Louise:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 I think I had no comprehension of just how all-consuming having a newborn would be to start with.\u00a0 I remember being so exhausted the day I brought my daughter home \u2013 and then realizing it was going to be 24\/7 for the next 20 years or so!\u00a0 I wish someone had told me to just relax and enjoy those precious first weeks.\u00a0 They zipped by so quickly.<\/p>\n Adele:<\/span><\/strong> The perfect parent is a myth. Simply be kind to yourself, trust your instincts and embrace the journey, it really is fleeting.<\/p>\n Isla:<\/span><\/strong> Sleep as much as you can before the baby arrives because it will be 5 years before you get a proper sleep!<\/p>\n Dan:<\/span><\/strong> I wish someone had told me to get involved from day one!\u00a0 It took me a while to find my purpose as a dad in those first few weeks when it\u2019s all about feeding, feeding, feeding.\u00a0 My wife and I became quite a team once we worked it all out.\u00a0\u00a0 I took over burping and bathing and we shared as much as we could.<\/p>\n Jade:<\/span><\/strong> Routine! My routines had to totally change! I wanted my babies to have a solid routine themselves and I wasn\u2019t prepared to make them \u2018fit\u2019 into the same lifestyle I had before. If my baby needed to sleep, we would be home and they would be in their cot!<\/p>\n Louise:\u00a0<\/span><\/strong> 100% of everything was turned upside down \u2013 eating, sleeping, socializing, cleaning, even showering!\u00a0\u00a0 I was amazed at how long it took to prepare and bath a baby! \u00a0\u00a0We bought lots of stuff we didn\u2019t need \u2013 so I tell people now to wait until they need something before they rush out and buy it.<\/p>\n Adele:<\/strong><\/span> Everything! Routines and expectations changed enormously and every room in the house bore evidence that a new little person was now in residence.<\/p>\n Isla:<\/span><\/strong> Everything about your current life changes when baby arrives \u2013 so prepare for that!\u00a0 Embrace the changes!<\/p>\n Dan:<\/strong><\/span> Whoah \u2013 the sleep deprivation was quite an adjustment.\u00a0 Then came adjustments to nearly everything else \u2013 from the car we drove to installing baby gates!<\/p>\n Jade:<\/strong><\/span> Having my husband home for the first 6 weeks. It made me feel supported and confident that I could do this!<\/p>\n Louise:\u00a0<\/strong><\/span> My family helped a lot.\u00a0 And mothers group was excellent \u2013 to meet with a group of mums with babies the same age and go through things at the same time was a lifesaver.\u00a0 I was so lucky to meet some of my favourite people at mothers group!<\/p>\n Adele:<\/strong><\/span> Wonderful family support, a lovely Mothers group (an unexpected blessing!), precooked meals and taking a daytime sleep when baby slept.<\/p>\n Isla: Family members who helped with the housework!\u00a0 Friends with babies also gave lots of helpful, practical advice.<\/p>\n Dan:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 I loved every minute of my parental leave.\u00a0 Getting to spend precious time at home with our baby made the bonding experience so much smoother.\u00a0 It\u2019s a massive learning curve \u2013 but getting in there and helping made everything much less scary.<\/p>\n Jade:<\/strong><\/span> In between the stage of \u2018not being able to verbally communicate at all\u2019 to \u2018being able to communicate a little with a few words\u2019. They became so frustrated and grumpy, and so did we! For us, this is when the tantrums started.<\/p>\n Louise:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 ARGH! Teething!\u00a0 Interrupted sleep and a tired grumpy baby was not fun.\u00a0 It seemed to go on forever.\u00a0 She loved to chew on things and dribble everywhere!<\/p>\n Adele:<\/strong><\/span> Surviving the witching hour\u2026.it\u2019s dinner time, everyone\u2019s exhausted and hungry and it feels like a rush against the clock to feed, bath and settle little ones before the wheels fall off! Having activities to entertain baby was an enormous help, it\u2019s amazing what you can accomplish in 5 minutes with no distractions!<\/p>\n Isla:<\/strong><\/span> Wow \u2013 the first 2 weeks at home with bub, and the non-stop feeding!\u00a0\u00a0 It took a while to get the hang of breastfeeding so this was very challenging.\u00a0 So tiring and stressful.\u00a0 Trust yourself.\u00a0 The saying \u2018fed is best\u2019 worked for me.\u00a0 For us, a formula top up helped a lot!\u00a0\u00a0 We were more settled and less stressed \u2013 which helped with breastfeeding.\u00a0 Win-win!<\/p>\n Dan:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 Definitely the crying!\u00a0 It\u2019s heartbreaking when your baby is upset and you\u2019re finding it hard to soothe them.\u00a0 They are so tiny and defenseless and you are the people they are relying on to help them.<\/p>\n Jade:<\/strong><\/span> An incredible bonding experience that makes you feel so much joy and love.<\/p>\n Louise:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 The first month at home with baby was like being hit by the most beautiful & amazing bus.<\/p>\n Adele:<\/strong><\/span> Like a warm, sleepy dream. I loved it, our world was turned upside down but in the best possible way.<\/p>\n Isla:<\/strong><\/span> 24\/7 eating, eating, eating to breastfeed the baby, the most food I ate in my life!<\/p>\n Dan:<\/strong><\/span> Totally and utterly amazing and cool and exhausting and scary and awesome \u2013 all in one tiny little bundle!<\/p>\n Louise:<\/strong><\/span>\u00a0 I really love the play gyms.\u00a0 My favourite is the Jingle Jungle Musical Activity Mat<\/u> (add link).