How to Survive the Holidays with a New Baby!

So Christmas is over….but that’s not the only holiday this time of year. You may still be celebrating Hanukkah, starting Kwanzaa or just looking ahead to the New Year celebration. Maybe there are still friends and family in your home, or there are more on the way. Here are a few tips to managing the stress of the holidays which are STILL going strong-even if you’re not!

1. Wear your baby. Babywearing can go a long way toward keeping well-meaning family members from touching your baby, kissing your baby, and in general-getting closer than necessary. I mean….we love our relatives, right? But we also want to protect our baby and are still getting to know them and establishing their routine. Plus, we may still be working on establishing breastfeeding. Wearing your baby may be the best, safest and most respectful way to say ‘NO, you can’t hold my new baby’.
2. Don’t over do it! At my age, this would translate to ‘Just say NO’. The holidays bring a lot of expectations. From parties to family dinners to work get-togethers. Try to decide what is most important and what you can say no to, and stick to your plan. If friends or family ask if they can just ‘pop by for a toast’ make sure it won’t add extra stress to your life before you say yes and commit. OR, keep it tentative so that you can say NO if needed at the last moment. Your postpartum recovery is more important that all of the social ‘stuff’ that comes along with the holiday season. More is not better.
3. This one is simple. People coming over to your house? Don’t hesitate to sit a bottle of hand sanitizer right by the door or ask everyone who crosses the threshold to wash their hands. If people are coming over, ask them to stay home if you already know they have a cough or another illness. Show the healthy ones the sanitizer and soap. Your new baby is still developing an immune system and can do without some of the extra cold and flu bacteria
4. This goes along with #3. If you’re out and about, make sure you wash your own hands and do what you can to reduce your exposure to germs during the holiday season.
5. Simplify, simplify, simplify. Simplify gift giving, decorating and all of what you normally do for the holidays. Simplify meals and travel. Maybe this means you don’t get on an airplane and go to California this year, but this might just be a sacrifice that it’s worth its’ weight in gold.
6. Give yourself a break. Literally and figuratively. Take time out to rest, take a nap and/or have a massage. You’re not doing yourself or your new baby any good if you’re so frazzled that you can’t even sit still. Plus, if you’re breastfeeding you will not make enough milk or be able to keep up with a breastfeeding routine if you’re exhausted and frazzled. Tune out the noise and hussle and bustle of the holidays, Netflix and chill if you have to. Just take a break.
7. Create traditions that are sustainable. You might think that since you have a new baby you want to go out and get that 10 foot Christmas tree that you always had as a child. You realize that takes all day long, requires immense work getting it all anchored and then decorated and you find that you don’t have time (or energy) to even water it after you get it set up. Once you bring that baby home, perhaps it’s time to scale it back with a smaller, petite tree that you can manage together without a lot of fuss?
8. Wait it all out. Luckily, if the holidays are rough for you and your new baby, they’ll be over soon enough! And when they are, you’ll probably miss having relatives fawning over your sweet babe, taking pictures with several generations of loved ones and all those arms that could have held the baby for you while you napped. Cherish the memories you make and just do the best you can. You’re doing a great job!
9. When you just can’t anymore….hire yourselves a postpartum doula. We can help you put things back together after all the relatives leave and support you while you figure out parenting. AND you can sleep 🙂