Having a baby Old Style???

bluep

My doctor has prescribed:
- paracetamol solution (he just wrote 1000ml of it LOL so the pharmacist gave us 3 huge 300ml bottles and one little one)
- saline solution (drops to clear the nose when they have a cold)
- Oilatum bath solution (great if your baby has any baby eczema)
- doublebase eczema cream
- cradle cap shampoo

Basically anything that he and I agree that the baby needs.

bj-sailaway

Don't buy a stupid baby bath. You'll break your back trying to bath them in it. Just sit them in the kitchen sink on a terry nappy, with change mat and town on the draining board or work top. Easy height to work at and hold them much safer and easier than on the floor or baby bath in the bath. Cheaper too! No bath to buy and you use much less baby bath.

Don't bother with a moses basket contraption, only last a few weeks, use the top of the pram or carrycot, or really old style, pram mattress or padding in an empty draw placed next to your bed.

There was an offer on MSE recently for half price velcro terry nappies - can anyone remember where it was? In the long term this will save you loads, and help the environment - not too hard at all either. Better than the bin stinking of smelly disposables all the time!

Savvy_Sue

My youngest was in a travel cot because we didn't have anywhere else to put him. BUT it was a very sturdy travel cot, huge deep sides, he never learnt to climb out of it and couldn't capsize it. Whereas my friend had a little cheapie one which rocked madly, wasn't very deep, and was unsafe from when the babes were less than a year old.

The big disadvantage of my travel cot was the depth of it: you had to bend right down to get him in or out, no good if you have a bad back.

It does not seem to have stunted his development: he is in fact the most 'normal' of our sons ...

Savvy_Sue

One thing that could be done to lessen any disadvantage to summer born babies would be to stop insisting that children enter school in the September after they are 4, and instead allow them to start when they are ready!

I watched my sons' school change from a 3 term entry to a single term entry. My eldest (July) had one term in Reception. I would have left him at nursery, but nursery said he was ready for school, and I think he was. My middle (December) started in September, with the younger cohort joining in January and April. But my youngest (March) started in September with 30 other little darlings, some of whom were barely four and were JUST NOT READY for school. I do not think I would have let my youngest start then if once more nursery hadn't assured me he was ready for school, which he was.

I would not mind so much if this seemed to give better results than the 3 term entry we used to have, but the research being done at the time indicated that it did not! Allowing children to start Reception later in the year didn't put them at a disadvantage; forcing them into school before they were ready seemed to set them back.

Rebob

bits to buy

1. I had a 3 in one pram with a carrycot. ds slept in the carrycot loads and was very comfy. Great if you are walking most places. Does fill the car lots though. This was second hand with a new materess
2. Mothercare microwave steam serilizer - quick cheap and easy. New but could be second hand no problem.
3. Cot - second hand with a new materess. Being wood it can be cleaned thouroughly.
4. Half a dozen bottles - large. the tommee tippee variflow teets kept spliting easy.
5. Loads of clean t towels to use as bibs etc.
6. Pack of nappies
7. baby grows and vests. We liked the plain white cotton ones from asda and the pastel towelling ones from mothercare. at least 6 of each.
8. cotton wool to clean delicate areas and bottom
let you know any other things as I remember
Ps. see if you have a local sure start. The one I helped to set up gave free baby gates, fireguards, smoke alarms to all families.
Our car seat was a second hand one but from a friend so we knew that it had not been in an accident.

Spendless

We bought a travel cot when eldest was only weeks old. I used it as playpen and somewhere for him to sleep during day, it was used on several holidays and also if we visited friends/relatives. It hasn't been used as much for my daughter.

I had an avent steam steriliser (bought as pressie). I didn't want a microwave one as my microwave was old (17 years!) and I wondered if it would 'die'on me - which it did! There is space in the steam steriliser to sterilise 6 bottles at once so is what I had.

My son has always been very hot child so didn't use vests beyond the first couple of months.

jellyhead

i had a steam sterilisier last time but this time have bought a microwave one that will also work with sterilising tablets, so if we're on holiday and don't have a microwave or the microwave at home dies i can use those horrid smelly tablets lol! are they really nasty though? i remember hating the smell when my brother was a baby and thinking it probably tastes nasty too - does it?

karin

bluep wrote:

So on this basis you will also be keeping them from going to school and teaching them at home? If not, then why does your reasoning change when they reach 5? How come people never question whether fathers are being proper fathers if they go to work full time?

