What to Expect on Your First Night Home with Your Newborn Baby

After 9 months of pregnancy, hours of labor, and at least a few nights in the hospital, you are finally ready to bring your newborn baby home. While some parents prefer to stay in the hospital as long as possible (hello, 24/7 help!) others are counting down the moments until they can bring that new bundle of joy into their own space for couch naps, bed snuggles, and the opportunity to put the beautiful nursery to good use., 

While bringing the baby home is a huge and exciting milestone, it’s also a big learning curve for the whole family. Here are 5 things to expect on your first night home with your newborn:

Newborn babies are actually nocturnal. That’s right, it’s not your imagination that the baby who took 3 or 4-hour naps during the day is suddenly waking up every 2 hours at night. He or she is also likely to be more active and alert at night, at least for a while until her new circadian rhythms kick in. To help this process along, make sure that your baby is exposed to natural sunlight as much as possible during the day. 

There is no rhyme or reason when it comes to hunger, sleepiness, or diaper changes in those early days. Your baby may dirty 3 diapers in an hour or want to eat every 20 minutes. Eventually your new family will settle into a more predictable rhythm, but for now it’s important to stay in the moment and take care of the sweet baby that’s still trying to figure out the new world he or she has entered into. 

Newborns are noisy! Whether it’s gas causing discomfort or just a desire to try out making new sounds, babies make a lot of noise, even when they’re sleeping. Also, you’re likely going to want a white noise machine which helps babies to sleep better by creating sounds that remind them of the womb. Between the baby sounds and the white noise, you may be surprised at how loud your once quiet and calm bedroom has become.

Consider this your permission to give yourself a break! That first night (and many, many thereafter) home with a baby is no time for a clean bedroom. There’s some clutter you’ve placed on purpose, such as extra diapers or swaddles incase of middle-of-the-night blowouts, but you’re also bound to find an extra nursing pillow on the floor, an open packet of baby wipes on the dresser, and empty water bottles everywhere. It’s ok, and it will get cleaned up before the baby goes to kindergarten.

You know that advice often given to new parents – “Sleep when the baby sleeps?” Well, if only it were that easy. New parents often find that it’s not easy to fall asleep even when the baby is dosing peacefully beside you. Maybe it’s the noises, maybe it’s the excitement and nervousness of having a newborn, but new parents often have trouble sleeping.

To help you get through that first night at home and those that follow, make sure that your baby is swaddled in a high-quality, ultra-soft, breathable swaddle like Baby Want Design’s Bamboo Swaddle. It can’t make the baby less noisy, or make your room less messy, but it can help give baby some comfort to ensure better sleep for the whole family. 

The newborn stage is magical, but it’s also incredibly difficult. It goes too fast and not fast enough at the same time. You will survive your first night home with the baby as all parents do, and will wish to go back to that moment for years and years to come.

**This is not medical Advice-Please contact your physician with any questions you may have**