Getting Organised for Baby

Hello and welcome I am Bonnie, and I am Lily, and this is Little Home Organised, the PodCast dedicated to helping you declutter, get organized, and reclaim time for the things you love.

BONNIE/LILY: Jammed packed

BONNIE: I am struggling to keep up, but that could be my baby brain happening.

LILY: Oh my gosh, I have the same bag that you have. I have never put the wipes on the outside.

BONNIE: Oh my gosh. You need this to keep your baby safe

LILY: Or if you truly love your baby, then you will buy them something to heat their towels

BONNIE: If you wanna be house

MUSIC:

BONNIE: Hello and welcome; this week, we are talking about getting organized for a new baby. Arguably the most life-changing transition you will ever experience, welcoming a new baby into your home can unleash a host of anxieties and feelings of overwhelm. If you are a first-time parent or even just wanting to be more organized than last time, today’s episode will bust the myths and cut to the truth of how to prepare for your new Buba.

LILY: If you haven’t been tuning into the Podcast for a while, you may have missed a very exciting announcement, and that is Little Home Organised; that’s us, we released a brand new course. Yeah. The organized wardrobe, that’s right, a course solely dedicated to getting that wardrobe in tiptop condition. Bonnie, what can people expect?

BONNIE: So if you are a time-poor person and you find that getting dressed in the morning is just giving you such a headache, the organized wardrobe is the course for you. We will help you zone your wardrobe, we will help you let go of the items that are no longer serving you, and we will help you organize your wardrobe to within an inch of its life so that in the morning, it takes you less than 5 minutes to get dressed and you walk out the door feeling fabulous.

LILY: Ahhh, doesn’t that sound good, but the thing I love, of course, Bonnie, is that our courses are DIY, which means that you can jump on online anytime, login, do a module, try it at home and do it at your own pace which is fabulous for the busy time-poor parent

BONNIE: Because life does get in the way sometimes, and it is great to know that you can just come back and pick up from where you left off

LILY: And as long as this course is offered, you will have access to it, so if that sounds like something that you want to incorporate in your life, you want to get your wardrobe looking spic and span and loving it every time you open that door, this for you head to littlehomeorganised.com.au and check out the organized wardrobe.

MUSIC:

LILY: Woohoo babies, this is going to be a fun episode because I feel like there is so much excitement that comes with having a new baby, especially if this is your first baby, and so I am really looking forward to today’s episode, Bon because I feel like we are going to be able to talk about the things that we thought we needed, the things we didn’t end up needing, the things we didn’t think we would need but that we did think were amazing when we did use them, it is going to be

BONNIE: I feel like you are going round in circles

LILY: It is going to be jam-packed

BONNIE: I am struggling to keep up, but that could be my baby brain happening.

LILY: I mean, I am pretty sure she is contracting as we speak, folks, so you know, stay in there a little longer; we have still got some recording to do, little one.

BONNIE: If you hear a gush of water, I am not wetting my pants, I promise. So I wanted to talk today about getting organized for a new baby, and while the focus probably will be on parents who are having biological children, I think a lot of the stuff we are going to talk about is actually applicable if you are adopting a baby, or if you are fostering a new baby and you have never done it before, and you don’t know how to get organized.

LILY: Or even if you are a grandparent and this is the first grandbaby, and you are trying to prepare for things that you might need in your home if you are going to be a regular caretaker

BONNIE: Yeah, that is a really good point, so it is kind of like an all-rounders episode that anytime there is a new baby coming into the home, here are some of the things that you do actually need. Here are some of the things that you think you need but you really don’t, and here are the things that we thought were kind of ridiculous but actually turned out to be kind of amazing.

LILY: So let’s start with the essentials for baby, and I think what is really important, and you will notice this throughout this episode, is that Bonnie and I are more in the minimalist mindset, so what happens with baby fever is, on the one hand, we are very excited to buy for baby, it is exciting it is huge life change no one can deny that, and it is fun to nest and to buy things and make things cozy and pretty especially with everything that is on Instagram and Pinterest these days, you know we all want to have the pretty nursery as well. So it is really easy to go out there and buy so in the one sense you have got this baby fever but also if you are a first-time mum, and even if you are not a first-time mum, there is so much information on the internet right now which suggests there is a right way, and there are essential and necessary items that you need to have in your home when you have a new baby and some of those they just not, it is just not true, and your baby will be healthy and happy and fine without them.

