The secret to getting your baby to sleep and then staying asleep is all about routines.

You need to follow a set pattern that is essentially the same every evening. Babies will be more relaxed if they know what to expect and will be more inclined to go to sleep in an environment of serenity and comfort, rather than one of hustle and bustle.

Unfortunately, for the first few weeks it may be difficult to formulate any pattern of behavior as the feeding cycle tends to dictate events at this stage – she’ll sleep when she wants to.

Experts suggest that around the six to eight week mark could be the time to try and set a routine in place that you will use every evening.

What your routine includes is obviously up to you, but you will want to include such things as a having a warming bath, reading a story, singing nursery rhymes, playing games, watching a familiar DVD or listening to music etc, just aim for repetitive and unstimulating activities.

It’s important to choose things that help to take your baby from a normal day time consciousness to a relaxed, sleep inducing state of mind.

If your baby has her own room, make sure it is a comfortable, warm, welcoming and calming place. If she is sharing your room, then this too must be a settling place to be.

It is best if your routine always finishes in the bedroom, to avoid carrying and moving her once she is asleep and always ends with her not being held or comforted when falling asleep.

If this practice continues she will always expect to go to sleep this way and probably struggle to fall asleep without it, meaning you having to do the same things in the middle of the night as opposed to her falling back to sleep on her own.

The more pleasurable and comfortable bedtime is, the better your baby will respond to it.

Instead of becoming anxious and upset there is a much greater chance that she will relax and start unwinding, but even then you must allow time for the routine to settle in and become accepted.

Here’s the first post in a series about losing weight after pregnancy. Over the course of these posts, I’ll give you a detailed plan of action to follow and some little known techniques to improve the way you look and feel almost immediately.

But you must remember to be patient at this stage and also be consistent as it’s the little things done regularly which really do make a big difference. Do the things I suggest little and often.

During your pregnancy your body has been changing shape dramatically. In most cases your body weight will have reached a higher level than ever before, you may have stretch marks, your pelvic floor muscles will be much weaker, you may notice more cellulite and varicose veins popping up here and there and you will certainly have increased your dress size by at least 2 or 3 sizes?

This is all natural and part of your body’s attempts to cope with this major change and growth of your baby in your body. Your body has been equally as well designed for losing weight after pregnancy. It will readily strive to return to the fitness, health level and shape you were in before pregnancy.

If you weren’t in the best shape before, don’t worry because of the changes in your hormones you can still get in to great shape now.

It isn’t easy to find the time to get back in to shape after pregnancy but find it you must. If you don’t do the things I outline in the following blog posts then you can pretty much say goodbye forever to that flat toned stomach. It really is as important as that.

Why physiotherapists and personal trainers aren’t employed to work with every new mum is simply a matter of economics.  I know one thing, if you’re conscious about your shape and appearance you are going to need help.

Whatever you do, don’t visit your local gym and follow the advice of an under educated, under qualified instructor. Quite frankly if you’ve not done the research or got the experience you can’t correctly instruct and design routines for post pregnant women.

Instead ask for the most qualified and experienced instructors, most gyms will have some good staff. Alternatively book a couple of sessions with a qualified personal trainer, there are many around these days.

My golden Personal training motto is this – ‘consistency’. This is true in every area of health and fitness but never more so than in recovering from pregnancy. What I mean by this is commit you to a plan of action and stick to it religiously.

Sure its fine to have the odd treat, that’s good and yes there will be times when you are too tired or unwell to take exercise and I am not advocating no pain no gain, this certainly is not appropriate at this stage.

My next post gives you details of the action you need to take to start getting your body back and safely but quickly losing weight after pregnancy.

After having a baby, losing pregnancy weight might not be your first priority, but if it is, don’t be ashamed of that. It’s your body and you’re entitled to have it back to the way you want it as soon as possible.

However, the challenge ahead of you is a little bit more complicated due to the fact that you also have a baby to care for at the same time as looking after yourself. This means that you need to find ways of making life as easy as possible for yourself.

Now, if losing pregnancy weight wasn’t even a consideration for you then you could easily accomplish this task by doing nothing other than baby care and housework and living off ready meals and take outs.

And voila!! You’d be gaining weight on top of your pregnancy weight all day long.

But if you want to get back to feeling good about yourself as quickly as possible then you’re going to need to start being active as soon as possible.

You’ll also need to make sure that the foods that you eat are as healthy and nutritious as they can be. Usually this means spending a fortune, wasting hours at the grocery store and slaving over a hot stove for hours a day.

But it doesn’t have to be like this. There are some fantastic foods that are perfect for a busy, tired and short of time new mom

And perhaps THE best example of this is SOUP.

Yes, you read that right – soup!!

• It’s quick to prepare

• It’s easy to make

• It can be made in large batches and frozen for convenience

• It’s low in fat

• It’s cheap and…

• It’s full of fresh vitamins and minerals.

I thought I’d include one of my favourite soup recipes for you here – Pea and Mint soup. It’s absolutely delicious and so quick to prepare. Remember to make double and freeze the extra portions.

Pea and Mint Soup

Serves 4

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Calories per serving: 75kcal

Fat per serving: 2.5g of which saturates: 0.25g

Ingredients

2 tsp sunflower oil

6 large spring onions, washed and sliced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 ¼ pints vegetable stock

750g shelled fresh or frozen peas

1 little gem lettuce, washed and chopped

Large handful of freshly chopped mint

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the spring onions and garlic and gently cook for 5 – 7 minutes or until the spring onions are soft but not brown.

2. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Add the peas, bring back to the boil and reduce to simmering point.

3. Stir in the lettuce and mint. Continue to cook for 2-3 minutes or until the peas are tender.

4. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (If using vegetable stock there is usually no need to add any further salt)

5. Blend to a consistency of your choice before serving.

Remember losing pregnancy weight should happen naturally if you were in good shape before and still maintain most of those habits now, but adding a few new ideas and tips into your life will certainly help to speed things up.

If you weren’t in particularly good shape before then you can take advantage of the changes in hormone levels to get in to the best condition of your life by adopting a few new habits and implementing some effective weight loss techniques now.