MSE Pregnancy Club 27

BadlyWrittenPoem

con1888 wrote: »

I'm looking into the perfect prep machine as it's on offer on Amazon however I want to try breastfeeding so think I will hang off.

What is the current advice reg bottle feeding ? Is it make one at a time and don't store ANY in fridge even for an hour or so ? As if that's the case then perfect prep definately seems a good idea. However I am sure most mums I know usually have a bottle or two in their changing bags so wondering if they are just avoiding the advice or if I am missing something ??

I know with my neices my SIL usually had 1-2 in the fridge ready made. They are 5 and 10 though so advice may have changed since or she just done it her own way.

The advice when my almost seven year old was born was make the bottles one at a time and AFAIK it still is but from what I have observed many people don't follow that because it's more convenient to have bottles ready made up.

BadlyWrittenPoem

samtoby wrote: »

con1888 - I thought you could store milk for up to a week if its your milk, I am probably really wrong!

For expressed milk there are varying guidelines dpeneding on where you look but the one I remember (because it's the easiest) is six hours at room temperature, six days in the fridge or six months in the freezer. Formula is different though as it has the potential to be contaminated with bacteria.

lushlifesaver

Sorry I can't remember who it was (BZ?) who said about witch hazel for the hospital bag to go on pads after the birth but I've found two products on the Boots website - one is a gel the other is distilled witch hazel - and was wondering if anyone knew which would be better for the purpose??? It's the last thing I need for my hospital bag :-)

BadlyWrittenPoem

sjlou wrote: »

urrgggh all this talk of child benefit/ tax credits etc, I've not even thought about that yet! OH is self employed so prob makes it more complicated than it should be. He needs to ask his accountant about claiming paternity leave £ too....
Another job to go on the list for when I'm on mat leave.

There's nothing for dads who are self employed unfortunately.

marywooyeah

Con your pic made me think of the bit in the vicar of dibley where dawn French jumps in that big puddle! :rotfl:

Crabapple

BadlyWrittenPoem wrote: »

For expressed milk there are varying guidelines dpeneding on where you look but the one I remember (because it's the easiest) is six hours at room temperature, six days in the fridge or six months in the freezer. Formula is different though as it has the potential to be contaminated with bacteria.

The freezing guidelines are 6 weeks in a fridge freezer compartment, 6 months in a full freezer.

Like others have said, the advice is definitely make a bottle fresh each time if you are using formula, but I don't know anyone who has done that.

I had heard that if you are on maternity leave you can get your tax credits assessed on current income rather than the previous year. But I must admit I'm not sure how it works and I haven't applied. Right now we aren't eligible but once the baby is here I'm going to try calling them and see if we can get anything cos every extra penny helps!

Kynthia

Lushlifesaver - I think it was gel witch hazel as she said it was very cooling.


Badlywrittenpoem - I'm not sure but I think if self employed dads pay themselves a salary through PAYE and pay NI then they might be able to claim but I don't know how likely that is.


Becs - The second link I posted included reasons why to still submit the claim form for child benefit even if you earn over £50k. Also there was a helpline number 0300 200 3100 for any enquiries.

becca0417

squ1rrel5 wrote: »

I know that Becca will tell you NOT to go to Mothercare!! :rotfl:

I think Kiddicare have some pretty good offers on nursery furniture - think a few people on here have mentioned them before.

I certainly will! Don't touch them with a barge pole! Poor dh is currently upstairs dismantling their shoddy cotbed so they can collect it all tomorrow...

We have ordered Hayworth from m&p but won't be delivered before baby comes which is v v annoying!!

claire16c

We got this from Kiddicare - DH put the wardrobe together today, I love it because it has shelves and 2 rails. He put the changing table/dresser together last weekend, so just the cot to go now.

http://www.kiddicare.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/productdisplay0_10751_-1_258408_10001

claire16c

TeamLowe wrote: »

For those looking at finances, make sure you know what your partner will get for paternity leave as it may not be a full wage, think it's £134/week statutory and so in lost wage it cost us around £800 net for DH to have those two weeks off but it was the only way he could get time off from the day baby was born- if he had booked leave for around the due date it would have been too late

Yup my DH will just get the £134 so hes taking 1 week paternity instead of two, because otherwise with me on maternity we'd be completely skint!

So he will probably take a weeks holiday so he can get full pay for the week instead, as he arranges his own clients, he's very lucky in that respect in that there is no boss to get permission of holiday etc from, he just fills in a form for whatever date he wants so can do it last minute if needed. It also means if DH needs to catch up on some hours with his clients he can always pop to work for a couple or few hours and doesnt have to do a full day.

My mum literally lives a 5 minute walk away too and my sister will be over from Canada for a couple of weeks at around that time too, so Im expecting lots of help Although I think my sisters idea of help will be slightly different to my mums - who I know will volunteer to say chuck some washing in, do a quick hoover or just generally help me, pop to the shop if I need her to- whereas my sisters idea will be coo over the baby :rotfl: