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Navigating the transition into motherhood—whether you’re a first-time parent or welcoming your third baby (like me!)—can be both beautiful and challenging. Each stage comes with its own set of hurdles, and while this time is filled with joy and precious moments, it’s certainly not all smooth sailing. In this post, I’ll share some of the things that personally helped me make the fourth trimester a little easier after welcoming baby number three.

Bedside Crib

Having a bedside crib is at the top of my list. We have used a SnuzPod with all three of our boys, an absolute essential in my eyes especially if your baby wakes up frequently during the night or if you’re breastfeeding. Having baby right there next to you makes getting up multiple times in a night so much easier, especially in those early days and weeks – and fussy periods. Let’s not talk about how baby number two refused to sleep anywhere but my arms though! You can now get the new SnuzPod 5 at Babipur. The newest version sounds even better With these nifty new features

• It’s now bigger – 17% larger to be exact meaning it’ll give your little one even more space to snooze comfortably
• Rolling wheels – perfect when you need to move the crib for changing bedding, cleaning, hoovering etc.
• Easier reflux incline adjustment – anything that helps ease reflux symptoms in a winner in my eyes.

Water Bottle

Hydration is key! Make sure you have a decent sized bottle. I know drinking plentiful water applies to everyone, but the level of thirst I felt, especially in those early days, was next level unreal! That coupled with a heatwave and having a bedroom that gets waaaay too hot in the Summer meant that easy access to hydration during those night feeds was essential. It’s a common thing for breastfeeding mamas to get thirsty so I did try to remember to take a drink with me when I know I knew I’d be out a while. At eight months postpartum, upping my water intake is still something that I REALLY need to work on though.

Nappy Caddy

I didn’t invest in a nappy caddy until third time around and boy have I been missing out 😄 I’ve been finding it so handy to stock up with all the essentials, potions and lotions that we use and to be able to carry that around to wherever we are on the house. Absolute game changer 🙌

Nursing Pillow

A good nursing pillow made the early breastfeeding days and cluster feeding sessions much more comfortable for me. It helped whilst we worked on our positioning and helped take the weight off my arms during those what seems like at the time, never ending cluster feeding sessions. Who knew that such small beings could cause such strain.

Babywearing

Let me tell you this has been an absolute lifesaver with my boys. I never really got into babywearing until baby number 2 but being able to have your hands free when caring for older siblings has been essential. Being able to babywear on the school run was a literal lifesaver for me to, not having to contend with a pram and an unruly toddler on the school run in the mornings has been game changing for me!

Period Pants

Hands down, these are game changing! They took the stress out of the postpartum bleeding and they’re so much comfier than using a bulky maternity pad.

A Hot Beverage

Enjoying a hot beverage – now who doesn’t like a panad? I know I do! Strong tea, no sugar and a splash of oat milk for me, please and thank you. Now any parent will know, enjoying a cuppa when it’s still hot is an achievement. It’s such a rarity when you have a little one or three!

Comfortable Accessible Clothing

Oversized t-shirts and vests have been wardrobe staples for me over the past 12 + months. Super easy to wear, comfy and ease of access for breastfeeding using the one up one down method without having to wear any nursing specific clothing. For something a little bit smarter, I love my side zip tops, so handy and they keep you covered pretty well, I love the basic tees from Milky Tee they’ve become a wardrobe staple.

Snack Basket

Have a snack basket at the ready for when you’re feeling peckish. I had a home birth with my third baby and we’d prepared a snack basket for the midwives. They hadn’t eaten anything from it so we had a basket full of goodies for ourselves that we wouldn’t have had prepared otherwise. It meant we had a good stash ready for when we fancied a little treat. I became rather partial to a bar of Tony’s Chocolonely every now and again! I also have what I call an emergency snack pack for the toddler in my changing bag for when we are out and about. Being totally honest, I’ve made use of said emergency snacks a few times too.

Accepting Help with Siblings

Offers to take siblings out was a true godsend for us. As a mum of 3 one thing I found really tough (and still do) was the guilt I felt when I couldn’t take my eldest two boys out and about as much. I felt so guilty for them missing out on days out or activities whilst I was busy with baby. Having one to one time with baby also gives me time to concentrate just on him, perfect for guilt free snuggles and playtime without fear of baby having a toy car, block or other object lobbed at him. Yes it can get a bit wild at our house sometimes!

Easy Meal Options

I became quite a fan of meal prep boxes, I found them so handy being able to prep relatively healthy meals without having to put much thought into it. Gousto boxes are my personal favourite with a good selection of vegetarian and vegan options. They’ve often got great referral discounts on too so do check them out if you’ve been thinking about it. The odd takeaway (or two!) helped us when we were just too tired or busy too.

Comfy Bra

Comfort is key, in all areas, so a comfy nursing / maternity bra is essential. I’m yet to find the holy grail in these but ease of access is an absolute essential for any breastfeeding mama and everyone needs comfort.

Meet Other Parents

This is something I wish I could do more of. Meeting other like-minded parents, talking about birth experiences and mum life in general just helps ‘normalize’ things and makes you feel less ‘alone’. Have a look for any baby groups that are available in your local area and try them out but don’t feel guilty if they’re not for you either.

Fresh Air

As cliché as it sounds, fresh air really does do the world of good. I find getting out for a bit, be it for a short walk after the school run or just having a panad in the back garden does wonders. Sometimes just standing at an open door feeling the breeze to take a minutes breather for a moment of calm from the chaos suffices.

Sleep

If you need to sleep and you can, just do it! As a mum of now 3, sleep is (most of the time) scarce supply. Your house might need a tidy and there may be dirty dishes in the sink but if it’s between doing the dishes and sleep I’d choose sleep any day 😄 Having 3 boys all of which have or have had sketchy sleep ‘routines’ makes you appreciate ALL the opportunities to sleep. Who am I kidding we’ve never had a routine!

Remember, every parent’s journey is unique, so not all of these tips will work for you and that’s ok. The most important thing is to be kind to yourself, give yourself some grace and embrace the never ending learning curve of motherhood.

Thank you for taking the time to read my post. What worked for you in the fourth trimester? I’d love to hear your tips in the comments!

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