7 Essential New Parent Hacks for Baby Bliss

Did you know that from around six weeks of age your newborn will start doing fewer poops overnight? And when this happens it dramatically reduces the number of diaper changes you need to do throughout the night because there's actually no need to change your newborn's diaper after every week. Now this is great because it means more sleep for you and your baby and that's because diaper changes are quite stimulating for a newborn which means it's harder to get them back to sleep So minimizing the number of changes will also reduce the amount of time you both spend awake each night. Just remember that once you notice your little one is pooping less overnight be sure to apply that barrier cream before you put them to bed and this will reduce the likelihood of them developing a diaper rash and allow you to leave that diaper change until the morning. And if your little one starts to soak through the diaper then simply switching to using diapers the next size up overnight should do the trick as more padding will mean more wee can be absorbed and put a stop to those leaks. This is just one of a bunch of kind of strange but really helpful tips and hacks that I'm going to share with you in this video that will make life with a newborn much easier. This next one is for new parents of baby boys and it's also related to going to the bathroom but I promise every tip isn't related to that. If you've got a little boy you might have already experienced this but as soon as you remove their diaper they decide it's time to urinate. I remember when this first happened with my son scrambling to grab another diaper to try and catch it but being way too slow to avoid a mess and it seemed to happen every single time. Well you might be surprised to learn that it's actually not by choice when you remove a baby boy's diaper it's the exposure to the air that often causes them to urinate. So to avoid it you can do one of two things you can either run a wet wipe across their belly before removing the diaper and this cold sensation may make him wee before you actually remove the diaper or before you remove the diaper simply flap the front of the diaper a few times which may seem a little weird but the exposure to that cold air will ensure that any wee is actually contained in the diaper before you remove it. While we're still on the topic of diapers let's talk about another common occurrence new parents often have the pleasure of managing and that is poop explosions. When these occur the clothing your little one is wearing can mean the difference between an extremely messy diaper change or just an unpleasant one. If you can dress your little one in onesies or shirts where the material actually overlaps at the shoulders. Clothes with these overlaps means that when your little one does have a poop explosion which they're going to do quite a lot you can simply pull the clothing down over their body and this will prevent you from smearing poop all over your baby's body and their head and make that poop explosion easier to deal with. Another thing you're also going to notice at some point is your newborn will start grabbing onto absolutely everything including your hair, jewelry or earrings. Now this grabbing isn't deliberate it happens because of something known as the palmar grass reflex. This is an automatic reflex which occurs when something strokes or touches your newborn's palm and that results in their fingers automatically closing. So as soon as something brushes or touches their palm their fist closes on it and usually that's whatever is hanging down so your hair, jewelry or earrings. Now you'll also notice that if you try and pull the item out of their hand their fingers tighten their grip but there's an easy way to fix this that is really gentle on your little baby as well. All you need to do is gently bend your newborn's wrist in an inward direction. Now this won't hurt your baby at all and it will actually cause their fingers to automatically open and allow you to remove whatever they're holding without causing you additional pain. Now this trick is also extremely helpful during bath times when you're trying to clean in between your little one's fingers. Simply bending their wrist forward will lead to their fingers opening up and make cleaning between those tiny fingers a breeze. Another difficult spot to clean during bath times is your little one's toes but the good news is you can also make this easier by triggering another one of their reflexes. But before I tell you which one it is if you haven't already make sure you click on the link in the description box below to get the free developmental milestone chart so you know exactly what to be expecting in your baby's first year of life as well as when to be concerned. So to make cleaning between your little one's toes easier you actually activate their planar reflex. When this reflex is triggered your newborn's big toe will bend back towards the top of their foot and their other toes will fan out and this will make it possible to clean in between those toes. So to activate this reflex you just stroke the sole of their foot from their heel to their toes. Now I've got another bath time tip for you that will help to reduce your newborn's bath time screams. If your little one hates having a bath or becomes distressed while they're in the bath simply pop in a pacifier or position their hands close to their mouth for them to suck. Sucking is extremely soothing for newborns and will help to stop those tears very quickly. Now if your little one gets upset when you take them out of the bath here's a great way to instantly calm them down. First make sure they're dry and then you can try and hold them in what we call the flex and hold position. This position allows your newborn to suck their hands while you gently move them up and down while simultaneously shushing them. The combination of movement with white noise so you're shushing and sucking is extremely soothing for a newborn and this will quickly calm them down. This holding technique is actually one of four that you can use to instantly calm a newborn. So to find out what the other three positions are make sure you watch this video next and if you've liked this video make sure you hit the like button and subscribe so you don't miss the next one.