is exciting, but it’s not an easy job. On one hand, it brings a lot of joy and happiness but on the other hand, it’s a lot of work. Parenting is a continuous learning process and I have come up with a list of first few things we learnt when we became parents.

1. Swaddling : After spending 9 long months in mother’s womb, child steps into real world leaving behind their comfort zone. But it takes time to get adaptive to new environment. Swaddling helps baby to stay warm for the first few days of life until their internal thermostat kicks in. Swaddling is a process of wrapping a baby in soft cloth for warmth and security. You should not wrap it too tight and it should not be too loose. It was struggling in the beginning but after few tries it was a piece of cake. Trust me it’s so much fun to see your baby wrapped like little Burrito. You surely feel like eating them 🙂

2. How to hold baby: This may sound weird but holding an infant doesn’t come naturally to everyone. I was always afraid of holding newborns but can’t avoid holding my own baby right. In fact you want to keep them with you as much as possible. So holding your baby in a right way is very important. Cradle hold helps you look at your newborn closely so that’s my favorite. They are so delicate that you have to make sure they get proper support for all the body parts :

• Always support your newborn’s head.
• When picking up your baby, slide one hand under his head, with your other hand under his bottom.

3. Diaper changing: Not all parents go for diapers, but this was one thing I was 100% sure that I am going to use. There are already so many things to do with a baby, that’s why I wanted to go with options with less work and less mess.Few tips for diaper parents 🙂

• Perfect size – Choosing the right size of diaper is important. Right diaper makes baby more comfortable.
• Frequency of changing –On an average you need to change 7-8 diapers everyday in starting weeks. There is no thumb rule for frequency of changing diapers but we used to do it every 4 hours. Even at night we followed this .Changing diapers frequently helps to avoid rashes.
• Wiping – Wiping is another importance piece of the process and should be done every time a diaper is changed. Wiping from top to bottom is the best way to wipe a baby and it gets important especially in case of baby girl.

4. Burping a baby: Burping was the toughest for me to learn. Even now I am not that proficient. Lalit do it better than me. Babies swallow air when they drink milk. It hurts their tummy and make then cranky. Burping helps to release this air. There’s no rule that babies have to burp after every feeding but for keeping tiny baby’s tiny tummy gas free , it’s a good idea. There are different positions for burping, but holding my baby upright with her head on the shoulder worked for me.

5. Staying Awake: Sleepless nights are common when it comes to new parents. Jianna is one year old now and I still can’t sleep for whole night. There is no easy way to stay awake after a tiring day , but below options may help:

• Coffee – First thing pops up in mind to skip sleep is Coffee after all that’s what caffeine is meant for. Coffee does help a lot but when breastfeeding you can’t drink too much coffee. So I changed my timing for one cup of coffee according to when I wanted to be awake.
• Switch Turns – If you are with your partner, you can switch turns to get some rest.
• Nap along with baby – Babies take nap frequently and it is a good idea to use that time for a quick nap for yourself. We may think to utilize that time for other stuff like cleaning or others hundred things but trust me that can wait.

This pic I clicked on our first night of being mom dad. Lalit was awake for almost whole night.The most special thing about this pic is he didn’t know I was clicking this and I caught him talking to his new buddy at around 4 am in morning.

Except above mentioned few things we learned as parents, there are many more experiences, learning and stories linked to parenthood. It differs from parents to parents and for me these are the challenging ones. What were your initial leanings when you became parents? Were you a pro or amateur like me? Share your first few leanings as parents in comments below and subscribe for more posts.