Newbie, and first time expectant mum. Help.

chardonnay_2

i get prima baby on subscription check the magazine thread in the grabbit board for offers. think i get so 3 for £1 or 3 for £3.

it always has freebies and send away offers and quite often coupons.

keep an eye out for other mags with good freebies and keep an eye on freebie board as people will post offers now and again.

jellyhead

that's great, thanks chardonnay :-)

Tillymynt

Thanks for that hon, all sounds like very good advice, seems like we have similar ideas on the early stages of 'babydom'. I will check out the mothering.com forum when I get a chance - am in work at the mo, and am slyly checking this board.

Thanks again.

Tillymynt.

mossstar wrote:

Congratulations!

I've just got time for a quick post now that both of mine are (finally!) asleep.

I just wanted to say that imho there are sooooo many things that you will be told you need that you don't. Especially at first - newborn babies need nappies (terries are best for baby and environment) milk (yours, hopefully) and cuddles and possibly somewhere to sleep. And that's it. I co-slept with both of mine until they were a year old and if you do breastfeed you'll find that this is by far the sleep-kindest option!

There is a certain section of the british press that likes to regularly produce articles about how sleeping with your baby in a bed is dangerous... (yes, i'm talking about the d***y m**l!) but what they fail to point out is that in the majority of the world that's exactly how babies sleep, and cosleeping is far more conducive (sp?) to a good breastfeeding relationship than being apart.

If i were you, i'd hold off on the rocking chair as well, until you know your baby. Rocking during feeding, especially when trying to get established, is liable to send baby to sleep instead of concentrating on filling their tummy (and make you more comfortable by emptying your breast!), so you'd probably want to stick to the bed/sofa for that.

Stair gates etc you won't need for at least the first six months, possibly longer.

So that leaves the buggy and the sling. If you do look for a sling, investigate & read all you can about the 'pouch' type slings such as at kangarookorner.com, they are based on slings used by women in baby-wearing cultures and are much kinder to babies and adult spines, and are also designed to aid breastfeeding. I'm still happily slinging (and breastfeeding) my 16 month old, and hope to be able to until he's 2 (as I did his brother).

Have you been here? https://www.mothering.com? the discussion boards are FAB, especially if you want to use cloth nappies etc. The women are lovely and will help you loads! Find the threads from the women that are due at the same time as you and join in, they're a real source of support and the time gets closer...

...right - i've got to run, but good luck! having babies is sooooooo wonderful and sooooooo hard!! it's beautiful.

Tillymynt

Savvy_Sue wrote:

Don't think anyone has yet suggested checking whether or not you are in a SureStart area, if you are there are some benefits for new mums and children under the age of 4. Your midwife should know, if not ask who the Health Visitor is because she should definitely know.

I'm not 100% sure what 'Sure Start' is... Am I eligible for anything if both me and 'im indoors have full time jobs?

Tilly.

Lillibet_2

chardonnay wrote:

buy march issue of prima baby £2.20 and on pg 126 get a voucher for a free pack of 28 huggies newborn nappies or a pack of huggies pure wipes 144's or a pack of huggies + aloe baby wipes 126's

only redeemable at boots.

depending on the price of these items might be worth buying a few copies of this mag

plus you also get a free huggies changing mat with the mag.

also an offer for free baby lullaby cd with 75p p+p send away offer

Huggies Newborn 28 packs are priced at £3.58 on Boots.com so could indeed be worth getting a couple of copies of the magazine for this offer alone.

jo_b_2

Tillymynt wrote:

I'm not 100% sure what 'Sure Start' is... Am I eligible for anything if both me and 'im indoors have full time jobs?

Tilly.

If you do live in a Sure Start area, it doesn't matter what income you have - you will still be eligible for their services if you have a child under four. These vary from area to area.

Where I used to live was within a Sure Start area (my new address isn't.) They offered a free baby massage programme and a few freebies just for registering with them. (Think I got a £5 Mothercare voucher and a free changing bag.) They had free parent and baby swim sessions, as well. They also had a scheme where you could rent safety gates and other safety items at a low rate.

Lillibet_2

Does anyone have a llink for Surestart? When I checked a few weeks ago I thought I understood that although they operated in my area only people claiming certain benefits were eligible but maybe I got it wrong or was looking at something else entirely?

Thanks for your help

Josie_Jump_3

Congratulations !

When I was expecting a friend of mine recommended a playnest from Argos (ref number 347/7692), and we found it invaluable it's like a big inflatable donut where baby could sit and be safe, there are different textures and noises and we just loved it.

Asda are great for baby clothes, I found for the first couple of months body suits and sleepsuits were all that was needed. We also found the baby grow-bags for cold nights were well worth it (I got mine from Mothercare).

A few people have mentioned Huggies wipes, I find these very harsh on babys skin, Pampers sensitive are my favourites.

Finally for now, the breast feeding issue. I wanted to breastfeed as we are told that this is best, but I had real trouble doing it and found it to be quite a stressful experience, I put myself through quite a trauma to try to be successful. I felt I was letting my baby down because I couldn't feed her, I had certain nurses trying to push me on when in my heart of hearts I knew I couldn't do it. This carried on for a few days whilst I was in hospital, I didn't want to give in but I knew my baby was hungry and she constantly cried. I decided I wanted to try giving her a bottle but that little voice in my head kept making me think I was a bad mum. In the end I said 'sod it' and bottle fed her, and we haven't looked back. She's now a very healthy two & half year old. So what I'm trying to say is there's a lot of social pressure on you to breastfeed, some can do it quite successfully but some can't, if you can't don't get stressed over it, all that matters is you and your little one and enjoying those precious moments together whether it's feeding my breast or bottle.

My husband has also made a good point, in hospital you'll find there are two types of nurses, those with kids and those without. The ones without end up giving you text book advice - only use cotton wool, don't do this, don't do that etc, whereas the ones who are mothers know what you're going through and understand the stress they're the ones to listen to. The advice I was given at 3am when trying to breastfeed was 'don't worry about what others think, do what you think is best'

Josie_Jump_3

I forgot to say check out https://www.babycentre.co.uk , they have different chat forums for different stages of pregnancy and birth so you can see what other people at your stage are encountering. You can also sign up for newsletters where they email you with developmental updates - what your baby is upto at certain stages of pregnancy. I love this site and still visit even though I'm part of the August 2002 club!

jo_b_2

Lillibet wrote:

Does anyone have a llink for Surestart? When I checked a few weeks ago I thought I understood that although they operated in my area only people claiming certain benefits were eligible but maybe I got it wrong or was looking at something else entirely?

Thanks for your help

This link gives more info about local Surestart programmes.

http://www.surestart.gov.uk/surestartservices/surestartlocalprogrammes/whatissslocalprogramme/

You might have been looking into the Sure Start Maternity Grant. This isn't restricted to particular areas as it's available throughout England. This is only available to people on low incomes or claiming certain benefits.