When did you start referring to baby by their name?

After birth.

I couldn't imagine giving my baby a name without first meeting him/her.

A pre chosen name may not suit.

I am so pleased that I had my daughters in the days when you never knew the sex of the baby to be. Gender reveal parties sound ludicrous. Apart from the parents and other close family does anybody care what sex your baby will be. It also all sounds a bad idea from the point of view of possible miscarriage or still birth. I remember that I didn't get any baby stuff until she was born although in those days we stayed in hospital for three days so plenty of time to dispatch shoppers for necessities.

I started to think of DD by her name while I was pregnant, probably 7-8 months. When she was born she was mostly called "the baby" for months and months, unless there was another baby around. Now it's about equal between her name and a silly nickname.

Maybe Avabird is actually having a gender reveal party. As self obsessed as it sounds, it's definitely "a thing" nowadays. More in the US than the UK though as far as I'm aware.

Apparently people also bake & sell special cakes for babies to smash up and smear all over themselves. God knows who came up with that idea .

With DS1 & DS2 their names were chosen by around 25/30 weeks pregnant, but we didn't actually refer to them as that name until they were born.

With DD we didn't have a name chosen until after she was born - we had a shortlist but were struggling to settle on just one.

we didn't find out the sex of our children so weren't called their names until after the birth. they were all given nick names though and so rarely actually get called their real names. I have 3 DDs 15,12 and 7 called Spud, Lou and Boo!

As soon as I found out he was a boy. About 12 weeks pregnant I think (harmony test).

When he was born :) We kept the name secret until then.

I was thinking maybe AvaBird was a Duggar, they like these gender reveal parties and shit.

But if they're calling the baby Claire that rules that out.

DS3 is 6 weeks old and he's still getting called "baby" most of the time rather than his actual name.

(and you want to call her Claire)

stops MN stalking Ava

argh, pressed too soon.

Come back and tell us if you really are having a party to let everyone know you're having a girl?

when I was pregnant I used to call mine sprog or sproglet lol I'm not sure why I chose this particular name for my baby, even when I chose a name I didn't use it until she was born, I done the same with my 2nd dd

@AvaBird

Come back and tell us!

I'm also assuming Ava's post was a piss-take - nicely done if so!

In DD's case, we started using her current name at about 3 weeks, having tried out several others (so she has a confusing array of cards congratulating us on the safe arrival of Katherine, Lucy and Rowan as well as her real name).

Mine were referred to by jokey nn as we chose not to find out until birth whether they were boy or girl.
We had:
Peanut
Pikachu
Beany
Roger the lodger
Bubble and squeak..... our twins are now 5 and are still referred to by their bump names (they do have proper names too)

Our baby was known as Peanut right from a very early scan in the pregnancy. Until we had chosen a name then only me and my DP called the bump by his name when it was just us around. We only told others of his name once he was born

We did from 20 weeks but I would never ever have announced name on Facebook or anything (not that I announced pregnancy or birth of baby on social media at all). Some people knew name before but only if they'd ask and to them even if they knew the name I'd still refer to "the baby" as in the baby is due or the baby is kicking, but between me and DP we said his name.
I'd also decided that if the worst happened, he would still have that name.

I genuinely can't decide whether Ava's post was a pisstake or not

Me neither. I'm assuming so... who could be bothered going on a treasure hunt to find out the sex of someone's baby?!

With DD1 we didn't find out the sex until birth, so no one knew names until she arrived including us!
This time around we have found out the sex, so we and everyone else know we're having DD2. We have 99% agreed on a name, but no one else knows! We won't announce until birth, partly in case we change our mind, but also as people are less judgey that way. We also don't refer to her as her name even in private. I'm scared of tempting fate! A lot of time she's just "the baby" or "the next one"! That's bad, isn't it?

Gosh, Avabird, are people really that involved in your pregnancy?
Hope you don't choose a really long double barrelled name as that could get expensive in cupcakes

I didn't find out the sex of my babies until they were delivered so I had 2 names chosen. I like surprises

I'm 19 weeks and DP and I regularly use the name we have picked out. So do the children as they helped pick it. And my mum. It seems quite normal to us as he has a name so we use it. With strangers though, I say 'the baby'. Thoughout of my 4 this is the first name I've ever been solid on enough to use before birth. All my others have had their names announced straight after birth and have been used then.

Ive got a 7 month old who is still referred to as 'the baby'