Alternitives to "Baby" Products Please?

Squidgy

Just thought of something else. Make sure you pack some slipper socks in your labour bag. They take up less room than your slippers, have less chance of slipping off your feet and tripping you up, keep your feet toasty warm whilst in labour (and in bed on the ward and when pacing on that icy ward floor) and best of all if you can manage to slip over in them I will be amazed!!!

One of the best things I had in my bag!
(mine had tigger on them saying HELP! - very appropriate!)

Poppy9

Been a lot of publicity lately about baby slings/carriers. A mother fell over carrying her baby and the baby now has a fractured skull and suspected brain damage.

I never used one as I have a severe back problem but I have to say I had never thought about the danger of falling.

jellyhead

that's sad :-(
i have never used a baby sling but i'm very very clumsy so i know i wouldn't properly calculate the space the baby was taking up and i'd be bashing it into things all the time.

Lillibet_2

I did see the news stories but think there was quite a bit of biased reporting, it seemed very slanted & all the negative comments seemed to come form older women who hadn't ever used one.
I have already bought a sling (ebay, if I don't use it I'll re-sell it & it was less than half price anyway) but I think they are a very good idea even if only for use around the home to allow you to get on with some things whilst baby has the comfort of being close to you. Saying that, it seemed very fiddly when we tried a teddy in it!
I had already thought of the "falling" danger & personally I'd consider it comparable with the likeyhood of dropping the baby (unlikely but not impossible) with the bonus that the baby is at least partially protected in a sling.

Thanks for the slipper-sox idea, I would have just packed flip flops but slipper-sox are excellent & I already have several pairs.

Poppy9

When you think about it though even round the house is dangerous. Slipping a wet kitchen floor, falling down the stairs, knocking a boiling kettle. I know it might never happen but if it did you would feel sooooooooo guilty. If you use a sling you are more likely to carry the baby around with you for longer as if you have them in your arms you get tired and put them down.

Saying that little poppy started crawling at 4 months old without me realising. I used to leave her on a play mat in the sitting room or hallway if I was in the kitchen. One day she had suddenly disappeared from the mat. As I turned around to look for her she was under my feet. I tripped right over her and sent her flying across the kitchen floor:eek:

Bun

Hello,

My son is now nearly 10 months old.
Tips we can pass on are:
Don't waste money on baby hooded towels, unless they are bargain ones (Wilkinsons do nice cheap ones) - they grow out of them too fast.
TK Maxx often have grow-bags for as little as £10, and other things such as mamas and papas bedding for much less.
There is always a two for one offer on wipes if you use them, Boots, Tesco, Wilkinsons etc. Most often Pampers and Johnsons. Personally I have tried many own brand wipes, and with the exception of Tescos they all come out and once and are too we, so aren't as economical as you think. And the Boots ones tear, not good when you are changing a mucky bum on a park bench with an inch square piece of wipe in hand!
Best tip as far as we were concerned was to wait until you know the size of the baby before getting clothes bought. As the parents of a term but surprise 5lb 2ozer nothing fitted AT ALL, and we had only got a few basics anyway. Tesco are extremely good for clothes for under 7lb babies. They are inexpensive and wash well.
Also on the subject of maternity pads, as somebody who had an assisted delivery, the Boots pads I had were very painful, as they were not tapered, and their basic breast pads itch like mad. Tescos pads were shaped and more comfy, and the best breast pads to get were the thin ones without the stiff edge. I also had an Avent breastpump - great but in loads of little pieces so a real pain to put together. I believe Tommee Tippee have just brought out one with 3 pieces so that may be better.
I also used old tea towels instead of muslins, which I thought were very expensive.

jellyhead

i think i carried spud around with me all day every day actually, he was a screamer and would get so angry he'd have a fit if i put him down anywhere, so carrying him is probably even more dangerous than having him in a sling would have been. i did once bash his head against a door frame as i walked through the door (i said i'm clumsy!), he'd have been safer in a sling no doubt.

having said that i fell down the stairs once when carrying my baby brother around, i was ten. i broke my arm on his pushchair at the bottom of the stairs (it had a metal footrest) and he was completely unharmed but if he'd been in a sling maybe it would have been his head that hit the footrest rather than my arm? if the pushchair hadn't been in the way i would have landed on top of him anyway and no doubt killed him. i don't know, i'm just a clumsy cow, can barely get myself safely down the street without having a baby to carry. i think i'll keep this new baby strapped into a chair and carry it around all day lol!

Savvy_Sue

Squidgy wrote:

Just thought of something else. Make sure you pack some slipper socks in your labour bag. They take up less room than your slippers, have less chance of slipping off your feet and tripping you up, keep your feet toasty warm whilst in labour (and in bed on the ward and when pacing on that icy ward floor) and best of all if you can manage to slip over in them I will be amazed!!!

One of the best things I had in my bag!
(mine had tigger on them saying HELP! - very appropriate!)

Now I'm likely to be going into hospital next month (NOT to have another baby!) and I'd rejected the idea of slipper sox in case the floor's ever not entirely dry ... but I've bought some new slippers and wouldn't dream of wearing flip-flops or mules because I know I'd fall over in them. Anyway, each to her own, having thought about it I will see if I've still got some slipper sox because they would keep my toes warm, as you say, and be handy if I was only popping across the ward to share some chocolate with a fellow patient or something like that!

Savvy_Sue

Breast pads: I can't remember if anyone has mentioned that you can get re-usable ones, at least you used to be able to. They were round and flat and padded, with cotton on the inside and that sort of polyester stuff on the outside. Quite good if you weren't flooding, but NO breast pad is going to work if you ARE flooding! They make no concesstion to the shape of your boobs (the disposable ones are at least conical), but at that stage you may be past caring!

What may work if you flood while feeding is Breast Shells - I don't know who else does them but this is where I found them first! If you put one over the breast you're not feeding from you can collect the drips and save for a bottle if you go out or want a break. (That is, you can if your baby will take a bottle, which mine didn't. Not ever. Nor a dummy, which I swore beforehand I'd never buy but would have been very glad to have been able to use as he screamed himself to sleep if my finger wasn't in his mouth. Actually my finger was a poor substitute for my boob, but there are limits to how long you can have a baby hanging off your boob AFTER it's fallen asleep.)

Woby_Tide

re: sleeping bags, we've found a fairly decent one from BHS, usually £20 but at moment as they are getting rid of stock seemingly they are £16 so we've got his current size and a 12-18 month one too I think, we only switched to sleeping bags as we found his feet were too big for sleepsuits of any sort os now it's pyjamas and his sleeping bag and he's happy as you like and not kicking off covers anymore