Piece of Cake Parenting

💥 Know someone who's pregnant or recently had a baby?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Keep this in mind and treat them like you wish someone treated you after your baby was born!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 💬 What's the number one thing you would do to help a new mom?

💥 Does my baby need a probiotic?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Probiotics are microorganisms that live in the digestive tract and promote good health (often called "good bacteria").⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ When you have plenty of good bacteria, they form a protective barrier to fight off other germs and bad bacteria, but sometimes that ratio gets off and your medical provider will recommend adding a daily probiotic supplement.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Most kids don't need to take one, but if your child has been sick a lot, taken multiple rounds of antibiotics, has digestive challenges, etc, it's a good idea to talk to your doctor about their thoughts on adding a probiotic to your daily routine. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Our doctor recommended Culturelle kids after we dealt with several ear infections and antibiotics and clearly J knows exactly what to do with it! 😊⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ✈️ SHARE this post with a friend who might find this interesting.

💥 WHICH IS BETTER?? #mybrestfriend or #boppypillow⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ We had both, and honestly, I loved both for different reasons.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ For newborn nursing, I was a BIG fan our My Brest Friend pillow. I was able to strap this around me and pull it tight to make sure Baby J stayed in juuust the right place. He was so tiny and I had a hard time propping up our Boppy pillow into just the right spot.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ As J grew, it became easier to use our Boppy pillow for nursing. But we also loved it for support during tummy time, laying down with enough elevation to see what was going on around him, and sitting practice as he grew. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Let me know which you preferred in the comments!

Have you ever wondered why your baby is FASCINATED with your phone, but has no interest in playing with the new toy phone you just bought him?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ It's because babies watch everything we are do and want to be just like us 😍 And since YOU never play with the fake phone, it's not nearly as interesting as the real deal.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ If you're desperately craving some baby independent play time so you can actually get some cooking/cleaning/"me-time" to yourself, try setting up a play station that mimics whatever you're doing. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Are you cooking? Give your baby some pots, pans, plates, silverware, or food to play with, rearrange, and "cook" too. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Cleaning? Give your little one their own broom to check out while you're sweeping.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Want to just sit on the couch and relax for a few minutes, while your baby entertains himself? Try setting up an area that features some of the things your baby watches you use regularly. (It could be cooking/cleaning supplies again or something like some spare makeup brushes, books, etc.)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ This will help hold your baby's attention because he's so excited to play with "mom's stuff" for a while. ❤️⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Love this idea? 🔒 SAVE THIS POST as a reminder!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 💬 What's your baby's favorite "mom toy" to play with??

Did you know that most of your baby's senses are pretty underdeveloped at birth? But which one is the MOST developed right away?? 🤷⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ She can only see about 10-18″ and hasn’t fully developed her sense of smell or hearing. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Which means, your newborn's most developed sense at birth is TOUCH and you can continue to stimulate and develop this from day one.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ One of our favorite ways to do this is to give your baby a sensory massage during baths 🛀 This helps your baby get skin-to-skin contact to feel super connected with you, but has also been shown to improve cognitive, emotional, and social development #howcoolisthat⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Have you ever thought of adding a message to your baby's bath time?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Love this tip? 🔒 Save it for later! 🔒

Anyone else struggle with overnight diaper leaking with their baby??⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Over the last year, almost every morning was spent doing an extra load of laundry to wash his soaking wet sheets and Pajamas and then a quick bath to clean him up.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Luckily, we did a ton of experimenting and found the best ways to prevent overnight diaper leaking!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Check out the link in my bio [pieceofcakeparenting.com/overnight-diaper-leaking] for my favorite tips and my 💥 NEW 💥 Amazon shop for my favorite tools to finally stop your baby from peeing through PJs every night.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 💬 Leave a comment with one of the following:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ALL THE TIME! (if you're like us and this is a major struggle)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ HERE AND THERE (if this has happened at your house, but isn't a regular thing)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ LUCKY ME! (if this has never happened at to at your house... yet 😉)

🧐 Did you know that your baby's brain DOUBLES in the first year, grows to 80% by age 3, and reaches 90% of full growth by age 5?? ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ This is amazing and it means that you have a great opportunity to connect with your baby and stimulate that little mind. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Try out these ideas for some super easy ways to promote brain development today. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 🔒 *SAVE THIS POST* for some super easy developmental activities you and your baby will love! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 💬 Let me know your favorite activities to do with your little one 👇

