2020 was THE hardest year to have a baby. Fact. To be locked indoors, relying on the internet and no ‘village’ to help you raise your baba; you’re pretty much relying on your phone and friends to see you through. Dr Google is your best friend and you search everything from ‘can you die from sleep deprivation?’ and ‘is it normal for my baby to be grunting at 2 weeks old?’
While lockdown is easing, I can’t imagine complete normality is coming just yet and the next year will be different especially with the baby boom that’s underway. So here’s the resources, online and off, that I’ve found most useful as a new mum. I’ll be adding to them as I go but I hope they serve you well as they have me!
Many of the links in this post are affiliate links.
Facebook Groups
The Mum Space – One of the bigger groups with a range of ages but active daily. Good if you want advice on just about anything!
The Positive Birth Company – Bump Clubs – This is probably my favourite as you join the group relevant to your baby’s birth month. You’ll find everyone in there goes through similar things to you and timings are often similar by a few weeks so it’s really reassuring to use. There’s every month from the last year and future.
UK Formula Feeding & Bottle Feeding Support Group – This was a bit of a life saviour group for us when we moved to bottle feeding. It helped me find our brand of formula (Kendamil) which has been a huge turning point for our baby and helped us get through any tricky spells of awkward feeding. I’m sure breastfeeding groups also exist but we are bottle fed here.
SR Nutrition Weaning Support. – Great for ideas, advice and confidence if following baby led weaning.
Books
Baby/Parenting books
Holly Willoughby Truly Happy Baby – This was my favourite ‘parenting’ book. It had some genuinely useful tips in it and as Holly breast and bottle fed her babies, it was nice to have unedited advice. Some of it is generic but it’s probably the most no-nonsense/easy going book on parenting with no harsh techniques or tips.
Happy Mum Happy Baby – Gi is the Queen of the jungle and Queen of parenting books/podcasts! I loved her podcast with the same name and the book is equally as good, a good one to read before baby arrival.
Mum’s The Word – The Sh*T Nobody Tells You – I’ve laughed at this book a lot. If you need a gift for a mum to be or a pick me up from the usual parenting jargon, this is the book of all books. I’d advise reading once baby arrives, it all makes sense then and feels so much more relatable. It’s more of a ‘jokey’ fun book than a parenting book but great all the same.
Weaning Cook Books
What Mummy Makes – This is the ultimate baby led weaning cookbook as everything you make in this is suitable for the whole family to eat. Everything sounds and is delicious to make, super easy recipes and nothing crazy. We’re doing a mix of led/purees but have enjoyed using this to get inspiration too!
Holly Willoughby Truly Scrumptious Baby – This was the most useful for purees for us so far. As silly as it sounds, there’s more to puree than just steaming especially if you want to get portion sizes right. I really enjoyed how easy this is to follow.
How To Wean Your Baby – SR Nutrition – The NEWEST book to the baby led weaning world but SR Nutrition shares incredible tips on her Instagram so it was inevitable a book was due. I have pre-ordered this and can’t wait to read it for myself.
Blogs/Youtubers
Emily Norris – Emily is a mum to three boys and shows you loads of monthly updates from her boys, weaning ideas, home, cleaning, organisation and more.
Lily Pebbles – I like her mix of mum life and work and aspire to have that kind of balance. She explained breast-feeding struggles perfectly and was so honest about how hard it can be.
Fleur De Force – She’s still as authentic as she was from day one and is my escapism. I love her family vlogs but her early day/baby recommendation videos were really useful to me too!
Freebie/Resources/Downloads
Ella’s Kitchen Weaning Chart and Vouchers – A must have freebie – a weaning chart for the early weeks to help guide you on veg purees. A nice keepsake too.
100 Foods for Baby Led Weaning by Katie Ferraro – A great guide to 100 foods for baby to try before they are 1 years old. A nice way to understand what’s safe/allowed and give you inspiration for the months going forward.
Huckleberry App – A MUST HAVE in the early days. As soon as we came out of hospital we were tracking feeds and nappies (because trust me, you do!) and we were using pen and paper but this app would’ve been fab. We used it from about 2/3 months for about two months and it was perfect for tracking how much milk they had, nappies and sleep. The ‘sweet spot’ sleep idea was a god send for helping us find our routine and if you ever have any issues with milk/weight gain or nappies it helps you realise any patterns. It’s free to use and both you and a partner can use it under one account so they can pick up where you left off.
The Wonder Weeks App – Again a MUST HAVE. This app (costs a small amount) helps you understand developmental milestones (aka leaps) that babies go through. Some people doubt the idea but it helps and in many ways seems to correlate to our baby a lot. When they are particularly clingy/grouchy/sleeping poorly, it helps to understand possible reasons why. It helps you understand the skills they are learning too.
Free Prints App – You can’t beat a proper photograph and since the pandemic has halted many family members actually meeting babies, a proper photo definitely makes a day. With Free Print you get 45 free photo prints a month (you just pay postage) so every month I print a selection of photos from that month so I have every month of our baby captured/printed. It’s a great way to get them printed for family too.
As we find more, I’ll add them in! Hope this is useful to any new parent out there! Good luck!