Remember All the Things I Said I’d Do Differently With This Baby? Here’s How It’s Actually Going.
Before this baby was born, I wrote a whole post about all the things I wanted to do differently this time around. (I’ll link it below if you want to recap.)
Older and wiser me made plans. Bought accessories. Did research.
And now I’m 7 weeks postpartum struggling to eat food while it’s still hot and negotiating with a tiny sleep terrorist.
Some of my plans have worked beautifully. Other things crashed and burned immediately. And some things just had to change entirely.
So… here’s how it’s actually going.
#1. Combination Feeding
This has been my biggest success.
If I have one single piece of advice for new moms that I want to pass on, it’s this:
Get your baby on a bottle.
Whether you pump and give breastmilk or use formula, I genuinely don’t care. Just do it.
Having my baby drink from a bottle has completely changed my postpartum experience. I was doing this WRONG before.
The ability to have help feeding him has improved my mental health so much I can’t even properly describe it.
With my first two, I felt so alone. The nights were long, I was completely exhausted and depressed, and I could never really get a break because nobody else could feed them.
This time? When I’m feeling overwhelmed, or when cluster feeding an angry football has me ready to crawl out of my skin, I can hand him to my partner and say:
“It’s your turn.”
And then I can escape to take a long shower. Or leave the house entirely.
That freedom has meant a much happier, healthier version of me.
I’m only 7 weeks postpartum and I already feel more like myself again. Honestly, that in itself feels like a miracle.
#2. Using a Soother
This one has been moderately successful.
We introduced the soother right away, along with the bottle.
But honestly? He doesn’t really care for it.
We’ve tried a couple different kinds, but other than mouthing it for a minute, he mostly spits them out.
Oh well. Worth a try.
Luckily, the bottle feeding thing means I can still pass him off when I need a break, and Dad has figured out plenty of other ways to soothe him, so I can live with this one being a bit of a fail.
#3. Co-Sleeping
Oh, I was SO confident with this one.
“I will absolutely not co-sleep with this baby!” I said.
Even us veteran moms can fall into the trap of being overconfident and writing checks our postpartum exhausted brains can’t cash.
The truth is, this baby spends a fair amount of time co-sleeping.
It’s just so much easier when I’m completely exhausted to doze while he nurses in the middle of the night. So yes, sometimes we co-sleep.
BUT.
He also spends at least half the night in his bassinet nearly every single night, which honestly feels like a small miracle and a goalpost I’m very happy to have reached.
Originally, I’d intended to nurse him to sleep, swaddle him, lay him down drowsy but awake, and gently settle him in the bassinet.
What actually happens is I lay beside him in bed nursing him until he falls asleep, then transfer him to the bassinet as carefully as if I’m defusing a bomb. This is actually when I get most of my reading done these days. Thank goodness for my Kindle and a pop socket!
If the transfer is successful, he’ll usually sleep for 4 to 5 hours, wake once to feed, then settle back into the bassinet pretty happily.
After 5am though?
He’s usually in bed with me co-sleeping and nursing on and off until we officially start our day.
Honestly, this hybrid approach works really well for us.
I get a few solid hours of baby-free sleep in my own bed, and then I get sleepy newborn cuddles in the early morning hours.
Really, it’s kind of the best of both worlds.
And to be fair, a few of the things I bought and planned for have helped enormously with the bassinet transfers.
Pre-warming the bassinet with a heating pad so he doesn’t hit a cold sheet? Absolutely works.
The white noise machine has also been a total game changer. I use it for daytime naps too, and honestly I think it helps me sleep just as much as him.
I don’t actually swaddle him in the end because he absolutely hates it, but I do religiously use my Snuza every single night for peace of mind, and it definitely helps me rest easier.
So overall?
Some of my carefully researched plans worked exactly the way I hoped they would.
Others were absolutely demolished by reality within the first 72 hours.
And honestly, I think that’s just motherhood.
Every baby is different. Every postpartum experience is different. And sometimes the things you swore you’d never do suddenly become the thing helping everyone survive on three hours of broken sleep.
But this time around, I think the biggest difference isn’t actually the products or the routines or the research.
It’s me.
I’m softer with myself now.
Less rigid. Less determined to “do everything right.” Less worried about whether I’m being the perfect mom, and more focused on whether we’re all happy, rested, fed, and functioning.
And somehow, that mindset shift has made this postpartum experience feel lighter than my previous ones ever did.
Not easy. Definitely not easy.
I’m still tired. Still overstimulated sometimes. Still spending a shocking amount of my day trapped under a sleeping baby while wondering if I’ll ever drink a hot coffee again.
But I’m happier this time.
And honestly? That feels like the biggest win of all.
I’d Love to Hear From You
Did anything from your pre-baby plans completely change once your baby actually arrived? Or did you discover something that made postpartum life way easier this time around?
Let me know in the comments. Honestly, hearing other moms say “same” is sometimes the only thing keeping the rest of us sane at 3am.
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Products That Actually Helped Me This Time Around
A few of the products I mentioned in this post genuinely made a huge difference for me postpartum, especially during those middle-of-the-night newborn survival shifts.
I’ve linked my favorite baby and postpartum products in my Amazon storefront if you’d like to browse the things I’ve actually been using daily this time around.
From sleep essentials to feeding products to little sanity-saving items, these are the things that earned a permanent spot in my exhausted-mom toolkit.
Browse My Amazon Storefront Here
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