Bringing a baby home from the hospital is a wonderfully amazing and joyful experience, but an overwhelming and stressful one as well. Too bad there isn’t a definitive parenting manual because bringing home Baby is no easy task! With a few preparations, the transition can be a little smoother. Here are a few tips to consider:
Stock up
On everything! If you aren’t already using a subscription service like Amazon or Target, make sure to stock up on household essentials such as toilet paper, paper towels, soap, detergent, hand sanitizer and any other basics you use regularly. Don’t forget to include wipes and diapers, although don’t go nuts either. Babies change diaper sizes fairly quickly, and you never know whether your little one will have a sensitive bum that reacts to whatever wipes you get.
Remember to stock up on food too. Make a last Costco, Sam’s or grocery store run to pack in pantry staples and easy, healthy snacks for you (because nursing makes you crazy hungry!), as well as easy dinners to throw in the oven.
Make room
Babies come with a lot of “stuff,” so create some space in the house for baby mats, pumping supplies, bottles, diapers, blankets, etc. Having items organized ahead of time will create less stress and chaos later. A house can become cluttered quite easily with all the pint-sized day-to-day supplies.
Laundry...loads of it!
You would never think one tiny human could create SO much laundry, but between spit-ups, blowouts and drool, you are certainly going to be spending way more time doing laundry than you bargained for! And speaking of spit-up, blowouts and drool, study up on Stain Management 101. In my book, baby stains rank right up there with tomato sauce, grass stains and wine—nearly impossible to truly get out. Survey your mom friends to find out the tried-and-true methods for stain removal.
Baby prep
Be sure to purchase the necessities you’ll need for Baby but “understand the difference between what you ‘need’ and what you ‘want’ for raising a baby,” shares first-time dad Ryan. “We live in a modest-sized home, so having too many giant plastic baby devices scattered about is just too much for us.” Be sure to have some clothes washed and ready for Baby but try not to be overzealous about removing tags. Babies grow so quickly and sometimes breeze (or skip!) right through sizes. Our little dude is 4 months, but wearing 6 months, and even some 9 months, just because he is SO long!
Clean and organize
After talking to several local moms, the consensus is clear: Clean before bringing Baby home!
“Clean everything. Get all the dishes done and the trash taken out. Basically anything I would do when I go on vacation is what I did before my daughter was born,” Kortney says. “Oh, and wash and vacuum out the car too!” Many moms suggest hiring a cleaning person/service to do a deep clean before bringing Baby home as well. Once you arrive home, you’ll want to soak up all the newbie snuggles you can, not worry about dusting and vacuuming!
Family time
Be sure to spend some one-on-one time with your spouse or partner. Casey, a soon-to-be first-time mom says, “I’m trying to purposefully indulge in my time spent with my husband, knowing our dynamic will be drastically changing soon.” For those with other children already, Dara shares, “Snuggle the ones you already have. They might take the backseat for a bit, so snuggle as much as you can!”
Check off to-dos
Think dentist or eye doctor appointments for you or your other children, oil changes, checkups, etc. These tasks are much easier to do before you have a new baby in tow!
Pressure off
As Ryan puts it, “This is not the time to attain to perfection. Be prepared for things not going as planned and adjust with a positive attitude.” Emmie, a soon-to-be Overland Park mom, puts it in perspective: “Try to focus on the positive—Baby—instead of getting overwhelmed with everything that still needs to be done!”
Although all the preparations are nice, do realize your limitations and that in the end, it doesn’t matter how much you have done. As Emmie says, “It takes stress off to feel as prepared as possible even though I know I will probably never be prepared enough.” The good news is your baby will never know what is or isn’t done. The most important part is welcoming your little one home!
Quiz:
- Does Baby have a place to sleep?
- Do you have a car seat installed?
- Do you have clothes, diapers and wipes?
- Do you have a way to feed Baby?
If you answered YES to these questions, you are ready to bring Baby home!
Julie Collett writes from Overland Park where she has had the joy and pleasure of bringing home Baby four times!