Some helpful advice – from one mum to another!
Vicki Scott is Philips AVENT’s baby feeding and wellbeing advisor. She is a qualified midwife, nursery and maternity nurse and breastfeeding consultant, with nearly 20 years professional experience.
More importantly, she is also proud mum to two-year-old Poppy and regularly draws on her own personal experiences. Yes, she knows firsthand what you’re going through!
Vicki will be posting monthly updates with top-tips and topical features that will help take the stresses and strains out of life for you and your little ones.
My top-tips for Christmas:
Get organised! Do all your Christmas shopping online - food as well as gifts. Don’t even attempt to go to a supermarket with a young baby or even a toddler near to Christmas, especially on your own. Supermarkets are too crowded, hot and the queues are too long. Your baby may get fretful, your toddler will get bored and you will get stressed!
Think it through before hosting a family Christmas at your house if your baby is very small. Even taking a journey into account, being at someone else’s home means you’re not worrying about whether you’ve done all the shopping and whether everyone’s having a good time!
If you are going away and will be using a travel cot for the first time, consider using it at home first to get your child used to it and so you know how to put it up and take it down! This should help your baby adapt to her new surroundings more easily when it comes to bedtime. Also be sure to take along your child’s usual items that she will associate with bedtime such as her sleeping bag, special cuddly toy, lullaby CD, favourite books or soother. That way your baby will know it’s time to sleep even though she’s in different surroundings.
When staying with family and friends, ask them in advance if they can add your baby’s essentials onto their shopping list – this saves you taking lots of nappies, food/drinks for baby etc. You may like to take along some frozen homemade meals (well-packed so they stay frozen) for your child so that they can easily have a good proper meal instead of the rubbish we tend to eat during the festive season!
If you have a long car journey, allow plenty of time and plan stops along the way to fit in with baby’s usual feed times. Babies are always happy to have a good stretch/crawl/play and this should help you keep more or less to usual feed and sleep times (some babies sleep for hours in the car, leading to a bad first night for you - not the best start to your Christmas break). On a personal note, a portable DVD player is a godsend with my toddler for long journeys. I only put it on when she’s fed up and bored and it means I’m not distracted by her when I’m driving.
Over Christmas, luxuriate in some lovely one-on-one time when feeding your baby (you might be glad of some time away from the party too!). Babies normally feed better and more peacefully, and your feeding pattern will more likely be preserved.
Protect your baby, if very young, from over-handling and over-stimulation from eager friends and family - if they get a look in! Babies can get quite unsettled, miss ‘tired times’, and be difficult to get down for naps. It can help to take your baby up for a nap earlier than usual so he has a chance to wind down.
Share the load - and the joy! Take advantage of friends and family members by relinquishing control of your precious little one sometimes and enjoy a well deserved break. I’m sure you’ll appreciate the odd lie-in or evening out! Grandparents are nearly always eager babysitters, so perhaps take your pushchair along so your baby can be taken out for some fresh air while you get some time to yourself. You may also want to express some milk so someone else can take a turn giving some feeds.
Have realistic expectations, especially if this is your child’s first or second Christmas. She probably won’t be aware of the occasion, or have any idea who Santa is, or need lots of presents. In their second year, children just love having everyone around, lots of people to play with and show off to and lots of lovely attention!