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I have one child, Joshua, and we live in sunny Brisbane, QLD. I am a nurse and have recently started working again two days a week to keep my skills up. I absolutely love being a mum and can’t wait until we start trying for baby number two!

These are some of my experiences as a new mum ... 

I was a little naive about how life changing a baby is

I found pregnancy a wonderful experience. Knowing that I was growing a little miracle inside my body was wonderful! Yes, your body does change shape and you may get some stretch marks – embrace it. You are creating a beautiful new life!

My advice for you while pregnant is to make sure you spend lots of quality time with your partner, friends and family. Go out to dinner, go to the movies, or whatever you usually do for entertainment as once the little one comes it won’t happen as often! I wish I had been given that little piece of advice, as I was a little naive about how life-changing a baby is. Don’t get me wrong … I still spend heaps of time with my friends, family and partner and have lots of fun, but you just can’t do things at the last minute and as often as you used to.

Don't hold back ... let those tears flow!

As with all first time mums, I had so many questions floating around in my head coming up to my due date – how do I actually know for sure that I am in labour, when do I actually go to the hospital, what pain relief do I want to take, etcetera, etcetera. As I have now experienced childbirth my advice is to just go with how you’re feeling at the time and trust your gut instinct. I stayed at home for about 5 hours in labour as I felt more comfortable in my own surroundings and felt I could deal with the pain a lot better. I went to hospital when the pain became regular and constant and was 8cm dilated on arrival.

I am so glad I experienced most of my labour at home in my own comfortable surroundings. The most valuable piece of advice I received for the first week or two, post labour, was that it is okay to cry! Don’t hold back and just let those tears flow. It’s all a big change …

Breastfeeding is not something that happens overnight

To every expectant mum out there – breastfeeding is not something that happens overnight! It takes practice and patience to learn the art of breastfeeding. It took me about two weeks to perfect the art of breastfeeding. You need to have a lot of patience and my biggest piece of advice is don’t give up.

Breastfeeding is the most amazing experience once it has been perfected. Knowing that all your little bundle needs is being produced by your own body made me feel very special. Yes, it was a little painful to start with. Your breasts expand an amazing amount when the milk first comes in and your nipples are a little tender to begin with, but just keep telling yourself it’s the best thing for your baby.

Plus it’s so convenient – no heating bottles, no running down to the shop for formula, no going out and realising you forgot your baby’s bottle. It’s all ready prepared, heated and ready to go!

Let your child have 'naked time' every day

My little guy has very little problems with nappy rash or other skin ailments. My mother told me that to help stop nappy rash let your child have ‘naked time’ every day if possible. It has proved to be a great piece of advice. Every day after breakfast I go out onto my balcony with my baby and we lie on a towel (out of direct sunlight) and I give him about 15 minutes out of his nappy to air his little bottom.

He loves this time and just rolls around kicking his little legs with glee while smiling at me. I hope that little piece of advice my mother passed on to me will help some of you out there too!

Handy bits of nursery equipment we bought ...

The best piece of furniture we bought was a recliner chair for the nursery. It is a nice big comfortable chair that reclines right back with a footrest as well. This proved to be the best thing for me while I was breastfeeding. It made overnight feeds a lot easier and it kept my baby calm as well.

Another handy piece of equipment we received was a rocker with vibrations and music. I found that my little one was soothed by the calming vibrations and soft music and fell asleep in it many times when I couldn’t console him with anything else. It was also great because it was easy to carry around so he could be with me outside when I was hanging out the washing, in the bathroom when I was showering and, well anywhere I was really!

Rotate toys!

As my child was the first grandchild on both sides he got spoilt rotten! We had so many toys and clothes, I thought I would never use them! But we sure did. When he was a newborn up to about 3 months he was happy to look at anything that was brightly coloured. He loved his playgym and it was great for me too because it kept him entertained for a while so I could do my own thing!

When he got a little older, up to about 7 months, anything that was noisy or had flashing lights was great fun. From that age onwards I am finding he likes more complex toys. Anything where he has to fit a shape into a hole and stack smaller boxes into larger boxes seems to keep his attention.

You don’t need heaps of toys to keep your child entertained – just rotate them around. I put three or four different toys out at a time and swap them every week so that there are always ‘new’ toys out to play with.

Child care is a great way for my son to learn

I put my son in child care when he was 9 months old. I have the luxury of not having to work but so many of my friends and even my GP said that child care is a great way for my son to learn from just interacting with the other children. I decided to put him in one day a week and it’s the best thing I did. He loves it! He has learnt so much since he has been there and it’s also somewhere that’s different to being at home every day, which makes it interesting for him! Even though I didn’t need to work I now work on the day he is there just to keep me up to date in the work force. (I am a nurse so things are always changing on a day-to-day basis.)