We're now halfway and it's PMA all the way - Nov 2011

[cep]

Halfway there now ladies. on the countdown.

What matters to me most is the corporate responsibility and attitude of the company making the formula.
Aptamil is part of a big corp with advertising policies I'm not too fond of... Like Pampers...

(Puts political hat back in cupboard, under the soap box)

And can someone put links up so I know what a vest is? :D

We also had no optin with the milk - eventually! My son had a tongue tie and at first couldnt feed - I had been so determined to breast feed I hadnt even thought to get some formula in just in case and got a sound ticking off by the midwife. So the first few days, he had formila, and then 14 months of breast feeding cause once we did get the hang of it, he refused bottles too - which i must say, was sometimes kind of oppresive. We're going to try harder to get this one used to both, but hopefully with a store of expressed milk. Hopefully. We used aptimil though after a couple of tries of other things, that was the one he would take as a follow on milk.
WE also bought but never used a changing station. We used it the first few weeks but just found it was giving us back ache and was more awkward than the expanse of floor. Been floor all the way since. I did find that having a baby bath was quite handy though. We're not too fussy about getting our carpets wet, so we would have the bath in front of the gas fire when it was cold and he was tiny. Once he was sitting though, the bath seat was ace. Only lasted a few weeks before he worked out how to climb out though and now the child wont sit down in the bath for love nor money. He treats it like a paddling pool. Scratch mitts, I agree, curring the nails was hard and they were still tallon like and scratch mitts did come in handy, though the seperate ones were a waste of time. But yes, he lived in a vest with sleepsuit over for the first six months I reckon. I LOVE sleep suits, they are so cute. But I second the muslin point. We also seemed to find ourself going out again and again to buy more, we went through them like toilet paper.
I have to confess, we used baby wipes rather than cotton wool and water from the get go, together with nappy cream, and we've had really good skin almost always. He was probably nine months before we used anythign other than water on him when bathing him though. And we rarely bathe him more than two to three times a week. Although I did do baby massage with just a very light eating grade oil occassionally. But I also second that list being just not enough clothes. My god we got through some vests with those early nappy days! Oh lord I am so not ready to do this again. I had to get up and change my son at half one last night and I just thought "i cant do this every night for months! Its too horrible!" its only about six months we've had ANY nights without having to get up to him!

And Cali, a vest:
www.johnlewis.com/27383/Product.aspx

www.mothercare.com/Mothercare-Plain-White-Bodysuits-3pk/dp/B0011DYAH4?ie=UTF8&ref=sr_1_11&nodeId=42764041&sr=1-11&qid=1310070806&pf_rd_r=1P9JMDXEWN1NNWBHY39G&pf_rd_m=A2LBKNDJ2KZUGQ&pf_rd_t=301&pf_rd_i=0&pf_rd_p=231490887&pf_rd_s=center-7
well thats what I am referring to when I say vest anyway.

And also, Cali, I know what you mean about what brands of stuff you buy, but when thats all you can get them to drink.... Funny what gets re-shuffled with a child I've found. For me, anyway.

Cali We used Cow and Gate (now on cow milk - wooooooo). Maybe have a look at your nearest shop, see what they have in store and then research into their ethics. Not alot of choice to be picky (sorry, sounds blunt) with formula and trust me when your baby is screaming in hunger and you cannot feed them, then you will go for what is at hand, be it in the house or shop.

I had hoped to breastfeed but DD had problems with latching on to boob (don't have very sticky out nipples). I didn't even get to chose the formula as DH bought it whilst we were still in hospital. Said he spent ages just starting at the boxes as he had no idea (and nor did I!).

Bump Hmm, hadn't thought of that re pram suits. Have been looking at something like this

Just / Cali Re Vests, that's what I call body suits. There are three versions, no sleeves, short sleeves and long sleeves.

I'm picking up some HiPP then - that way DP doesn't have to do the 3 am panic buy.

That said - if my boobs grew this big, angry and sore without being able to feed Sprout, I -swear- I will get a reduction. I'm now up to a 38J.

I was always told one layer more than yourself, and snow suit when out in November is probably a good idea.

I'm actually googling and comparing the advise and opinions between Sweden and England - they're quite different on everything from clothing to birth to breastfeeding, which surprises me!

Hello all :) finally had 20 week scan (always feel so far behind you guys) and all measurements and organs were present and correct :) and we are 80% team pink :) finally feel like I can relax a bit now, wonder how long that will last?! Have an anterior placenta which would explain why I haven't felt anything yet... I did the whole have a cup of tea 30mins prior to appointment but we were 30mins late in and bean was asleep yet again haha!

