- Did you know that from
around six weeks of age your newborn will start
doing fewer poops overnight. And when this happens, it
dramatically reduces the number of diaper changes you need
to do throughout the night because there's actually no need to change your newborn's diaper after every wee. Now this is great because it means more sleep for you and your baby. And that's because diaper changes are quite stimulating for a
newborn which means it's harder to get them back to sleep after a change. So, minimizing the number
of changes will also reduce the amount of time you both
spend awake each night. Just remember that once
you notice your little one is pooping less overnight, be sure to apply that barrier cream before you put them to bed. And this will reduce the likelihood of them developing your diaper rash and allow you to leave that
diaper change until the morning. And if your little one starts
to soak through the diaper, then simply switching to using diapers the next size up overnight
should do the trick. As more padding will mean
more wee can be absorbed and put a stop to those leaks. This is just one of a
bunch of kind of strange but really helpful tips and hacks that I'm going to share
with you in this video, that will make life with
a newborn much easier. This next one is for
new parents of baby boys and it's also related to
going to the bathroom. But I promise every tip
isn't related to that. If you've got a little boy, you might have already experienced this. But as soon as you remove their diaper they decide it's time to urinate. I remember when this first
happened with my son, scrambling to grab another
diaper to try and catch it, but being way too slow to avoid a mess. And it seemed to happen every single time. Well, you might be surprised to learn that it's actually not by choice. When you remove a baby boy's diaper, it's the exposure to the air that often causes them to urinate. So to avoid it, you can
do one of two things. You can either run a wet
wipe across their belly before removing the diaper, and this cold sensation may make him wee before you actually remove the diaper or before you remove the diapers, simply flap the front of
the diaper a few times, which may seem a little weird, but the exposure to that cold air will ensure that any wee
is actually contained in the diaper before you remove it. While we're still on the topic of diapers, let's talk about another common occurrence new parents often have
the pleasure of managing and that is poop explosions. When these occur, the clothing
your little one is wearing can mean the difference between an extremely messy diaper change or just an unpleasant one. If you can, dress your little
one in a onesies or shirts where the material actually
overlaps at the shoulders. Clothes with these overlaps
means that when your little one does have a poop explosion which they're going to do quite a lot, you can simply pull the
clothing down over their body and this will prevent
you from smearing poop all over your baby's body and their head, and make that poop explosion
easier to deal with. Another thing you're also
going to notice at some point is your newborn will start grabbing onto absolutely everything
including your hair, jewelry, or earrings. Now, this grabbing isn't deliberate. It happens because of something known as the palmer grasp reflex. This is an automatic reflex which occurs when something strokes or
touches your newborn's palm and that results in their
fingers automatically closing. So, as soon as something
brushes or touches their palm, their fist closes on it, and usually that's
whatever is hanging down. So your hair, jewelry, or earrings. Now, you'll also notice that if you try and pull the item out of their hand, their fingers tighten their grip. But there's an easy way to fix this that is really gentle on
your little baby as well. All you need to do is gently
bend your newborn's wrist in an inward direction. Now this won't hurt your baby at all, and it will actually cause their fingers to automatically open
and allow you to remove whatever they're holding without causing you additional pain. Now, this trick is also extremely helpful during bath times when
you're trying to clean in between your little one's fingers. Simply bending their wrist forward will lead to their fingers opening up and make cleaning between
those tiny fingers a breeze. Another difficult spot to
clean during bath times is your little one's toes. But the good news is you
can also make this easier by triggering another
one of their reflexes. But before I tell you which one it is, if you haven't already, make sure you click on the link
in the description box below to get the free
Developmental Milestone chart so you know exactly what to be expecting in your baby's first year of life as well as when to be concerned. So, to make cleaning between
your little one's toes easier you actually activate
their plantar reflex. When this reflex is triggered, your newborn's big toe will bend back towards the top of their foot, and their other toes will fan out. And this will make it possible to clean in between those toes. So to activate this reflex,
you just stroke the sole of their foot from their
heel to their toes. Now I've got another bath time tip for you that will help to reduce your
newborn's bath time screams. If your little one hates having a bath or becomes distressed
while they're in the bath, simply pop in a pacifier
or position their hands close to their mouth for them to suck. Sucking is extremely soothing for newborns and will help to stop
those tears very quickly. Now, if your little one gets upset when you take them out of the bath, here's a great way to
instantly calm them down. First, make sure they're dry, and then you can try and hold them in what we call the
'Flex and Hold Position'. This position allows your
newborn to suck their hands while you gently move them up and down while simultaneously shushing them. The combination of movement with white
noise, so your shushing, and sucking is extremely soothing for a newborn. And this will quickly calm them down. This holding technique
is actually one of four that you can use to
instantly calm a newborn. So, to find out what the
other three positions are, make sure you watch this video next. And if you've liked this video, make sure you hit the
like button and subscribe so you don't miss the next one.
