Having a new baby is something which comes with plenty of wonderful experiences. Holding your new baby in your arms with your partner and admiring a lovely piece of life that you’ve created together is magical. Once the magic starts to become a little more day to day for you and reality starts to set in, you start to realize that there are a lot of challenges that come along with this magic.
Even though you have more love in your heart than you thought was possible to fit into one ribcage, you may find yourself wondering how you got yourself into this mess! No one told you how hard this was going to be or that no matter how many parenting books you read that there is no one answer for everything. However, fear not. It’s something that every new parent goes through and you can make it too. Here are some of the biggest challenges that you can expect, and how to make it through them.
Sleep Deprivation
As babies adjust to the new world that they find themselves in and their new bodies which they aren’t entirely sure how to control yet, sleep can be challenging for them. They don’t sleep long stretches like adult humans, so it can be a pretty exhausting ride for the adult humans that are raising them and desperately need sleep.
If that wasn’t enough to scare you, once they finally figure out this sleep thing and you’re convinced the hard part is over, they can go through sleep regressions all over again. Your sweet baby who was just sleeping 5 to 6 hours straight last week is now waking up every 30 minutes screaming uncontrollably.
However, this is something that will eventually pass and will be nothing but a distant memory one day. Keep going!
Fits of Crying
It’s normal for babies to cry a lot during the first year. Since they don’t know how to communicate what they need they are desperate to get the message out in the only way that they know how. Screaming!
Don’t despair, however. Crying is a perfectly normal stage of development. As long as your pediatrician has ruled out that they aren’t crying due to physical pain you just have to ride it out and hold and love them.
Lots of Diaper Changes
You have no idea how many diapers you’re about to change during the first year. You could probably build a replica of the Eiffel tower five times with the number of diapers you’re going to use.
Yes, really, that many diapers. As long as you’re prepared for lots of poop and pee, you’ll be just fine.
