Holiday Gift Guide for the New Parent

It's the time of year where holiday gift guides are coming out and I wanted to chime in with my recommendations for the new parent.

What's different about this gift guide?

After a baby shower, and spending months preparing for a new baby, the last thing a brand new parent needs is more *stuff* to organize. This gift guide focuses on things (mostly services) that will enhance the delicate time after giving birth and make life easier for sleep deprived parents.

1. Pre-paid postpartum doula services

Postpartum doula services are a great christmas gift for a new parent!

Postpartum doulas focus on taking care of the mother or birth parent so that they can in turn take care of their baby.

Having someone come in to the home and take care of things around the house, make you some warm soup and help with feeding or any other newborn concerns will definitely be appreciated by any new parent!

You're also giving them the gift of showering or napping. The great thing about postpartum doula services is that the doula focuses on the wellbeing of the new parent so you know your loved one will be well rested and taken care of. This can make a hugely positive impact on the way a new parent experiences their postpartum period so don't underestimate the value of this gift.

Contact me to learn how you can give postpartum support and find out more about my services here.

2. House Cleaning Services

When you have a new baby, the house just doesn't get clean. Or if it does, it may be by way of major stress and anxiety.

Give the gift of a clean home by purchasing one-two hours of cleaning from Molly Maid or another house cleaning service of your choice.

I know as a new parent myself, cleaning my home was one of the most challenging things, and the fact that I had some prepaid cleaning given to me was such a wonderful thing.

3. Meal Preparation Services

There are many choices for this type of service including boxes that come with all of your ingredients for each recipe like Hello Fresh or Goodfood, or you can have the meals delivered completely prepared and frozen from Amanda Li of Wellness Simplified.

If you like to cook yourself, this is also a great gift you can give to the family without employing a service by preparing some meals in your home and bringing them over frozen for after the baby arrives.

If this is what you'd like to do I'll offer a tip: Don't ask, just do.

We are so conditioned in our culture to refuse help, that the family who really needs some meal preparation help will politely decline the meals, but if you bring them over ready to put in their freezer they will certainly be eaten and deeply appreciated on a night when there was no time or energy to prepare a meal.

Some great options include: soups, stews, chilis and curries

4. Prepaid In-home visit with a Lactation Consultant

If the baby is just born, or soon to be born, this gift may be a god-send for a new parent struggling in the early days with breastfeeding. For new parents there is often a lot of concern about knowing how their baby is getting enough milk and needing to know how to identify problems in the early days and this is where an in-home visit with a lactation consultant would be a huge help for new parents in the vulnerable postpartum period.

I recommend Ashley Pickett's in home visits as a Jack Newman trained Lactation Consultant serving a large portion of Southwestern Ontario.

5. Sleepbelt

While most of the items on this list are services that will make life easier, a Sleepbelt is one item that I think every new parent should have to help them meet their baby's needs of closeness and skin-to-skin while providing hands-free time for doing whatever you wish you could do with your hands!

This product is also amazing for any parent who has a c-section to make it easier for them to hold their baby.

It can be found online here.

6. Gift Certificate to Mayana Geneviere

Here's a special goodie to pamper a new nursing mother!

Mayana Geneviere is a Canadian made luxury lingerie brand that is passionate about helping women and girls have positive body image through all stages of life including after giving birth.

All of their bras are nursing friendly and gorgeous! The bras provide nursing access without clasps which is so convenient, and provide a sexy alternative to the traditional nursing bras out there.

You can find them here.

7. Green at Home's Your Health Home Course

Last but not least is Emma Rohmann's Health Home detox. This is an online course that takes the overwhelm out of making eco-friendly and non toxic changes in your home. This is perfect for anyone who is has talked about wanted to make better choices for the environment but doesn't know where to start.

This is a great gift for a baby shower too so that the parents-to-be can be well informed about how to detox their home before their baby arrives and keep the course info in mind while choosing things like nursery furniture or baby care items.

The course is available for purchase here. Another great option would be to gift a coaching call from Emma to expecting parents for a green nursery consultation or home detox audit.

So, these are my suggestions for holiday or baby shower giving ideas that are unique and will be truly helpful things to have around after a new baby is born.

We are often pressured in our culture to purchase an abundance of gifts for a new baby, to have all the latest gear and focus on the baby and give the new parents things for the baby.

This gift list really focuses on some services that will really have a positive impact on a family's early days with a new baby as well as a few luxury items that are unique and different.

What do you with you had been given when you had a newborn?