My advice to new parents

Now that I’m nearly 3 months deep into parenthood I’ve been thinking about what I wish I had known and the advice that I’ve been given which was 100% true. So here it is, my advice to new parents.

1) Establish your boundaries and stick to them. There will be people who try to make you feel bad or stupid for some of your feelings and routines, but you know what’s best for your baby. Someone wants to come round during bath time? No. Someone wants to wake the baby up when they’re sleeping because they want a cuddle? No.

2) Create a bedtime routine and stick to it, even from a young age. Your life will become much easier in the long run as babies are creatures of comfort. Bath, book, bottle, bed is a winner!

3) Make time for you as a couple. This has taken Matt and I longer than we would have liked but we are getting there. Even small things like putting Ivy upstairs and having the monitor downstairs means we have a bit of time to ourselves to be a couple again, not just parents.

4) Accept help without feeling guilty. Someone wants to do the washing up or cook for you? Say yes. Someone wants to take the baby for an hour or two so you can sleep or have some space? Say yes. Your mental well-being is still so important. If you’re happy, baby will be happy.

5) This one might be controversial, but don’t spend all your time on your phone. Get outside and explore things with your baby. Talk to them, engage them, play with them, let them see our magnificent world. By all means, take pictures; just don’t waste your time scrolling mindlessly on social media when you have precious moments where your baby is awake and wants to interact with you. As cliché as it sounds, they grow up so quickly, don’t miss a moment of it.

Jess x