BONNIE: And advertisers have a very big role to play in this because they are so good at playing on that fear or that pain point; if you wanna keep your kid safe, you need this to keep your baby safe.
LILY: Or if you truly love your baby then you will buy them something to heat their towels so they are not cold when they get out of the bath and they have a warm towel to put on them, is it nice for baby, sure, is a towel that was just hanging on the wrack fine as well absolutely.

BONNIE: I mean, that is what mummies are for; we are warm, we are cuddly.

LILY: Exactly

BONNIE: Let’s warm them up ourselves.

LILY: Exactly, so you will find that throughout today’s episode, we are pretty much like, mmm no, mmmm no, mmmm no, and I just want to say each to their own at the end of the day if it floats your boat, it floats your boat, but you are also going to end up with a house cluttered full of baby stuff

BONNIE: That is exactly right

LILY: Let’s try and have some balance. Okay, so essentials for baby, no 1 clothing.

BONNIE: Don’t have a naked baby, especially if you live in a place where it snows.

LILY: Yeah, essentially, so clothing is important, so my tip here with clothing though when you have a newborn baby 2 piece item clothing is cute but is super impractical, my advice would always be a onesie

BONNIE: and a onesie with zips because as soon as they start wriggling around, which can happen at around like the 3-4 months kind of mark those dam buttons you just curse them every time you have got to try and do them up with that little wriggler on the table and a zip is way faster.

LILY: and also you are going to be changing so many nappies; in fact, did you know that you will be changing when they are newborn around 8-12 nappies every single day and often what will happen is you will change nappy, and they will pooh into it immediately, and then you will have to change it again, and that is no exaggeration, so you want the clothing to be easy to get on and off. So onesies with zips, and if it is super duper cold, you may throw in a single, but that is essentially all you need is onesies for those first few months.

BONNIE: And if you are somewhere it is quite warm, you do singlet onesies so that they have got either a zip or a couple of the snappy buttons down the bottom. So you really don’t need this whole tops and bottoms thing that goes on as cute as they are

LILY: Oh, and it’s cute.

BONNIE: They ride up all the time, and you end up holding up a baby and pulling down their shirt the whole time.

LILY: When you are tired in the middle of the night, you want it to be easy

BONNIE: Yeah, and especially if you are somewhere cold, you want some sort of clothing that you know is going to cover them and keep them warm.
LILY: The other thing is you are going to buy some stuff, and other people are going to be so excited for you they are going to buy stuff as well, so just go with the basics and buy a bunch of onesies.

BONNIE: Absolutely

LILY: No 2, you are going to need nappies and wipes; now you have got two avenues, you can go with the disposables, or you can go with reusable cloth nappies. We tried reusable cloth nappies for the newborn period, we switched back to disposables, and then when bub got a little bit bigger, we moved into cloth again, and we have been in cloth since we just found with 8-12 nappy changes a day being tired in the middle of the night I didn’t want to deal with a cloth.

BONNIE: Yeah, and that is a personal choice that everyone has to make whether you want to do the hole MCN thing, the modern cloth nappy or the disposables and I like your philosophy because it is very similar to mine, I try to take small steps to improve the environment because I know a nappy takes 500 years or something to break down, but at the same time you have to have some sacrifices especially in those early newborn days where you are super tired, and you are adjusting to having this little demanding squabbling thing, and you need your sanity, and if it means that you have 8 weeks or using disposable nappies and you can just chuck the poop in the bin rather than wash it out then do it, to each their own.

LILY: But as far as modern cloth nappies go and we can maybe do an episode on how to organize your station for modern cloth nappies, they are very easy, they are not the old school terry-toweling like our parent’s generations used

BONNIE: I mean, you can get those if you want.

LILY: You can still do them when you are going to buy your nappies; if you are doing disposables, you are going to need nappies and wipes, and if you are using reusable you are going to buy a modern cloth nappy, you are going to need a bucket for them you are going to need some waterproof bags to put the MCN in when you are out and about with bub, and you may even be wanting to use reusable wipes, so those are some things you need to think about. These are the essentials.

BONNIE: Mmmm and that is something that I have never actually done before, but I am going to do with this baby probably once that newborn period is over, is do the reusable wipes at home because I have always just done your disposable wipes and like they are awesome and great and stuff but I thought oh this time I think I am ready for at home reusable wipes so yeah

LILY: Keep us posted on how that goes

BONNIE: We will see if it lasts.

