I learned a lot of life hacks while taking care of my infant daughter. If you stack a lot of these together your life becomes way more efficient. Here are 10 tips and tricks for baby care that you won’t find in the standard canon of baby books!
1. Use only one kind of baby bottle
Nipples, screw-on collars, and bottles all kind of look the same. Save yourself some grief by only using one type of bottle. That way you won’t be frantically trying to match bottle pieces when your hungry baby is crying her head off. When my wife and I started out with our Victoria we had three different kinds of bottles–it makes things way, way easier to only have one kind! Click here for more info on building an efficient baby bottle system.
2. Buy a yoga ball
These are the best. My baby loves being held while I bounce up and down on a yoga ball. It calms her down instantly! And it has worked since she was born up to 7 months of age.
3. Go outside with your baby when she cries
The change in environment may calm your baby down. When the weather is nice outside, taking my Victoria outside instantly stops her crying.
4. Your deep manly voice calms babies down
Sing nursery songs in tenor and bass and your kid will pass out in your arms. For extra fun, make up your own ridiculous nursery songs—my personal favorites are “Yoga Baby” and “Korean Side Dishes”.
5. Play classical music
I don’t know much about all of these studies that suggest that classical music improves a baby’s brain development. What I do know is that this stuff calms my baby down. I have been playing music when feeding my baby as it helps calm her down and focus on eating. Chopin works particularly well for our baby. Mozart is really popular for bedtime. YouTube has tons of music like this–just search “baby classical”, “baby Mozart”, along those lines.
6. Stash diapers and wet naps in more than one location
Have your primary diaper changing battle station set up; however, you want to have substations located throughout your home in strategic locations. Such locations could be your bedroom or living room. Pee happens. Poo happens. It is good to always be prepared.
7. Put a mobile or something above baby’s head while diaper changing
This is especially useful after your baby has learned to roll over on her tummy (age 4-6 months). It is very difficult to change diapers when your uncooperative baby is trying to roll over. So put something above baby’s head to distract her while you change her diaper. We tried hanging some of these shiny Mylar balloons above our primary diaper changing station and these worked pretty well. You can also re-purpose a crib mobile for your diaper changing battle station.
8. Put the new diaper under the baby before taking off the dirty diaper
That way if your baby pees or poos while you are removing her old diaper, you will catch the output with the new diaper and avoid a gross mess to clean up. It also is a more efficient workflow–it is easier to scootch a new diaper under an old diaper than to work the new diaper under a baby’s skin.
9. Diapers with indicator strips on the outside are awesome!
These strips change color when wet. That way just one quick look from the outside can confirm if a diaper needs changing.
10. Have toys within arms-reach everywhere
It is helpful to have a toy to distract your baby when she needs calming, a diaper change, or something to do. When you are out of the house, your baby might get bored in the stroller, so it is a good idea to bring toys along. Pick baby-safe toys that are age-appropriate, stuff that works on hand-eye coordination and that a baby can suck on safely.