3 must have things for 1st year in parenthood

When you are reading this post, I am assuming either your cute little baby has already arrived or he/she will be in your arms very soon. Either way, I want to congratulate the new parent. It feels like a wee bit of heaven has fallen from above.

When the newborn lands on the earth, we parents are overwhelmed by loads of advice from friends, relatives, neighbors which sometimes confuse us and may mislead us too. But thankfully there are lots of parents around who are really God's angels.

Today I will share such angels’ tips that I received during my journey and never regretted adapting.

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1. Breast Milk Pump: When your baby is exclusively breastfeeding, it's really tiresome for you to continuously feed your child in every alternative hour or so. The only way to get a break is offloading the feeding activity for a few hours.

For this we have only 2 options:

• Give formula milk sometimes,
• Store breast milk so that someone else can feed while mummy is taking rest.

Though most doctors recommend breast milk as the best food for 0-6 months old, formula milk can be considered as an option based on the situation.

For breastfeeding mothers, breast milk pumps are the savior. You can store the milk whenever you need it, like in the initial stage it will be mostly for your rest, or when you have to go out for work your baby will be privileged to enjoy breast milk even if you are not home. Later it can also help relieve soreness by pumping out extra milk when your baby is transmitted to solid food, but you are producing more milk than required.

Thank you pediatrician Dr. Shamik for suggesting this on my first visit itself.

2. Booster seat or High Chair: I am so grateful to my office colleague Sumana who has advised me to

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start using a high chair while feeding solid food as soon as my baby can sit without support. And this is one of the baby’s essential gears that I have used for more than 2 years. This very much useful equipment is very famous outside India but still underrated in India.

If your baby starts a habit of sitting in a defined place while taking a meal in the early days itself, it becomes obvious to them. And they usually don’t move around while eating even after they learn to crawl or walk. Hence you don’t have to chase after your darling during food time. It really saves lots of energy and struggle.

Unlike other baby stuff, this high chair/booster chair is going to be there with you for more than 2 years, so I would recommend you invest to ensure good quality.

3. Potty Seat: And the last but not the least item is the potty seat. This is another item I started using when my daughter was 6 months old. You may think this is too early to potty train a baby. Let me explain this differently.

Using this equipment, you are helping your baby as well as your pocket (cutting the diaper expense). When your baby can sit, it's good to use a potty seat while peeing or pooping. Because it becomes difficult to pee or poop for them in a laying down position or not sitting in the proper posture when they have already been transmitted to solid food. You may not always know when he/she is going to poop or pee and may mess around sometimes. That’s completely fine as long as you start building the habit.

How can I start this habit?

Whenever your baby gets up from his/her nap, you make him/her sit in the potty seat for peeing. And by this time you are already aware of the signal when your little one is about to poop, so use that signal. That’s how it will start working.

Thank you so much my college friend Maitreyee for such thoughtful tips.

Bonus tips:

There is one more gear which is very famous nowadays in India. Can you guess? Yes, I am talking about ‘Perambulator’. It is obviously helpful but I have not added this to the above list for a couple of reasons. Unlike foreign countries, most of the Indian roads are not suitable and safe for Pram rides.

If you are thinking of using it only inside your apartment area, that's a fair scenario. In such a case, you have to keep in mind that once your baby starts walking he/she is not going to like that ride anymore. Hence this costly equipment will only be used for a maximum of 6-8 months.

As this gear is a little bit of space-taking and being used only outside, you have to find a place (preferably outside your baby’s reach) inside your space crunched flat.

You can surely go ahead with this gear if none of the above-mentioned is your pain area.

There are few things which I don’t recommend at all are:

1. Nipple Shield
2. Pacifier
3. Walker