What do you wish you had known with your first newborn?

esmy

'onlyrozYou need to make sure you get some time each day just for you. So for at least 30 mins a day give bubs to your other-half with strict instructions not to disturb you unless there's an emergency. Then take a bath/walk etc.'

I can't recommend this enough! We also had 'Dad's Night' once a week - a whole evening to lounge in the bath, paint my nails, read a book etc etc. Made me feel a bit more human and stopped me going crazy.

lilian1977

I'm due in 3 months and have been given this book by a friend - it's brilliant, a lot of the advice in this thread is in it:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/How-Not-Perfect-Mother-International/dp/0007163843/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1288960943&sr=8-1

xx

Ms_Piggy_2

A fortune has been spent by manufacturers to ensure that formula milk gives your baby what it needs too!

A fortune has been spent on marketing by formula companies to make sure people believe that as a statement!

Keep advice lines to hand:

NCT Breastfeeding Line - 0300 330 0771

NCT Postnatal Line - 0300 330 0773
LLL Breastfeeding helpline - 0845 120 2918

HeatherH

I wish I'd known how much of an idiot his dad is.... lol

Pisces

I wish I had not listened to the 'advice' of my midwife or health visitor, both of which only made me worry. You know your baby better than any 'expert' or any book, and no one, NO ONE should even slightly try to tell you the 'right' thing to do or the way the government 'recommends' it should be done.

Do what makes you feel happy and trust your own instincts. If anyone disagrees with you, they are wrong :-)

gill_hc

One thing no-one ever told me is that if you have a C Section it is normal for baby not to cry straight away - they haven't had the fluid squeezed out of their lungs so they have to do it manually. It should only take a minute but believe me that minute before they cry feels like a lifetime..
DD2 drank 100ml of formula before they even finished sewing me back up !!

Oh and don't ask if hubby can take DD2 home from hospital and leave you there so you can have a good nights sleep in the hospital in peace - causes all sorts of problems on the ward and you get loads of people in every day for weeks checking you are bonding with baby and not rejecting her. Made sense to me for him to have baby - I hurt a lot , he didn't therefore he can get up in the night to feed her !!

CallaLily

If you have a section or if you've a baby in scbu, or if like me it's both ask for a private room because the other babies in the ward will make you upset yours is not with you and you'll never ger any sleep with all the snoring .

That it's ok to be in your pj's all morning because you haven't got either the time or energy to get dressed after spending half the night awake with a screaming baby .

Let guests make you a coffee / tea / etc instead of you doing it for them .

Most importantly though I wish I would of let my parents and grandparents take the baby for a couple of hours so I could get some rest when they offered, I was way too clingy with my baby .

madtrekker

1) Don't worry about making a detailed birth plan - invariably it won't go to plan. Have a good idea of what you'd like / wouldn't like but keep an open mind so as not to be disappointed if things don't work out as you'd hoped.

2) Don't buy disposable pants for after the birth. They are rough (you're going to be sore either "down below" or on c-section scar) and they sag. Primark sell packs of 5 giant pants for a couple of quid. Much, much nicer to wear and just as cheap to throw away as needs be. Buy the ones with a high waist incase you have a c-section.

3) As ugly as they are, the proper maternity pads are really worth buying, at least for the first few days post-birth. Sanitary towels such as Always have that meshy stuff which can catch your stitches (ouch!).

4) Don't be afraid to say no to visitors. There will most likely be days when you just want to chill out. That rule applies in hospital too. While I understand that everyone wanted to come and see the new baby, I really didn't appreciate 8 visitors in the first hour of visiting time after giving birth. I'd had no sleep that night and was exhausted.

5) Breastfeeding is MUCH harder than the leaflets would have you believe. But, like most things, if you stick with it through the first few tough days, it becomes much easier and is worth the hard work in the early days.

6) Babies aren't babies for long and time really does fly. When my LO was a few months old I came across this poem and wish I'd read it earlier as it's beautiful:

I hope that my child, looking back on today
Will remember a mother who had time to play;
Because children grow up while you're not looking,
There are years ahead for cleaning and cooking.
So, quiet now cobwebs, dust go to sleep.
I'm nursing my baby, and babies don't keep.

7) About 3 days after giving birth, most ladies will spend the whole day in tears. This is perfectly normal and is all hormonal. It will pass.

8) If you've got the energy, batch-cook a few meals now to stick in the freezer for when you come home from hospital.

Amanda65

Just remembered as well that if you breast feed on about day 3, when your milk comes in, you will feed almost constantly for 24 hours :eek:

Do not panic, it is perfectly normal and baby will not constantly feed like this forever :rotfl:

Winky,_The_House_Elf

Just re-reading this thread...4 days to due date and petrified!