When people find out you’re having a baby they’re more than willing to offer up often unsolicited advice on being a first time parent, but that doesn’t mean all the advice is good, or that you should necessarily listen to it.
Well, a new survey conducted on behalf of Mint, and reported by SWNS, has parents and expecting parents spilling the beans on the most helpful advice they were given, and if you’re about to have a baby you may want to listen up.
According to 33% of those polled, the best piece of advice they were given was to sleep when the baby sleeps, while another 30% say it’s to make sure to make time to take care of yourself.
Other top pieces of advice include: trust your parenting instincts (28%), don’t feel guilty about not being perfect (28%), don’t compare yourself to other parents (27%) and you don’t have to take care of everything by yourself (22%).
Also, 22% say recommendations to take as may photos and videos as you can was great advice, while another 21% appreciated the advice to be as present as you can.
When it comes to getting ready for baby number one, the poll finds the average parent spent three weeks getting their nursery ready for their baby, with 17% starting to decorate as soon as they found out they were pregnant. But no matter how much they preplan, things don’t necessarily stay that way, with the average parent spending 6.6 hours changing the nursery after the child’s born.