My career is important but never more important than my daughter. I am also making sure that I go to work for a company that allows me to take double my paid holiday per year as part of the benefits package rather than a company car etc... Wonderful assumptions that you make about childcare by the way - we've found an incredably dedicated and loving childminder who my daughter already adores, but she certainly saves the biggest grins for us when we pick her up. My childminder has been selected because she has similar ethics and behaviour standards to us, her 5 year old daughter is a positive developmental influence on my child and I believe that in years to come, my daughter will learn important socialising skills through interacting with different people.

I think there are people who decide to stay at home with their children then end up paying very little attention to them due to doing the housework, going shopping, leaving them in the creche at the gym...NOT that I am implying this is all or even most of stay-at-home mums. I just think the situation is a little less black and white than you paint it. I grew up to be an indepedent woman due to the example that my mum set me about work ethic, achievement, attitudes to society etc...and there were times she had to work 7 days a week in order to keep us financially afloat (not luxuries, just rent and food) but I never ever for one moment felt unloved, unwanted or closer to anyone else in the world. I want my daughter to grow up feeling that she can have a family and a career, that the two aren't mutually exclusive. That her husband/partner can stay at home if they chose to...that she will not be judged for her lifestyle or her gender.

In regards to the issue of the degeneration of society - research shows that behavioural patterns in children are at their worst in deprived areas - these also happen to have a higher level of parents who are non-working on benefits. Again not that I'm suggesting people on benefits are all in that catagory. I'm just pointing out that not all parents who are at home all the time are baking cakes and making home art with their children.

Please try to understand that there are other ways of doing things and not to judge people in that way. I hope I've come across as non-judgemental; if I've said anything offensive it's due to in-eloquence in my explanation and not intention...got to dash, my partner just brought my baby back from the childminders and I'm off to play until bedtime!

As a mother and grandmother I really think of myself as an ''old style mum''
I was a stay at home mum for 20 years BUT during that time also a child minder,playgroup leader and playscheme organisor.
My kids benefitted from having endless playmates and I like to think that the minded ones got some benefits too.
I made some lifelong friends among those mums and have watched both theirs and my children become adults.
They were very happy years that I look back on with fondness.

Wether to work outside the home is a personal decision and an economic one too.
NO-ONE has a right to comment on others decisions about this.

When my youngest was 10 I went to uni and into professional training training and worked full-time.
I relied on a great childminder and wonderful husband to look after her when I couldn't be there and she didn't suffer from my absense.
In fact I feel she gained from seeing other people and widening her world.

My elder two had a different experience of family to her but I don.t think any of them suffered from the differences.

I have been both a working/stay at home mum.
My children have all grown into smashing adults.
Whatever decision you make about childcare as long as it is right for both you, you partner and your child/children then you have nothing to feel guilty about.

Goodluck to new mums, and remember whatever others advise only YOU really know what is right for both you and your family; so be confident in your decisions.

ancasta_2

<plee to everyone reading>

My original post was not a question as to what everyone thinks is right or wrong about mothers working it was asking other questions about budgeting.

This has been removed from the sticky as people are getting a bit too vocal and !!!!!y about the work/no work so can we all go back and read the original post then reply accordingly.

Thanks muchly.

greenishfingers

Due to various complicated circumstances I gave up work and then 2 weeks later found out I was pregnant (I will never again trust a pregnancy test kit). As a result my baby was and is the ultimate budget baby - I reckon over the first six months she cost us no more than about £200 due to the generosity of others (mainly people wanting others to get use out of their childrens near perfect books/toys/clothes/furniture etc). I breastfed, which I didn't find easy, but I'm a stubborn wotsit so refused to let it beat me! I also trawled through the internet to find as many newsletters to sign up for that promised money off coupons and got all my bounty packs, apart from the hospital ones for some reason. Anyway I don't think it has to be that expensive. She costs us more now, but mainly for food, as we still get tonnes of clothes and toys for her. Not sure that she will be quite so cheap as a teenager though...