Dear mums, dads and soon parents,
my second daughter was born in January, I now have two children at home. To share my experiences as a two-mom with you, I've put together a small list of useful things, you might call them initial equipment, which hopefully will help you better understand your babies and ease your parenting a little.
1. The book "Oje, I grow"
I start my list with a book. Two and a half years ago, bathed in sweat, I walked through the park with my six-month-old first-born, who had been screaming for hours, singing and cradling her - basically the nightmare of every new mum. A friend sent me a text message and asked me how I was doing. I answered honestly, and she wrote back that my baby is just growing. Yes, she had just outgrown size 56! What my girlfriend meant, though, was that the child grows mentally. I was confused at first, but then I got the book (in English "The Wonder Weeks"), which she has very dear to me. And indeed, it helped me to understand pretty much everything that was going on in my child. It took away the uncertainty and self-doubt that a permanently screaming child can cause in one. It explained to me how her world is being turned upside down, what skills she is learning and how I can help her (and these are just a few things the book has given me). Now with the second child, I picked it out again - and thanks to him I can breathe again. I even set an alarm clock on my phone that tells me when a new phase starts. So I am prepared and can help her through.
2. An exercise ball
At first, I thought I could 'exercise' a bit at home with a gymnastics ball. At the end of the day, however, he ended his existence in some corner. Now, however, with two children, his time has come: You can not imagine how many hours my husband (I had no need to settle after birth) with our girls spent on it. During the day, on long nights and even at dinner, he rocked her on it. I still find it sensational how effective the exercise ball is to calm babies and how much they love it. It's also nice that there's a way for Dad to calm down his baby. Not only the mom and her milk!
3. Color contrasts
I like this point the most. I enjoy watching what my babies enjoy, what they like to watch, or what makes them smile (besides my grimaces and funny sounds, of course). In the puerperium with my first daughter, I often wore an old, soft long-sleeved shirt, and my husband often laughed at how intense and long the baby could stare at the streaks on it. It even went so far as to rummage through all my striped shirts and put them on the changing table or cot. My two girls just love to stare at stiffeners! This is my favorite tip - it costs nothing, just search your wardrobe for shirts with stripes or contrasts like red & green or yellow & purple!
4. A homemade mobile
That was also very funny. My youngest took 12 days to come, and I used the time until birth to finish knitting a few things. And because I had so much thread lying around, I thought I was making a pompom mobile in white and pink, that would be a nice contrast to our black wardrobe, where we hide the changing table form. Thought, done. The finished artwork I tied to BBQ sticks, which I had found in the kitchen and cut so that the pompoms can turn. It's so important that babies like their daily "stations", and my little one loves to watch the mobile over her changing table.
5. Diapers & wipes
When I suggested to Isa to write this article, we talked about which things are really relevant to this list. By no means obvious things like pacifiers or diapers! But then I realized that it took us almost three years to find the right diapers and wipes. Why should not we put them on the list? Pampers, dm, Naty and other biomarkers - I've tried them all and none has felt right. Either they were full of chemistry, too hard and uncomfortable, or I just could not wrap them around my baby's stomach (yes, my babies are tall!). Now, with my second child, I've tried LILLYDOO - and they work great. The diapers are soft and my child can move freely. Finally, there are the LILLYDOO diapers also in Newborn sizes. Size 2 is already available in the online store and size 1 should follow in the next few days. Once LILLYDOO, always LILLYDOO. I also discovered LILLYDOO wipes and my babies and I love them because they are not as cold as most traditional wet wipes. Of those, I've always plugged in a mini-packet for emergencies.
I hope my little list is useful to some of you out there. Maybe the other tip will be familiar and you've already tried it yourself? Of course, I would like to have some of you - what worked with your baby?