LILY: No 3 is nappy cream, and at one time or another, your baby is going to develop a nappy rash; they are in a nappy all the time; it does happen, but these barrier creams are really great at protecting your bubs bottom and stopping more moisture, and everything keeping that skin irritated when it does have a flare-up so having nappy cream from the get-go is one less thing that could be upsetting your baby which is one less thing that is going to be keeping sleep at bay

LILY: No 4 is a nappy bag, and the reason I say this is even though we are very minimalist, could you get away with a bag you already have at home? Sure, but this is just one thing where I think it is essential because there are so many compartments and there are so many little things that come with babies that you just want things to be easy; this is where the bottle goes, this is where the medicine goes, this is where whatever it is goes, it is easy to access so grabbing a nappy bag that is designed for them.

Bonnie: I have had 3 different nappy bags for my nearly 4 children, so the first 2 had, like, a purpose-designed kind of shoulder satchel, bag and that was great because it had little pockets and stuff and it was teal, so it was very pretty, my husband loved carrying it. And the first 2 were born very close together, so it got lots of use, and then by the time the third one came along, and there was a 2 or 3-year gap, I had stopped using that nappy bag, and I just ended up using for him honestly you know like a tote bag, I think it was actually a calico type beach bag, and I just had like an MCN wet bag, and I would put a few things in there and then I had like a nappy wallet, I love the nappy wallet actually.

LILY: And see this is like the thing you can make something you have at homework

BONNIE: Yeah, yeah, and now for this 4th baby because we are going back to now having a newborn soon. I thought no, I have always wanted to try one of those nappy bags where the wipes were on the outside, and you could just grab them because I had a girlfriend at church who, whenever the kids had a spill, she would just whip one out of her bag, and I thought she was Mary Poppins.

LILY: Oh my gosh, I have the same bag that you have, and I have never put the wipers on the outside.

BONNIE: Oh my gosh, what have you put there

LILY: I have just realized that, and I am sitting here running out imaging how different the last 18 months could have been

BONNIE: What did you put in there? Tissues or something

LILY: I put his little red book for the doctor.

BONNIE: You don’t need to carry that around

LILY: Well, you do for like the first little bit because you are constantly visiting the child nurse, and I didn’t want to forget it.

BONNIE: You wasted a prime opportunity

LILY: I can’t believe that.

BONNIE: I find that hilarious. So I literally have brought a nappy bag just for that pocket.

LILY: Purpose-built for that, and I have had it and not even known it.

BONNIE: Ohh, I find that so funny

LILY: Classic. Alright, no 5 is burp cloth. So these are essential because when you are breastfeeding or bottle-feeding a baby.

BONNIE: When you are just feeding in general, babies will vomit

LILY: It is a messy business and especially if you have reflux baby, so you will need some kind of burp cloth, now you don’t need to have fancy there are plenty of people who do homemade stuff, check them out at markets, online, Instagram Etsy but also you can just head to Big W and get a bunch of terry towels, white towels, they are multiple purposes for lots of things, it is just a cotton towel you sling it over your shoulder when you are burping your baby

BONNIE: it is amazing, and if you really want to go on the budget, grab a whole bunch of face washes from your local op shop, give them a nice good sanitize and use those as burp cloths as well because what I find is that you do go through a lot of them, it is like having a hanky, you blow in it enough times, and it is like okay we are not using that anymore we need a fresh one.

LILY: Yeah, so with a hanky, that should be once because gross. Okay, no 6, is swaddling so I mean, apparently there is a movement away from swaddling but let’s just say we are still swaddling.

BONNIE: Oh really

LILY: Yeah, I know um, so with swaddles, you will have just like a loose piece of cotton or jersey material or even flannel or muslin, and then you can wrap bub in that, or you can potentially do one of the premade zip swaddles so you can get like love to dream and there are a few different brands

BONNIE: Oh, there are so many brands

LILY: But swaddling is good because it helps contain that startle reflex with bub

BONNIE: that newborn stage for the first couple of months, swaddles are amazing

LILY: And it keeps them warm

BONNIE: Yeah, and they just look like a little burrito

LILY: They do

BONNIE: It is so cute

LILY: I mean, you need some joys, so burrito it up.

