Now that I am no longer a new mom, and actually pretty far away from babies at this point, there are several new mom secret hacks that I wish I had known. Most often, I learned these game-changers by the second baby, but sometimes the information came along when it was too late to use on either of my children. After collecting as many of these invaluable secrets from other contributors and friends as I could, I have put them into this blog post so that hopefully another new mom will be able to use ALL of them to make her life so much easier!
1. The little nipple brush is usually hidden inside the handle of a bottle brush.
2. The changing table you are looking for in that public bathroom is hidden in the handicap restroom!
3. The reason your newborn onesies have overlapping tabs at the shoulders is so that you can easily roll the whole thing down the shoulders, down the waist, and off the bottom when you have a poop-splosion. This video shows exactly how.
4. Pull up the side tabs of juice and milk boxes for kids to use as handles and not squeeze the liquid everywhere.
5. Ask for “to go” silverware at nice restaurants that might not cater to kids. The spoons and forks are usually half the size of the metal restaurant ware and are the perfect size.
6. Another eating out tip: you can also ask for espresso spoons and cocktail (fish) forks for the same reason — depending on where you are!
7. The hatchback of your SUV/hatchback/minivan closes just like a door, and the surface is flat enough to change a baby when the car is parked (but still running the AC) far away from other cars.
8. That mini potty you purchased for potty training is actually portable and WILL fit in the back of your SUV/hatchback/minivan and no one can really see inside if a small child happens to be sitting on it. For potty training emergencies. Just sayin’.
9. Make your own emergency baby food with just a banana and a spoon! All you need is a whole banana still inside it’s skin and a tiny spoon. Peel only ONE strip of the skin down the length (leave it attached or not). Rub the spoon against the banana flesh that is exposed – only smashed banana will come away in the spoon. Feed it to your baby, instant puree! Use the whole banana this way. You can also smash the banana before opening to make it completely squishy inside first.
10. Disposable diapering moms: when the tab rips off a diaper, don’t throw it away – use the double diapering trick!
11. Those tiny mittens included in a newborn layette aren’t for keeping their hands warm – they’re for moms who are too scared to clip tiny newborn fingernails (like me). The mittens keep them from scratching their own faces when they’re not in control of their hands yet. You can put them on until you’re around someone more comfortable with clipping the nails (like your mom or another mom friend)!
12. Keep using outgrown Babylegs as arm warmers under t-shirts in the winter.
Are there any tricks-of-the-mom-trade that I’ve missed? Leave yours in the comments below and we’ll try to update!
