Between having activities planned and following a newborn’s lead, filling the days is easier than imagined. 
5 Have A Conversation With Your Newborn
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Newborns spent nine months listening to their mothers’ voices while they were in the womb. As such, the sound is very comforting to them. Coupled with the fact that conversing with the little ones stimulates development, talking with a newborn is a great way to spend moments throughout the day.
According to Crystal Run Healthcare, a newborn’s brain will triple its size from birth to the age of three. How that brain will develop is dependent upon how much interaction newborns and later on, babies, have with their parents. And one of the easiest ways to help build strong brain connections that lead to speech, vocabulary, and language skills at large, is by talking to babies.
The conversations with babies do not need to be in-depth or about anything in particular. Simply speaking to newborns about what moms are trying to get done or showing and explaining different things outside the window is a perfect way to converse with little ones and strengthen their brains at the same time.
4 Do Tummy Time With Your Newborn
While the time it takes to do tummy time for newborns barely registers on the clock, it is important to participate during the day to help little ones build their back, neck, and core muscles in preparation for meeting future developmental milestones.
According to Pathways.org, by the time babies are three months old, they should be doing tummy time for an hour daily. This hour can be broken up into different segments, especially if babies are more receptive to being on their tummies during certain times of the day versus others.
As such, to make it to that hour goal, newborns should start off doing just a few minutes per day on their tummies and gradually build up their time daily to reach that hour goal in just a few months’ time.
3 Read With Your Newborn
Much like talking, reading books helps newborns with their language skills. But unlike conversation alone, reading introduces newborns to different colors, shapes, textures, inflections in voice, and more, all of which help with development as well.
While newborns will not understand what is being read to them, according to Zero To Three, they love to sit and listen to the sounds their mothers make. Babies will learn over time what the different inflections in tone of voice mean for emotions, will enjoy exploring books that contain different textures, and when the same books are read consistently, babies will show excitement for their favorite books, per the publication, letting moms know which books to keep in rotation and perhaps which ones to retire.
2 Go Out For A Walk
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Fresh air and nature are good not only for new mothers but for newborns as well. As such, new mothers should plan to take time daily to get outdoors and take a stroll with their little ones.
From the sounds of chirping birds, the feel of the breeze, the sunshine warming the skin, and more, there are so many new experiences for babies to have outdoors. And while it may seem like it would be sensory overload for newborns being outside, according to Nurtured Noggins, “sensory stimulation is less rapid” when newborns are in outdoor spaces. As such, it is not surprising that being outdoors reduces stress, according to The American Institute Of Stress for all ages.
Therefore, to fire up newborns’ senses in a way that is not overwhelming and to destress new moms, a walk in the great outdoors is recommended.
1 Catch Up On Sleep
While it may sound like a broken record, with newborns getting as much sleep as they do during the early days, mothers should take the opportunity to catch up on their sleep as well. This is especially true when newborns’ sleep schedule is switched where they are sleeping more during the day than the night.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, while it may be difficult getting sleep while newborns sleep during the day between other little ones in the house, the body physically being unable to sleep during the daytime, or other sleeping issues, trying to get some sleep will be beneficial in the long run.
Per the organization, mothers who are able to catch up on some of the sleep missed during the evening hours are more patient with their babies, feel like they are better equipped for motherhood, and even have an easier time breastfeeding. As such, spending some of the day spent with newborns, sleeping, is very appropriate for new moms.
