13 things you’ve probably forgotten about having a newborn

A friend of mine just recently announced she’s pregnant. She asked me to remind her what it’s like in the newborn days since I am back in the trenches; I was surpised because I thought everyone remembered these dark days! Then I thought about it some more and realised that even though there was only 16 months from having a newborn Baby J to a newborn Little S, there were even a few things that were surprising me. In other words, even though it felt like a minute between births, my brain had very cleverly blocked out a few things – to spare me the pain of PTSD, I presume.

So if you are a mom-to-be for the first time or a newmom, here’s a peak into what you can look forward to, and for the moms-to-be-again, here’s a little reminder:

13 things you’ve probably forgotten about having a newborn

1. How small they are – the first thing any visitors have said to us in the last few weeks with Little S (who’s now 3 weeks) is “Oh wow, look how small he is!”. And he’s not really. He’s almost 4 kgs, but in comparison to Baby J he’s teeny tiny.
2. The floppy neck – how does it not fall off?!
3. The woodpecker – when they want to let you know they’re hungry
4. Oh the sweet sweet smell of…poo – it’s a lovely butternut colour and it smells like soup
5. The frustration of burping – how can it be so hard?
6. Dinosaur noises – ok, this might just be my boys but even when they sleep they sound like baby dinosaurs, which is cute and all until it’s 4 in the morning
7. Simultaneous feeding and pooing – what goes in must come out…at the same time, which leads us to…
8. A million nappy changes an hour
9. 3am facebook time – never will you be so up-to-date on social media than when you have to feed every couple of hours during the night and no one else (in the world) is awake
10. Milk – everywhere. The smell of off milk will follow you wherever you go (but it’s usually in your hair). Even when you finally do get to shower, you know the minute you get out your boobs will leak and you’ll be covered in milk. Again. Always.
11. Resenting your partner, no matter how amazing they are – Sleeping. Leisurely showering. Not having to whip out their boobs on demand. The list goes on.
12. Feed. Pump. Sterilize. Repeat – all the damn day. And the next day.
13. The fear of cutting nails – nobody knew this was a thing until someone tried to cut their newborn’s nails

There must be loads more but my mombrain is alive and well right now, because of the sleep deprivation (there – 2 more things).

Baby J

On a side note, do they not look exactly the same?

Little S on the left, Baby J on the right

Featured image: Sofi Dadourian