In the first few weeks postpartum, comfort and as much sleep as possible are a must! People who say “sleep when the baby sleeps” are absolutely right (although it’s difficult when you have another child!) Your body has been through an intense experience giving birth, so it needs care and rest. The newborn days are wonderful, but the fourth trimester is certainly a challenge! Having given birth twice now, these are the 5 things that I couldn’t have done without in those very early days!
newborn
The 4th trimester in a pandemic
The 4th trimester with my 10 week old son has been very different than with my 4 year old daughter, thanks to the pandemic. Of course, my pregnancy and the birth experience were effected by it too. It’s all been very strange and somewhat unexpected as I thought things would have vastly improved by a few months into my pregnancy.
Breastfeeding struggles due to posterior tongue tie
After my breastfeeding journey with Autumn came to an end, I was devastated. I had been so determined, but her being seriously ill had had a serious impact on my mental health. The right thing to do to was to give up so I could take the medication I needed and get better. Breastfeeding this time round was going a lot better, until I began to realise there was a problem. At 8 weeks old, Reuben was diagnosed with a posterior tongue tie which was affecting our breastfeeding.
The surprise of health anxiety with my 2nd born
Trigger Warning: Anxiety¦ If you’ve been with me from the start of my blog and parenting journey, you’ll remember the trauma we went through at the beginning. Our 4 year old daughter had a huge ovarian cyst which sparked sepsis or a similar response. We ended up with her in PICU in St. George’s Hospital, London, where she required open surgery at only 5 weeks old. I was also severely anaemic after losing too much blood at birth and the combination of these had a big impact on my mental health. So much so, that it was years until I felt able to have another child. However, it has still continued to effect me in ways that have surprised me with my newborn son.
Review: Childs Farm Skin and Bath Products
If you have a baby, chances are you may have heard of Childs Farm. Whilst I’ve tried out other great bathtime products, I’ve been itching to try out these products since Autumn was a newborn. I was delighted when I was approached with a lovely gift hamper to test out.
Autumn loves her bath time, so she’s always more than happy to be my little guinea pig when it comes to trying out bath products!