Share what you love about the newborn phase!

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I know there must be people out there who really enjoy the newborn phase! What did you enjoy the most? What do you miss the most now that your DC are older?

I’ve got a 3 week old and though it’s early days I’m enjoying it so much. It was getting me a bit down that nobody ever really talks about enjoying it. Even my mum seems to be so stressed out about what a newborn needs and she only see’s us once a week!

For me I think it’s great that at this stage pretty much all of DS’s problems can be solved by the boob 🤣 I know that won’t last forever!

I love watching him grow, he has so much more awake time now than he did a week ago. He likes just being carried and watching us do regular stuff in the house.

And I love when he sleeps next to me, basically in my armpit. It just feels right. We don’t co-sleep all the time but do when he struggles to settle in his Moses basket.

Oh and the little noises (between the crying). He gives us so many more reasons to laugh, even if just because he’s done a hilariously large poo.

Congratulations!
All of the lovely cuddles. DS was born in strict lockdown last year so basically we were just in the house all the time and it was so nice and snuggly. He’s now 13 months and so independent. He was under the weather last week so wanted lots of cuddles and I felt as if it was in that newborn stage again ❤️

Definitely the sleepy cuddles. Ds was an autumn baby so we spent the dreary cold days on the sofa with him sleeping on my chest while I watched box sets!

At the time I didn’t enjoy the newborn phase; DD had horrible reflux and was crying/screaming most of the time. Now she’s 14 months and a live wire who can’t keep still, never wants to cuddle, doesn’t fall asleep on me anymore etc so looking back now, I really miss the sleepy cuddles!

God I loved the newborn phase. Enjoy it for as long as possible.

The naps! And the little snorts. I can’t wait to meet my next one! He’s due in November and Christmas is my absolute favourite time of year!

I found it really chilled. Lots of time to watch Netflix or read with a baby cuddled up on me, and the days felt kind of timeless - no getting up at a certain time, just going with the flow, daytime naps together, and DH was off work for a month so house was spotless and he brought me snacks all the time

The cuddles were my fave - DS would only nap on me/my DH (we were in full lockdown so no one could visit). Just being snuggled up on the sofa with him in my arms was the best feeling. And the first smile - melted my heart!

But it was hard having 4/5 months of lockdown and being totally alone most of the time!

Awh thanks for sharing everyone, this is so nice to read 😁 I agree that the slower pace of things is a big part of the loveliness.

Lazing on the sofa with them watching box sets. They stay wherever you put them. They don't make mess. They don't answer you back. Love newborns!

The weightlessness of them. I find myself reminiscing often about how lightweight DD used to feel, how I could lay her across one arm on her belly and she would just lie there and sleep across my arm. I just love how they peer around, if you pay enough attention you can spot when they can finally see a little bit further, a little bit clearer, you can see them registering new things, and when they can see familiar faces. I love the tiny little leg scrunching, back arching stretches they do when they’re just woken up, the little squeaks they make.

DD is 18 months now and I’m often met with a “no!” When I ask for a cuddle.. although at bedtime she’ll settle down in bed, get sleepy then hold her arms out and give a sleepy little “mummieeee…” signalling me to give her a cutch and that’s when she drifts off.

The new born phase is lovely entirely. The toddler stage is also lovely but in a different way.

I LOVE the newborn phase! They are just so cute and tiny, the endless cuddles are wonderful. I love as you'd said that anything can be fixed with a boob or a cuddle and rock/pat. I love the teeny tiny clothes and nappies, and the way everyone around goes "aww" and smiles when you take them out of the pram. All of mine have been very attached to me as newborns and I'm fortunate enough to have been in the position where that's been fine, I haven't needed to rush back to work or leave them with someone else. I'd honestly do that stage over and over again forever! 😁
Mine are bigger now, all in school and I'm not having anymore but I think that's the stage I will always look back on most fondly.

