5 ways to prepare emotionally for your first baby
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Take time to tune in and connect with them
Daydream about your life together who they might be and all the lovely moments you will share. This might sound frivolous but in this way you are already beginning to build an emotional connection with them and welcome them into your life.
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Let go…
Make space to let go of the life, even the person you were before. You are not just having a baby, you are stepping into a new identity. If you take time to feel the feelings this brings up before the birth you are more likely to be ready for this huge step.
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Look at your past
It is worth reflecting on your upbringing. What regrets do you have about your childhood? What would you have liked more of? What did you value and want to recreate? This will inform your own parenting decisions.
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Plan with your partner
Have an honest chat with your partner about how you are going to share the childcare – is your expectation that it will be 50/50 eventually? The practicalities of breast feeding may mean the one who is doing this has to do more of the childcare in the beginning, if this is the case the other person may have more of a supportive role.
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Figure out what is important to you
For the first 6 weeks of your baby’s life you might only have time to do one thing per day outside of your baby. It is important for it to be something that really makes you feel like you. What is the thing that you can’t not do to paraphrase Clarissa Pinkola Estes.
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