One of the most favorite moments of my life was spending time with Parth when he was a newborn. Those three months were the most peaceful, enjoyable and snuggly months! I never wanted it to end. but, they grow so fast.
Today, I wanted to talk to you about some things you can do to help your three-month-old reach developmental milestones.
TUMMY TIME
Some babies don’t enjoy tummy time, but it’s so important for these squishy little!
Babies need to spend around 30 minutes on their tummy each day to help them learn to lift up their head and to roll over. There are different ways to do tummy time to make it more fun for your baby. I did tummy time with Parth on a fun mat, on my tummy, and on my legs. If the baby doesn’t respond to tummy time on his own, try to engage him.
CRISS CROSS
This is an awesome activity to strengthen and stretch your baby. First, you take your baby’s left hand and touch it to their right foot. Then, you switch and take your baby’s right hand and touch it to their left foot. I usually did this about ten times with Parth each day.
IMITATE BABY
It is so funny to watch a baby and all of the faces they make and to listen to the sounds they make. It makes it even more fun to try and imitate them! Your baby will notice that you are copying them and they might even respond by making more noises.
CYCLING
This was one of Parth’s favorite activities! I would take his legs and gently move them in a cycling motion. Again this is another fantastic way to exercise those legs to get him ready to roll, crawl and walk!
AIRPLANE
Let baby see the world through new heights! Daddy likes doing this one. Just hold on tight, baby only wants to pretend fly!
LEG PRESSES
This is another great leg exercise activity! For this activity, you take a hard object ( a book, box, couch) and you place it right by your baby’s feet. Your baby will then push off the object with their feet.
PLAY WITH TEXTURES
Different textures are perfect for baby’s developmental stages. At three months, you should be letting them feel things like stuffed animals, toys like wooden blocks and plastic teethers, and various kinds of fabrics.
TALKING, SINGING, AND READING
Communication is so important for newborn babies. In order for them to learn how to talk you need to communicate with them a lot. One way is to sing songs. Nursery rhymes are repetitive and good for babies to hear but any type of song will work! You can also read children’s books, your own books or magazines to your baby. It really doesn’t matter what you are saying just as long as you are communicating with your baby!
Try all these activities with your baby. I’d love to hear about your experiences with these activities and how your baby reacted to them.
Being a new mom is always hard. As I said in my previous post, every day comes with a new learning experience with the baby. It’s doesn’t matter if it’s your first baby or second, all kiddos are different, and you have to learn and adjust with each one.
In the haze of pregnancy bliss, you didn’t remember anyone telling you how exhausting those few months can be. But parenthood is a fun one. I’m grateful for all the ups and downs.
When it comes to mom life, I am always looking for ways to make my job easier.
To adjust your life with your baby I want to share some hacks which I learn from my daily life and some which I read.
There’s nothing worse than trying to button your baby back up and sometimes you just can’t figure out the darn buttons because it’s 2 am, you’re exhausted, and it’s dark. Save yourself a headache and get back to sleep faster by investing in a cute pair of jammies that zips up instead.
- Eat and snack well and stay hydrated:
Keeping easy-to-grab snacks close by along with a large water bottle is going to give your tired body the fuel you need to make it through the day.
I am not someone who can swaddle very well. I study the nurses at the hospital while they do it, and I just have come to the conclusion that it is a talent I will never have. My husband did it very well. So it was his daily duty. Remember, swaddling makes sleeping changes so much easier.
- Use pacifiers to help with medicine taking:
For those babies that don’t want to take medicine, use pacifiers. The pacifiers with the hollow opening fit a medicine dropper perfectly.
Use coconut oil to moisturize cradle cap and use a baby comb to gently remove the flaking skin.
Make sure that your new diaper is open and ready, as well as wipes standing by BEFORE you open the dirty diaper.
Roll baby clothes instead of folding them to better fit in drawers. You can fit so many more in there and they’re easier to find. Also, don’t buy too much baby clothes. Trust me, babies grow up too fast.
Don’t try to cut your baby’s nails. Use a nail file instead. No risk of cutting his little fingers this way. The best time to do it is when he’s sleeping or when he’s eating.
- Keep extra clothes (for you and baby) and diapers and wipes in the car:
No matter how prepared you are, there will be times when your diaper bag doesn’t have what you need. Always keep a bunch of diapers and wipes in the car and clothes for you and baby there too.
