5 Tips to Surviving the Holidays with a Baby

1. Let go.  This is not the year that you are going to “wow” everyone with homemade cookies and crafts or the perfect gift that you spent hours shopping for or making.  This is the year that all you have to do is show up and let your baby wow them!
2. Buy yourself a new sweater.  Go out and buy yourself a nice baggy sweater that makes you feel beautiful.  Maybe one with a turtle neck and something sparkly to draw the eye away from your postpartum belly, dark under-eye circles, and leaky boobs.  Then put it on over your pants with the expandable maternity belly and your best nursing bra.  No one is looking at you anyway, but it is important to feel beautiful!
3. The baby IS the gift.  This year, tell Aunt Mary that her gift is fifteen minutes alone with your baby.  Trust me, she’ll be psyched.  And, you’ll get to go to the bathroom by yourself.
4. Enjoy all the extra hands.  Surrender to the fact that your baby is going to be exposed to a bunch of germs.  Embrace it and let all your loved ones hold your baby all day while you enjoy such luxuries as eating with two hands, talking to another adult and not having spit up on your shoulder.
5. Take lots of pictures.  And take pictures with YOU in them too.  Babies screaming on Santa’s lap are my favorite.  They don’t have to be beautifully staged or feature the three of you in matching outfits.   They just have to capture these precious moments of your first holiday season together.  And your new sweater!

Darcy Sauers is a certified postpartum doula, certified lactation counselor and the owner of Dover Doula (www.doverdoula.com) in the Seacoast, NH area whose holiday wish is that moms would just cut each other some slack.  She is passionately committed to helping ALL new moms find the support, resources and information they need.  Please do not hesitate to contact Darcy with any questions at darcy @ doverdoula.com or 603.988.5945.  For more information on breastfeeding, the postpartum period, prenatal yoga or local resources and events for new moms, follow her on Facebook.