1. Be especially kind to yourself in the first weeks after your baby is born. Your body has gone through huge changes and it's unrealistic to expect that you can snap back into your old shape straight away. Unrealistic expectations sets you up for failure and disappointment, but you CAN get your figure back if you are patient and take it one step at a time.
   
   
2. Forget drastic dieting and treat your body to healthy nourishing food and gentle exercise to get back in shape. You will naturally lose some weight during the first few weeks as your uterus shrinks. Breast feeding alone will allow you to lose weight at 1lb a week if you eat normally and healthily as it uses up 500 calories a day, but you do need to eat enough so that your milk does not dry up. Plan on losing the remainder at a gentle pace.
   
   
3. Your tummy will look very sad after the birth, flabby and saggy. Don't worry you can soon get things looking good again. Do all the post-natal exercises and gentle exercise recommended by your health-care professionals during the first 6 weeks to get your tummy back in shape. After that check with them that it is Ok if you want to embark on a more strenuous exercise routine. Once your doctor says its OK to exercise, one of the best ways to retighten your muscles is a simple yoga move. Stand with your feet apart, hands on thighs. Breathe out fully and then pull your tummy muscles in and up as hard as you can, holding for a count of 10. If you do this a few times a day before breakfast you'll soon see results. Don't do this during pregnancy.
   
   
4. The first few weeks with your baby are precious and not the time to start injuring yourself by doing too much too soon. Whatever you decide to do, don't go mad in the first week you're allowed to exercise normally. Build up gradually as if you'd not exercised before.
   
   
5. If you are not able to get back to the gym or to do whatever activity you used to do now that you have a baby to care for, investigate home-exercise programs and videos you can do while your baby sleeps or organise your partner or friend to watch your baby for a short time while you exercise. You will need to be a bit more resourceful and determined to fit in your exercise but you can find a way if you really want to.
   
   
6. Walking with your baby is always great – you both get fresh air and out of the house and you get fitter while your baby is soothed by the movement of the pram. You could also use a baby carrier to keep your baby close to you while you walk. This is especially soothing for a restless baby. Aim to walk for 30 minutes to an hour each day.
   
   
7. You may find yourself tempted to snack more if you are alone at home with your baby especially if you are used to being out and about at work every day. Make sure you have lots of healthy snacks around such as fruit and avoid buying unhealthy snacks so you are not tempted. You may be better to plan 5 or 6 mini-meals rather than snacking all day AND having your usual lunch and dinner.
   
   
8. Take the time to plan simple meals for the next few days before you go shopping. This will help you avoid the "What's for dinner"/"Oh no, I haven't defrosted it?" / "Better send out for pizza again" Syndrome. This is not the time to plan elaborate recipes but try and avoid too much processed junk food because you do have time for a simple omelette, pasta sauce, baked potato or salad
   
   
9. If you start a plan to get in shape and it all feels like too much, simply restart it when you feel up to it – there's no need to beat yourself up over anything. Most women feel a bit tired and stressed with a new baby so don't put more pressure on yourself. All in good time. If you feel really down remember and seek help - post-natal depression is very real and quite common.
   
   
10. Reward yourself. You've been through a lot – your body has changed, your hormones are in disarray. Whatever you do that helps towards getting back in shape (a walk, a healthy snack, your tummy exercises or whatever) give yourself a pat on the back. A few moments to yourself can be a great reward if you have someone who will care for your little one for a while.
    
    
11. Bonus tip: Above all relax into your new life with your baby. You'll achieve nothing by worrying about your shape. Take time to rest and pamper yourself as much as possible. Sometimes you can feel quite neglected because your baby makes so many demands and this in itself can lead you to eat for comfort. Take care of your own needs. Ask for support from your partner. If you look after yourself by eating healthily and keeping up some gentle exercise you'll be fine and your weight will naturally rebalance itself over time.
    
    

Janice Elizabeth is a successful weight loss coach, slimming club owner and author of "The Diet Exit Plan", an 8 week coaching program for automatic permanent weight loss. Request her FREE 15 page report "How to lose weight without dieting - 7 secrets the diet industry doesn't want you to know" at http://www.SimplySlimming.com TODAY!

