I am a mom now. Wow! Writing this down still feels unreal. 🙂 It is true what they say: You have no idea what being a mother feels like until you are one. You can do courses, read books and talk to as many mothers as you like in advance, nothing prepares you for the moment when they hand you this crying, little human being. Everything is new, wonderful, exciting and scary – all at the same time. The last three months were such a special time. I’ve learned so much and grew into my new role more and more. So I thought I share in this super random post the most important things that I’ve learned as new mom in Stuttgart in the first three months.
[This post contains affiliate links to amazon. If you click on a link and purchase something I get a litte bit from amazon. You don’t pay more of course.]
- Having a good start is super important. Thus choose the hospital you want to give birth at carefully. Find out what is important to you first (eg. do you want a hospital that has a unit for children, is it important to you that there are lactation specialists who help you with breastfeeding, do you want an alternative, anthroposophical approach to giving birth, and so on) and then do your research and visit the hospitals that suit your criteria beforehand. Most hospitals organizes special events or days of the open door where you can meet doctors, nurses and midwifes and peek into the delivery room.
- If you want your husband with you the first night(s) in the hospital, make sure you tell them you want a family room (Familienzimmer) when you arrive at the hospital. Otherwise someone else might get it.
- Take the first days when you’re back home to heal and to enjoy every second with our baby. In Germany your partner has the right to take Elternzeit which is a special leave for new parents. This is definitely something you should consider as it helps so much when you’re not alone in the first weeks. And more over it is great for the new daddy as well to spend as much time as possible with the baby.
- Having a midwife that supports you the first days when you’re back home helps so much! You can ask her any questions you might have (and believe me, you will have many questions :-)), she checks if you are healing properly and if the little one develops fine. In these first days she is your best friend, your nurse, your shrink… You can find a midwife via this website: www.hebammensuche.de Just type in your postal code and you will see a list of midwifes that work in your area. You can even check if there is one that speaks your mother tongue when you select „Sprachen“ and enter your language. Make sure you contact a potential midwife as soon as possible. This means right after you’ve found out that you’re pregnant!
- It helps our baby to fall asleep when we stroke her from the forehead down to the tip of the nose (super random but I’ve heard that from other moms now, too 🙂
- One more word about sleeping: At the beginning we thought we have to sing to her, carry her around etc in order to help her fall asleep. She was crying every night before bedtime at that time. Then we got the tip that most new moms and dads make the same mistake at the beginning: We entertain our babies too much. So we changed bedtime routine and put he straight to bed after changing her diapers. And what can I say? Ever since she falls asleep much easier.
- Make sure you have everything you need as a new mom ready when you’re coming back home from the hospital. Here are some things I didn’t want to miss at the beginning (and still today):
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- A bed for the baby that can be attached to my side of the bed so that I don’t have to get out of bed at night to feed her. We have a Babybay [affiliate link].
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- A nice diary as you want to write down everything from the first day.
- Onsies for the little one that you can open in the front (I hated everything that I had to pull over her head as I was scared to hurt her). I personally love the silk and wool ones from the brand Alana that you can buy at dm.
- A music mobile that turns by itself makes your life much easier as you don’t have to stand next to it to push it so that it moves. It will keep your little one entertained for some time. We have bought this one [affiliate link].
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- Several nursing pyjamas (you want more than one, believe me! Not only that you will be sweating a lot at the beginning, once you’re producing enough milk to feed your baby you might produce too much and thus your pyjamas will be soaked quite often…). I bought them second hand on eBay Kleinanzeigen.
- Muesli or protein bars (I am sooo hungry when I am breastfeeding, especially at night).
- The Stilltee from Weleda [affiliate link].
- The Windelbalsam of Bahnhofapotheke Kempten. It is seriously the best balm for your baby’s bottom in my opinion!
- This fun ball [affiliate link] that makes it easy for your baby to grab it.
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Yeah, I know, this post is SUPER random 😀 But these are the things I would have loved to know earlier myself.
If you have any questions about being or becoming a mom in Stuttgart feel free to write them down in the comments.
Happy 1st Birthday, little one! - Living in Stuttgart
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