Have to note as well on my scan photo's she does look like she's giving us the middle finger haha

Nobody has mentioned swaddling blankets - has anyone found swaddling useful in the early stages?

I have been asleep like a coma on sofa since 9pm!

Hey everyone, thanks for all being a chatty bunch. I've just been admitted to hospital again and I'm passing the time catching up on all the chat over last few days. Love the practical chat about clothes and milk and sharing of experience. Great for first timers like me!

Congrats on the scans and team yellows and team pinkish and pink. Is that the gender balanced a bit now?

X

And big thanks to caliphora love the flickr baby loot.

Hey ladies. Can't believe how quickly this thread moves. I am up in the middle of the night again. Thinking about work, so catching up with your posts is kind of therapeutic. I can't believe how out of tune I am with this pregnancy, I feel bad about it. Maybe when I am on holiday next week i can switch off work mode and focus more on baby thoughts.

Cali, can't Findus your swedish list, could you repost please? Mighty be useful for this Scandi baby. I was wondering if i should get soft wool vests the other day because Danes swear by them for regulating body temp but I guess babies are pretty hot little things. Pure wool vests did help with the constant colds when my daughter went to nursery at 10 months though. The most useful thing I bought was a Scandinavian papoose thing called a voksipose but that is because Danes leave their babies outside to sleep. Sounds barbaric but they sleep so well wrapped up in fresh air!

Just a little bad mum note. I havent really suffered from pregnancy forgetfulness or so i thought. But yesterday I was in a flap in the morning. No nappies, so had to 'improvise' and take dd to nursery with an arrangement of pantiliners and pads in her knickers which I whipped off before the 'pedagogues' could see and diss me. Then rushed off on my bike to work and sat in a creative meeting for an hour only to come out and realise I had toothpaste on my forehead since 7am! later that day, I totally forgot my pin code for my card which I use all the time.

Anyway, better try and get some kip in before work again. Have great days!

Hi tjuice, not just me Awake at silly-o-clock then! Your bad mum story made me smile:)

Also enjoying reading the lists, as a first timer it's really hard to figure out what is going to be useful.

Folic, hope you feel better soon x

Hi

Can I add my twopenneth to the list question.

We have never used a baby bath - we just all share the bath each night. I run it warm and I would get in first with baby - they seem to be totally happy skin to skin with mum and feel safe. I couldn't cope with the screaming that occurred when we gave ours a bath in a baby bath. Then when we get out the rest of the family gets in!! A lot of fun is had in our bath of an evening!

Also we never used a changing table - a changing mat on the floor seems way safer to me. I know several people whose babies left for only a second whilst they grabbed a nappy fell off with resulting guilt and panic (the babies were fine, the mums were traumatised)

Mine always lived in baby vests with baby gros and a big cosy suit if we were going out for at least the first three months. I really hate seeing babies in jeans and mini adult stuff at 3 months old apart from the fact that it is really tricky to get them into them - they always look so stiff and uncomfortable.

Luckily for me we have been given everything this time around - we have a moses basket full of cute little vests and the lady next door has knitted some lovely little cardigans.

Must go and get the kids to school - just noticed the time!

Have a good day everyone

Quick post before shower. Completely forgot stuff for mummy after birth!

Kotex black maternity pads were my favourite. They look quite scary but the extra padding was a god send for my bruised bits.

I also took Arnica tablets after birth. Helps with reducing bruising.

Folic Hope you are ok.

Pamsco Only swaddled in hospital. DD hated her arms being trapped, so hated sleeping like that. A couple of other NCT babies had to be swaddled otherwise they didn't sleep. Not sure if it has something to do with size as my DD was 8lbs 13oz and the NCT babies were 6lbs.

Forgot to say congrats to Team Yellow, Pinkish and Pink yesterday. Glad everything was ok for everyone.

Oh god, when we discovered swaddling! We came to it late, but it finally meant my son could get a bit of sleep without waking himself up with flailing, twitching little limbs all the time! We just used the same mothercare cellular blankets we'd been laying over him, and yes, he would over time wriggle his little hands up and out to affect his "never been fed, never been fed, never been fed" frantic self chewing posture which indicated it was time for the upteenth nightly feed, but it definitely helped. He was 8lb, er, oh my god, I've forgotten! Um. maybe 9oz? I cant believe I cant remember!
And yes, for mummy, giant maternity pads for sure! I had, well, some problems with healing I wont go into but the more expensive mothercare ones that had the nice smooth silky cover on them, not to put too fine a point on it, basically were better at not ripping the scabbing back off every time I pulled my knickers down than the standard ones. And breast pads - I tried a few and got on best with the johnson and johnson ones. On a slightly different end of bodily functioning, I also spent a few days eating slightly odd foods which I guess were quite restorative after four and a half days of contractions, but seemed odd at the time- things like angel delight. Lots of sugar, fat, protien and liquid I guess. I guzzled jelly babies and the odd dextrose tablet through labour. All about the sugar. Youknow, I had a horrible labour in a lot of ways - it was long and arduous and I felt really out of control for the last 24 hours, but I am actually dreading it so much less this time than I feared I would. I bizzarley feel like if it went much the same, I would be pretty happy with that, all I need to do is just stay calmer.
Folic, hope you're ok and can come home again soon.

