Being a parent is the hardest job you’ll ever love. First-time parents learn to parent the difficult way – by making mistakes. To make your first year as goof-proof and enjoyable as possible, follow Care4 troubleshooting guide and avoid these ten classic mistakes.
Top 10 New-Parent Mistakes to Avoid
Here are some common mistakes that new parents make in the first year of having a baby.
1.Becoming anxious and panicking for everything
This is one of the first mistake new parents always make, especially when the baby is at the newborn stage. This feeling of doing things right sets in once a new mother gets home.
The main reason for this is that a newborn baby cannot communicate. Whether it is colic, a simple cold or just a diaper change, a newborn only communicates with crying and this makes the parents anxious and nervous. It is important to be keeping calm in such situations. Observe and learn the meaning of your baby’s cries.
2. Getting stressed about breastfeeding
Stress related to breastfeeding can take a toll on the new mother and can make the experience of motherhood a little uneasy. There will be a lot of sleepless nights for a new mother during the first year because of breastfeeding. The child can also be fed with a bottle of pumped out breast milk so that the mother can take an extended nap. The family members can extend support to the mother by looking after her nutrition needs.
As much as it is the mother’s responsibility to lovingly provide nutrition to the child by way of breast milk, it is as much a responsibility of the spouse and the other family members to support her.
3. Neglecting Oral Hygiene
Cleaning of the mouth, tongue, ears, and nails has to be looked into only later—say around the age of 2.5 months. Moms and dads who try doing these with advice from elders in the family are at risk for stressing themselves out with a cranky child who isn’t ready yet.
4. Not sleep training the baby
Most new moms have heard the advice that they should sleep whenever their baby sleeps, but all too often it seems to fall on deaf ears. For first-time parents, sleep can be scarce—especially in the first few months—but instead of napping when their baby naps, they end up folding laundry instead. This is a big mistake! Sleep when you can. Everyone will be happier and more productive with a couple of hours of extra sleep. The laundry can wait.
5. Trying to force potty training
This is a big NO in the first year. Pushing the child to get potty-trained in the first year can harm the psychological development of the child. Comparing the child, knowingly or unknowingly, to someone else’s child is bad.
Understanding that each child is unique in his own way is important. Letting the child take his own time and waiting for him to use the potty is the only solution.
6. Not ensuring baby safety
Many parents are not aware of the basic safety measures to adopt when caring for a newborn at home.
- Leaving medicines, tablets within reach of the child
- Leaving coins around – This can be hazardous to the child
- Being attentive during the baby’s bath time
- Keeping perfumes, sprays, lighters, matchboxes within reach
- Accidentally pouring hot water while bathing the baby
- Using toys with sharp edges, soft toys with too much fur
- Avoiding using the car seat
- Sharing too many pictures of the child on social media
- Placing the child on the changing table unattended
7. Being overly overprotective
New parents tend to sense danger at every turn and worry about every little thing. They mean well, but all that overprotectiveness actually does more harm than good. Children learn by watching their parents, so if yours observes an overly worried mom or dad, they may grow up being too afraid to ever take risks.
Making mistakes and taking a few tumbles is how children learn to handle all the challenges life is going to throw at them, so keeping them in a safety bubble can hold them back from learning some major life lessons.
8. Not leaving the house
First-time parents have a habit of keeping the baby and themselves locked inside the house for the first several months of life for fear that the baby will catch something. While it’s true that a newborn’s immune system is weak and more susceptible to germs, that only means that it is best to avoid crowds—not the outdoors in general. Fresh air and a little sunshine are good for the entire family and the baby is unlikely to catch the flu from a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood. Instead of holing you inside for weeks on end, try to spend some time outside on a regular basis.
Fresh air and a little sunshine are good for the entire family and the baby is unlikely to catch the flu from a leisurely stroll through the neighborhood. Instead of holing you inside for weeks on end, try to spend some time outside on a regular basis.
9. Not trusting others for help
It is quite likely to be obsessed with your newborn baby and letting him out of your sight can make you really restless. But you need to realize that your body has already been traumatized due to labor and delivery. You need rest too. When your parents offered to take care of the baby while you want to go for a relaxing.
10. Comparing growth milestones
Every child is unique and must be given time to develop at her own pace. Comparing the child with another of the same age or a few months apart is a usual tendency, which is wrong. Thinking “why my child isn’t crawling, walking or potty trained yet when her child does so” and thus pushing the child for it will not only stress out the parents but also the child and can affect her psychologically.
New parents get trying to balance their new lives and trying to be on top of everything for their precious baby boy or girl that they often forget that every stage they pass through will never come again. This is why it’s essential for you to make records of all their milestone moments, and preserve all their precious stages.