With Renee from The Content Baby who 11 years as an Early Childhood Professional has kindly supplied these questions and answers to commonly asked questions that new mums face

How soon should I put my baby into a routine?

As an Early Childhood Professional I get this question a lot. As a parent and an Early Childhood Professional I have one answer. When you think it is best.

In my opinion there is no right or wrong time to place your child in a routine. I believe that it is a personal choice that needs to fit in with you and your partner’s personal parenting philosophy and your home environment.

However, if you do want to eventually have your baby in a predictable routine, just keep in mind that the longer you wait often the harder it can be to train them. But in saying this, I believe it is never too late to start a routine.

Some theorists believe that you should start to routine your baby from one week old, and then there are theorists who believe in a child-led routine where your child will set the pace for how often and when they require feeding and sleeping.

You may also change your mind as you add to your family. Maybe you chose a child-led routine for your first as you could easily work around them as they were the only ones demanding your time but now with a toddler and a baby you decide the baby needs to go straight into a set routine to fit in with your already established daily routine.

We all know how important exercise is for weight loss and maintaining a healthy lifestyle but what about during pregnancy? Experts have found that moderate levels of pregnancy approved exercise can be hugely beneficial, both physically and mentally for mums-to-be.

Not only can regular exercise help you to maintain your fitness levels (often essential for the ‘birth’ part of your pregnancy), it can also improve mental wellbeing, energy levels and even help keep the amount of weight you gain to the recommended level.

Sometimes the idea of cleaning the house can make you just want to curl up and take a nap.

Throw a kid or two (or three) into the mix and it can just feel like an impossible task.

As with many jobs, one way to make it feel more manageable is to break it down into smaller parts.

Here we have a checklist for you that will help you get some chores done each day that will have a big impact on the look of your home.

Who knows, it may even make you feel as though the house is reasonably tidy enough to invite someone over…

Giving birth is one of the most traumatic life events for any woman in terms of the amount of stress that your body has to go through.

Having a baby can affect the way you feel physically and emotionally, and the birthing process – whether you have a vaginal birth or a caesarean section – can take a long time to recover from.

But there are a number of foods that contain numerous vitamins and minerals that can actually boost your recovery time, helping your body to heal, meaning that you can get on with the job of being a mum.

Probiotic Yoghurt

Yoghurt is a fantastically healthy food product – it’s packed with vitamins and nutrients, making it a great food product for general health, but it’s also a low fat dairy product – and this means that it can actually boost weight loss.

Yoghurt that contains active cultures will boost your general health by nourishing the healthy bacteria within your gut, letting it flourish. The more healthy bacteria in your gut, the fewer bad bacteria there are, meaning that your overall health and in particular, the health of your digestive tract will improve.

One of the most important times in any woman’s life is the birth of a new born baby.

For a large number of mothers, however, this time is spoiled by the dark cloud of postnatal depression.

Although there are no exact statistics about how many women are affected, the best estimates are that post natal depression affects to some degree between 1 in 4  new mothers.

Even using the most conservative of these figures, it’s clear that post natal depression, or PND, is an issue which affects millions of mothers worldwide. Despite this, there are a large amount of myths and misconceptions which surround the topic.

Kate Hale is a Registered Nurse, Midwife IBCLC Lactation Consultant.She has had experience in midwifery, neonatal intensive care and baby clinics and has been working with breastfeeding mums for over 20 years, she is also the mother of 4 adult children.

Kate runs a Private Lactation Practice in Sydney.

Kate’s ” 5 Top Tip’s on breastfeeding “

1. We keep hearing ‘ breast is best ‘! Well, yes it is for all the right reasons, starting with the colostrum. This fantastic first milk your baby will get after it is born, is packed full of antibodies, designed to help stop your baby getting sick in the early months.It will also provide your baby with the perfect recipe feed. So, my tip is give breastfeeding a go !

2. A lot of mums start breastfeeding in hospital, only to find they end up with grazed, sore nipples. Sadly, when your sore and tired it is easy to decide you don’t want to breastfeed. So, my next tip is, learn how to get the attachment or latch right !

By Patricia Usoalii

When my daughter was born I was over the moon about her. I couldn’t wait to breastfeed her and feel that special connection with my baby. But nobody told me that breastfeeding wasn’t easy.

Even though my breasts hurt when she was feeding off me I just dealt with the pain because I didn’t want a starving baby.

On the third day after my daughter’s birth I was able to go home from the hospital. It came to the point that I dreaded her feeding time because I was just too sore.

Do you get a bit nostalgic looking at old photos of your children? It may seem as though just a little while ago they were a little bundle of cute, sleeping on your chest; and now they just want to crawl/walk/explore all around their little world.

Capturing each stage of their lives on camera is a good way to hold onto those precious moments. And the grandparents or extended family will always love to be given a lovely framed photo as a gift.

If you don’t have a fancy camera (or if you have children who won’t sit still for more than four seconds) check out the tips below to take a better photo.

Once you’ve got some good photos, take the time to get them printed and add to your child’s album. It will be a wonderful keepsake for years to come.

By Noelle Sadinsky – from Fridge-To-Go

I have 2 young boys who are 3 and 6 and I don’t pretend to know it all. Actually I still have a lot to learn about this whole parent thing and I’m open to it.

I think my brain can hold information from about 6 months previous – and 3 months of new info moving forward.

I believe there are many things to help simplify the chaos of life with children and let us enjoy those moments even more. As a small business owner, I am able to be flexible with my time although sometimes I need to be even more efficient to keep control of things!! Here are a few of my own tips that might help.

So how do we get back to basics enjoy the little people in our lives even more and still accomplish a whole lot?

Food

I try and prepare or have a contingency plan as much as possible, while still being realistic with many things. On the food front, I don’t plan a weekly menu for the family as I prefer to be more spontaneous and see what we feel like eating.

I do a big shop every 2-3 weeks and then little ones for specific things as you still need to ensure there are fresh ingredients for quick (and healthy) meals along with plenty of things to snack on.

Music is a truly magical form of art that evokes good feelings and fond memories. Every time a good beat strikes your heart, you can’t help but to dance to it or sing along with it.

The wide array of emotions that we feel from music only confirms that it is an immensely powerful medium that can connect us with our inner selves or with like-minded people.

Music is absolutely great for you because it can help to motivate you to keep working on your post pregnancy exercise plan. But it also has been scientifically proven that music helps with brain function and it can help improve your little one’s overall development.