Time Saving Hacks For The New Mom

     In the famous words of William Penn: time is what we want most, but what we use worst. I'm sharing my time saving tips in the hopes of helping at least one more sleep deprived mom achieve some extra shut eye zzzzzzz. 

1. Diaper Trick

       Before changing your little one's diaper, place a fresh new diaper underneath the dirty diaper. Open the dirty diaper and wipe baby as you normally would, lifting his or her bottom and ensuring baby is thoroughly cleaned. Place the dirty wipes inside the dirty diaper and slide the dirty diaper away, lowering baby's bottom onto the fresh new diaper waiting underneath. 

       This saves you a lot of time and helps prevent accidents from the baby peeing or pooping on the changing surface. This is especially helpful for baby boys! If they try and hit you with a surprise tinkle, simply fold the front of the fresh diaper over him. Bonus Tip for Boy Moms: rub a wipe underneath his belly button 30 seconds before changing his diaper. This pre-empts him peeing on you and instead he tinkles into his closed diaper.       

2. Baby Brezza

      All Hail The Baby Brezza! You are essentially paying for sleep, and it is so worth it. If you are formula feeding or supplementing, you need this baby in your life. The Baby Brezza heats water to the perfect temperature and dispenses the correct amount of formula into whichever size baby bottle you choose.  It is in essence, a baby Keurig. 

     This is extremely helpful for when you have a very hungry and screaming baby. Virtually instant baby bottle 🙌🏻 .  You will seriously thank me during those 2 a.m. feedings!

3. Grocery & Household Delivery Services

       If you are anything like me, chances are you are anxiety ridden over your first trip to the grocery store with baby.  I generally shop at three different grocery stores: Walmart (general household items and staples) and The Fresh Market/Whole Foods for meat and some produce. I started to freak myself out with questions like, 'Will the car seat fit over the cart?' 'Should I wear the baby in the store?' etc. 

     Luckily Wal-Mart's Grocery Pick up came to the rescue. It is a FREE service offered by most Wal-Mart locations. It's as ease as 1-2-3, literally. Step 1: order items online. Step 2: pay for items. 3: drive to designated pick-up parking and a friendly Wal-Mart associate loads your groceries into your car free of charge. BONUS: get $10 off your first order of $50.

    Another amazing delivery service is Amazon Prime. I used this A LOT when I was first home with baby. You are bound to forget certain items and are in no state to hobble out to the store in order to purchase them. Queue in Amazon Prime. Free 2 day (and in some cities, same day) delivery, 20% off diapers subscriptions and a 15% Baby Registry completion. <-- I took full advantage of the 15% registry completion. 

4. Baby Wearing

       I am in no way a "granola mom." There is nothing wrong with being a GM, I am simply just not one of them. However, I am a full proponent of baby wearing. Why? Not only does it help keep your little one calmer, it saves you a ton of time by giving you full use of your hands. Multi-tasking in all its baby wearing glory. You can now nurse, feed, wash dishes, put on makeup, all while wearing your little one. 

     One of the biggest motherhood surprises was just how much time it took to breastfeed or bottle feed your baby. It is very time consuming, but thanks to a baby carrier, you can now breastfeed in your carrier while still maintaining full use of your hands. Bottle feeding is also easier as you can lay a bottle against your chest or place it snugly between the carrier fabric and your chest. 

     My favorite carrier is the Baby K'Tan. It provides the same effect as a wrap, however, it is much easier to put on and remove. The Baby K'Tan is an affordable option ($50), and if you decide you really enjoy baby wearing, you can later invest in a more expensive carrier like the Ergobaby ($129). 

5. Daily Baby Bag Runner

    This next tip is especially helpful for those with a multi-level home or where your nursery is distanced further away from where you spend your day time hours. During the first few weeks of actual mobility, I found myself running up and down the stairs in order to retrieve random baby necessities. I already had two separate changing stations (one upstairs and one downstairs), however, I still found myself making multiple runs for items I had no desire to purchase duplicates of. The solution to the problem was a daily baby bag runner. 

(Prevents you from having to go up and down stairs all day)

      Before I go downstairs for the day I fill up the bag with the items I will need for the day or that I will need to bring downstairs (e.g, dirty bottles, toys, digital temporal thermometer, etc.) I cannot express how much time and energy this tip has saved me. It might seem like a no-brainer, but when you are sleep deprived and running on fumes... it feels like you have no brain :/. 

      Let me know if you have used any of these tips or if you have any tips of your own you would like to share! 

xoxo

                                                                                                 Maria Elena