A Guide to Handling A Newborn Baby Alone
Most new parents dread their partners’ maternity leave nearing its end. It means you get to be the sole participant in the endless hours of crying and the diaper changes.
Handling a newborn baby alone is a continuous battle, and you usually end up on the losing side. Your baby runs the place, and you have to cater to all their needs.
You may be a single parent or someone who stays at home while your partner handles work life. Work seems so much better now compared to the thousand smells in your house, doesn’t it?
To add to all this, you’re running massively low on sleep. A disturbed sleep schedule will add to your troubles.
But for all you new parents out there, this article is going to be a saving grace for you. We’ve got the best tips for you to handle newborn babies alone, features from all over the world that makes up for some exciting reading material in your free time.
When you’re through with this article, you’ll be ready for the challenges that come along with handling a newborn baby alone. Your newly attained superpowers will surprise even you.
The introduction must’ve seemed overwhelming. So, let’s go straight to the point.
Here are several tips that you’ll find useful when handling a newborn baby alone:
Strategize Your Battle Plan
Being a parent is no less than a battle. This battle requires more strategizing and planning if you’re a new parent.
During the first few days with a baby, you don’t want to give attention to things you would have planned ahead of time.
When it comes to newborn babies, stay a thousand steps ahead. Micromanage your days and nights.
Prepare easy meals for yourself that you can eat with one hand if you’re carrying your baby in the other arm. The meals should be convenient to grab.
Showering when you’re handling a baby becomes even more crucial. You have baby food in your hair and your clothes, and you may even smell like poop.
Ensure to take a quick shower early in the morning when your partner is still in the house to take care of the baby. If that’s not a privilege you have, you can go for a shower when your baby is napping.
It’s always best to stock the diaper bag with the necessities so that it saves time when leaving to take your baby out of the house.
You should always make it a point to fix in the car seat before taking your baby out of the house.
If you’re a mother, keep your breast milk pump cleaned and ready to go. Another important thing for mothers is to keep their nursing pillows on hand for the next feeding.
The more you strategize beforehand, the more time you can concentrate on your baby’s needs without any disturbance.
Plan Your Daily Routine
The alone time you get with a newborn baby is a true blessing. It’s hectic and tiresome, but you can make it enjoyable.
You can start by making lists. List down the errands or activities you’d like to participate in with your newborn baby.
You can take your baby for a stroll, a drive in the car around the market, or spend the entire day singing and reading. Plan the duration and the place of your activities to reduce stress.
You can invite over a friend or your parents and hang around with them along with your baby. Start with small activities until you get the knack of handling your child.
Plan your activities on the calendar on your phone or desk. For starters, you can limit yourself to one activity per day. That’ll give you something different to do every day.
As soon as you start going out or indulging in new activities regularly, you’ll feel more accomplished and empowered. Planning your daily routine will give you more control over how your days supposed to be.
Utilize Baby Items and Gear
You don’t want to turn insane by keeping your baby entirely dependent on you. You need rest and food to function well.
It’s a smart choice to take advantage of useful baby items that can keep your baby at bay.
Many new parents swear by the baby’s sleep swing that helps their newborns with sound sleep for hours.
Some parents even recommend wrap carriers and pacifiers. The wrap carrier makes your baby feel comfortable and warm wrapped around your body.
Pacifiers are like a holy grail for parents. It has the magic to make any agitated baby stop crying.
Always remember to keep spare pacifiers available. It’s one of the few objects that’s the hardest to locate when your baby is difficult to handle.
You can even make use of sleeping aids for some weeks to get your baby adjusted to a smooth sleeping pattern before weaning them off from it.
If you’re taking care of a newborn without any significant help, you need a break. These baby items can help you relax through this exhausting period.
Let Go of Everything Else
As a parent solely responsible for handling your newborn, you can’t do everything. There’s nothing to be offended by.
It must be tempting to go back to your previous routine, but it’s not the time for that. It’s the time for a messy house and endless sleepless nights. You’re allowed to keep towels lying around, sleep on the couch, or just let the dishes soak for extra hours.
You can cook yourself a meal or take out the trash, but you can’t do all the activities as before. Stay sane with the situation because you get a hall pass for being messy.
If you’re a compulsive cleaner, you’ll require time and practice along with a ton of will power.
Start with ignoring small things such as unfolded clothes or a messy rack. Focus on minor issues. Simply let go of everything else.
Make A Sleep Schedule
Newborns not sleeping is a universal complaint from all new parents. Your baby may sleep at 8 pm and suddenly wake up at 1 am for the rest of the night. Sometimes your baby may not sleep at all and cause further distress.
You can’t control everything. Take a step back and relax. You can either stay up with your child the entire night or make use of sleeping aids for a regulated sleeping pattern.
You can even make use of traditional techniques by gently swaying them in your arms till they fall asleep. But this isn’t a promising solution.
A baby who’s been up all night is going to be cranky the next day. A cranky baby will worsen your problems.
If you stay up continuously with your baby for nights, you will experience extreme fatigue and tiredness. And since you don’t have anybody to fall back upon, you’ll be miserable.
Many parents recommend this book that utilizes scientific and unconventional methods to help promote a healthy sleeping pattern in babies.
You’ll discover solutions and tips to help your baby fall asleep like clockwork. You’ll even have access to parents’ stories from across the globe who go through issues similar to yours.
A well-rested parent can take better care of a newborn when in absolute coherence. Always remember that even parents deserve a good night’s sleep.
These are some reliable and noteworthy tips to live by if you’re someone looking for help handling newborns. Handling a newborn is difficult for both parents and imagine having to do it alone. You’re going to require a massive cavalry.
These tips are just to push you in the right direction and take pleasure in being a parent.
What to Expect When You’re Handling A Newborn Baby Alone?
So now you’re responsible for a tiny human? Your life’s never going to be the same again.
You can be as prepared as you can and still feel underprepared when the time comes. But the fact is that you have to be ready for anything your baby throws at you.
Here are some crucial points to look out for when you’re handling a newborn baby alone:
- The most complicated part of handling a newborn baby alone is the erratic sleep schedule. You don’t know at what moment your baby sleeps and then wakes back up.
- Gather as much information as you can on regulating a sleep schedule for the baby’s health and your sanity.
- You have to deal with massive amounts of crying. Your baby will be crying when hungry, cranky, or just like that.
- You need to learn how to tackle those loud bouts of crying. Check to see if your baby’s diaper is soiled or if the diaper is too tight.
- Check your baby’s temperature and keep track of the nursing time.
- You need to be well-prepared for fevers. Fever can be a grave indication of illness in newborns.
- If your baby’s fever persists and it’s something, you’re not well aware of, immediately get in touch with your pediatrician.
- You may also notice other changes in your baby’s sleeping pattern, eating habits, and stools.
- Your baby may even be irritable and cry inconsolably for long hours.
- Your baby will also develop diaper rash on their bottoms due to excessive moisture on their sensitive skin. It’s quite common and nothing to worry over.
- Many babies also develop a scalp condition called cradle scalp. It passes within a few months and doesn’t require much attention.
These are just some of the countless things to expect when you’re handling a baby alone. You can take care of almost all these things without any help.
Conclusion
Taking care of a baby alone can be quite scary. You must be dreading thousands of things. Take a breath.
You may be alone in your house, but you’re not alone in the world. Countless people handle newborn babies single-handedly without any fear. So can you.
You can’t expect to learn every piece of information there is about taking care of a newborn baby in just days. You can learn along the way, and that’s how it’s supposed to be.
Always remember that just like a newborn, you’re a new parent, and you’re also adapting each moment.
