12 Things I Had Forgotten About Life With A Newborn

ByChristie Burnett Updated on

Second baby, easy right?

After all, we’ve done this before. We’re old hands.

The universe is laughing out loud right now.

I cannot believe how much I forgot about life with a newborn. Just little things but they can certainly make the day interesting, especially when combined with a massive dose of parental sleep deprivation! My inexhaustive but completely exhausted list includes…

1. Just as you sit down to eat dinner your peacefully sleeping baby will wake with a howl to be fed themselves. Every. Single. Time.

2. The minute you remove a baby’s nappy they will wee or poop. And it IS possible for a baby girl to pee a fountain straight up into the air.

3. You will regularly find yourself rocking or bouncing in place…even when you are not holding the baby.

4. One tiny human easily creates more laundry than the other three family members combined.

5. It is possible to fall asleep sitting up and leaning against a rock hard wall.

6. It is also possible to fall asleep with a leg sticking out of your bed as you rock the bassinet with your foot.

7. Pregnancy cravings don’t necessarily stop just because you have given birth. Or maybe they are breast feeding cravings? Either way, there has been way too much light fruit cake and chocolate chip shortbread consumed in this house over the past few weeks.

8. Having a shower may well become a very hot commodity. One that is heatedly debated between overtired parents, especially when you are the one who has missed out for the last four days.

9. However when it comes to the opportunity to have a shower or to sleep, sleep will win every time.

10. Instruction leaflets for baby equipment state what is clearly obvious. This is completely necessary as with excessive sleep deprivation anything is possible.

11. Even though you have done this all before you will still doubt and question yourself every step of the way, visiting Great-Aunt Google way more than necessary.

12. First smiles, plump leg rolls and the softest hair imaginable make all of the above completely inconsequential as I know I am going to miss each and every moment of being mother to a newborn.

I wonder, do you continue to forget these newborn nuances the more babies that you have?

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Christie Burnett is a teacher, author and mother of two. She created Childhood 101 as a place for teachers and parents to find engaging, high quality learning ideas.

45 Comments

  1. Ohh yes I did the rocking or swinging side to side a lot! I would be standing in a shop and find myself doing it all the time. Also the falling asleep, I fell asleep sitting upright on a wooden chair (with no arm rests) for 40 minutes. Or would be on a very short drive somewhere with my husband and be fast asleep as soon as I got in the car.

    1. Psssst usually snoring! 😉

    2. I was swinging the whole day at a conference on Saturday, even when not holding the baby. I am sure people were looking at me strangely 🙂

  2. It’s taken me until now (baby is 4!!!) top stop pushy the shopping trolley back and forth soothingly the entire way around the supermarket. I had three and each time the newborn thing got me. I think its something to do with the sleep deprivation 🙂

  3. I love this, thanks for sharing… We have been trying for #2 & its always in the back of my head that i’m going to be a new mum all over again and forget everything, my son is now 3.

    Ohhhh & lmao about the baby leaflet, remove child first (Oh yes, the child, thats right) 😛

  4. Amanda Eastment says:

    Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…….you’re scaring me!!! He he he…. We’ve been saying for weeks that we can’t believe we’re going back to that newborn stage and we feel terribly tired before we’ve even started!!! Love your list Christie : )

    1. It’s like falling off a horse, Amanda, you just have to climb back on and keep going, even with the sleep deprivation 😉

  5. So sweet and funny! I’d better pin this for when I’m expecting a second, just in case I fool myself into thinking I know what to expect!

  6. Hahaha!!!! We said the same things this time around with baby number 5 *blushing* because people actually say out loud to me, “shouldn’t you know/expect that after 5 kids “. Um, clearly not. Lol 🙂
    Hugs and love,
    Lusi x

  7. Oh this brings back memories! I remember the rocking in particular. My son didn’t like being in the pram, so I would often hold the pram with one hand and him in the other. Even though he was not actually in the pram I would still roll it back and forth, back and forth…..

  8. I hear you loud and clear about most of these things. I have a 4month old (who has just woken) and a 2 year old who has decided that he will be kind enough to have a nap today, oh there he is now! The washing is never ending, the nappies! Oh my sometimes I feel like all I do all day is change nappies! But then there are the smiles, the cuddles and the bliss you find watching them sleep!

  9. I think because the newborn stage is quite short compared to all the other stages of childhood, no matter how many children we have, we never really become an expert at ‘the newborn thing’. I love the picture you painted here, especially of the ability to fall asleep anywhere… so true! With my first baby I was once holding a quiche & realised after 5 minutes I was rocking it back & forth like a baby.

