Important Things To Do After Your Baby Is Born

No matter how many kids you’ve taken care of or how many times you’ve been to the delivery room, no one really prepares you for what awaits you. Every child is different and comes with lots of downs and ups. Everything takes you by surprise, and you pose and ask, am I a first-time mother?

Some of the experiences your child takes you through leave you surprised and crush your motherly prowess. Some mothers also go straight into the confinement period to the extent that they order a month of confinement food catering in Singapore.

Where you thought you had it all figured out and can hack the journey like a soldier, the baby takes you through a foreign road. You will experience a tsunami of emotions, and you will feel physically and emotionally wrecked. You will not even differentiate between Monday and Sunday. Your TGIF moments will disappear thanks to your baby’s ever-demanding nature.

These events may make you forget some of the most important things you are supposed to do after your baby is born. So that you are not caught napping, this article will give you a heads-up on some of these things.

Rest

We know you have heard this advice at least a dozen times before in other articles and from the people around you, but it is we say this with the best intentions. Moms simply do not get sufficient rest. So we are here today to tell you how to let your body properly rest.

If you can afford to, get an external helper. If you practise the tradition of confinement, you can consider getting a confinement nanny. They will take care of pretty much all your needs during confinement, as well as your newborn’s needs. A confinement nanny will prepare confinement meals daily for you and prepare your bathwater when you would like to bathe.

On the other hand, if you prefer to take matters into your own hands, you can also DIY it! It would be helpful if you already have family members or friends who are experienced with childbirth and confinement so they can share and advise how you can go about it. Browse the various DIY confinement packages in the market as well!

If you are not familiar with it, a confinement package typically contains packets of confinement herbs that can be used for bathing and preparations of daily confinement soup and beverages.

Pamper Your Body

Postnatal Massage in Singapore

The postpartum stage is a crucial period to let your body rest and recuperate. At this point, you should take things slow and not put pressure on yourself to ‘bounce back’. Feed it with good, healthy foods and let it relax at all times as well as stay in comfort and warmth.

You can also opt for body treatments like postnatal massage. This massage is widely favoured by many moms as it not only helps them shape up but also helps with breast issues like engorgement.

Some new moms are bound to lose a lot of sleep, so massage is even more helpful to these moms in promoting a good night’s sleep. If you are experiencing any discomfort that can be relieved with a massage, we highly recommend you go for it, as the benefits are abundant!

What about working out? Even if you have always been athletic, you do not necessarily have to start your workout immediately after giving birth until you feel physically and emotionally ready for it.

If you really want to start being active again, you can, however, start with the Kegel exercise, which does not require too much of your effort. It can be done even when seated on your couch.

During labour, your pelvic muscles weaken, and this could lead to urinary incontinence. Urine may leak at a slight cough or laughter. Kegel will help strengthen those muscles and bring them back to shape.

Register for an Insurance

You may forget to sign your child up for their insurance coverage only to run into a panic in case of an emergency. Once the baby is born, call your insurance and settle all the paperwork necessary for the medical coverage.

This will give you an easy time during vaccinations or in case the baby is unwell and needs urgent medical care. Let your insurance take you through what is covered and what not to avoid nasty surprises. Understand your cover limit, too, to plan accordingly.

Take Proper Meals

Proper Meals - PEM Confinement

Your diet after birth is extremely crucial as it will greatly aid in your wound healing and overall postpartum recovery. Therefore, when planning your recovery, your postnatal meals should be placed as one of the top priorities.

On top of that, you will also need extra calories if you are breastfeeding. You can burn hundreds of calories from nursing alone. If you feel the need to increase or suppress your milk flow, modifying your diet also works!

If you do not have much knowledge of the kinds of confinement food that can help in your recovery and milk production, opting for confinement food delivery is the next best thing to do. Go for one that is credible and preferably with a menu that is curated by experts like a nutritionist.

Notify the Registrar

Your baby will require a birth certificate; that’s the only way the government will recognise them. Before leaving the hospital, you will receive a birth notification document that you will attach when applying for the baby’s birth certificate.

You may be tempted to push this to a later date, but procrastination does not make things better. If you are too tired to visit the registrar, your partner can do it for you.

Take Photos

Your baby will grow so fast, faster than you think. Very soon, you will start noticing the baby’s clothes no longer fit, and their needs are changing pretty fast.

You will need to document all the milestones that your baby achieves. You can store them on a flash disk or back them up in iCloud. You can even take videos once the baby starts making those small steps or starts crawling.

Update Your Will

The coming of your baby is a fantastic thing, and you can’t imagine anything happening to you.

