10 Ways To Help A New Mom

Mother's Day is next Sunday and I thought I would post about ways that you can help out a new mom. Bringing a new baby home is a very exciting time but it is also stressful and exhausting. Here are some things you can do to take some of the stress away from a new mom:

1. Prepare some casseroles and freeze them so that she will have a quick and healthy meal at her fingertips on those really hectic days.

2. If you are going to visit the new baby, ask the new mom if she needs you to pick up milk, bread, or any other staple. Trying to get out the door with a newborn is a challenge and I am sure she would appreciate this gesture.

3. Help out with laundry and cleaning. It is difficult to find time to do household chores especially if a new mom is trying to rest when the baby sleeps. I remember when my kids were newborn that I didn't rest when they slept because I felt I had to cook and clean. I didn't have any help and I soon became exhausted.

4. Bring a basket full of healthy snacks, bottles of water and herbal tea. If she is breastfeeding, it is important that the foods she eat are easy to prepare and packed with good nutrition. Its also important to drink lots of fluids.

5. Offer to look after the baby while mom has a bath or shower or to allow her to go for a quick walk. It is amazing what a 30 minute to 1 hour break can do to give you an energy boost. This will also give you some bonding time with baby.

6. Give her a gift certificate to a cleaning service. Who wouldn't want their house professionally cleaned a couple of times?

7. Give her a gift certificate to a popular pizza place or other restaurant that delivers for those nights that she just simply doesn't feel like cooking. Its also helpful if you include a menu with it.

8. Help her write thank you cards to those who attended her baby shower, dropped off baby gifts, or sent gifts while she was in the hospital.

9. Bring a basket full of things to make her feel good like her favourite bubble bath, a great book, magazine or movie, lotion, facial masque, nail polish, hair care products, and so on. If you look good, you feel good.

10. Have friends and family write babycare tips and advice on index cards and arrange them into a card container. Sometimes people have valuable tips that you don't come across in books. This will also make a great keepsake that she may pass down to her baby.

Before the baby arrived, all the attention was on how mom to be was doing. Once the baby is born, most of the attention is shifted to the baby. Its nice to do something thoughtful just for the new mom to make her feel special and less stressed.