to be a little bit terrified that I am having a baby in 3 days and no idea what to do with one?

[Aworryingtrend]

We are expecting DC1 on Tuesday and are beside ourselves with excitement..and fear! None of our friends have babies, there are none in the family so I have no frame of reference whatsoever. I am spending nights lying awake with my head full of what are probably very stupid questions:

1. Should I take a cuddly toy for the baby to the hospital? Im thinking its not like it will be able to play with it- or will s/he? I have no idea.
2. when im on my own with the baby in the house, if I need a wee do I take the baby with me?!

There are loads more daft questions im sure but I cant think of any more right now-baby brain.
Argh!

1. If you want to. Baby won't care. I didn't bother as have hatred of cuddly toys.
2. Up to you. I hated leaving my babies unless someone else was cuddling them. They don't explode if left alone somewhere safe for a minute though.

1. Most newborn babies have no interest in cuddly toys.
2. It's fine to leave the baby somewhere safe, such as a cot, moses basket etc while you have a wee.

1. You don't have to take a cuddly toy. Every tom, dick and harry will buy you one and you will be cursing the things in 6 months time.

1. I didn't take my DC's to the toilet with me. The human race didn't get this far by babies not being able to survive a few minutes on their own.

Don't panic, just rest after the baby arrives and bombard MN with questions.

Awwwwwwww! Sorry, that's very patronising, I know but still...awwwwww! You sound so excited. Congratulations!

Baby won't care about cuddly toys - you just need clothes, nappies etc and stuff for you. Is your bag packed?

Ah - the great wee conundrum. You leave baby in the moses basket/crib whatever and run like Bolt to the loo. It's absolutely guaranteed that the wailing will start up mid-flow, but you can't really take him/her with you.

:)

I'm sure you will be fine

In answer to your questions

1. a little teddy is nice so you can take a pic with baby and compare how small the teddy seems in a few years compared to how huge now. Baby won't play with I though and shouldn't have a teddy close to face anyway due to suffocation risks blah blah

2. when you need a wee or anything else away from baby as long they are in a safe place ( ie not on edge of a sofa/ bed, and on floor/ bouncy chair/ cot instead), the. You can leave them fine. They may cry if unsettled but only a few mins and thy are safe

You can always take baby into bathroom in a bouncy chair when you shower/ bath to keep an eye on them if they are awake

Enjoy

Fear not! I was exactly the same as you before my DD. She's just over a year now, so so far so good.

To answer your questions, I didn't bring a toy for the baby to the hospital. Quite a lot of the other Mums had, or got one as a gift. The baby will not really be able to play with it.

When I needed a wee, I just usually left her in her moses basket. She was fine. (I asked my mum if it was ok the day after I got home from hospital!)

Do you have anyone who will come round to give you a hand?

1 - don't waste your time. The baby is going to eat, sleep, cry and shit and that's the extent of it for a fair few weeks
2 - nope. you can if you want, but you don't have to. If you've got a cat, don't leave the baby alone cos cats have a habit of sitting on warm things - like babies! but if not, then the baby will be fine in the basket or cot.

I know exactly what you mean. When I had my first, I just looked at him, thinking what the HELL do I do with this?

I remember thinking who on earth was so stupid that they let us walk out of the hospital with this tiny little scrap!

Ask your questions. Nobody is going to laugh at you.

Congratulations!

The baby won't be interested in toys for the first few weeks but if you want to have a cuddly toy at the hospital then that's fine! Lots of people have comfort toys for their dc, my eldest got a toy that became her favourite when she was about 6months and she loves looking at pictures of her and her monkey when she was a baby so it might be nice to have photos of dc with a cuddly toy that could well become his/her favourite.

Whether you take the baby to the bathroom with you really depends on what kind of baby you get some will quite happily sit in a bouncy chair or sleep all day so you can pee in peace and others will scream their pretty little heads off if you so much as dare to put them down so you might want to master going to the toilet with one hand if you get one of them (although there is nothing wrong with letting the baby cry while you nip to the toilet, you just might not want to do it every time!).

But you'll be an expert on your baby very very soon

Thank you thats brilliant, and backed up my instincts so maybe I just need to trust them a bit more. I will definitely be on here asking questions constantly im sure when baby is here!

Hahahahaha I remember this! If it's any comfort to you I've had mine for a year and half now and I still have no fucking clue what I'm doing.

1. Yes, take one if you like, sleep with it the night before so it smells of you and tuck it into their crib. They won't give a fiddler's fart that it's there but it'll look cute in the photos.
2. No. Enjoy the time you have to go to the toilet without an audience. It doesn't last long and soon you'll have some cheeky faced gremlin poking their head through the door or sitting in your knickers laughing about your 'furry bum'

Also, remember that babies are really, really boring. I half killed myself during the first few months, laying on the floor next to DS in his gym telling him to 'push the monkey, can you see the monkey?'. Now he never stops. Take advantage of any peace you can get, rest, be kind to yourself.