BONNIE: So like, I mean you look at all those pregnancy apps, and they are comparing the size of your baby to food the whole time, so when you pop it out, it is natural to

LILY: It is a burrito

BONNIE: It’s a burrito

LILY: Okay, next no 7, you are going to need a cot mattress, now these are you need to make sure that is not some homemade mattress it needs to be a proper cot mattress, it has to be a certain amount of spongy to stop baby when they are lying on it from if they were to roll over somehow and end up on their face that they could still breath it is really important for preventing SIDS so make sure that do have an appropriate cot and a cot mattress.

BONNIE: Do you want to actually explain what SIDS is in case people don’t know

LILY: Oh yeah and crib as well what a cot is for those in other countries, so SIDS is sudden infant death syndrome, and that is when basically a young baby dies unexpectedly, and it can’t really be explained, and there is also another version called SUDS, and essentially the idea behind it is trying to prevent anything that could cause your baby to suddenly pass away, to suffocate whatever it might be so there are measures in place, and there is a regulating body, and in Australia, you can head to the red nose foundation, I believe it is and find out more, but there are certain things you can do in your home, and that is like appropriately swaddling your baby, making sure it is safe, you know not having pillows or

BONNIE: cot bumpers or things that won’t be able to breathe, you know, teddies, you are not supposed to put anything in the cot for 6 months.

LILY: No blankets things like that, and it feels weird for us because we are so used to having those things in our bed and we are so used to those things from generations before, but research shows you are increasing significantly the risk of something bad happening to bub and so that is why you pick the appropriate cot mattress, and you make sure there are no bumpers and things like that if that is something that sounds completely new to you definitely go jump online to your overarching body and find out more information because it is important to do our best to keep your bubba’s safe and the other thing that I would add about with the mattress is of course not only do you add like a sheet but a waterproof mattress protector

BONNIE: Yes, and that might not be as essential in those newborn phases when things do get contained a bit better, but especially as they get older and the wees get more frequent, it just always ends up leaking through the sheet, and you just want to protect that mattress so that you can have it for a long, long time so having at least one set of sheets with a spare for the wash, the same thing for your mattress protector is absolutely essential.

LILY: No 8 and essential for baby is, of course, a car seat, and in Australia, the current law basically suggests that you should not buy second hand and that this is one thing that you actually need to invest in from the point of sale to ensure that it meets the Australian standards so that if you are in an accident, you are ensuring that the seat the baby is in is up to code,

BONNIE: If you do happen to buy second hand from someone that you know and trust and that it hasn’t been in any sort of accident, you must check the manufacture date because the standard is also that as soon as 10 years have passed since that car seat was manufactured it needs to go to the tip. So cut the straps and chuck it in the tip because the safety standards change regularly, and you want to make sure that your baby is not bouncing around in a 70’s Velcro car seat when they should be in something a lot safer.

LILY: A little bit fancier.

BONNIE: Yes

LILY: No 9, a baby carrier now absolutely do I, the reason I find this to be essential is you can do like a wrap where it is like material, and they are like tied onto your body or you can do like the clip close baby carrier, but it is an awesome way for you to still have a life, go shopping have 2 hands-free and keep bub intimately on your skin for a good sleep especially if bub is going through a phase where they are really unsettled and not sleeping well, a leap whatever it might be life still has to go on, and you know food still has to be eaten, and you can still get them you know babies are always most settled when they are with us, so it is a really great way to comfort your baby but still keep moving.

BONNIE: Yeah, and especially if this isn’t your first baby and you have other children that you are running around after

LILY: Absolutely

BONNIE: Having that child strapped to you means you have got 2 hands to grab those wayward toddlers before they jump in front of the bus

LILY: And the final purchase you need to think about that is essential for baby, in our opinion, is a thermometer

BONNIE: Yes, and interestingly enough you might not think, oh this is essential, but especially if it is your first child and you haven’t learned the art of feeling a forehead which honestly it takes 3 children I think to feel that art, a thermometer really just gives you that peace of mind of yeah baby is perfectly found there is no temperature here or you do feel a little bit hot let’s have a check, oh your temperature is up a bit let’s make you a bit cooler or take you to the doctor or whatever the case might be so there are some things in this essentials list that are practical everyday essentials, and there are some things that we need to keep our baby safe, and this thermometer is one of those things.

