To ask about newborns...

[notsureifimbeingur]

I'm due to have a baby in November, and I wondered if anyone has advice of things to buy that were an absolute must have when you were giving birth/ settling into life with a baby at home?

Perhaps things that I wouldn't initially think of, but couldn't live without, and would then have to make a trip out to buy them.
I like to be as organised as possible!

(Sorry, I know this isn't strictly AIBU, but posting for traffic!)

Thank you!

Granny pants

Just a little tip. Don't get hung up on 'enjoying every minute'. You won't. You'll then feel guilty that you should be, etc etc etc. A vicious cycle. Yes, it goes quickly, but some days feel like a year. That's ok. That's normal.

Agree with this. Really hated the advice to 'enjoy every minute' it made me feel terrible! It's perfectly normal not to enjoy many minutes of it, especially at first.

Also a jug for bathroom ( if you have a tear it doesn't sting as much when you wee if you poor warm water at same time ). Also lavender oil ( for healing poor lady bits post birth )

Baby sleeping bag. So much easier than faffing around with blankets.
Tena lady pants as mentioned above.
A good travel mug.
Changing table. We had one that sat over the end of DS's cot not that he was ever bloody in it
I wish we'd got a side sleeper cot. They sound amazing (see above).

Another shameless place marker with a November due date. I have Prime, I have Netflix and I have a kindle. I don't have anything else yet, but I'm sure it will be fine

Thermos mug - I don't think I drank a cup of tea or coffee in one sitting for the first year.

A v-shaped pillow was essential for breastfeeding with mega-norks. I needed one arm to support the baby and the other hand to keep my boob from stifling her!

A baby gym with sides, so I could put her down safely while nipping to the loo/making a cup of tea.

Placemarking for December baby!

A 3m long charging cable. When I was stuck feeding for hours and hours not running out of power on my phone was a godsend

Lansinoh by the bucket load of pure breastfeeding. You can get it on prescription in advance if you're hard up as it's not cheap

Food you can eat with one hand. A stretchy sling. A nightlight. Kindle. Snacks. Big bottle of water with you everywhere. And if you have one - a partner who is prepared to look after you day and night no matter the time or how tired

With DD2 I had a gel pad you put in the freezer and then (with a disposable liner) in your pants. It was amazing. No disco.fort from episiotomy and it had healed in weeks rather than then months it had taken with DD1. Would highly recommend.

Nipple cream was also a godsend.

Nice loungewear in much bigger sizes than you think you'll need. I had a minor breakdown when my old pjs and slobby clothes were, and still are, tight post-birth (I put on a lot of weight whilst pregnant) you'll already feel a bit wanky anyway, but at least if you've got some nicer bits which aren't skintight and uncomfortable you'll feel a bit better

Stuff I found really useful for baby:

-babygrows in kimono/wrap style (so nothing to pull over very reluctant little heads) - don't get a lot in small sizes, they grow quickly.
-muslin cloths - get many and then some; to be used as towels, wipes, shading them, covering when breastfeeding in public etc.
-sleepgowns - take the ones that basically look like a long nightgown (they do go over the head, but they are open at the bottom - very very useful when changing a nappy in the middle of the night; sleepsuits have too many poppers); but they are harder to find. John Lewis had them. They last a long time as they fit a range of sizes.
-my first loved a swaddling wrap to sleep in when tiny, my second one not so much.
-a sleeping bag. By far the easiest; they cannot kick off blankets, or get their heads underneath covers.
-a terry cloth bath support seat - because they soak up the water, they are much warmer for them than the plastic seats.
-a changing mat (don't bother with covers for them- all you will do is wash them every 5 minutes; just put a muslin over the top end so head/body is comfortable, and bum is on the wipeable plastic).
-a baby carrier/wrap.
Don't spend money on early day baby clothes; they basically live in their PJs! Don't get special baby-furniture either besides a bed - outgrown quickly and weird sizes. Special changing tables, special nappy bags, forget them. Toys: utterly not interested until after a few months.

Freezer full of chuck-it-in-the-oven-shove-in-face meals.
A million million muslins
Make sure you've got plenty of washing powder in - Napisan is also really good stuff for getting spit-up and poo out of everything (and doesn't set even my dodgy eczema-prone skin off).
Lansinoh - godsend.
Dummies - even if you think you'll never use them. I thought this, but someone gave some as a gift. I never knew how loudly a tiny baby could snore - one noisy night we just snapped and let her have a dummy and suddenly all was quiet and we could actually finally sleep

Arnica tablets. Start taking as per recommended dose when you know you are in labour and keep taking for a few days after birth. Will really help with any bruising etc and help healing.

A little bag preferably with a cross body strap that's big enough so fit a few breast / maternity pads, lip balm, nipple cream, said arnica tablets and a bag of cashew nuts (unsalted, great for snacking). That way you can keep everything together and easily move from room to room with your essentials or just say to partner / visitor can you fetch the little 'red' bag for me.

