Parents-if you had to choose 1 item...

jellyhead

misty wrote:

Changing station. I wouldn't have bought one as I thought they were expensive and you can change anywhere - which is true. I had a c section and it was just the right height without bending and stretching - drawers for change of clothes, so didn't have to go up stairs - all the lotions ect tidy away and built in bath. If you can get one cheap or borrow one - I'd reccomend them. My friend bought her's second hand in mint condition - then I had it, then she had it back for her second and now another freind has it.

perhaps not quite as tidy but invaluable if you have a c section or are just sore, if you don't want to buy a changing station you can get travel cots that have a changing board on top, they also have a bassinet type thing that's like a suspaended cot higher up for tiny babies. in the early weeks you could use the main part of the travel cot as a dumping ground for nappies, clothes etc., baby can sleep in bassinet and you have the changing mat at waist height for you, then you can use the travel cot as a playpen :-) some of them come with a toy bar and a night light, the light is dim though so you might prefer to get a night light of your own.

my graco take-along swing guzzles batteries, so have a stock ready, buy them now on 3 for 2 in boots :-)

this is very contraversial i know, but the thing that made a massive difference to us was a dummy. i hate dummies and always said i'd never buy one, spud never had one and i was determined that roo wouldn't have one either. mam sent me a freebie one (there's also a free dummy in the avent pack you get as part of the boots parenting club) and it was still in the box i was keeping all the samples in. roo was born with a desperate urge to suck his thumb, and when he found it he'd suck until it was scarlet, he constantly cried and wanted to suck my finger. you're not supposed to use a dummy if you're breastfeeding but by the time i left hospital we'd established that he couldn't breastfeed properly, had tried everything so i was expressing milk instead. a midwife whispered that i should try a dummy as soon as i got home, so i sterilised the freebie one and he was instantly content. apparently some babies are just born to suck, and he'd been sucking his thumb in all of the scans (i had extra growth scans) and was very dextrous, finding his thumb easily, removing his own gloves etc. so had clearly been sucking his thumb a lot in the womb and wanted something to suck on. i'd rather it was a dummy than his thumb.

i'd say an open mind is pretty important. it's good to have ideas about what you want or don't want but be prepared for things to change, you might not get everything the way you want it and going with the flow rather than getting upset and feeling inadequate will help ward off PND. easy for me to say this time, it's my second baby. with my first i was gutted that i wasn't producing any breastmilk due to the drugs i was on, i felt like a failure and i got very down about it. this time around i knew that i wanted to breastfeed if possible, but was prepared for it to maybe not work out, good job because my milk supply is pathetic and roo can't suck. our compromise is for me to express, i use the pump for several hours over the day to produce a measly 5 ounces per day and he has formula in his other bottles.

that's another good buy, my second breastpump. my first one was a tommy tippee hand pump, useless. i got a medela mini electric one off ebay (they're £42 new in mothercare) and it's great, much easier and twice as much milk collected.

sooz

foil containers, tupperware, old ice cream tubs etc - use them all when someone - either parent to be - gets the nesting urge. cook as much as you possibly can, and freeze it all. then after baby born, you'll have a freezer full of nice, and healthy instant food. [which also helps breastfeeding mums make more milk]

i made nearly 20 litres of soup the day before mine was born....it was an urge that i could not help.

Pooky

Thinking back (my babies are 10 and 7 now) the most "can't live without it" item for DD1 was her dummy. I didn't want to breastfeed, I wasn't comfortable about doing it and never even tried......(I know some people will be aghast at this) In my opinion if I wasn't comfortable doing something then how could I expect my baby to relax and feed properly.....anyway...... DD1 had colic whilst I was still in hospital and I was adivsed by my midwife to try her with a dummy to ease her pains......it worked like a dream - she only ever had it to sleep with and I weened her off it at 9mths. DD2 never took to a dummy.

Above all be open minded and remember that all babies are different, as long as they are loved and cared for then they want for nothing.

HappySad

Bouncy chair is great for them to sit in after you have feed them and to rock them when they are crying.

Also Organic Virgin Olive oil. Forget all those Johnson's and the like as they have loads of chemicals in them. The hospital midwife runs a baby massage class and she gave us all a free bottle of olive oil to rub into their skin. I now use this on my son all the time..

Annabel Karmel weaning book.

Avent Hand breast pump. Worked really well and was easy to use.

