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As a new father, I continue to stumble across tips and tricks about a month or two late. Here is a brief summary of some of those tips and tricks for other new and aspiring fathers:

The Five “S” from Dr. Karp: We ended up stumbling across some of these by chance, but missed a few of the powerful techniques. They only work for newborns, but they appear (and I can attest are) super effective. You can buy the book and DVD or catch the freebies on YouTube.

Magic baby hold: We came across this one late in the game. Simply hold your baby on their left side.

Skip night changings: Ever hear “never wake a sleeping baby”? There is a lot of truth to that because you may never get them back to sleep. At night we doubled up the diaper (reusable). It was saturated by AM but worked. He did not seem uncomfortable. The exception might be when the baby poops – if you know it, you might change it to prevent diaper rash.

Cosleep with your baby: It sounds “unamerican” but its the way most civilizations do it. In reality, it will save mom and dad a ton of sleep – no one needs to get up, out of bed, to tend to baby (well, unless you bottle feed). For breastfeeders, mom simply rolls over. The catch is you need to be conscious not to roll over on the baby or cover baby with a sheet or blanket.

Reusable diapers are less about the environment and more about saving money: For all the debate about diapers, it seems the green impacts are about equal. That aside, you’ll save thousands over the course of your baby’s diaper changing if you go reusable. There are no old-school pins anymore, so clipping with “snappies” is fast and easy. And make sure you buy good diapers, not the cheap Gerber ones at most stores. You need to wash small loads pretty frequently (every other day for us), but that depends on how many diapers you have stored and how big your pail is. If you don’t have a clothes washer, go the disposable route. The biggest drawback to reusable is traveling (we plan to use disposables when there is no washer near) and the stench from the laundry room when washing. But that can be remedied with an open window.

Related articles

• Earth Friendly Babies – Doodle-Bums (biosil.wordpress.com)
• Cloth or disposables? Half-century debate still on (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Five overpriced kids products and their bargain alternatives (mint.com)
• The best advice I never got for life after baby ()

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