Babies are blessings from God, and what a great joy, love and bond they bring! These days with photographers, who show case stunning and breath taking baby pictures on social media, one just feels like having a baby every day.

As cute and wonderful as it is to have a child, one must note that it comes with a lot of responsibilities, speaking from experience babies change your entire world, from the pregnancy stage to their very arrival, so it’s of utmost importance that you are ready or at least know what you must have in place before having a baby.

1) The state of your relationship- as you know it takes two to come together and have a baby, so it’s very important to consider the current status and state of your relationship.

Never try to use a baby to make a relationship work; this is because the stress of having a new born could even break a healthy relationship if not properly managed.

Talk with your partner to know if they are ready, babies are blessings and so their coming should be received with all happiness and joy.

If you currently live apart, or are having issues it’s best to wait and sort all that out first before bringing a child into the picture.

2) Your Financial state- You must have heard that it’s expensive to have a child, this is as true as you will only want to give your child the very best.

From getting a good hospital, to buying the essentials for welcoming a baby, adequate health care and welfare, all these takes a toll on your bank balance, so you have to make sure that either they both of your are working or having a major source of income and that way you can plan towards your baby, this will help reduce frustration when the baby arrives.

3) The mental health of both partners- Not much is said about this and that’s why am drawing attention to it right now. Having a baby can affect you mentally in ways you never imagined, so if of you is having issues mentally, like been stressed out or depressed you will need to seriously get a doctor’s advice on whether having a child at this moment is a good idea.

A child doesn’t solve depression or mental health and the reason this is important is to avoid post natal depression or a complete fall out of the relationship or the mental health of either of the partners.

This is because with a baby comes, lots of sleepless nights, constant crying and a whole lot of stress work that could be very stressful for even the most sane person.

4) Your support system – The saying that it takes a village to raise a child couldn’t be more real than when you have a child and realize that you actually need all the help you can get in taking care of your baby.

You must consider if you have a support system to start with, do you have a friend, sibling, mother or mother-in-law that could easily jump in and assist you? Or are you going to depend on nannies which could be very expensive not to talk of the fear of them not giving adequate care to your baby, this is why it’s always important to have this checked off your list before the baby comes.

5) Your age- A lot of times we concentrate on careers so much that we forget to plan on having kids, no matter how much you might want to ignore it, age plays a very important role when it comes to having kids.

Medically a woman’s fertility starts to drop from the age of 32 and for men it goes as far as 40, this is not to put pressure on anyone but to serve as a reminder that if you know that having kids is what you want to do at some point in your life, then it makes A lot of sense to think about the age factor and plan accordingly.

I hope this post had been helpful to you and please you know I love to always read your comments so let me know what you think in the comments section, as well as other points you think I should add .

Babies are nothing short of blessings so it makes a lot of sense to plan adequately before having them.

Xoxo. See you in my next post.

Having kids comes with a lot of responsibility and tolerance, as these kids rely on us to teach them and help them through with everything.

Often times teaching kids how to do basic stuff like brushing their teeth comes with a lot of stress and you have to find easy ways to make them do things without causing you or themselves added stress.

As a mum of two I can tell you that I never looked forward to bath time simply because I have to fight and struggle my way to brushing them, and leaving them to brush on their own means, licking the entire toothpaste and having bad breath. So after going through this a couple of times I had to device easy ways to make this doable and fun at the same time, after all fun is one language that they understand.

So here are my top five ways to make kids love brushing 

1) Brush with the kids at the same time, kids don’t learn from what we say instead they learn from what we do, havent you seen your little one trying to replicate chores you do around the house? Like cooking? It’s always fun seeing those moments, anyway the point is the more they see you brushing and enjoying it, they too will get motivated to do it as well.

2) Get them brushes that are very pretty and cute, the whole idea is for brushing to be fun and not chore for them, by giving them tooth brushes that are like their favorite cartoon characters means that they would like the brush and also start using it more. Also try to sing songs that encourage brushing for them while you are helping them out with their teeth.

3) Give them a reward for every time they do well at brushing, it could be a sweet hug, a toy they have been asking for or even some extra meat or fish in their food, and because of this gesture they would want to continue so they can earn more gifts.

4) Educate them through the use of cartoons and kiddies rhymes that teach brushing, let them be aware of the benefits of brushing using the most easily understood methods.

5) Visit the dentist with the whole family, seriously when was the last time you visited a dental clinic, so why not make an appointment for the family and have the kids get first hand information about their teeth, often times things other people tell the kids tend to stick for long, and when they hear from the dentist why they should always brush, you will be shocked that is all you need to do the magic.

So these are the top 5 tips that I have employed for my kids, but you have to also remember that these things take time and that the kids won’t adjust automatically, so please be ready for it to take some time and also take it easy on yourself while at it.

As a mum you are doing your best and also you are the best for your kids, never doubt yourself but always enjoy or try to enjoy the process of growing these kids into adulthood, time flies quickly and you must enjoy the time and space you are in right now.

Thank you guys to reading and leaving your comments always.

Congrats on the birth of your baby, as with every mother, what  is paramount to you now is the well being of your child which primarily means what will my baby eat, how often should I feed, is my baby getting enough and so many other things are going through your head, and for you who has chosen to breastfeed I say welcome to the gang.

Having breastfed my babies I can comfortably tell you the in and out of it. I will be sharing with you tip three tips that has made my breastfeeding journey a smooth one.

1. To start breastfeeding you have to have prepared by your breast before your baby was even born, strange? No it’s not, while in the last four weeks of your pregnancy you have to prepare your breast by cleaning and pulling out the nipples with cotton wool dipped in olive oil before every bath. This helps to cleanse your nipples and freeing it from dirt’s that might have clogged it up. Skipping this won’t be nice as you will struggle with having milk come out once your baby arrives.

2. Taking lots of water and fruits, yes I know you hear this all the time but you might not know exactly how this would help you, now am telling you it’s the best foundation for breastfeeding. Drink lots of water and take fruits that are high in water content as breast milk is made up of over 85% water. Another thing you can take once your baby arrives is Pap (made from corn) this helps to produce milk very fast after the baby arrives, it makes it easy for you milk to flow and that way you don’t have to wait for days before you milk comes out.

3. Resting a lot, as much as you want to be up and doing after your baby, not having adequate rest would affect your milk production, being tensed or angry or even unhappy affects milk production, so you have to take out time to rest, it doesn’t mean sleep but just relax your mind and body and you will have ease with milk production.

4) Take breastfeeding supplements, they are not just a hype, it really helps when you take breastfeeding supplements, this helps to balance your hormones during breastfeeding making sure that you are well nourished, as you might not be able to eat all classes of food that you need for your new baby, these supplements also help you be stable, you know those dizziness and tiredness you feel? It will be taken care of once you are on these supplements, we offer times don’t give out body credit or adequate care for all that it goes through, this is one sure way to reward your body and set you on a right path to healing from child birth

These are my top four  points on easing into breastfeeding as a first time mum. Let me know what has worked for you with your babies or if this article was helpful, see you in my next post…..