A newborn grobag, so much easier than trying to work out blankets and if you've folded it twice does that count as 2 blankets 🤷‍♀️?

Totally agree with amazon prime!

Baby sleeping bags, and for the first few weeks my second one lived in something like this: www.jojomamanbebe.co.uk/woombie-original-baby-swaddle-d4060.html for sleeps-really helped him settle

Big pants for you!

Lots and lots of muslins

Get a sterilizer, bottles and a couple of cartons of ready made formula even if you are planning to breastfeed. With my first DC I refused to have formula in the house- when she desperately needed topping up it was not fun having to go out and get it. Obviously some will disagree with this!

**

To the poster who mentioned about boobs getting too big for the baby to feed....this might be a random question, and not necessarily linked to original question! So if I have VERY big boobs (HH/possibly even a J!) to begin with, and they get larger with milk, then will that hinder my baby from feeding? Basically I'm asking if there's such a thing as boobs that are too big to breast feed?? smile

Really good question!! There's no such thing BUT it might be that you need to sort of cup your breast using your hand a bit in the early weeks - basically sort of form it into a more easy shape for baby to latch onto. If you'd like to breastfeed, have a look n see if there's a charity in your area that will come n help you in early days. You can also YouTube it - sounds weird but sometimes you really need to SEE what a good latch looks like and if you're like me you won't have seen it in real life before! The awful sounding website 'Kelly mom' has amazing advice and it's actually well-researched and clever - it just sounds bad!

There's a definite knack to breastfeeding so I think that could be a cool thing to prepare if you are interested. Unfortunately the midwives at hospital are often not v experienced in this so own research is v helpful!

It's a lovely time! Hope you enjoy You sound like you're already prepared and Im sure all these little things will really help when baby arrives!

Another vote for: my brest friend breastfeeding cushion. It's been the best purchase I've ever made.

+1 sling/wrap. This saved us with our premi during the first few months

Waitrose do a divine solid coconut butter (in the baby range)...use it for massage,dry spots,cradle cap,stretch marks,anything actually!

Some great advice already. I also found the following to be really useful:

Angelcare bath seat
Bath thermometer

Thermometer which shows the highest and lowest temperatures reached. This helped me work out which tog grobag to use to ensure he was warm enough at the coolest part of the night iyswim.

Rocking chair- we got a gliding one. At the baby show I saw one and loved it but it was quite expensive. Dh found one through tesco direct which was much cheaper. It had been a godsend for rocking baby to sleep whilst seated and comfy. I still use it daily and ds is 5 months now.

Should probably say I'm not a breastfeeding expert - I'm just a mum! This link might be helpful! www.breastfeedingbasics.com/articles/nursing-tips-for-the-large-breasted-woman

Boobs too big to breastfeed question - generally the answer is no. The issue comes when your milk comes in and for some people (regardless of starting boob size) their breasts get very hard at this stage. When they're hard (as rocks) a baby might struggle to latch. It's not related to size as such - a pair of A cups can get too hard for a baby to latch onto too. If this becomes an issue at all then normally a little bit of hand expressing before feeding solves the problem, and the hardness/swollen boob feeling will go down within a few days

HI
I just wanted to second the lansinoh nipple cream. Its the best thing ever, I was in a lot of pain with my DC1 and discovered this around 2 weeks and it solved all my problems! I used it with DC2 from day one and was never in pain.

Also some snacks and drinks for hospital bag for both you and your partner.I did use cotton wool and water at first so if you want to do this get cotton wool buds and some kind of container for water which can be portable. I had a little tub upstairs and downstairs at home and one for my changing bag.

Hope it all goes well for you. I had DC3 due in September and nothing is ready yet( oh dear)

Another vote for Amazon Prime! Well worth the money.
Loads and loads of muslins.
A good tumble dryer.
A close caboo carrier.
Breast pads
Lansinoh
A sleepyhead - I so wish we'd got one of them.

Fennel tea, a sling, nipple shields and a good box set. You might find you need less than you think, I think there are lots of gimmicks out there IMHO and everyone's experience is very different.

One woman's 'must have' will be another's 'meh...'

Congrats xx

Boobs can't be too big to feed but nipples can. As we know they come in all shapes and sizes and if you have particularly large nipples it can be a reason why some babies have a poor latch at first.
Boobs that are really engorged (very hard and shiney) can make it difficult too, so when your milk comes in 2/3 (sometimes 4) days post delivery, if they seem particularly rock hard, try expressing a little first to soften them up a bit.

If you have large nipples, inverted or flat it doesn't mean you can't breast feed but I'd really recommend finding your local breastfeeding support group (ask your HV / midwife) and go along just before baby is born to meet the other mums and then go as soon after birth as you can.
Getting as much support early on (within days of birth) will really help with breastfeeding success.

Babies don't feed constantly, they feed regularly. The former could indicate tongue tie and the sooner it's identified and rectified the better

Aren't cotton wool buds what you use for ears? Don't use them on your baby's bum (or ears for that matter!) 😂