10 Things To Do Before You Give Birth

With your EDD approaching soon, you might want to start getting ready to welcome your newborn into your life. Especially when your body will be weak for a few weeks after childbirth, it’s best for you to get all of your and your newborn’s daily needs in place in advance to minimise the stress and exhaustion that comes after.

But where do you begin? Clothing, breastfeeding, diapering, bathing, confinement food…and the list goes on. Here’s a very simple and general way to help you identify your tasks on hand — you have the “present” tasks, and the “future” tasks.

By “present”, we mean the list of things that you have been doing before your baby’s arrival. How are you planning to manage them once you give birth? This can include your job, your social activities, financial commitments and other daily errands.

On the other hand, the “future” tasks include the list of things that you don’t have to do at the moment, but will become a big part of your daily routine after your baby’s arrival. These are mostly routines and responsibilities that are related to your postpartum recovery and taking care of your newborn.

Need more specific examples? We’ve got your back! Let’s look at the following list of 10 things to do before your baby arrives!

1. Schedule your current work and errands

If you’re planning to follow traditional Chinese confinement practices after giving birth, the common practice is for postpartum mothers to rest at home for at least 28 days, whereas some mummies would choose to do confinement for 40 days or even up to 100 days, depending on their body condition and preference.

Since you’re going to take a break for a considerably long period of time, it’s best for you to arrange and schedule your current work and errands on hand. 

Have a few project due dates that fall within your confinement period? Let your team members know how long you’ll be away, and discuss with them on how to reschedule or delegate the tasks. Have monthly bills and payments to make? Consider setting auto-debit payment so that you don’t forget to pay when life gets busy with a baby.

The key here is to make sure all your current tasks will be taken care of, so that you can focus on your recovery and taking care of your baby when the time comes.

2. Make your home comfortable for confinement

If you’ve had the opportunity to work from home for a while, we are sure by now you’ve understood how the state of your living space can impact your mood and productivity, and the same can be applied to doing confinement at home as well!

Since you will be spending a long time at home, making your home a comfortable and convenient space for confinement can make your postpartum period more pleasant and relaxing. 

This doesn’t necessarily need to involve doing expensive renovations or buying fancy home decors, it can be as simple as making your bedroom airy and dust-free, getting a new set of comfy pillows and blankets, and buying thermal flasks so that you’ll always have warm drinks within reach. 

Furthermore, if possible, try to do confinement in a room that has an attached bathroom or is near to the bathroom; this can help prevent you from walking too far everytime you need to use the bathroom. Also, it is best to have your baby’s room near to your room so that you can attend to his or her needs quickly.

3. Plan your finances

While this isn’t exactly the most fun or exciting thing to do before your baby arrives, it’s something important that has to be done. So, if you haven’t already, sit down with your partner and start planning your budget and expenses for the following months.

The expenses involved for being new parents can be overwhelming, and this includes fees related to confinement planning, newborn’s essentials, breastfeeding essentials, emergency funds in case of health complications, just to name a few. 

To start, identify how much income both of you have per month, and set a realistic budget for each expense. If needed, discuss how you can decrease your current spending. Cutting down on take outs and food deliveries, cancelling any unused subscription plans are a few suggestions you may consider.

4. Get trusted help

We understand how you might feel like you want to personally be in charge of every part of your baby’s daily care routine, as well as how you want to spend your confinement. However, as your body will be under recovery after delivery, it’s highly recommended that you get a trusted help during the first few weeks during postpartum.

While you can get help from your family members, if you are looking to spend a confinement that is hassle-free for you and your loved ones, engaging with in-home confinement ladies services is a great option as they are often experienced professionals that are specifically trained in confinement and newborn care.

Don’t worry — getting help doesn’t mean that you need to give up on what’s important to you during this period. You can always communicate your expectations and doubts with your confinement caregiver. 

