EVERY time new mum Laurie McIntyre worked out a way to make something easier when looking after her baby, she wrote it down.

As her list of baby hacks grew, she began sharing them with friends, and Laurie has now self-published them as an eBook, “One Mother To Another”.

“Things like sleeping and feeding are talked about widely on the internet but I was looking for more practical advice that just wasn’t out there,” she says.

“I wondered, why couldn’t some of the day-to-day things be easier?

“I wanted to document those things that you only hear about from chatting with other mums at a mothers’ group.

“This book is the equivalent of that.”

Laurie, who’s expecting her second baby this month, says she started to think that other mums would benefit from knowing the things she had found out.

“I wanted to work out how to do it better – everything, from the best kind of bibs to use, to generally managing my life with a baby in it,” she says.

“For example, I worked out that if you have a handbag with a flat bottom, it’s so much easier to find what you need while you have a baby on your lap.

“Ideas popped into my head all the time, how to be better at this and that, and more organised.”

Laurie says she had never intended to publish the tips, which started out as small snippets and started to grow over time, but she soon felt she had something worth sharing.

“I had all these ideas written down and I wanted to do something with them. Why not this? I knew I had both the skillset to turn ideas into reality, and a drive to make things happen,” she says.

“As well as being a full-time mum, I have a small dog-grooming business and work in the public service when I’m not on maternity leave. “Self-publishing looked like a good option for me, so I started doing research into it.”

Laurie says she wanted the book to feel like you’re chatting to a friend.

“I tried to bring some humour into the book, which is very me. It’s my tips and advice, and if it helps someone else or resonates with them, then I’ll be thrilled,” she says.

“Some books tell you how you should be doing things, and it can create anxiety that you’re not doing the exact right thing.

“My book is the opposite of that – it’s very informal. It’s so informal that I don’t really consider myself an author! But it’s a real thrill seeing my name on iBooks.”

“One Mother to Another”, $4.99, available via 1mother2another.weebly.com/shop.html

Laurie’s top tips

• Functional handbag – choose one with a large opening, one long strap so you can carry it across your body, and with a flat base.
• Onesies for baby – get ones with zippers that can be done up from top or bottom for nighttime changes.
• Storage in your kitchen – throw out anything you haven’t used for more than a year, because you will need the space!
• Be mindful of baby’s head size when choosing bibs – over-the-head ones won’t fall off and can’t be pulled off, but if you have a baby with a big head you have to stretch them to get them on and then the necks become too large and food gets in.