LILY: Yeah, and especially because with newborns if they have like a high temperature, like a high temperature in a child you can like kind of monitor and get away with whereas within a baby it is a different situation and it is like it could be straight to hospital, so you won’t know unless you have a thermometer so definitely get that. Let’s jump over to mums now, so what are the essentials for the mother? Let’s go breast pads and a breast pump and milk containers.

BONNIE: Now, this is if you are breastfeeding, of course, so obviously our newborns need to be fed, so whether you are doing formula or breastfeeding, there are some essentials that you need, by the way. So for me, I breastfeed my kids. Lord willing, I will breastfeed this one again, but your boobs leak a lot, you could be staring at a hallmark card in Kmart and get a bit teary, and your breasts will leak.

LILY: A really beautiful ad about cars on TV and your boobs will be tingling, and you will think, oh, that’s wet.

BONNIE: So make sure that you have got a good stash of those even for your hospital bag because especially when your milk first comes in, oh man, it is on for young and old, and I remember a friend of ours who was very well endowed when she would leak at night time she said I just needed a towel on each side of me to mop up the amount of milk that leaked out at night and I just thought oh man I am so glad it is you and not me.

LILY: I definitely had a towel. All right, so breast pads are really important, but also a breast pump is really practical, so a breast pump can help if you are wanting to create a stash for whatever reason, for an emergency, for going back to work, whatever it might be, so a breast pump is really good and there are other reasons they are good as well, so definitely consider buying or hiring one and then you need some containers to store your breast milk safely in the fridge or the freezer. Another thing that is essential for mum is bottles and a bottle brush, so if you are going to be feeding your baby formula or breast milk, you do want to make sure that you have good quality bottles and you only clean those bottles with a bottle brush, so that doesn’t have to be something fancy the brush just have to fit in there and you can get designated ones from like Baby bunting and stuff, but you can also find cheaper options, you just can’t use them to wash your other dishes.

BONNIE: Yeah, I mean don’t use the dish brush that you use to do the bacon and eggs pan that is not going to be good for the baby

LILY: No, we don’t want that bacteria in there, so a controversial opinion; there are plenty of people out there who think they need a disinfector

BONNIE: A bottle sterilizer

LILY: And at least for my baby and all the health care professionals that I have spoken to, I am not one, this is just my opinion, not medical advice they say no, just give it a hot soapy wash, you don’t need to disinfect it, it is good for babies to have you know a small amount of little bits of bacteria as opposed to giving them something so sterile that will create a gut issue later on.

BONNIE: And you know what my second child

LILY: That is for breast milk, but I think it is different for formula.

BONNIE: Okay, so my second child was born at 34 weeks and spent a few weeks in the NICU unit in intensive care, and I was expressing breast milk because she couldn’t take anything orally, and their protocol in there was just a hot soapy wash with a cold water rinse, and then air dry so don’t dry it with a tea towel, but air dry it, so it just goes to show if that is the protocol in the hospitals where the babies are in intensive care do we really need these bottles sterilized that they are selling us.

LILY: There you go so different for formula, I think, but you know you have heard it here. So keeping in mind if you, you could buy this ahead of time if you know you are going to be formula feeder but otherwise wait and see and then potentially get the products that you need to formula feed so like your formula containers and things like that but one thing I wanted to add that I found to be such an essential which is why I am going to recommend it is a portable light for night feeding, so with your partner being in there, if they are there you know there may be a point where you don’t want to wake them up or you have to move baby from one room to another for feeding or moving around because for whatever reason a portable light is awesome because you don’t have to rely on one lamp next to one chair if you need to get up and move and so we have this little egg it lights up when you tap it, you just hold your hand on it and it dims or brightens, you can change it from warm to cool light and it keeps charge for hours and then you just eventually pop it back on its station and that was actually a game changer for us and we just got it online so I definitely recommend consider getting a portable light for your night feeds.

BONNIE: Mmm, and if you are going to be breastfeeding looking at getting nursing bras or nursing singlets, I am pretty sure for all of my children I pretty much just lived in nursing singlets and maternity type bras that unclipped for 12 months afterward, so they are definitely an essential to get as well and get ones that are comfortable like invest in really good quality ones that are going to make to feel good and look good not just the cheapest one you can find.

LILY: Alright, it is important to have comfy underwear for after your birth, be it C-section or otherwise but especially with a C-section, you want to make sure that the undies sit nice and high so they don’t sit over your C-section scar while it is healing but speaking of comfy the last thing I wanted to mention for mum is making sure you have a comfortable chair to feed in, for me personally having armrests were important for getting good positioning with bub, but some people like you Bon prefer not to have them.