Not to mention getting help from an experienced person means that you can get guidance from them that can be useful even months after your confinement. At PEM, our award-winning confinement nanny Singapore service is trusted by over 15,000 happy mummies and counting.

5. Prepare your and your newborn’s clothing

For your clothing during confinement at home, choose something that is breathable, absorbent and loose since you will be healing from post-delivery wounds. Also, choose clothes that allow you to easily breastfeed or pump, like button-up loungewear.

As for clothing for your baby, focus on getting outfits that are soft, breathable and gentle on the skin. Avoid clothes with rough fabric or embellishments so as not to hurt the newborn’s skin, and prepare extra clothing for changes too!

Also, keep both of your clean clothes in a wardrobe with no camphor balls or other products that emit strong odors as they can be harmful for your newborn’s sensitive respiratory system.

6. Prepare essentials for you and your baby

Some of the common mom and baby products that you can prepare include breast pump, newborn-friendly toothbrush and comb, pacifiers, baby bottles, and if you would like to plan even more ahead, consider getting baby self-feeding essentials like bowls and utensils too.

Moreover, remember to install a baby car safety seat along with rain gear to avoid you and your baby getting a cold when you head out.

7. Buy and store food

As you will be occupied once your baby reaches home, it’s best to have a grocery list of the food that you plan to buy, and consider buying ingredients that can be kept for a longer period of time in advance.

To get the right ingredients to prepare confinement food, focus on getting food ingredients that are fresh, nutritious and well-balanced with a wide variety. Some examples of nourishing dry herbs are red dates, longan, wolfberry, dang shen, and dried mushroom. Meanwhile, fresh produce includes ingredients such as chicken, fish, lotus root and ginger. Choose your ingredients carefully, purchase early but don’t buy too much to avoid deterioration, especially vegetables and fruits.

If you are engaging a confinement nanny Singapore service from PEM, we will give suggestions and guidance on the list of food ingredients that you can prepare in advance, so when our nanny arrives at your home, you can have warm and nutritious confinement meals at home from the first day without much hassle!

8. Buy herbs and supplements

Recovering the body after giving birth with herbs and herbal supplements is a big part of traditional Chinese confinement practice. Other than raw herbs, some herbal supplements that are commonly consumed by postpartum mothers include Wu Jin pills, Su He pills and Bo Ying pills. If these herbal supplements are what you’re looking to add to your confinement diet, be sure to consult a medical professional before taking them, and understand how the ingredients are sourced.

With your convenience in mind, PEM’s confinement nanny service also comes with an add-on of confinement herbal package for herbal soups and herbal bath water. Each packet is pre-measured with ingredients that are carefully selected to improve your postpartum recovery.

9. Take care of your health

Before your delivery date, schedule a routine check-up with your doctor to make sure that both you and your baby are healthy and ready for delivery. As much as you can under your doctor’s guidance, try to prevent getting a cold and manage your blood pressure and blood sugar before giving birth.

Getting enough rest right before your delivery is also another key thing to take note of. So try your best to not get too stressed about everything that is happening around you, and take good care of yourself in order to be mentally and physically prepared!

10. Relax

Becoming a mother is one of the most overwhelming experiences you’ll go through in life, so it’s normal to feel worried or scared. The good news is, you can achieve a smooth recovery with proper medical care and guidance, as well as having sufficient nutrition and rest during the confinement period. So try to welcome this new chapter of your life with a positive outlook.

Meanwhile, if you are interested to learn more about how PEM confinement agency Singapore service can give you and your newborn the best care during confinement, call us at +65 6293 9249, we are available to assist you with any enquiries from 10a.m. to 7p.m. daily.

Author

  • PEM Confinement Nanny Agency

    We are a group of frontliners and support team members who are passionate about sharing our knowledge and experience in confinement care. Representing the largest confinement nanny agency in Singapore which has served over 250,000 mothers in over 30 years, we are all about sharing useful and insightful information based on our experience to help new parents navigate this exciting chapter of their life better.