Congratulations to Rebecca Dawkins, MD of Buckingham Recruitment!

As I am not a mother myself yet, there is no wisdom I can impart at this time, however, as a keen researcher, I was wondering what were the top 5 tips were for someone expecting a baby.

Having spent a lot of time looking on the internet – all of 2 mins on best tips for new mums, I found the top 5 I liked:

1. While your baby sleeps…work out!  Ha!  I (Hilary) bet you thought I was going to share the old tip of “sleep when your baby sleeps.”  When we finally got my daughter’s acid reflux under control, she slept.  A lot.  I napped, crafted a little and read books.  I figured that when she got a little older, and I had recovered a bit more from my c-section, I would start working out.

Bad idea!   I started getting serious about exercising and running on my treadmill around the time she was 6 months.  She would nap, I would run.  I started to build up miles and then BAM!  My daughter dropped her morning nap.  Suddenly, I only had one two-hour period of time to myself during the day and it was difficult to use it to exercise when I had cooking/cleaning/projects/organizational things to do.  I stopped running consistently and it wasn’t until my daughter was much older (and I had free time) that I started again.

In hindsight, I wished I had started running and working out when my daughter was very little.  She slept so much at first and I could have lost some baby weight and toned up a bit before she was awake and into everything.  Sleeping while your baby sleeps is important.  You have to be rested.  But I wished I had used that quiet time a little more effectively at the beginning.

2. Enlist help! Now is not the time to be shy! You have family and friends that truly do mean well. It is best that you serve in the role of director and be honest about what you need/would like to have done. Make a list of chores that must be accomplished over the next few weeks and match these up with the skills of your volunteers. (This is a much better option than allowing some well meaning relative to take charge and actually create more work than they resolve!) Whether it is folding clothes, picking up groceries, entertaining the two-year-old, running thank you cards to the post office — ASK! This frees you up to relax and better enjoy your baby. It also grants those that care about you the opportunity to feel as if they are contributing something useful…and they are!

3. Keep meals simple. We know — it sounds easy. You believe that you are home now on maternity leave and have all this “free time” that whipping up a gourmet meal to celebrate would be simple enough.

Save your energy for enjoying that new little one!

4. Keep visitors at a minimum. This can be extremely important for those first few weeks at home and is also often in the best interest of your baby’s health. Certainly you are anxious to show off your new little one, but there will be time. Don’t be afraid to place limits and disregard those that would like to insist that it is ok for THEM to come by. A good game plan is to let everyone know a date after which you will feel up to having visitors meet your newest family member. It is ok if they disagree. This time if for YOU!

5. Take what you want from the advice given, discard the rest.

We looking forward to meeting the baby soon!

Good luck from ENI!