Nesting is a big part of the later stages of pregnancy and a time for soon to be parents to prepare for the greatly anticipated arrival of the new baby! Yay!
But it’s not only about preparing the home so that it is a suitable environment for a newborn – we must also prepare for the mental challenges that come with living with a newborn (hot tip: coffee and more coffee).
There is generally a huge emphasis on what you need before baby is born, getting the hospital bag ready, having the route marked out to the hospital, and the mother-in-law on standby for babysitting duty. But what about after you have been shuffled off from your hospital room, leave the nurse on call behind, and begin the daily battle at home figuring out how to work your life around an ever-demanding newborn? The saying ‘being thrown in the deep end comes to mind’!
Suddenly you realise you took simple things for granted – like going to the toilet and having a shower by yourself – these moments are sacred victories when you can get them. Sleeping, a luxury in a lot of cases as well.
Although newborns do spend a lot of sleeping, we spend these times cleaning up the mess of a kitchen and frantically washing dozens of tiny little stained onesies wondering why no one told us they would go through 7 outfit changes a day. Seriously, can I just get 5 minutes?
Welcome to the bathroom Olympics.
After numerous early morning feeds, and constant nappy & clothing changes, a shower sounds heavenly. Baby has just fallen asleep so you hurtle to the bathroom, jump in the shower and wait …..was that a cry? Off the shower goes, dry off, race back through to the nursery to check….babies sleeping away peacefully. Phew, back in the shower and wait ….is she still breathing? Maybe I’ll just go check …
We have heard this story so many times from first mums especially. So how can you prepare yourself to cope with these changes?
A simple solution is to keep your baby close by when having to use the bathroom, or move rooms. The Marmalade Lion Activity Mat works perfectly for this. The Activity Mats are filled with a nice thick memory foam padding so you can put them straight onto your bathroom tiles, lay your baby down for a nap, and it will provide a soft cushioned space for them to nap while you can keep a close eye on them. They also have a waterproof backing, so you don’t have to worry about any dampness coming up from underneath.
Now you have the chance to have more quality time for yourself, knowing that bubs is perfectly happy and safe. And you know what they say - happy mum, happy bub.
Now! Where’s that body scrub…