BONNIE: Yeah, and I mean you can get breastfeeding pillows and stuff that help you, but as one midwife said to me with my first child, you need to learn to be able to breastfeed without support because you want to be out in the shopping center breastfeeding and not have to go and find somewhere that has got that supportive rest and that was something that always stuck with me, and yeah it made me a better breastfeeder.

LILY: There you go, all right, so we want to talk about some products to consider, do you need a pram.

BONNIE: I know it is a bit of a controversial one because I, with my third child, had a pram with the travel capsule, and once he outgrew that, I didn’t actually have a pram anymore because I wasn’t walking daily, I was running around after the other two with kindy, and you know another drop-offs and stuff and once he could walk I just let him walk from the car to the kindy drop off or to the music or to whatever so I had a period of like 2 years where he, I didn’t have a pram for him at all.

LILY: And you know as an alternative you can use a carrier, but the other thing to think about is yes, say you are walking through the markets, and you have a carrier and want to pick up nik-nakie things don’t do that home organization PodCast, um but let’s say you are walking through the markets and you want to pick up some things having a pram can be an advantage because your child can be sitting in the pram and you can put things underneath it, so that is like something to think about as well. It is whether it is practical or not, and there are so many prams out there, but it is best to go into a store and try them out and actually push them around because wholly heck they get very heavy, so you want to make sure.

BONNIE: Go to a store where they have got a 12 kg fake baby, and they chuck it in the pram for you so you can feel what it is like.

LILY: Yeah, such a difference, and so I think another product that a lot of people love that I think is questionable is the baby swing, and I think it is questionable for me because it was so rare that we used it. Did it justify the cost? Now we got our second hand, so yes, it was okay because I didn’t feel guilty that we didn’t use it really at all, but for some people, it is a lifesaver.

BONNIE: Yes, and for me, for our first 2 children, in particular, it was an absolute game-changer because you know reflux and all that kind of stuff, so if you need a second set of hands to soothe a baby because you have got other children or because you just need to sleep like it is such a great soothing tool to have your baby get rocked to sleep and you not have to be the one to do it.

LILY: Oh, isn’t it a relief, and we do love them, though. So products to consider, the last one we are going to cover in this episode is the baby monitor.

BONNIE: Yes, and this is controversial because then there is the whole do we get just an audio monitor, do we get a video monitor, you can go down into that whole realm of you know safe sleeping maps and do we put something underneath that sets of an alert if our baby doesn’t seem to be breathing anymore, I mean I have just heard so many stories about people who have had their alarms go off in the middle of the night, and they have freaked out, rushed to the babies cot and the baby is totally fine it is just the technology that has faulted, and so for me, I feel like that would create way more anxiety than not having that sort of safe sleeping map at all.

LILY: Yeah, I really felt like I still use a baby monitor because of where our room is now, we are at completely different ends of the house, and so for us, we need to especially in winter when everything is closed up we wouldn’t hear him otherwise so I definitely love the baby monitor, and for me a couldn’t do it without because visually I know what is going on in there.

BONNIE: Yeah, sure

LILY: So yeah, each to their own. Let’s just quickly cover some unnecessary products before we take a quick break. So one thing that is now actually not classified as SIDS safe anymore but nothing is is the cot mobile and also I found that it was something that my son was very disinterested in, and then when we were interested in it, it was a short period of time and then he was just trying to grab it and break it.

BONNIE: Yes, as soon as they can kind of sit up, they can grab it, they pull it down, and you are just forever trying to put it back up, so I felt like what is a far better option is to have something totally affixed to the wall that is not going to fall down into their cot or onto them for them to look at instead of a cot mobile.

LILY: Yeah, I would agree with you on that one. Another one that I think is unnecessary is a baby bath; like I can understand why they are beneficial, but if you have a bathtub or if you have a sink, that is really all you need, and you can also just take bub, in the shower with you as well.

BONNIE: Yeah, and that is actually such a precious time showering with your newborn and number 3 as a newborn; we had a double shower so I would have the two older kids who were 2 and 3, and then the newborn in the shower with me and I would just hand the newborn to my husband, and it was like brilliant, really efficient bath time. I got showered, the kids got showered.

LILY: And you saved money on a baby bath.

BONNIE: And we did.

