Research carried out by Fairy Non Bio and Mumsnet, surveyed over 1500 parents to look at those early few months spent with their new born. It found that as new parents, it’s those fleeting new born cuddles that are the most treasured of experiences, which all too soon become their most cherished memory.
Its recent research found that cuddle time is deemed so precious by new mums, that 73% of respondents with babies 9 months and under savoured those new born cuddles more than any other moment with their baby. 70% also wished baby could stay a new born for longer, just so they could enjoy the power of those super soft cuddles.
Parents could even identify their perfect cuddle; 44% said their favourite type of cuddle is when baby snuggles right up into their neck and a quarter agreed the best time of the day for cuddles was early in the morning, when baby has just woken up.
The survey findings revealed that experienced parents are even more appreciative of how fleeting time with newborns is. 70% of parents with children between 9 months to 4 years old confessed that the one thing they would like to go back and do differently as new parents, was spending even more time cuddling their baby. Mothers said they would give up Facebook (73%), sacrifice chocolate (70%), and swap spending time with their partner (30%) to go back and have just one more precious cuddle with their new born.
Anastasia Roumelioti from Fairy Non Bio comments, “We understand that baby’s first few months are incredibly precious for both mother and child. Fairy Non Bio is helping to make every embrace as special as possible by leaving the baby’s clothes super soft. We know time is fleeting and so are encouraging mums to spend as much time cuddling with their new born as possible. This is the power of softness: unlocking the memory of the perfect, soft cuddle before time takes it away.”
The findings also reinforced how tough it is to be a new mum with respondents who are parents of young babies agreeing that it’s easy to become preoccupied by other ‘jobs’ which encroach on precious cuddle time. Cleaning the house (83%), working yourself back into pre-pregnancy clothes (69%) and getting baby into a strict routine (62%) were listed as the biggest demands on new parent’s time.
But even though 15% of parents with a baby aged 0-6 months found only an hour or less a day between chores and other pressures to enjoy cuddle time, almost 60% spent at least a quarter of their entire day cuddling their new born.
With the power of hindsight, the number one piece of advice from parents with children 9 months+ was to forget the little things, such as staying on top of the housework, because time with your new born soon flies and you can’t get it back – it’s just so true.
Max is now 10 months old, and already the newborn cuddles seem like a distant memory. So when he does cuddle me, I stop. I stop whatever I am doing and I sit with him – because all too soon he will be 1, and then 2 and my baby will be grown.
To help remember the special cuddles, Fairy sent me a gorgeous cuddle cushion with a phrase chosen by me embroidered on it. Isn’t it gorgeous?
Do you sometimes find yourself too busy to cherish the ordinary moments? What are your top tips for enjoying the early months with your baby?