8 practical hacks for first time parents

Mumma Hack / 27 October 2015 / 16

Here are some genius hacks to make first time parenting that little bit easier. It’s an amazing, exhausting, challenging and sometimes overwhelming, but wonderful time. You’ll be thankful for anything that will make those first few weeks that little bit easier.

1. If you live in a large or multi storey house, use a portable caddy or set up several baskets of nappies, wipes and a towel or change mat in different parts of the house. Going up stairs or carrying a poonami soaked baby across the house will get old pretty quickly.

These handy nappy caddies hold all the essentials and are easy to grab and go

2. Wash mittens and socks in a laundry / lingerie bag. Have you seen how tiny those things are? You will never find the other pair if they’re thrown in with the general washing. Mine would also get jammed in the rim of the washing machine before I started doing this.

3. Before baby is born, practice using the car seat with a teddy bear. Yes, we spent 20 minutes trying to figure out the car seat in the hospital car park! I had been given this advice and I so wished I had listened. It’s just a car seat you say, how hard could it be you say… those things were created to make parents go mad! Just do the teddy bear thing, you’ll thank me!

4. If you’ve ever stumbled around changing cot sheets at 3am, you need to know this hack. Double make the cot. That is, place a mattress protector down, then a fitted sheet, then another mattress protector, then a fitted sheet. When you need to change sheets in the middle of the night, just whip off the first layer of sheet and protector and you have clean sheets underneath. Now settle baby and get back to sleep!

8 practical hacks for first time parents Share on X

5. Use a hair dryer for white noise. We accidently discovered at about 2 weeks old that the hairdryer would instantly calm our son. From then on, it became a staple after bath time every night. We’re not sure if it was the noise or the warmth, but if you’ve run out of ideas, definitely try this one.

6. Most babies love being swaddled but have you ever tried to swaddle a baby safely on 2 seconds sleep in the middle of the night? Just do yourself a favour and buy a swaddle with Velcro straps – it will save your sanity. This was the best baby shower gift I was given. I love the SwaddleMe:

7. Use a night light or a very dim lamp that won’t blind you. You need something that won’t require your eyes to adjust. Turning on the lights every few hours for feeds/nappy changes will make everyone super grumpy. Have a look at this adorable owl night light:

8. Triple layer bibs. This is a great hack if you have a particularly pukey baby, as we did. Put on three bibs at a time, then you can just whip them off as they get dirty, instead of going back to baby’s room countless times a day to find a new bib.

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Do you have any great, practical hacks for first time parents? Leave us a comment below.

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16 Comments

Mumma Hack

18 November 2015 at 12:29 PM

I would have loved them too! Hindsight is wonderful, isn’t it 🙂
Mumma Hack

18 November 2015 at 12:28 PM

Thanks Natasha. So true. We live in a tiny apartment, so we definitely had to be very selective in what we needed.
Elizabeth Edgar

18 November 2015 at 1:53 AM

YES! I have a toddler now but when she was a newborn, I was lost. Those 8 hacks would have helped me a lot. Thank you!
Natasha

17 November 2015 at 3:30 PM

After I had my baby, I quickly learned what was needed and what was not. I’m a minimalist so less is definitely more for me as long as I have the essentials. Great post!
Mumma Hack

5 November 2015 at 12:28 PM

Thank you! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the post.
Mim

4 November 2015 at 10:49 PM

Yes yes YES to all of these and especially the doubling up on bedding – trying to do anything like that in the middle of the night is literally a nightmare! White noise was a lifesaver with our first baby 🙂 thanks so much for linking up to #ParentingPicks! Mim x
Mumma Hack

31 October 2015 at 10:11 PM

LOL 🙂 My baby brain took ages to cotton on to this one too!
Mumma Hack

31 October 2015 at 10:10 PM

Thank you! Oh all the things we wish we knew… parenting is certainly a steep learning curve, isn’t it!? 🙂
Shannon@ my2morrows

31 October 2015 at 10:07 PM

These are awesome! Wish I knew number 4 and 8 when my kids were bubs! Thanks for linking up to the ultimate rabbit hole! Xx
lu @ looking for mama me

31 October 2015 at 9:47 PM

why did I not think to put socks in a delicates bag? Do you know how many of those suckers I’ve lost! oh well, live and learn lol great tips 🙂
Mumma Hack

31 October 2015 at 8:20 PM

Thank you Laura 🙂 Yes, in those early days you just have to keep reminding yourself that ‘this too shall pass’!
Mumma Hack

31 October 2015 at 8:16 PM

Thanks 🙂 Wow, triple sheet! It’s so hard when they’re pukey.
Mumma Hack

31 October 2015 at 8:15 PM

Thanks Claire, that one is a lifesaver 🙂
Claire @ Life on Wallace

31 October 2015 at 8:09 PM

Great suggestions! I especially like the double making the cot.
Mumma McD

31 October 2015 at 2:00 PM

These are excellent tips! The double sheet trick saved my sanity – I had to triple sheet every night for my pukey son!!
Laura

29 October 2015 at 7:00 PM

What a fantastic, practical list of tips! Especially love the cot sheets one (might start doing that now even though my son is 2.5 already!).

My best tip for new mums is not to have too many expectations. Take each day one moment at a time and remember EVERYTHING is a phase lol!

Thanks for sharing. #parentingpicks