LILY: And one more unnecessary product I think we should mention is ahead of time you can buy these like breast ice packs, and they are designed to like help if you are really engorged like mastitis, and things like that or like your milk is coming in, and you put them in the freezer, and they are nice and cool however they are actually kind of unnecessary unless you need them, they kind of look cool and make a good photo, I remember putting them on thinking oh maybe this will soothe my like sore feeding areas but yeah they, it was just a waste of money.

BONNIE: Just say nipples it is okay, nipples okay

LILY: Can we say that? Are we G rated? I don’t even know. All right, we are going to take a quick break.

MUSIC:

LILY: If you haven’t been tuning into the Podcast for a while, you may have missed a very exciting announcement, and that is Little Home Organised; that’s us, we released a brand new course. Yeah. The organized wardrobe, that’s right, a course solely dedicated to getting that wardrobe in tiptop condition.

BONNIE: So if you are a time-poor person and you find that getting dressed in the morning is just giving you such a headache, the organized wardrobe is the course for you. We will help you zone your wardrobe, we will help you let go of the items that are no longer serving you, and we will help you organize your wardrobe to within an inch of its life so that in the morning, it takes you less than 5 minutes to get dressed and you walk out the door feeling fabulous.

LILY: Ahhh, doesn’t that sound good, but the thing I love, of course, Bonnie, is that our courses are DIY, which means that you can jump on online anytime, login, do a module, try it at home and do it at your own pace which is fabulous for the busy time-poor parent

BONNIE: Because life does get in the way sometimes, and it is great to know that you can just come back and pick up from where you left off

LILY: And as long as this course is offered, you will have access to it, so if that sounds like something that you want to incorporate in your life, you want to get your wardrobe looking spic and span and loving it every time you open that door, this for you head to littlehomeorganised.com.au and check out the organized wardrobe.

MUSIC:

BONNIE: Okay, so 2 last things we want to talk about before we wrap up this episode so that you are organized for your new baby and the first one is how to organize the space, so there are 2 particular stations that are really worthwhile setting up, and the first of these is a nappy change station because you are going to be changing quite a few nappies a day early on and it is really important that when you set up this station, you have got the things that you need the most accessible the most, so wipes and nappies and then your spare changes of clothing, burp cloths that kind of thing if you live in a 2 storey house consider creating a portable nappy change station where you have got a little carrier, so like a bag or a basket that you can carry just with one hand, and you can take that downstairs with you to use during the day and bring up at night time to use back upstairs at night.

LILY: You may have noticed that Bonnie and I didn’t say an essential was a change table and that is because you can get away with changing bub, on different surfaces so if just choose to change bub, on a bed and that works for your family perfect the only thing you need to know is that can be a killer on your back so making sure that you adjust your body position and the next step up from that of course is having just like a spongy portable changing mat that you can put on top of your table so as Bonnie is saying like making sure you have the portable stuff to go around to that nappy changing station if it is not in babies room but most importantly we are just trying to be mindful that wherever we are setting up these little zones for baby we are making sure that you know we are considering our prime real estate so what is within arms reach what is going to make everything easy because when you are holding a newborn or watching a newborn and trying to change them or feed them or what have you, you want everything within easy reach, so if you are going to have an area where you regular feed, you are going to need a little table or something next to your chair where you can have water because you will be drinking so much water, maybe a snack. Maybe you want to put your phone there, whatever it might be, maybe it is a book, while you are feeding your bub. So make sure wherever you set up your feeding station, you have lots of things within the vicinity in that prime real estate that organizes and functions well.

BONNIE: Yeah, so that you don’t have to get up in the middle of you trying to feed the baby. You want everything to be easily within reach.

LILY: Absolutely.

BONNIE: Now we have just got a few seasoned mum tips for you because obviously, I am about to have number 4; Lily has got an 18 month, is he 18 months now

LILY: Yep

BONNIE: So here are just a few tips that we have learned along the journey that hopefully will help you along your journey in getting ready for your new baby.

LILY: No 1 start expressing colostrum as soon as you can, so after the 36-week mark, you can actually start getting colostrum out and putting it into tiny syringes; speak to your health care provider, in Australia in most places, they will just give you a handful of the syringes for free, this liquid gold is really important especially considering what can happen in labor being unexpected things popping up so if things don’t go to plan and you have got colostrum on hand it can be really good liquid gold to give newborn babies in those first few hours.