However, it is essential to prepare for the worst since life is unpredictable, and no one knows what tomorrow holds. In that case, list down all your assets and factor in the welfare of your baby.

If you have no idea how to go about it, you can consult a lawyer who will guide you. You can choose either an executor of your will or power of an attorney in case things take the worst turn of events.

Motherhood is a remarkable journey and brings immense joy and happiness to the family. As you take up your new role as a mother, you will have to deal with so much that life will throw at you.

Amidst the confusion, life still goes on, and even the people around you require your attention. Take each day at a time and prioritise your activities. Write them down if you have to, and you will find the journey fun and bearable.

Helping Your Newborn Adjust to Life After Birth

Besides handling the things you are required to do, mummies, your baby also requires your help to adjust to the transition to their new environment.

Feeding

When inside the womb, your baby is often fed continuously, experiencing no starvation or thirst. However, a newborn has to signal whenever they feel hungry, using indications such as crying, sucking, or rooting. Learning these cues and feeding your child help to meet their energy requirements and offer reassurance that you care for them.

If you are a nursing mom, allow your child enough time to breastfeed as they want to and stop when your child indicates they are satisfied. As these experiences often go, breastfeeding is not a smooth journey from start to finish.

If you are not able to exclusively breastfeed, you can feed them using a bottle, spoon, and even syringe. The good thing is you can still bond with your baby no matter how you feed them.

Performing Skin-to-Skin

Holding your naked newborn close to your skin after delivery warms the baby and stimulates its sense of touch. Your child will get used to your smell which can help to calm them. Also, skin-to-skin interaction also assists with regulating your child’s breathing and heartbeat while encouraging the child to get its mouth around the nipple for breastfeeding.

In creating a strong connection with your newborn, baby massage is one of the best activities you can do on a daily basis. Massage not only promotes skin-to-skin contact, which allows for bonding but also works to soothe your baby when they cry or experience abdominal discomforts.

Apart from your baby, skin-to-skin contact is also beneficial to you. Ideally, close contact with your newborn triggers the secretion of the oxytocin hormone, known for good feelings, and stops the release of the stress hormone cortisol. The same applies to fathers when they hold their children close to their skin.

Practising Swaddles & Movements

During pregnancy, your baby was confined in a warm and cosy environment, often soothed by swaying and rocking. After birth, newborn babies have to adjust to the new setting. Some adjust quickly to sleeping while lying on their backs, while others have a hard time adapting.

To restore that sense of security and support as experienced in the womb, you can swaddle your baby in cosy wrappings to make them feel safe and secure as it mimics their condition in the womb. Make sure you leave enough space to allow their legs to manoeuvre around.

Baby-wearing, through a baby carrier or sling, helps to replicate the gentle swaying and rocking that calms your child before birth. This tactic can also help to relieve your baby when they are crying.

In the absence of a sling, the simple act of walking around while holding your child is more likely to soothe them compared to sitting down and cuddling them.

Getting External Help

After delivery, you are likely to be exhausted and emotional. You need plenty of rest, and this can be provided by getting the help of a confinement nanny. In order for your baby to be comfortable, maintaining a good amount of shared exposure between yourself, your child, and the nanny is crucial. It helps them to get to know and familiarise themselves with other people and not just rely on you. Not to mention, this will make sending them to the daycare centre easier!

As this caregiver becomes a constant presence in the life of your child, your child is bound to feel comfortable with them even when you are not around. The duration needed for this to occur differs from child to child, so the earlier you find a nanny, the better.

There are many centres in Singapore offering confinement services. Visit one and get a nanny for your baby. A confinement nanny is one of the best caregivers to go for immediately after your birth because, on top of your newborn, they will also take care of your confinement needs.

One of the ways to accelerate the shared exposure is by allowing the caregiver to feed your child. The caregiver can start to feed your child using a syringe, bottle, or cup while you’re there.

Additionally, they can also hold the baby or change their diapers, and you can stay around to see how your child reacts. The nanny can also try to calm your baby before returning the infant to you while you are there, offering verbal support.

The next step is to try leaving your child in the care of the nanny for a short time. You will want to slowly build this time up while seeing how your child adapts. This may allow you to catch fresh air outside or take light exercises to refresh your mind without worrying about your newborn.

Closing Words

All in all, you have to keep in mind that you are not the only one who has to adjust to life changes as a new parent. Your newly-born child is also learning and exploring life outside the womb for the first time. One important thing you could do is to hire a confinement helper for the immediate days following the birth, as this would help you focus on recovery and lighten the load somewhat with all the chores.

So, if you are looking for some reliable confinement lady services and are currently searching for an “SG confinement nanny”, then swing by our homepage to learn more!

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.