How to Enjoy the Holidays … with a Newborn

The New You, The New Family,

The New Holiday Season…

Every family has their own traditions whether it is flying to your sister’s out of state or hosting the celebration at your own home, heading downtown to see the lights or getting to all the cookie parties. Recalibrating expectations early on is important. Having a baby is so wonderful, but it truly changes everything. It can be too overwhelming for most families to try to run at their usual pace when they have a newborn.

You can still have a great holiday season with plenty of family and friends around. It’s just a matter of balancing the needs of everyone involved, especially the baby.

We recommend a parent meeting to develop a list of priorities and boundaries that work for each of you. It is paramount for you to be on the same page with your partner because there will be a lot going on and having some sort of game plan will remove unwanted stress.

Next..

Share the plan with friends and family as soon as possible. If you decide to stay home or go only to your in-laws, not buy presents… whatever the plan is, it will most likely be different than in years past. Sharing this plan in advance can help others get on board or make their other plans accordingly. And if their are any negative emotions they have time to die out before the actual holiday.

Some families love to go all out, trim the tree and make sure every detail is perfect for the holidays; we know it can be hard to relax and let a few things go undone. All the decorations do not have to come out. Homemade cookies do not have to be baked. Pinterest handmade gifts do not need to be made. Amazon is your friend!

We get so excited for babies 1st Holiday Season!

We want to shower our new babies with love by buying them countless gifts. Your baby will never remember any of that! Save the gift giving for years to come. And, when it comes to shopping for other shop less. Everyone will understand you have a new baby. You do not need to drag baby around from store to store. For those gifts you must have remember these tips; late night and weekday during the day are the least busy. You can easily pop in and out with baby or have one parent stay home with baby and not have to worry they will be gone for hours on end.

As we said before Amazon is your friend, online shopping, even grocery shopping, makes every new parent’s life easier. Have you lugged that car seat in and out of the car in the freezing cold!?!? No thank you, we advice you to curl up on your couch next to your baby and shop away. Many sites have wrapping and can be delivered to the address you want it to go to.

Try to stick to a nap schedule.

(Don’t roll your eyes at us!) We know It can be hard with visitors and events to attend but doing a little extra work of coordinating will make your sweet baby happier, making your life easier. Plan the car ride while baby is sleeping, or plan visits in between naps. Heading out for errands or sight seeing, make sure he is fed and changed and ready for a nap in the car seat. If visitors are staying with you, stealing moments away from the crowd to just go lay with your baby to put her down for a nap can be as much needed for you as her.

With all the delicious foods around of course we all want to indulge a little. But, new families that are breastfeeding have more to be concerned with than put on a little winter weight. Food irritants can cause a baby to spend the holidays gassy, irritable and unable to sleep well. Dairy is usually cited as the number one food irritant, with wheat, and eggs showing up to the party as well. That doesn’t mean you have to spend the holidays eating an apple while everyone else has pie. Just remember everything in moderation

Sooo, the Holidays may look a little different than last year, but that is ok and exciting! We all take time to get used to our new life as parents.

Written By Christine