A New Mom's Guide to Surviving the First 4 Weeks of Motherhood (and Babydom)

It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that I’ve been somebody’s mother for four weeks. I mean, I still haven’t really processed that I was pregnant for forty weeks and gave birth and all that. Seriously. The last four weeks have been intense. One observation I’ve made, whether casual or subliminal, has been how drastically my nightstand contents have changed.

Gone are the days of my tattered paperback, glass cup of lemon water, unsmudged reading glasses, multiple iPlugs, and my hangover cure all bottle of Advil.

I have a new arsenal now. Things I would never go into the first four Mommy weeks without. These aren’t your typical baby onesies and bibs - nope, they are the things we ran to the store to buy because it didn’t occur to us to have them on-hand before our baby was born.

NoseFrida

Tagline: Suck Snot right from your kid’s face - effin’ disgusting, but it works.

Okay, that’s not the real tagline, but this nasal aspirator was a GODSEND when our three-week old baby girl came down with a serious case of the rattling sniffles. No, you don’t ingest boogers. There are filters to stop mouth-to-booger contact. Buy an extra pack of filters too.

HydraSense for Babies

Along the same lines, make sure you have saline solution on hand. It helps clear nasal passages and it’s sensitive for wee noses.

A portable night light

I bought a cute little plugin one for our daughter’s room and then lamented that we weren’t using it while she was in her bassinet in our room. Portable LED night light to the rescue. This one from Munchkin is adorable and is marketed as a ‘potty lantern’ for later on when little ones make the trek from bed to the bathroom after dark.

A cool-air room humidifier

Gone are the days of hot-to-the-touch and mold producing humidifiers. Who knew? They are now quiet, efficient, easy to clean and keep the air in the room moist so baby sleeps comfortably and doesn’t turn into a wrinkly baby prune.

A giant pump bottle of moisturizer

We use this one. It smells great and the pump actually dispenses the exact right amount of cream to cover an entire baby body. Our baby girl came down with a serious case of baby acne, and with a few dabs of this cream every morning and evening, it was gone in a few days.

A bottle drying rack

I thought this type of thing was a money grab before we started sterilizing bottles twice a day. Just buy it. It’s $8 well spent.

A thermometer that goes in the ear

Otherwise, you’re sticking it in their bum or under their arm. One is incredibly unpleasant for both parties, the other is incredibly difficult. Just get the ear one. It’ll save you heartache and worry.

Change pad liners

I shook my head when we received these. I didn’t understand why you’d need a liner on top of a cover on top of a waterproof change pad. Then my daughter did a big number two and number one on her change pad and the liner saved me a world of hurt. For $15 or so, just do it.

A bottle warmer

Unless you have a one-storey house (which would be quite an asset during the early weeks of motherhood), a bottle warmer is a luxury, but oh-so-wonderful. It saves you from having to anticipate the screams of hunger at 2 am to run downstairs to boil a kettle of water to warm a bottle to bring back up stairs. I wouldn’t say this is an absolute must-have, but a nice-to-have? Yep.

Bibs with velcro

VELCRO. There are so many cute bibs out there. But until your babe can hold his head up on his own, those little snaps are SO annoying. Velcro makes life easier when your little bobble head is trying to eat his own hands and simultaneously latch to your nose all while spitting up breast milk. Velcro bibs for the first few months. Trust me.

A New Mom's Guide to Surviving the First 4 Weeks of Motherhood (and Babydom)

The products this mom couldn't live without.

A giant pump bottle of moisturizer