With any new baby, one job or activity succeeds another throughout the day, and night. It’s difficult to find any respite.

Make sure you do the following:

Get plenty of rest. You will need time to get over the labour and birth, which are physically and emotionally draining. It’s unusual for a new baby to allow you more than four hours of sleep at a stretch during the night, so learn to catnap. Sleep when your baby does in the day. Getting enough rest is much more important than cleaning the house. Go easy on yourself.

Eat a good diet. This is particularly important if you’re breast-feeding but it will give you more energy generally. Continue to eat as you did when you were pregnant and drink plenty of water.