Ah, newborn DD did this stretchy thing where she’d totally stretch out every muscle in her body, arch her neck, even raise her eyebrows and I’m not describing it well but oh my god it was the cutest thing and I was really sad when she outgrew it 🥰 I loved the newborn stage and every time I think of her doing her little stretchy thing i all of a sudden fancy another one….

Smelling their heads.
Toes, I bloody love tiny baby toes.

Each of mine had a little quirk that was sweet - like my DD2, she was the sneeziest baby and she'd do several sneezes in a row, followed by rearing her little head back for another sneeze, but all that came out was a little "aww-wooooo" and then the most baffled expression. I wish I'd been able to get that on film before she outgrew that.

Also, baby headbutts when they were practicing lifting their head while laying on my chest and would drop it back down and watching my built-like-brick-house spouse swaying back and forth and singing to them. That was lovely.

That it's over quickly?

Those first smiles and giggles, and lovely soft baby skin & hair but it's not the stage for me. I'd much rather than a toddler.

If you have an easy baby who sleeps through the night, the newborn stage can be lovely. If you have given birth to the screaming hellspawn of Satan (which unfortunately I did) then it's not really.

I had an easy baby second time around. It was nice, I suppose. It is quite easy to just feed them, plonk a dummy in and not have to do quite so much to entertain them. You can also just pop them in the prarm/car seat and they go along with whatever you want to do. Without incessant whinging and moaning.

Cuddles cuddles cuddles...

The weightlessness of them. I find myself reminiscing often about how lightweight DD used to feel

I always think the opposite - they feel so heavy compared to how tiny they look!

Oh my gosh I love the newborn bit so so so much.

The cuddles and the way they are so sleepy and content (some of the time :o)

Yes to everything being solved with a boob.

Just getting to know them and drinking in every detail. I remember obsessing over the shape of DS2's ears and the hairyness of his shoulders :o

Putting them in tiny little sleepsuits and they look all cosy and snuggly.

The way they are so curious about everything! It's incredible to see them drinking everything in. They have never seen light before. They have only heard sounds muffled by amniotic fluid. It's amazing to see how they react to everything.

I loved this as well, resonates with me a lot:
www.renegademothering.com/2014/06/25/letter-to-arlo/

And I know this is weird but I kind of thrive on that - let's just look ahead to the next 2/3 hours kind of living. I know it's not sustainable but it really seems to suit me. I struggle a lot more with things like having to remember to get things sorted for school terms several weeks in advance or follow up with something I promised this morning or even remembering to get lunch at a specific time before it's too late. I like it when life revolves around let's just meet basic needs, feed/sleep/wash clothes.

Oh the sleeping and the cuddles and the stretching and little sighs when they are happily feeding. Their wonder in the bath. And at their hands. And when they start to recognise your face properly. First proper smile. It’s just lush. And with your first you can just fully immerse yourself - do, and shut out everything and anything else that doesn’t please you right now! It’s not like that with the next one or the one after that!

Conversely when it isn’t plain sailing it can be so so awful and baffling not knowing what’s wrong or how to fix them. And they can turn on a sixpence! So live in the moment. Come about four months it all starts to change….!

The cuddles! I remember having DS on my chest constantly, reading a book.

I also absolutely loved waking up to him and seeing that he was actually here, this brand new little person.

@Rosesareyellow perhaps that was just me; although DD was born at 4lbs 14oz so she did literally weight next to nothing!

Congratulations op, mines 3 weeks old today 😊.

Yes to the cuddles, DD1 is 12 and I was so excited/nervous for each stage I wish i had enjoyed her more when she was little, and chilled out a bit!

DH is off work so I'm getting a lovely 8 hours a night sleep. I love waking up to DD2 and relaxing with her.

I'm sat here with newborn prem baby and I have to say now she's OK, it's the cuddles, her squeaky noises, how content she is just by being fed and held and how there is nothing else for me to do but focus on meeting her needs. It's bliss.

Literally just posted that and she was sick all over me