Friday, April 22, 2011

How to Visit a New Mom


I've had two babies in the last 3 years. A wonderful experience, but also an exhausting one! I loved this blog about how to visit a new mom. Read the blog, but also read the comments because there are some really good insights in the comments and you'll see that what might be appreciated by one new mom might not be appreciated by another.

The highlights:

*Take a meal: have it ready to eat, packed in disposal dishes they don't have to return, include paper plates/napkins/silverware so they don't have to do dishes.

*Include healthy snacks: if you are taking a meal, also include some snacks like cut up fruits and veggies, trail mix, etc. Or just take a snack. I had a friend bring me a container of roasted vegetable orzo. It's served at room temperature so you don't even have to heat it up. It made a great snack for this hungry nursing mom!

*Offer to help -- take out the garbage, clean a bathroom, load the dishwasher and start it.

*Don't overstay your welcome. The original blog said to limit visits to 15 minutes -- and I personally think that is a good rule of thumb, but there were a lot of comments from blog readers that felt differently. I would say, though, that you are better off with a visit that is too short than a visit that is too long!

*Wash your hands before you touch their baby.

*You can do this for a new mom any time in the first year! Most visitors come in the first month, but a hot meal or a little bit of help would be appreciated by most moms any time!

*Finally, when my second daughter was born I had a 2-year-old and the thing I appreciated more than anything else was when someone would take my 2-year-old. She needed and wanted to get out and it was so hard for me to do that with a newborn. I have a couple of friends that would come and take her for a walk or to the park for an hour. It was wonderful!

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