We all want to be the best parents we can be – it’s only natural. However, becoming one is not always easy, especially when you’re balancing your newfound role of a mom with everyday duties and obligations.
Therefore, it pays to learn a couple of tips that can help you be a good parent while also excelling in other areas of life. If you’re a new mom, here’s what you need to know.
Spend quality time with your child
After giving birth, your day-to-day routine and sleep patterns suddenly change, making it challenging for you to focus on setting up quality one-on-one sessions with your little one.
However, it’s important that you find a way to spend quality time with your baby and establish a connection with them. Try to communicate your feelings to them – you can rely on baby talk and change your intonation and pitch to teach them the basics of language. When they start playing, play together with them to stimulate their imagination and speaking skills. Even though they can’t respond with words, there are many ways your baby shows love and appreciation that will warm your heart and help you bond even more.
Introduce your baby to the magic of music
Playing music is a great way to create a sensory-engaging environment for your baby to learn and grow in. The effects of exposing your child to a musical stimulus are diverse and can help cultivate neural pathways that can boost a wide range of skills.
Some studies have found that music can have a positive impact on babies’ emotional, physical, and cognitive development as well as their language and creativity skills, memory, and spatial intelligence. To introduce your baby to the magic of music, you can use musical toys or play some music. Singing together and encouraging them to sing along and chime in (even if they can only grunt or coo) is also a great way to interact in a fun and enjoyable way while also boosting your baby’s skills.
Stay connected and socialize with others
Once you become a mom, your days are so busy that it seems impossible to find the time for socializing. However, motherhood isn’t a reason to neglect your social life. In fact, it’s important for preserving your mental health.
New moms need support, especially if they had their first child. Every beginning is difficult and it pays to have someone you can talk to. Fortunately, there are many useful new mom apps that they can use to connect with other moms and share their experiences. It’s a great way to learn something new, and maybe even make a new best friend.
A healthy, nutritious diet is key
What, when, and how you feed your infant is crucial, especially during the first three years. One of the first decisions you’ll have to make when it comes to your child’s nutrition is whether you’ll be breastfeeding or bottle-feeding them.
Of course, both have their own advantages and will depend on mom’s personal preferences. Although breastfeeding is a preferable option, sometimes the mother’s lifestyle doesn’t allow for her to breastfeed the baby every couple of hours (e.g. moms who have to get back to work shortly after giving birth), in which case baby pumped breast milk or formula might be a more suitable option.
Nevertheless, it is important for moms to continue with a healthy diet after giving birth, even more so if they breastfeed. When a mom eats healthy foods, she makes sure that her baby gets all the necessary nutrients, which is why her diet needs to be rich in healthy fats, proteins, calcium, and iron.
Listen to your baby
Once you become a parent, you can expect everyone else around you to try to give you advice. However, you don’t have to take all the advice you’re given, especially if they don’t feel like something you’d do.
For example, you may be told that you need to watch the clock and feed your baby according to a structured schedule. While this may sound good in theory, in practice, things tend to be a bit different. Some babies require more frequent feedings, while others don’t necessarily need to be fed strictly every 2-3 hours. If you feel like on-demand feeding might be a better option, go for it.
Similarly, don’t wean your baby if you don’t feel like they’re ready. Instead, let your baby lead the way to weaning from breastfeeding and decide when is the right time to move on to solid food.
Research Everything You Buy
Before you buy anything for your baby, research everything. Specially, if you are going to buy an infant car seat make sure you do deep research
There’s no doubt that parenting can be quite an exciting and rewarding experience. Follow these tips as they will help you nurture a relationship with your child and establish a positive environment for them to thrive in.