- Try to get baby used to an early bedtime:
While many newborns prefer a later bedtime before too long they will be more likely to go to sleep early (around 7). Take advantage of this! Getting your baby down early means more time for you, and more time for you to connect with your husband, because it’s probably not happening too much during the day.
Getting a little fresh air each and everyday will break up your day and help you to relax and rejuvenate. It will be helpful for your baby too, especially during the evening witching hours.
- Discuss with your partner ahead of time to figure out a game plan:
Having an open discussion with your partner is a must in order to prepare for baby’s arrival. When you are not the primary caregiver, it can be difficult to know just how much time and energy a newborn can require. Keep your marriage strong after baby. Because to be truthful, bringing a baby into a relationship can quickly turn your relationship upside down.
- Get baby on a good sleep schedule/”train” baby to sleep more than 2 hours:
I am a strong believer, however, that there are many things that you can do to help your newborn sleep better and longer through the night. Some of my favorite tips for getting your baby to sleep longer are swaddling, cluster feeding and avoiding over tiredness.
don’t be afraid to use sleeping tools for your baby! These tools were developed to help your baby feel secure and comfortable – so use them to your advantage.
Start implementing a bedtime routine from the beginning. Babies thrive off of routines. It helps them know what to expect so that they know they are safe. Having a routine in place will also help your baby learn to self-soothe faster and easier. Trust me, you want this. It doesn’t matter what your routine is so as long as you stick with it.
A dream feed is a nursing session right before you get ready to go to bed. Many babies, including Parth, would feed without ever fully waking up. I could nurse him and lay him right back down with no issue at all. It allows you to fill up their bellies right before you go to sleep in the hopes that it might gain you a few extra hours of rest before your baby is hungry again. In my opinion, this newborn hack is definitely worth a try.
These tips and tricks are just a few ways to make your life as a mom easier so that you can spend more time playing with your baby and less time doing, well, anything else.
Are there other newborn tips that I forgot to mention? Let me know in the comments below!
Whenever I share my family pictures on social media, my friends asked me, why I don’t share my baby’s pictures. Why I hide his face every time? So I decided to share my view on it in today’s blog post.
I actually enjoy the concept of social media. I love being able to stay in touch with people. I love social media. I am on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest. I enjoy seeing people like my posts and comments. Facebook, Instagram is the first thing I look at in the morning almost every day.
But, When I was pregnant, my husband and I made the decision not to share photos of our son on social media.
I think we grow up in the most safest and protected environment. Because our parent didn’t have a smartphone or social media during that time. In fact, when we were Kids, our pictures get shared and liked when friends and relatives were visits our home.
In today’s online world where everything can be cached, archived, and stored in the cloud, we have to assume that anything we post online will be permanently available in some form. This certainly goes for adults too, but I feel that it is even more important with my kid.
What if sharing his life with strangers before he even knew who he Is. I don’t feel that it is my right to share about my child's life online and for some reason, if he wants in his teenage, he won’t be able to undo or un-share the things I’ve posted about him.
Many parents put their kid’s images on Facebook, Instagram; some of them even creating accounts on behalf of their children when they’re still babies. Facebook doesn’t allow the account of under age of 13. The most obvious reason for this is the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act, commonly referred to as COPPA. Passed in 1998, the act created strict requirements for "operators of websites or online services" that collect information from children under the age of 13.
Everyone wants to share pictures of their kids with friends and family. After all, baby’s are adorable, and who doesn’t have a cellphone camera handy at all times? But for me, I don’t want my kid on social media until he is old enough.
Think about this… If the details of a child’s life have been shared on social media from birth, a person could potentially find that child’s date and time of birth, eye color, hair color, photos, school location, and home address online. Which is absolutely not safe.
We truly have no idea what the future of technology holds for our children or what it will look like a decade from now. I’m personally trying to guard his future privacy in the only way I know how- by keeping his information offline until he decides he wants it there.
Also, I won’t keep my kid off social media forever as I’m not opposed to him using it when he will older and responsible enough. I had the safe childhood that wasn’t public and I’m trying to offer the same to my own child.
I share pictures of him doing activities on social media, I just don’t show his faces. I talk about him in a general way. If you want to, you could find more pictures of my son’s hair than you’d ever care to see. I am just trying really hard to afford my kids some online privacy.
Finally, respect everyone’s decision. Everyone has a personal choice. We don’t judge those who post photos of their babies, so please don’t judge us for not.
