The best baby tips (that you won’t find anywhere else!)

As we know Pinterest is an absolute goldmine for baby info. There is just so much content going on Pinterest that it can be hard to keep up. One of the great things about it was the tips that other bloggers would offer to make life with a newborn easier. But as I went through article after article of these tips (trust me, I read a LOT of them), I found that they were all kind of the same. They all said the same tips such as cutting the baby’s nails while they’re sleeping, or making padsicles to help with postpartum healing. So I decided to write a post about the best baby tips I came across in my own life that no one EVER mentions!

Tip #1:

Velcro the nursery curtains to the window frame

Like most babies, Zoe started out being able to sleep anywhere and everywhere. But pretty soon she got too distracted by light and we had to blackout her room. Zoe has only one window in her room and it is south facing, which, for some reason, meant that it was getting daylight ALLLLLLLLL day. The second the sun rose to the minute it set her room was a beacon. We had to do all of the usual things, blackout curtains, blackout blinds, door draught snake to stop the light coming in from under the door. Hell, I had to even cardboard her windows up! But there was STILL light coming in from the sides of the window despite the blackout blinds and blackout curtains. So I got my sewing machine out and sewed on a strip of Velcro to the ends of her curtains. Then, using some strips of sticky Velcro, I stuck them onto the outsides of the window frame and voila! Now her windows were completely light tight, but I could still open and close the curtains if I wished.

Some helpful hints with this tip:

- Sew the fluffy side of the Velcro to the curtain fabric- it is very tricky to sew though the plastic “hook” side of Velcro.

- When sewing the fluffy Velcro to the curtain, I found it was best to use non-adhesive Velcro- the needle of the sewing machine doesn’t like to go though the layer of glue repeatedly.

- For a perfect light-tight seal, Velcro all the way down both on the window seal and on the curtain.

- You can cut the strips in half to get it fit right and save money.

Fluffy side of the velcro sewn onto the side of the curtain with a zig zag stitch

The plastic side of the velcro (with self adhesive) stuck on the architrave of the window.

Tip #2:

Put undies and pants on over the strap of your baby carrier

So this one is a bit of an odd one but I tell you it has saved me more times than I could count, and nobody ever mentions it (I don’t know if it’s because it’s embarrassing but let’s face it we have been though a lot of embarrassing stuff giving birth!) In the early days Zoe did a lot of her naps in the carrier, and there was nothing worse than getting her fast asleep in it before realising that I needed to pee. So this tip is more for when you are at home, I guess you could do it in public, but I’ll leave that up to you! And this is only really needed if you have a carrier that has a waist strap (like the Baby Dink)- it won’t be necessary for carriers like the Kony.

It’s pretty straightforward- you basically pull your pants and undies down, pop the carrier on, undies and pants back up and then baby in! Now feel the freedom of peeing while your baby sleeps on your chest!

Tip #3:

Use a smart globe as the room light

I feel like this one is a good tip, but it took a long time to get it functional. Zoe’s room doesn’t have a dimmer switch and I really wanted the idea of making the room transition while I was rocking her without having to get up mid-rock and having to turn the light off. So I bought a Smart globe from the local shops and installed it, and its been really helpful! Is it perfect? No. There are a few bugs in the software and the app isn’t great, but I still think the pros outweigh the cons. I can control all of the lighting in her room without having to get out of the rocking chair at all. Also you can change the light to be whatever you need it to be. I make the lighting a cold, bright white when I need to change her nappy to see everything, but do a warm dim light when its time for her to wake up so it's not so harsh on her eyes. She also loves lying back in her cot and watching the globe go through a rainbow chase. The globe I used was the Mirabella Genio Smart Home Wi-Fi Dimmable UFO LED light, but like I said there are other brands out there that probably work better.

Tip #4:

Cotton balls and water for poopy nappies

I’m not sure if this is a tip that would work well for baby boys, but it definitely works for baby girls! This tip was given to me by my mum and sister- they used it for all their girls and it has worked a treat. So as we know, when baby girls poop, their poop travels all the way up their front, and it can be very difficult to delicately get it out from around their vaginal and clitoris. I found that when I was using baby wipes I was so scared of tearing my baby’s delicate folds, or worse, work the poop further into her vagina! But this tip is so simple! Firstly, wipe away most of the poop with the baby wipes. Then to get into all of the crevices, get a bowl of pleasantly warm water (not too hot, but not too cold) and some cotton balls. Soak the cotton balls in the water for a moment, squeeze a little of the water out so its not sopping, and then place the cotton ball over the genitals and squeeze the remaining water out so that the water can travel through all the folds and wash away excess poo. You can do this a couple of times through; its like giving the baby a mini sponge bath! Its great as it saves on baby wipes (which a) aren’t great for the environment if they’re not biodegradable, and b) need to be used for other things too!) and it does a better job.

Tip #5:

Buy WD40

Obviously we all know that WD40 is a god send and works on just about anything. But its isn’t until you put the sleepy baby down for the first time that you realise just how squeaky the door and rocking chair are. My tip for this one is to go around the house before baby is born and de-squeak anything that you think might be a problem.

Also, on a handy side note, I found this article on some of the household things WD40 can help with including removing stains from carpets and kids writing from walls! Who knew?

Tip #6:

Donating unused items (such as formula) to women who need it

We all know that we get a LOT of stuff when we first have a baby, and the thing is that baby’s can be very picky. They like different types of formulas, different types of dummies, different types of swaddles, the list goes on. I certainly found that when I bought things for Zoe while I was pregnant, about 50% I didn’t end up using because they just didn’t work out for her or us. The big one was formula. We stocked up on S26 Gold because we planned on that being her formula (haha planned!! How naïve!). Like more parents who give their children formula, we had to go though a few brands in order to find the one that worked for Zoe. So we ended up with a lot of unopened tins of formula that we couldn’t return (due to Covid restictions on returning food items). I felt like throwing them out would be a waste considering that there would be babies who need it. So I did a little research and I found out that you are able to donate baby goods, including tins of unopened formula, to families in who are struggle with poverty or maybe are fleeing domestic violence issues and need assistance to get their children clothed and fed.

There are so many organisations around Melbourne that do this and you know that the goods you are providing are going straight to the people who need them. I am a big fan of op shops like the Salvos and Vinny’s, but you would not be able to donate everything to them (like the formula) and they can be picky at times. Additionally, they get such a huge influx of donations everyday, that your donations can get lost in the ether as it were. Whereas these family donation places are specifically for families and children who need the basics to get back on their feet.

The one that I used was Mums Supporting Families in Need (MSFIN) which is the one closest to me. They were brilliant, and they also do hampers and back to school support services too!

This is the link to find your closest Baby and Mother donations organisation. They are all around Melbourne and have multiple drop off spots. There are organisations that specifically cater to mothers fleeing family violence, and mothers who are Aboriginal or Torres Straight Islander too.

Hopefully these tips will help you or your friends and family with their newborn. If you have any uncommon helpful tips let me know and we can share them around!

Love, The Feminist Mum xoxo