Feeding Is the Whole Schedule
In the first three months a newborn feeds eight to twelve times in twenty-four hours, which means feeding is not an item on the day’s schedule — it is the schedule. Every other decision, including what everyone is wearing, is easier once you accept that.
Set up one place in the house properly: a chair with arm support, a light you can reach without standing, water within arm’s reach, and a stack of muslins. Then set up a second, worse version of it wherever you end up at three in the morning.
Dress for the Mess
Reflux, posseting and a fair amount of milk down the shoulder are normal. Choose colours and prints that hide it — a scattered polka dot forgives what plain white does not — and choose fabrics that survive a hot wash. A bodysuit that has been washed once before it ships will not shrink away from you on the first pass.
- Two changes of clothing per feed, within reach of the chair.
- Bibs that fasten at the side, not behind the neck.
- A high chair is a fourth-to-sixth-month purchase, not a third-month one.
- Wash at forty degrees, no fabric conditioner, no fragrance.
- Keep one clean outfit permanently in the bag you leave the house with.
When Solids Come Up
They do not, yet. Nothing but milk for the first six months is still the guidance in most of the world, and the seat you will eventually need can be bought in the week you need it. If you are shopping ahead, buy the one whose seat and footrest both adjust downwards; it is the only feature that changes how long the chair lasts.
Feed the baby, drink the water, and let the laundry be somebody else’s achievement this week.
Twenty tips reduce, in practice, to two: make the feeding place comfortable, and own enough clean cotton that a bad night does not become a bad morning.