  10. Hmmm… my second baby is 2&1/2 months old and I can’t blame her for my lack of sleep because it’s my new addiction to social media that’s keeping me up at night. My second baby is a sleeper unlike my first, who is 7 and still has trouble going to sleep some nights. However I can’t get on top of the laundry and I’m sure the smell of food makes her howl to be fed or she eye balls me when I am eating as if to say “where’s mine?” – but for all the dramas all us mums go through when their little faces light up with a smile, that’s all you’ll need to remember. The last couple of months have flown my newborn is no longer a newborn but a baby… and I wish time would slow down!

    1. I wish time would slow down too! I want to capture and hold in my heart pretty much every single moment 🙂

  11. LoL Lusi. People (and myself) say the same thing to us with bub number six. I have picked her up nappy-less and been peeed on more than once already. I have embarrassed myself by forgetting to pop in the nursing pads before running into the shops.And yes I have been in the car, about to drive off with the other five, only to be stopped by a chorus of “Where’s Hattie (the baby)?”

  12. I remember the first three months being hell on wheels because of my hell bent desire to breastfeed desire a lack of milk, and a bubba who didn’t sleep for more than 20 mins at a time… then things settled down, we got those issues sorted and I got the hang of it. By six months I was thinking “YES! Bring it on! I can do this again right NOW because now I know how to do it!”.
    Two years later and I’m kinda terrified to do it all again! But I know we’ll get through.
    Once again, so lovely to meet you in person over the weekend 🙂

    1. In my experience each baby has been very different as a newborn, Kylie. Don’t be afraid x

  13. oooh that made me sooo clucky!! you forget those little things, thankyou for reminding me of the wonder,delight,exhaustion of small people. a most beautiful time in ones life that goes so quickly. thanks for sharing (i came across from PWK) cheers

    1. Time that goes much, much too quickly! Thank you for visiting 🙂

  14. I’m sitting here feeding my 4 week old newborn, 22 months after my eldest was this age. I had totally forgotten all these things and it’s all coming back to me now, I’m giggling at the rocking things that are not the baby. I find I jiggle things up and down more, especially if someone else is burping him or cuddling him. Does anyone else fall sleep half way through feeding. What is that, could we bottle it? We’d clean up!!!

    1. I fall asleep when feeding too! And then wonder where the time went 🙂

  15. Definitely remember their sense of timing! A hot meal on the table at dinnertime would always guarantee baby would wake up. By baby number three, I got better at cooking meals that could be eaten with one hand whilst still being able to breastfeed. Mine always preferred to be rocked standing up and could always tell if I tried to cheat and sit down whilst rocking :/ And the tiredness….oh yes, the sleep we will never get back…

    1. I know! How do they know that you have sat down??? Especially in the evening when you are tired after a busy day and all you want to do is sit down 🙂

  16. Loved this post! I have an almost three year old and a 3 month old. I’m so glad we are about out of the newborn phase. It was so much tougher than I remembered!

    1. The time just passes so, so fast. Wasn’t Blogopolis lots of fun 🙂

  18. Ahhh the rocking, I still do it. I’m with Catherine….. you have made me broodie for another! Especially when she is as gorgeous as your little one. Love the pic.

    Kell xoxox

  19. HaHa great post! Very funny & sweet 😉 my second is just 3 months & I experienced everyone of these… Literally found myself rocking from side to side when I was talking to someone yesterday & then realised that my husband was the one holding the sleeping baby…! One thing I think is kind of cruel to do to new parents is give them & make them fill in all the government forms straight away! I only managed to get the form half filled in, then my husband took over and when we took it into the office the lady behind the counter went through it and filled in all the bits we missed… About half the form, was slightly embarrassing 😉

  20. I have been caught out on numerous occasions holding the bub in one arm and rocking the stroller with the other 😉
    As for newborns, I had forgotten how impeccable their sense of timing is when it comes to you FINALLY managing to find 5 minutes to have that much needed shower… and guaranteed, they will wake up just as you put the shampoo in your hair!

  21. This made me laugh… hard! And nod… continuously!! hahaha!!
    Love love love it!
    I am feeling you right at the moment with my four week old reminding me just what newborns are made of! 🙂

  22. I’m back again, re-reading this post and getting exciting and nervous for our arrival in two months. Will I really STILL second guess every decision? *sigh*

    1. Unfortunately, yes, you will – I still do and I am eight months in now!!!

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