My only realy piece of advice to any new parent is not to be afraid to try different things until you find whatever it is that works, and just try and observe and reflect on what works and what doesn't. Feel free to read every parenting book or website you can find, but don't assume that any of it is universally correct, but some of it will help you.
Although now I think about it, I have a few more general ones:
Try not to sacrifice the long term on the altar of the short term win too much. Sometimes you have to deal with something right now but a lot of the time it's worth taking the immediate stress/pain/sleeplessness for the long term (e.g. sleep behaviour).
Kids learn more from what you do than what you say. When I was getting burnt out, stressed and short tempered my kids got angry, aggressive and confontational. When I sorted myself out they chilled out. Apologise when you get things wrong and they will learn from that too.
Finally, avoid a lot of mummy groups online, many of them are hideously toxic and judgemental. I'm sure there are good ones out there full of supportive people doing their best, but many are also full of people who are convinced their way is the best and everyone else is either incompetant, wrong, or even evil (especially if you even hint at sleep training). As with most of the internet, the ones with strong opinions tend to be the ones who are loudest and dominate the conversation.
It is sad the push back against sleep training. Has cost my SO and I many nights. Even if it won't work the same for everyone I do wish it didn't become taboo before we even started.
Yeah, thankfully it doesn't appear to have quite the same rabid haters in the uk as in the us. We didn't stick rigidly to one particular approach, I kind of took inspiration from them and figured out something that worked for each of my kids. The end result is that they have slept really well ever since and bed times are pretty easy in our house. And to top it off we as parents have more energy because we get good sleep and have time to get things done in the evening.
My only realy piece of advice to any new parent is not to be afraid to try different things until you find whatever it is that works, and just try and observe and reflect on what works and what doesn't. Feel free to read every parenting book or website you can find, but don't assume that any of it is universally correct, but some of it will help you.
Although now I think about it, I have a few more general ones:
Try not to sacrifice the long term on the altar of the short term win too much. Sometimes you have to deal with something right now but a lot of the time it's worth taking the immediate stress/pain/sleeplessness for the long term (e.g. sleep behaviour).
Kids learn more from what you do than what you say. When I was getting burnt out, stressed and short tempered my kids got angry, aggressive and confontational. When I sorted myself out they chilled out. Apologise when you get things wrong and they will learn from that too.
Finally, avoid a lot of mummy groups online, many of them are hideously toxic and judgemental. I'm sure there are good ones out there full of supportive people doing their best, but many are also full of people who are convinced their way is the best and everyone else is either incompetant, wrong, or even evil (especially if you even hint at sleep training). As with most of the internet, the ones with strong opinions tend to be the ones who are loudest and dominate the conversation.