no idea where to put this so...

[peanutMD]

lovely friend has just given birth to her 1st baby and the rest of our group of friends are rallying out and buying clothes and soft toy type gifts which are pointless in my opinion as she has spent a fortune on these things already.

I had mentioned that I was going to give her a jar of Starbucks coffee (her favourite and she has resisted since being PG) and a voucher to create a photo book if you can get such a thing.

But apparently this is a boring useless gift, would you say so?

My thinking is that when I had DS my one regret is taking photos, with my digital camera or phone and differing to get then on paper then inevitably phones get broken and precious photos get lost :( so I would appreciate being able to build a nice album over time at my own pace.

Well I wouldn't really like this gift I'm afraid. Sorry to go against everyone else. But I wouldn't say no to a nice Starbucks mug even though I am boycotting them at the moment!

peanut! If you can get a decaff version of her SB favourite, do that - or even both versions?

Alternatively, a little hamper of all the banned foods - brie, soft goats cheese, deli meats, nice bubbly, pate...

MummytoMog, i have about 6 pram blankets! Funny how these things go

Vivienne, i don't drink sb and would hate yet another mug cluttering up my overstuffed cupboard! However, I'm getting a lot of use from my insulated mug at the moment - less likely to spill all over a feeding baby plus mybtea stays warm for aaaaaaaages when i get sidetracked by burping/changing. So there's another thought...

Nickel, you're right - clothes only works if you know the birth weight. My 6lber will need nb for ages, my mate's 11lber skipped 0-3 completely

Completely off-topic, i absolutely love my stretchy wrap sling, instant calm for ds and i can get on with things. Moby us a good brand (available on Amazon) or a WAHM called Victoria Slinglady on ebay/fb [fsmike]

They sound like great presents! As others have said, it's really nice to get something for the mum. One of my loveliest presents (from a friend who had a baby about a year before me, and therefore knew what the first few weeks would be like) was a parcel of hot cross buns, Nakd/Eat Natural bars and other nice food which could be eaten one-handed (i.e. while holding a baby who refused to be put down). What a wise lady!

You can't drink coffee when breastfeeding? Right.

Peanut, I think your gift is perfect. I LOVED a hot cup of sweet coffee every cold evening after DS and dd were born (both winter babies and breastfed). It warmed me up nicely.

The photo album I would have been absolutely delighted with if someone had given that as a gift to me. I had a black leather bound one for dd and it took us 6 months to find one similar for DS. With the albums I found I HAD to print off pictures to fill it.

Honestly, your friends are thick and rude.

i'm sure you can drink coffee while BFing.

yes but don't overdo it

I drink 1 cup of coffee still in the morning and I EBF? Small amount of caffiene is absolutely fine.

I would be chuffed that you'd thought of getting me something as well, you sound like a very thoughtful and kind friend. I remember feeling like that woman who had done her job popping out the baby and now she's boring, the baby is far more interesting.. sorta thing after my DC. It was awful, I didn't even get flowers or a balloon So its nice you are thinking of her too.

Baby present sounds nice although it could end up being one that gets stuffed away 'to fill when we have time' but gets forgotten about iyswim? I only say this because I have a photo frame to fill in from when DC1 was born still I think you can never go wrong with getting clothes in bigger sizes, always helpful. Oh but make sure you think of the season when doing it! We got bought tons of 3-6 stuff but all was Summer stuff and she was in that size September-December time so not really appropriate and didn't get used.

I had the opposite problem to pidj as well. Dc1&3 never had a hope in hell of fitting in nb (both were 10lbs+) and dc2 only fit in it for 2-3 weeks. I needed 0-3!

Decaf coffee tastes same to me. How about hot chocolate?