A year ago, I had a wonderful girl. I thought that I would not make it to a year, as I was very tired, and now, looking back, I want to analyze my mistakes and draw conclusions.
Constant doubts
Since the birth of a child, I have been overcome by fears and doubts. All the time it seemed to me that I was doing something wrong: I was feeding wrong, dressing, putting to bed, doing hygiene procedures. But a year has passed and it turns out that all doubts were in vain: the baby is healthy, well-developed, active and cheerful.
Output: no need to doubt your actions, experience is a profitable business, in time everything will work out.
Attempts to breastfeed
Following the advice of the pediatrician, I tried my best to feed the baby with breast milk. But I didn't have much milk, no matter how hard I tried to put my daughter to the breast, she didn’t eat enough, quickly woke up and cried. Milk never came, although I tried to eat fatty foods (for example, nuts) and drink plenty of fluids (Read also: how to increase lactation). After suffering for a month, I switched to feeding with milk formula. And it went well: the girl ate well, slept soundly, her weight gain was normal.
Output: if there is little milk and it is not fatty, watery, you need to switch to a mixture, and not torment yourself and the child.
Follow the advice unconditionally
As soon as the child was born, numerous relatives began to advise one or the other. Sometimes their advice contradicted each other. Some said: take the child in your arms and rock him, others - teach the baby to sleep in the crib, do not come up if he is capricious; some said: a wet diaper needs to be changed immediately, others - do not change a diaper until the baby cries.
Output: you need to listen to the recommendations of experienced mothers and grandmothers, but it is not at all necessary to follow them unconditionally.
Bathing a newborn in boiled water
After the appearance of my little daughter in the house, I did not have a minute of free time. In order to bathe it in the evening, following the advice of the pediatrician, in the morning I boiled a huge pot of water, cooled it down, and prepared another portion of boiling water before bathing. Then in the bath it was necessary to mix this water with the cooled one, add a slightly pink solution of potassium permanganate and only then immerse the baby there. As a result, our kitchen has become a steam room. Moreover, ironing the girl's linen with a hot iron took time.
Output: no extra work to do.
Wrap up the child, be afraid of the fresh air
One day my little girl caught a cold, she had a runny nose, it was difficult for her to breathe, there were problems with feeding, since it was difficult for her to suck from a bottle. Since then, I began to be afraid of the cold, all the time it seemed to me that we had a draft, I began to close all the windows. At night, I wrapped my daughter in a warm blanket. But in a stuffy room, she would open up endlessly and wake up, because of the dry air, her nose dried out, and crusts appeared. I remembered: “If a child has a warm nose, it means that my child is not cold,” and I stopped wrapping the baby up.
Output: it is imperative to ventilate the room before going to bed, a warmly dressed child sleeps better in a cool room.
Complexes about extra pounds
After giving birth and trying to breastfeed, I recovered greatly: I gained more than 10 kg. Looking at my wedding photos, where I looked like a reed, I tried to lose at least a little, but the weight did not decrease. I decided to do fitness on the Internet, but it ended up with severe pain in the back and lower abdomen. The doctor warned me that after a difficult birth, you should not give the body heavy physical activity, you need to skip 9-12 months. And now a year has passed, and the weight gradually returned to normal.
Output: no need to get complex because of extra pounds, over time they will go away.
Don't think about yourself
All my time was devoted to my family. The former stylish haircut has turned into ugly regrown hair, I have already forgotten about the manicure, I wore three dressing gowns and two pairs of slippers from clothes in a year. It seemed to me that my husband should appreciate my efforts, but once I noticed that he was losing interest in me as a woman.
Output: a woman in any conditions should remain a woman, there is no need to forget about herself.
Take it all on yourself
I was so tired with the child that sometimes I cried alone with myself. No matter how hard I tried, there was still no order in the houses: there were toys lying around, here - a put away bottle, and on an armchair - a mountain of washed clothes. At night, I got up to the child, I could carry the child in my arms for several hours so that he would not wake up my husband: he will go to work tomorrow.
Output: it is necessary to distribute responsibilities around the house and seek help more often; dad may well take a walk with the child, wash the dishes, hang the clothes. You can offer to take turns on duty at night.
Search for information on the Internet
When I still had a free minute, I immediately went out on the Internet and plunged into reading forums, tips, mothers' pages, etc. The phone consumed all the free minutes, it was impossible to rest.
Conclusion: less phone calls, more rest.
Do not receive guests
When my husband said that tomorrow his mother or our friends would come, I was always angry, because before their arrival I needed to clean the apartment, prepare something unusual, and then engage in conversations with them. But then I realized: guests are a good relaxation. None of them will pay attention to the mess, and they will always help prepare food, clean the dishes too.
Output: guests need to be received; nor will they cheer up and add variety to the monotonous routine of daily childcare.
I recently found myself expecting a baby again. I will try to avoid the mistakes that were made with the first one. I will be glad if my revelations help other young mothers.
