New parents deserve an award for surviving nine months of nausea, weight gain, swollen feet, back aches, doctor’s appointments and bewildering medical bills. And surprise! Your award is a tiny bundle of joy who is now the center of your whole universe. But this bundle of joy is also the source of new annoyances that turn you and your co-parent against each other. Here’s how to minimize the annoyances and survive your new life as parents.
1. Constant Hunger
Now that you’re awake 24/7 feeding an infant, you are always hungry. In fact, breastfeeding moms burn an extra 500 calories per day. Unfortunately, when you leave the hospital, no one is bringing a tray of food to your room anymore and no one is fixing the food or cleaning up afterward either. Let’s face it: you both barely have time to put on clothes.
Nix the hangry behavior and try a meal subscription service like Blue Apron to get proportioned ingredients and step-by-step instructions delivered to your door so anyone (hint to dad!) can make a great home-cooked meal. Or make meal-prep easier by trying Walmart Grocery Pickup. You can order your groceries online and pick them up outside the store without having to hassle with the car seat, stroller, weather or a store full of germs.
2. Missed Communication
With juggling jobs and new parenting responsibilities, there are so many ways to communicate but so little time to respond. But when your baby has had his third consecutive blowout of the day, a certain parent better confirm he received the urgent text about getting more diapers and laundry detergent on the way home from work or the other parent will. Have. A. Meltdown. Avoid meltdowns on all fronts with an iPhone that tells users whether or not someone has read your message. If you don’t already have one, T-Mobile is having a great sale right now where they’ll give you a refund for a second iPhone.
3. Never-ending Chores
Apparently the tinier the creature, the more chores they produce. Diaper runs. Laundry load after laundry load — almost an hour per day on average. Dish washing and bottle washing. Plus all the regular stuff like lawn mowing and paying bills. Save yourselves some time and the argument about who has to leave the house to get that one super important thing and sign up for Amazon Prime to save 20 percent on diapers delivered to your door with the Subscribe & Save service. You can also get free two-day shipping on all other new necessities with Amazon Prime, like breast milk storage bags, bottle nipples or a snot sucking nasal aspirator (Yes, that is gross. Welcome to parenthood). To reduce time spent on chores, try using paper plates for the first week of life with a newborn.
4. All the Screaming
Crying is just far too mild a word for the noise your baby produces, especially when you’re trying to sleep or shower … well, pretty much all the time. Make yourselves a little more sane by turning your old iPhone into a video baby monitor so you can leave the room for a well-deserved nap and still make sure your baby is safe from a distance. Also, try a swing or vibrating chair placed in front of a mirror to soothe baby while you use your arms for other things — like a TV remote or a glass of wine.
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Not a mummy yet but after living with many nieces and nephews when they were babies, I totally feel you.
Awe, that last one, all the screaming. And the screaming to eachother (kids), then to me “mommy” mommy. lol. when I leave the house by myself I can’t even turn on the radio, I just sit there in silence.
These are great tips for new moms! I agree that making the small things easier can make a big difference.
Haha a glass of wine and Netflix is always the answer! As not a mom, I had no idea breastfeeding burned that many calories! Holy cow!
There are so many annoyances! I hate when you are so tired that you just burst into tears and everyone thinks you have lost your mind 🙂
I feel like the constant hunger is always there lol. Having s “schedule” of sorts for chores has really helped me keep the house in check while I am home with the kids.
These are great tips to help new moms. It can be overwhelming when you are home and have to take care of many things including yourself and new baby.
Terrific tips! It was so crazy as a new parent and frankly, it’s still crazy (and my youngest is about to be 7). Grocery delivery definitely saved me, I wish meal planning kit services had been around back then.
Excellent tips to get parents through some frustrating times!! I like the idea of using a meal delivery service – especially to get you through the first few months!
I loved the last piece of advice, a glass of wine! I love all the ideas using phones. We always have an old phone around, it might as well have a purpose!
These all sound true as they’re things friends of mine with kids have all mentioned, most of them say that they rarely get a quiet minute to eat x
I don’t have children but I feel you with these! Screaming annoys me so much – especially when it comes to my younger brother and sister!
The last one made me laugh. It’s so TRUE! I hate all the screaming in our home but sometime’s I can’t do anything about it. Thanks for these tips!
I really love the advice of using paper plates to take some stress off of some household duties. Awesome advice here for parents new and old.
Oh man yes!!!!!! The missed communication was the worst for me when I had newborns. Now, almost 9 years later the constant mess gets me!
Great tips! We need to work better on communication in our home. It’s always a struggle and super annoying when the other adult in our house doesn’t tell me anything!
All of the posts you mentioned above, I saw my sister go through with my nephew and niece – it can be quite intense
What helpful tips for all the new parents out there. Motherhood is definitely one tough job, but it’s so rewarding