\u00a0 To be able to safely put my baby down on the bathroom floor while I had a shower was like a million bucks!\u00a0 She also would lie underneath it in the lounge \u2013 hitting and kicking for ages.\u00a0 I also had a smaller one, like the Zoo Playtime Tummy Time Mat and Pillow<\/u> (add link) I took in the car with me to Playgroup or to friends so I could lay her on the floor and she would be entertained.\u00a0 \u00a0I also loved our Clip Clop Activity Rattle<\/u> – it was great when she was teething.\u00a0 We could also clip it onto the pram.<\/p>\n Adele:<\/strong><\/span> Without a doubt our activity gym. It was by far our most versatile toy and kept my babies entertained during floor play at home – a Godsend when I needed a few minutes! Best of all the toys were detachable so I could easily clip them to the stroller or car seat when we were out and about. The mat itself was simple to fold and take along to use at playgroup or when we were out visiting. It lasted through both my children and even a couple of nieces and nephews. I\u2019ve even kept a couple of the most favourite hanging toys as a momento of their child hood.\u00a0 My favourite now is the Woodlands Music and Lights Projector Gym<\/u> \u2013 it\u2019s so cute!\u00a0 All I need now is a new niece of nephew so I can buy it!<\/p>\n Isla:<\/strong><\/span> I like the Clip Clop Activity Rattles<\/u> which we could hang on the cot or pram.\u00a0 Such a gorgeous design \u2013 and we have a new one now \u2013 Clopette<\/u> \u2013 she\u2019s pink and adorable and my daughter would have loved her!<\/p>\n Dan:<\/span><\/strong> \u00a0My daughter still uses the Elephant Shape Sorter<\/u> \u2013 and she is three now!\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s really cute and has lots of play value.<\/p>\n Jade:<\/span><\/strong> Watching the toys come to life in our video shoots! It\u2019s like being a kid again. It\u2019s always really interesting to see how babies interact with our toys. How they help them develop their skills and the smiles they bring!<\/p>\n Louise:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 Working with a great team of people to create amazing products for babies.\u00a0 I love the creative process and all the thought and detail that goes into every product.\u00a0 All items are researched and tested to meet the needs of babies and parents.\u00a0 I love hearing all the positive feedback on our toys!<\/p>\n Adele:<\/span><\/strong> My lovely team, working together to support really wonderful Australian designed products. Products that nurture baby\u2019s development and are trusted by parents around the world!<\/p>\n Isla:<\/span><\/strong> I love seeing the flash new baby products as they launch, and the friendly people I work with!<\/p>\n Dan:<\/span><\/strong>\u00a0 I love walking around a shopping centre and seeing Playgro toys being enjoyed by babies around the world.\u00a0 I still get excited when I see one!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Playgro family has always been inspired by watching our own children play and grow.\u00a0 It\u2019s amazing how quickly our little angels grow into toddlers, then pre-schoolers\u2026.and all of a sudden teenagers and young adults.\u00a0 Some of our Playgro mums and dads look back on those precious first few months with their first born and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1299,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/playgro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/masthead-1.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa2rwC-bi","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playgro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playgro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playgro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playgro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playgro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/playgro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8371,"href":"https:\/\/playgro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions\/8371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playgro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1299"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playgro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playgro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playgro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/playgro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/2-4-200x300.jpg\")
Jade:<\/strong><\/span> To follow your motherly instincts. So many of them give their \u2018general\u2019 opinion and each baby is different.<\/p>\nWhat adjustments did you make for baby? <\/strong><\/h3>\n
What helped you the most?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Most challenging time?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Describe in one sentence what the first month at home with your baby was like?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
What is your favourite Playgro Toy?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/playgro.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/02\/favourite-200x300.jpg\")
Jade:<\/strong><\/span> It would have to be the Paddling Bath Fish<\/u> (add link)! An old school, traditional bath toy- revamped!\u00a0 Keeping them entertained in the bath is golden, especially when they aren\u2019t particularly in the mood to get in. We also got heaps of value out of the bath books and Pop and Squirt Bath Buddies (add link)<\/u>, we are still using ours to this day after many, many baths!<\/p>\nWhat\u2019s the best thing about working at Playgro?<\/strong><\/h3>\n