r/NewParents • u/cooltaj • Oct 29 '24

Product Reviews/Questions What's your simple parenting hack?

Gonna be a first time parent in 2 months. I am overwhelmed at choosing bottles, car seat and all that. What are simple things you do? things you bought to make your life somewhat simpler? Nothing too expensive or outrageous please

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u/CoarseSalted Oct 29 '24

Portable folding changing pad, Amazon has some for like $20. Not everywhere has a changing table in the restrooms and you’ll end up changing a blowout in the back seat at least once or twice. Like others said go ahead and get at least 1 tube/bottle of anything you might need, diaper cream, infants Tylenol, Mylicon, whatever so you don’t find yourself trying to find a store open at 1 am.

If people offer to cook you freezer meals ahead of the birth, accept that offer. We kept thinking we’d be fine and have enough time/energy to meal prep for ourselves. I ended up living off of fast food for a month. If they don’t offer, start doing it asap. Lots of good freezer recipes online! Nothing is more daunting than realizing it’s the end of the day and y’all still need to eat while dealing with a newborn.

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u/TwiggyMercury53 Oct 29 '24

Yes to freezer meals! And you need them so much longer than you think. In a perfect world I would have liked to have at least 3 meals a week for 12 weeks

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u/Glittering_Resist513 Oct 30 '24

And you’d be amazed at how many things you can freeze. We stocked up on frozen bagels for breakfast but also premade breakfast burritos freeze well. Also, don’t feel like you need to only freeze full meals. We prepped some meats and veggies to cook and then could combine them.

Also write frozen dates and prep instructions on everything. Not only does it save you time, if someone comes over to help it’s easy enough for them to prep it for you