Congrats on all the scan news - glad we've got some more pink ones.

Totally agree re cotton wool pads and integral scratch mits.

On emergency formula - I would recommend a carton of ready mixed - the rules around making up formula take some getting used to (eg boil kettle and wait 7 mins or something) - if its all going wrong having something mixed exactly correctly at room temp takes some of the stress out of the situation (you can also keep bottles swimming in milton so they're ready to go if needed)

On bottle vs breast I would recommend a introducing a bottle of expressed milk as soon as BF is established (4 ish weeks) once a day and stick with it every single day because of the freedom it will give you. Get OH to give it as late night feed (I would give feed around 7-8 and go to bed, DH would give bottle around 10-11 and put baby to bed) and I would get 3-4 hours sleep together. DD took bottle beautifully from 4-13 weeks, then DH was ill so I just gave her a BF instead and from then on she totally refused a bottle and I had to feed her til she was a year old and then we had about 4-6 weeks where we were spoon feeding her milk morning and night (often with a bit of cereal to trick her into taking it) until eventualy she accepted a cup. Not right for everyone but I preferred having the option of the bottle with DS rather than it always having to be me with DD (I even went out with some Mummy friends for dinner knowing DH could give DS a bottle)

morning ladies,

just that's what i call vests as well, long sleeve and no sleeve version and you can also obviously get the short sleeve version.

theres this for advice.

oh and we used aptamil as well as they had one that helped with wind, (can't remember what it's called now.)

folic i hope you're better soon.

i don't remember seeing any with integral mitts where do you get them from?

Folic really sorry to hear you're back in hospital - hope you're doing ok.

Breast pads I think are personal - I loved the lansinoh ones (and the nipple cream/ointment stuff) as they were really flat so didn't show too much through clothes.

My babies hated being swaddled but I know plenty who loved it so just experiment. Both mine slept with arms straight out which also meant that I quickly moved them into a cot so they wouldn't hit the sides and wake up.

Ladies with big boozookas - I found BF tops a nuisance - any where you basically were poking a boob through some sort of layering just looking ridiculous and completely drew attention to what I was doing - I found button through tops the best - could leave buttons at top done up and sneak baby underneath. It may sound daft but do and try some bf tops on now, and experiment with getting your boob through the supplied hole to see how much of a faff it is and what you look like when its done. I didn't do this, just bought some but it did provide DH and I a good laugh when I tried (thankfully at home!!) the first time. Don't think it would be such a prob if you're not massive!

Cep - you have to look for them as they just look like folded cuffs - I've just bought a bear suit from mothercare which has them (see pic on our FB page) but have definitely had from Next and John Lewis in the past. John Lewis sizes come up small though

Oh god yes swaddling was a godsend for us!!! We used the Mothercare white cotton one and DS needed it til 4 months :S and after that we transitioned to Peke Moes (google them they are a miracle) then he slept with just scratchsleeves on (he has mild eczema and they stop him waking himself up by scratching). We got a baby bath free from Freecycle and did like using it - but always used it in the big bath anyway. I couldn't have imagined trying to carry it full of water back to the sink to empty!
Oh and maternity knickers. I had a section and found those mesh looking monstrosities were the best at holding in pads without agonising your tum. Be warned that when they say they are a 10 they mean 10 prepregnancy unlike all your maternity sizing, v cruel so buy big! Huge apple catcher pants were a must too, so they didn't lie on the scar.
DS lived in vests and baby grows til a good 9 months or so. I hate tiny pairs of jeans and stuff, they've got the rest of their lives to wear all that. Christ if a baby can't wear a babygrow who can?

How are you doing Folic? I hope it's nothing serious. xxx

ooh happy birthday cep what are you up to today

Bath seat this is the one we got on really well with but I had tiny babies.

Cep just put photo of DD wearing suit with integral mits on FB page

poppet I got given loads of sexy mesh pants by the hospital after each of my sections