Tips for Kate: which invaluable piece of new-mum advice would you pass on? Please share it here, or Tweet to #tips4kate

Take time to enjoy him. It goes so quickly.

another one!

Clip your DS's nails while he's asleep (far less scary)

If you are breast feeding, in the first few days put the nipple cream on the breast pads and well as on you. (the lanisoh stuff makes great lip balm as well)

You will feel hungry all the time if you're BFing, try to have protein-y snacks like cold cooked chicken in your fridge for when you need food now , not just grabbing cakes and biscuits. Carrot sticks are also good to have to hand when you just need something to eat.

Make sure you stay hydrated. Drink pints of water/squash.

As you aren't in a small flat, make sure you have lots of available changing areas, so another changing mat, nappies and wipes in your downstairs bathroom(s), saves having to trapse up to the nursery every time you need to change your DS.

Keep the changing bag loaded up with nappies, wipes, nappy sacks, a spare babygrow and a couple of mussies, that way you can just grab it and go rather than faffing about taking an hour to leave the house.

Don't get outfits that are complex to put on a baby who can't sit up, so for the first few months, avoid things that button down the back. Not worth the hassle.

BFing burns off a lot of calories, however when you stop bfing, remember that very day you have to cut your calorie intake - I learned that one the hard way, was back in pre-baby jeans at 5 months, stopped BFing, was a heffer within a month...

Have a thing to do every day. A friend to meet, a baby group to go to, a weighing clinic, a list of things you need to get from the shops etc. You need a reason to get up and out daily. It will stop you going slightly crazy.

smile and nod with health visitors, don't expect any of them to say anything useful.

Oops, it's being made into a book? Oh dear, sorry.

Small babies and strict routines are unlikely to be a good fit - it takes time to get to know your baby and their sleep patterns. At some point you will probably wake up and realise they've put themselves into a routine and it was actually relatively painless. Stressing over routines in the early days is pointless and detracts from the important stuff, like spending hours sniffing your scrumptious newborn's head.

If you're finding that visitors (relatives, friends, Prime Ministers and Presidents) are overwhelming/upsetting you and you just need some peace, don't be too polite to use the Royal Fuck Off.

Get on the July 2013 antenatal thread and then join us when we've all popped and go postnatal

Except cake, Fenton. Cake can't wait, not for the breast feeding mother,

There is nothing, NOTHING that cannot wait a bit or a lot longer while you have a good quality cuddle with your baby.

Your hair will be brushed eventually, the dinner can wait, the visitors will wait the country will wait. Just enjoy him.

Download a WhiteNoise app !!
Lifesaver.

"there are surely few experiences more levelling than that of giving birth and its immediate aftermath. No matter how much money you have, or how many attendants dancing errm attendance, at the end of the day, it's just you and your baby"...and the option of an army of nannies

Don't fret about your looks, weight, hair, anything, despite the media obsssion. All the mothers in the world will love you if you appear looking tired, drawn and with baby sick on your shoulder!

If you offer to help at mother & baby group you don't have to pay the 50p entrance fee - and you get extra biscuits!

9 months on, 9 months off, don't fret if you don't lose the baby weight straight away, celebs that do usually have major surgery help with diet and exercise.

Buy a swing/bouncy chair and a baby gym because at some point you will want to put the baby down.

Buy a sling if the baby won't be put down and you can get on with housework while still carrying the baby.

Please leave the royal foreskin intact.

Don't worry. You're doing a good job. It isn't about perfection, it's about loving your child.

If breastfeeding, get an app for your phone to remind you how long he fed for, when feeds are due & on what side etc. It's amazing how you can forget with everything else going on.

My top tip has to be
Stretchy wrap slings = sleep. They think they're back in the womb, it's like magic. Baby in stretchy wrap on dad = nap time for mum too!

all-that-is-interesting.com/queen-elizabeth-ii-serves-as-a-mechanic-during-world

Didn't know that Waffle, she has gone even higher in my estimation. She can fix the hair dryer when it breaks from overheating (and then empty the bin).

Whoops. Will I get beheaded for the bald comment?

I didn't know this thread was meant to a present!

Just seen about you making it into a book.

Mine aren't going to make the cut, are they?