If you are bottle feeding the "Dr Brown" bottles are well worth the extra spend. My son had colic and he would only drink 1oz before crying with wind and pain. Moved over to DrBrown and he then drank 2-3oz before crying with pain. It made bottle feeding much easier.

Ice cubes trays for putting your home made weaning food in then Avent small and normal size bottles with lid to defrost cubes of frozen food over night in the fridge. £5 hand blender for making your own puree weaning food.

Also that dried milk powder "Out and About" holder that holds 3 serving of milk powder that you measure out when at home into it.

"Which Guide to Baby Products" http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/0852029896/qid=1125180347/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_xs_ap_i1_xgl/202-0712184-1172635

Complete waste of time and money Changing table.!! Used the floor as it was safer and easier to use (some c-section's might disagree with this). "Contented Baby" book.. Just get this out of the library and read once and just pick up a few tips from it.. no need to buy it. Dirty nappy wrapping bins.. your room will still smell when you use this. A plastic bin with a lid will do just as well.

jellyhead

Pooky wrote:

Thinking back (my babies are 10 and 7 now) the most "can't live without it" item for DD1 was her dummy. I didn't want to breastfeed, I wasn't comfortable about doing it and never even tried......(I know some people will be aghast at this) In my opinion if I wasn't comfortable doing something then how could I expect my baby to relax and feed properly.....anyway...... DD1 had colic whilst I was still in hospital and I was adivsed by my midwife to try her with a dummy to ease her pains......it worked like a dream - she only ever had it to sleep with and I weened her off it at 9mths. DD2 never took to a dummy.

Above all be open minded and remember that all babies are different, as long as they are loved and cared for then they want for nothing.

I WAS TOLD THE DUMMY HELPS WITH COLIC AND IT DOES SEEM TO. IT ALSO HELPS WITH HICCUPS, ROO GETS VIOLENT HICCUPS 3 OR 3 TIMES A DAY, HE HATES THEM, THE DUMMY CALMS THEM DOWN. ooops, sorry about caps lock! he spits it out after a while and is happy without it, it's hardly in at all but when he does have it it's a sanity-saver! my first baby didn't seem to want or need a dummy, a lot don't. the health visitor says it's fine, it does more good than harm at the moment for this particular baby and there's no need for him to continue having it once the colic and hiccups have settled. i wouldn't want him to have it at 4 or 5 like my nephew did but also i wouldn't want him to be sucking his thumb until it's blood-blistered like the boy next door did. hopefully the dummy will get him out of the habit of looking for his thumb :-) if you hate dummies with a passion hopefully your baby won't be one of those babies who 'need to suck' but be prepared for things to be a little different to the rose tinted perfect life you imagine sometimes - nobody expects their baby to scream and be in agony for hour after hour, if it happens and the dummy helps so be it.

also, don't get stressed if you don't want to breastfeed, or it doesn't work out. if you do want to then make sure you stay in hospital until you're fully comfortable with it, i stayed in an extra day due to feeding problems and the support was fantastic. the girl opposite me decided to bottlefeed and she wasn't treated any differently, although she could go home earlier. not all hospitals and midwives are anti-bottle, although they promote breastfeeding and will help try to get it started some of them will have bottle-fed their own children, so if it's what you're choosing don't worry about being criticised, it might not happen. my hospital were fine and gave support either way.

Mr_Skint_2

I shall let you know after september the 26th, Im doing it in my pants, (scared).

Becles

Mr_Skint wrote:

I shall let you know after september the 26th, Im doing it in my pants, (scared).

I'm sorry to tell you, but you'll have to take your pants off when the time arrives :rotfl:

Oh and remember to leave your dignity at the door of the maternity ward

Seriously, good luck and hope all goes well

marje

With our first baby we had to take it in turn to eat whilst the other person walked the floor with baby. With second baby we borrowed a graco swing - bliss! Baby loved the swing and we could eat food normally. Also toddler running about kept baby fascinated for long spells.

Baby sleeping bag with second baby was also something we wished we had had with first. Baby slept much better and once she was old enough she would crawl to her bag wanting to get into it at bedtime. Once she was in a bed the duvet clips that kept her duvet on was great - kept her covered all night. First child used to wake us up to 6 times a night to pull her covers up.

Waste of money - one of those bears that plays womb music and is supposed to soothe the baby. Didn't soothe either of our babes and didn't work with nephews or friend's children.

bylromarha

A definite must have:

Anusol plus...:o

Woby_Tide

electricity

if a place has a lightbulb/lamp you have free entertainment, likewise anywhere with people present. Saves on expensive toys