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New Parents Survival Tips and Sam’s Club New Parent Survival Kit
This post was sponsored by Sam‘s Club, however, the text and opinions are all my own.
Having a baby is shocking to our systems in so many ways. There’s the physical aspects – your body goes through a whole lot of stress giving birth and recovering, and you may have some permanent physical changes. There’s the emotional aspects – hormone changes, stress from lack of sleep, the crazy overwhelming feeling of love for your new little one. Then there’s the financial changes. Having a baby is expensive! Consider diapers, for example – newborns can and will need 10 or more diaper changes A DAY. I’m pretty convinced that diaper packs smaller than 100 count are made solely for gift giving, unless you plan on buying new diapers every few days.
Survival Tips for New Moms and Dads
- Get as much sleep as you can, whenever you can. If you can sleep when the baby is sleeping, try. Let the housework go temporarily. Rest is important, especially for new moms who need to heal.
- Take baby breaks. Moms, give the baby to dad so you can rest every now and again. If you breastfeed, pump some so dad can take a night feeding and let you sleep.
- Don’t sweat the small stuff. The house might get messy, laundry might not to be done, you might have some dishes in the sink. Don’t worry about it! It can wait if it’s not important. What’s important is enjoying your brand new baby and getting rest (I repeat this a lot, it’s THAT important!).
- Let people help. If someone wants to make you dinner, let them. If a friend wants to help wash your dishes, let them. And don’t feel bad about it! Trust me, friends and family will want to help, and they truly won’t mind.
- Know that it does get easier. The first few months Nwith a newborn are the absolute hardest. Soon they will start sleeping more, the will cry less, and they will slowly start to become more independent. As crazy as it may sound as you listen to them screaming or read this at 2 am on another sleepless night, you will miss that itty bitty baby that relied on you for everything.
- Enjoy this time. It goes by SO fast.
- And to save a little money and a little sanity, I’m a huge fan of Sam’s Club®… and not just for the gigantic, amazing, ridiculously delicious chocolate cake they have that I have bought far too many times… But Sam’s Club carries baby needs such as large boxes of Huggies, wipes, value packs of Aveeno and Johns and Johnson baby washes, large tubes of Desitin, and more.
Benefits of a Sam’s Club Membership
The value in Sam’s Club purchases is that you buy the larger product to start, and pay less per unit. Believe me, it makes a big difference… I would say in the long term, but when you are using as many diapers / wipes / etc. as you do with a new baby (or any age baby, for that matter), you notice a savings very quickly.
The membership cost for Sam’s Club is $45 per year, and you recoup this cost very quickly when you are purchasing baby products, especially since you will likely end up purchasing other goods there, as well. My husband is a huge fan of the price of steaks at Sam’s Club because he loves to grill. We also just purchased our daughter 4 new books for a great price. When you join, you get $80 in instant savings on baby items, as well.
Another benefit of Sam’s Club that we have yet to use (but definitely plan to take advantage of) is online ordering. You can even set up subscriptions to have items, such as your giant box of diapers, shipped right to you on a regular interval.
Sam’s Club New Parent Survival Kit
- Giant boxes of Huggies. We liked Little Snugglers best for newborns. Sienna likes Mickey on the Little Movers boxes. I recommend buying the biggest box available so you don’t have to run out and get more quickly.
- Giant boxes of wipes. Same thing goes for wipes – buy the biggest box you can. We get a box that has over 800 wipes and it still doesn’t last a full month (keep in mind, we have 2 little ones in diapers). Sam’s Club Member’s Mark Premium Wipes are fragrance free and hypoallergenic and an incredible value.
- Aveeno or Johnson and Johnson baby wash / shampoo. We prefer Aveeno and have been using it since our first was born.
- Johnson and Johnson baby lotion. Baby’s skin is very sensitive and can become dry quickly. Keeping lotion on hand and using it daily or multiple times daily is important, especially when they are newborns.
- Lots of Desitin. Baby’s butt skin tends to be pretty sensitive and they get rashes pretty easily. Our daughter has what seems to be a minor perma-rash; no matter how often we change her diapers, she still has some sort of irritation down there all the time.
- Dreft. We’ve used Dreft for both kids because every other detergent caused them to break out in rashes. Bonus! Clothes washed in Dreft smell amazing!
- Formula if you aren’t breastfeeding. I nursed both my children, and am still nursing my youngest, but I did have to supplement my first with formula when I became pregnant with my second. Formula is EXPENSIVE. If you are solely feeding formula, you can easily spend more on it than on diapers. Sam’s Club Member’s Mark Infant Formula offers the same nutrition as comparable name brands and can save you up to $500 per year.
Being a new (or second time or third time, etc.) parent is stressful enough… there is no reason to have to worry about the cost of diapers and other baby items on top of it. And, I repeat AGAIN – REST! It’s important for you and your baby (and your sanity!).Sam’s Club provides big savings for growing families, join and get $80 in special savings on baby basics.
This post was sponsored by Sam’s Club, however, the text and opinions are all my own.