BONNIE: And if you have no idea what colostrum is

LILY: get Googling

BONNIE: look it up because it is literally called liquid gold for a reason. If you plan on breastfeeding, make sure that you attend a breastfeeding class, whether it is online, in person, it just really helps you feel a lot more confident.

LILY: Statistically, you are more likely to have success with breastfeeding if you have attended a class prior

BONNIE: Yep, and it just helps you get prepared for when the midwives very roughly grab your boob and try to squeeze your baby face onto it because that can be a little shocking

LILY: And that can happen, but I think after having my baby, I was just like, do what you will make it work.

BONNIE: I am too tired to care.

LILY: No 3 you want to do pelvic floor exercises, so you want to make sure that you are going everything to keep everything together during that pregnancy and then afterward

BONNIE: Yes, absolutely, and if you don’t know what pelvic floor or Kegels are, look them up also because they are kind of important.

LILY: No 4 you want to ask questions, so there is so much education information online and midwives and doctors and health nurses they have been seeing client after client after client, sometimes when they are seeing a lot of people they can start to presume that everybody has a similar sense of knowledge and understanding on a topic, so it is really important that you ask lots of questions to make sure you are fully informed.

BONNIE: Nothing is stupid like nothing is a dumb question

LILY: Especially if this is your first baby, ask away.

BONNIE: Yes, because I found that with my first baby in the hospital and I was in the hospital for a week after my C-section, there were still things that midwives assumed that I knew and I had no idea about so if there is something that you are not really sure about ask for help okay.

LILY: Another thing to note is the second to third night after your baby is born, cluster feeding, had no idea what that was and woo basically your baby will feed, feed, feed, feed, feed

BONNIE: You are in for a big night

LILY: Short sleep and then another whole bunch of feeding, and it can be a really tiring night especially and shocking if you weren’t expecting it, but it also starts to time with when your hormones are changing too, which is why it can be quite challenging which is something many women are aware of which is the baby blues and the baby blues tend to come in around the 3-4 day markup to about the 5-6 day mark and basically that is when the hormones just kind of go bluh and it can feel like a bit of a reality check has set in at the same time, and hormonally you feel that in your body, so something to be aware of going into having a baby is that you will feel a little bit different around those days and that’s okay you might feel a little bit sad or anxious around those days, and that is okay, that is normal. If it is long-standing and ongoing, then definitely something to speak to a healthcare professional about but do know that there is nothing wrong with you if that does happen, that is completely normal, and sometimes you can feel those hormones like you lie down and have hot flashes, you might feel rushing through your body all different kinds of things, I didn’t expect it, was a bit freaked out by it, and it turns out it was normal.

BONNIE: Yeah, and that is the thing; if you are not sure whether what you are experiencing is normal, talk to someone about it; that is why not question is a dumb question

LILY: And finally last bit of advice here is sanitary pads for the 2 weeks of post bleeding, or if you are trying to be a bit more eco-friendly and you have period underwear, that is a great option, and they can be quite comfortable as well.

BONNIE: Or a menstrual cup depending on how you have birthed.

LILY: Yes, depending on how you have birthed absolutely.

BONNIE: But that is something that no one ever prepared me for is that I would bleed like a stuck pig for 2 weeks.

LILY: oh beautiful, well if you are listening and you are expecting a baby, congratulations, if you are listening and you have had your babies, but you are just curious to see what Bonnie and I would say about this, and you are excited for Bonnie to have her baby thanks for joining us, we just wanted to do this episode as something a little bit off-brand for us, but you know as two young mums it has been a really fun journey having little people, and there is another little person on the way, but you will have to keep up to date with the Podcast page at Little Home Organised to see on Facebook, and we will give you an update there for sure.

BONNIE: Okay, so your tidy task week this week is if you are preparing for a baby is to look at some of the essentials that we have listed, make sure that you have got everything on that list

LILY: And avoid the diaper genies

BONNIE: Avoid the diaper genies and the bumbles and things like that, if you don’t really need them but to each their own, so we just want you to get educated, make an informed decision on what you feel like you need for your family but you certainly do not need to go out and spend thousands of dollars on baby products to set up your nursery and your home.

LILY At the end of the day, all that baby needs is you. That’s all we have time for this week. Thank you so much for tuning in and lending us your ears.

BONNIE: And remember PROGRESS NOT PERFECTION.

LILY: See you later with a baby

BONNIE: Bye

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