When you first bring home your Bouncing New Baby, you will surely feel you want to watch over her and be with her much of the time, especially if you are a first time parent. Newborn babies are fascinating even if they are not yours; when they are your own, that special feeling takes off into the stratosphere. You may feel tempted to hold them, watch them and chat to them the whole time; even when they are asleep you will enjoy standing silently over them and observe them in their slumbers.

Those first few days are a magical time, but then a transformation may take place. For the first few nights, the night feed may be a novelty, and you may even feel "great, she's awake, I can see her again". But then sleep interruption may start to irritate you rather than be a signal for pleasure; tiredness begins to take a hold as your sleep is disturbed so often. Night feeds, cholic, bringing up her milk; all can contribute to an interrupted night. Insufficient sleep mixed with aggravation can start to eat away at that feeling of wonder you had when your baby first came home.

Your baby has not changed; but you have. She is the same gorgeous baby you brought home from hospital. Her simple life is evolving only very slowly to her; it is yours that is changing most rapidly. Those rapid changes, maybe mixed with a new level of tiredness you have not felt before, represent the first exertion of pressure on that very special relationship - you and your baby.

Then there is day time. The old day to day pressures are still there; the need to rush around to the shops, worrying about money, wondering how to deal with work, job and baby; the car not starting, the leak in the pipe under the sink, the washing machine seizing up under the constant use. The days spent wishing you could get a good night's sleep, wishing you were back at work earning more money, and being with your work colleagues. The time you spend thinking: "where's my life gone? I have no control anymore. That baby is my jailer in the day time and tormentor at night."

Stop! That is a train of thought you must either not board, or at least get off at the first station. It is a train fuelled by self pity, and heading down the track to unhappiness for you, your partner, and your baby. You are the only one who controls your life; you choose between the track to contentment and joy, or to discontent and misery.

Remember, that baby loves you more than anyone else ever has, unless you have had a baby before. Her devotion, her admiration, and her dependence are total. It is for you to decide whether that is something to cause resentment in you, or the overwhelming joy that it should. That little miracle of a baby is the biggest responsibility you have ever had, but she can also be the source of the greatest pleasure and joy.

Compare your baby's devotion with your work colleagues you miss; in 10 years time you will probably have lost contact with most or all of them. Your workplace is like a busy junction where people cross over. Your work? If you are employed, your bosses will ditch you as soon as they need to if they see a "better" alternative. Your car, your washing machine, your leaking pipe; do you really think they are important compared to that unique and potentially wonderful relationship that is in your arms, the relationship with your baby?

You make the choices; you take the actions. You have experienced in the first few days with baby at home that there can be sheer joy and excitement; wonderment and appreciation. The baby loves you to bits; you can love her to bits too, and put the exterior trivia in their rightful place. Or, the baby loves you to bits and you can wallow in resentment because she's interrupting your life, demanding attention when you have a leaking pipe or a car that won't start.

In black and white, on paper, it's a simple choice; but how can you make that choice and achieve the right balance in your life? Think about it quietly for a while; somewhere on your own. Think of the pleasure the baby gives you in those precious moments when you do not feel stressed. Then, make a conscious decision to perpetuate those moments; to make each moment you have with your baby, infant and child a moment when you and she are there simply for each other.

As your baby grows, there will be countless moments of development that can bring you a lot of pleasure and pride; learning to walk, getting out of her crib, her kisses and cuddles, her first word and every new word thereafter; her expressions, mimicry, her laughter and her first attempt to dance to the music on the radio; her attempts to control and manipulate you, and learning to use her charm to get her own way. All can be moments of intense pleasure, if you allow them to be.

Such developments you can allow to merge into the noisy background of life's trivia, and miss the joy they can bring you. In so doing you are increasing the chances of an unhappy baby, and an unhappy you. Or, you can make each moment you spend with your baby one for you to enjoy to the full, shutting out life's trivia for those times you are sharing with your offspring. In so doing you would increase the chances of a happy baby and a happy you.

You make the choices; you take the actions. For your own sake and the baby's, spend as much time with your baby as you can, and set out to enjoy it to the full. Shut out the trivia that are trying to spoil your unique relationship, and your life will be considerably better for it.

It is not always possible, but try to organise the trivia around your time with baby. The more you give her precedence, and willingly, the more happy you will both be. Enjoy every single moment of watching her development. It is something that cannot be repeated.

This baby care article was written by Roy Thomsitt, owner author of the Bouncing New Baby website. Ably assisted by his baby daughter, he is also responsible for the Baby Blog