Chinese New Year with Your First Child

Chinese New Year is just around the corner! With a new addition to your growing family, this festive season will be the first of the many celebrations your baby will be experiencing. While there are traditions to follow like visitations, collection of Ang pows (or giving them out…), lots of feasting, and many other aspects, there are also lurking worries as well especially when it involves your little one.

Now, your biggest concern as new parents is if you could manage to go through the process of bringing a baby out for at least one but a long day of visitation. It’s no surprise that there will be about 5-8 homes to visit over the first two days of the Lunar New Year, and your baby is not used to outdoors for long hours as compared to being at home. 

Fear no more, because we have a list of 3 suggestions to help you manage your first baby and yourself as new parents during this Chinese New Year!

1. Packing ahead

Being new to parenthood doesn’t come with a manual, but this list could help you lighten the load for your little one. Most likely your baby will need to be fed, changed, and nap throughout the day. With that in mind, pack as you would go on a holiday.

Prepare a change of clothes for them (and yourself) for a just-in-case despite how much you hope they wouldn’t soil their outfits. Along with the list are extra diapers, tissues, wet wipes. Additionally, bring their bottle, milk powder in a smaller container and flask of hot water if they can’t have solids yet. If the baby is on solids already, plan ahead to prepare home-cooked meals to-go.

If you’re traveling by car, take advantage of the space to leave one big bag in the car, and bring a smaller one for on-the-go so that you can repack in the car.

2. Plan your visits

Everything in life starts with planning. Listing and sorting through your visitation on paper or phone would help you visualise better your visitation days. Think through the order of home visits, the duration to travel between places, how long (or short) to spend in each home. Like this, you will be free to adjust and shift the timings around so your baby would be comfortable. In the end, following your baby’s habits and nap schedules would be a good rule of thumb on how to schedule the visitations without having to deal with too much fussiness.

3. Purpose for celebration

It’s you and your baby’s first Chinese New Year together, so it’s better to just enjoy the ride of being new parents. Celebrating Chinese New Year is only once a year, and it’s your baby’s first time receiving Ang pows and being the attraction of the day. Some of the schedules may not turn out in your favor, in all honesty, but that shouldn’t bother you too much as it hinders your time to enjoy the process and the atmosphere of togetherness. Remember to make memories throughout the process even though your baby’s needs will float behind your mind.

Enjoy yourselves, and Gong Xi Fa Cai!



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