Oh my goodness it is cold! 😫😫 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I left the house this morning and my car was 0 degrees F. I briefly thought, "I guess that's not TOO bad. I thought it would be colder." ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Silly me... ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ As soon as I drove out of the garage, the temp went down, down, down, and hit -14 by the time I got to work 😭 ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Everyone with warm weather, PLEASE send it my way! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ In the mean time, we'll stay bundled up inside and work on a few indoor activities! ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Here's our favorites if you're stuck inside too: ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ✨ Painting and coloring ✨ Playing basketball and catch ✨Building blocks ✨Snuggles and stories ✨ Dumping out all of our toys, putting them all away, and repeat (J actually does LOVE picking up so he cleans up after himself pretty well. 😊) ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ What's the temperature for you today??

🧠 BABY ACTIVITY IDEAS 🧠⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ When your baby is around three to four months old, she will begin trying to reach and grasp for things in front of her. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ A GREAT way to promote this important development is to give your baby lots of fun opportunities to reach for fun toys.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 🧠 Let your baby play under an activity mat like this one from @fisherprice to reach up and catch all of the amazing new toys above him.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 🧠 Prop up a few books during tummy time for your baby to reach forward.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 🧠 Move your face and hands in front of baby during play time and encourage her to reach for you and track all of your movements.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 📝 I'm curious: Did your baby prefer tummy time activities or playing on his/her back? 👶

Does anyone else think that this is the MOST unhelpful question you could possibly be asked during the newborn days??⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ It seemed like every time I met up with an old friend or acquaintance, this was the first question everyone wanted to ask.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Every time someone asked, "Is your baby sleeping through the night?" my brain started to reel a little...⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 💭 No he's not. Does this mean he's a bad baby or maybe I'm a bad mom 😰⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 💭 Should he be sleeping better? Maybe he's sick and I should call our doctor.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 💭 Well, he sleeps pretty well now that we're bed sharing, but all bets are off if we try the bassinet...⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Early on, I decided that I was going to be as honest as possible. Especially with other new mom friends in my life.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I didn't want to mislead people because newborns SHOULDN'T be sleeping through the night. It takes YEARS to be able to sleep through the night (and truth-be-told, most adults wake up one or several times per night too).⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ We shouldn't expect our babies to be sleeping through the night and we need to stop stressing out new moms by constantly asking this question. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Instead try:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ❤️ Is your baby sleeping well between feeds?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ❤️ Is your baby feeding well?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ❤️ How are you feeling?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ❤️ I'm running errands. What can I help you with while I'm out?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ❤️ When I stop by today, what can I help with while you snuggle your baby?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 💬 I'd really love to hear your thoughts on this! Did people ask you this during the new mom days? How did it make you feel? What were your baby's sleep habits?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ SHARE to a new mama who needs to hear this! ❤️

🌟 UMBILICAL CORD CARE 🌟⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ Your baby's umbilical cord connects baby to mama during pregnancy and helps your baby to get all of the nutrients she needs to grow in-utero.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ After your baby is born, this cord is typically clamped and you'll be left with a little cord stump to care for. Here's a few helpful tips to keep in mind:⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ☂️ Keep your baby's umbilical cord DRY and fold down the top of your baby's diaper so it doesn't rub against it. You don't need to add any rubbing alcohol (or anything else) and want the stump to completely dry and then fall off.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 🛁 Stick to sponge baths until after the umbilical cord has fallen off. This will help it to try out and fall off faster and give you a few times to practice sponge baths before diving into a full newborn bath 😉⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 🙅‍♀️ Let the cord fall off on it's own and DON'T pull it off yourself.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 🤔 How do you know if there's a problem? 🤔⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ A small amount of blood (if it looks like a scab), is okay. But call your doctor if the area oozes pus, becomes red and swollen, or hasn't fallen off for more than three weeks.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 💾 SAVE this as a reminder for your newborn or SHARE it with a pregnant friend or new mom in your life. ✈️⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ 💬 Let me know in the comments your favorite newborn tip for the first MONTH with your baby.