Congrats!

Yes DH has 2 weeks paternity leave, Im just thinking ahead to the scary 'its you and me kid' days afterwards! The bag has been packed since 32 weeks but I saw a photo on facebook of a newborn the other day who had a toy in the moses baslet and it made me wonder.

Have you tried strapping the car seat in yet? Don't wait until you leave the hospital on a rainy winters day .

"Should I take a cuddly toy for the baby to the hospital?"

no, save your money, let someone else buy it, there will be dozens of them in the next week or so, I guarantee it..

"when im on my own with the baby in the house, if I need a wee do I take the baby with me?!"

:) the baby cant go anywhere if he/she is in a cot/babyseat... and will be absolutely fine for the few minutes it takes to go to the loo!!

We had to get a porter to strap ours in I still don't know how to do it

What an exciting time for you

Before I had DS1, I had barely ever held a baby (I did have 3 nephews/nieces but I wasn't a very 'hands-on' aunty as babies scared the sh*t out of me ). I am also not a particularly maternal kind of person either so not a great start to having children

However, it is amazing how natural it quickly becomes when it is your own baby (still scary though for a few days...I remember once we were discharged from hospital, we walked in the house with DS1 in a carseat, we put him on the lounge floor, still in the carseat and thinking what the hell are we supposed to do with him now!).

Anyway, in answer to your questions:

1. you don't need to take a teddy with you but it does make the hospital cot look less clinical and makes the photos more interesting. I didn't take one but DH bought a soft cuddly monkey on his way to visit the day after DS1 was born and DS1 still has it now on his bed 6 years later so from a sentimental point of view, it may be worth it.

2. Yes, just leave the baby somewhere safe (moses basket, cot, playgym, floor) and go to the toilet.

Good luck and, trust me, it will soon be second nature

Meglet that is so true, we started it at 8pm last night thinking 'this will take 5 minutes'...an hour and several cross words later...!

I hate teddies, got 5 black bags of the things in the attic. So no teddies IMO

I never because I lived in a bungalow so there was no need

Make the most of going for a wee by yourself while you can! Once they get mobile and won't stay in the lovely safe place you've put them, then you'll be peeing with an audience for many years to come!

Congratulations and you will be absolutely fine, just relax and make it up as you go along x

i had a baby 10 months ago and i still don't know what to do with her!

the first few weeks, all you need is several million nappies, Vests, babygrows, wipes, food, blankets, muslin squares for the baby
and food, chocolate, drink, tea, sandwiches, massive sanitary pads, tissues for you.

you don't need to take the baby to the toilet - lay it in the moses basket and go for it.
(mine did cry every time i wasn't holding her, but you can't do both and she only cried because suddenly she wasn't next to body heat) and believe me, weeing and cleaning up (no wiping in the first few days at least) you cannot do with a baby!

"Once they get mobile and won't stay in the lovely safe place you've put them, then you'll be peeing with an audience for many years to come!"

Nope.. that is why playpens were invented..

I never once in my life had to see either of my parents on the loo apart from my mother when we were out shopping and I was too small to wait outside the cubicle..

oh, do not let the bounty photographer put a cuddly toy of her/his own i nthe photo - we didn't have cuddly toy and i didn't care at the time, but the only decent photo they took was of her with a totally random toy, and I really wanted to buy the photo but when I was sane again, I cursed that bloody stupid random toy.

Take about twice the number of babygro's/vests you think you'll need, but I wouldn't worry about cuddly toys - you'll probably be inundated with them.

I had no idea whatsoever about babies when I had my DD. She turned 8 last month and is still in one piece. It's a huge culture shock, but you'll be fine.

Good luck!

oh! car seats!!!

I let DH choose ours because the trip to hospital was unexpected. he chose one that's "supposed" to be from birth, but in reality it's a 9month plus.
he strapped in properly according to the instructions, but due to the incline of the seat, the fully reclined position meant she was still hanging down from it.
cue a mos distressing journey home (after half an hour of tryingto get the bloody seat to go further back)
get one that looks like a basket. seriously, it's the only way (and you can carry the baby too)

You'll get the hang..I was the same..I Put DD's nappy on backwards and the nurse said 'oh I bet that was Daddy'

Just to say I wouldn't put anything in bed with a small baby - not a pillow, toy or anything else, just because if they get their head buried in it they don't have the strength to lift themselves off, or move the object so it can be a danger. Just put them in the cot/basket on their own. Have you bought grobags? They're fab for putting a baby down to sleep in, they're like little sleeping bags. That way you don't even have to worry about blankets.

Agreed about needing several million changes of clothes. The amount of gunk that perpetually oozes from a newborn is quite incredible.