Sneeze births! We shall BROOK NO ARGUMENT about overcoming any issues in our way! (Part 11 - blimey!)

[ScrambledSmegs]

Welcome!

the baby has to stay put until we have an offer accepted on the lovely house! Then and only then can she arrive!

Omg good luck ninja! Keep us informed! :)

Good luck Ninja!! Could your week be any more exciting?!?!!

Cakes you should definitely ask your reusable nappies q over on the postgrad thread, a couple of the No Brookers over there will be able to tell you all about them!

Hi everyone. My busy weekend went well, though I'm still aching from the gym! I've arranged to go again tomorrow, so I'm hoping all the aches are gone by then.

I also want to use disposable nappies, but DH is unsure. I need to do some research and see some in real life I think, and also show them to DH. He's imagining old terry squares with strange folding techniques. The poor man can't even fold his washing without me undoing it and doing it all over again.

Posted that too early!! Also Good luck to Ninja and brooking for Tock and your scan.

Work is a bit busy today, I need to run out and get lunch so I can have 10 mins to eat it without meetings.

Just popping in for Ninja-based news and to say Whims your AIBU thread was hilarious!! I had no idea that you were such an awful parent!!!! Ha ha ha there are some really odd characters on MN - according to some, the most objectionable part of your post was your use of the word "mingle"!!!

Hope all you PSEPPs are well!

Good luck Ninja with the house offer, very exciting.... although a very brave time to be buying a new home :) fingers crossed it goes as easy as possible.

After catching up I looked up your thread too Whims wow, it got a bit crazy then I skipped to the end and it seems all was forgotten apart from like Imps says their hang up on the word "mingle". Barmy.

But it reminded me of a story about my oldest brother, my Mum was with him at the library and my brother decided he wanted to say hello to a man who was busy reading a newspaper (this is some 35 years ago now, oldest brother is almost 40) but this guy was not interested in being interrupted by a small child. Instead of saying anything the man just kept moving his paper to block my brother; until my brother somehow poked his head up between the paper and the man, then smiling brightly said "Hello!". By that stage I can imagine he thought it was a game :)

nutella I can totally imagine my ds doing the exact same thing. That must have been very funny to watch.
Take it easy stacks! I feel exhausted just reading your post. I hope you get your bite to eat in peace. Someone on the post grad thread (possibly musical?) got some sample packs of reusables I think?
imps there's nothing to see here, at least not yet. I reckon its at least a few days away yet, friday or saturday would suit me best

Ninja that is really exciting re house! Hope it all gets sorted (in principle at least) before DD pops out on the crest of a sneeze!

Tock that's great re your scan being tomorrow! I have my booking in on Wednesday and then hopefully the scan will be next week. I'm 11 weeks now and the nausea is starting to get slightly better. How are you feeling?

Nutella I loved that story re your brother! Nice to meet you. I'm from the TTC thread, but I have been mainly lurking here and not posting just til the 12 week scan is out of the way.

Re SIDS, yes it was me who did my dissertation on the subject, but I can't shed any light on the new pram vs new mattress argument. We had a second hand cot and moses for DD. I got a new mattress for the cot, but not for the moses, but it had a plastic covering so I disinfected it. Both came from family members. We had a second hand pram too. As a microbiologist (at least by training) my attitude would be to say it's unlikely that any bacteria would survive in an old mattress/pram anyway, so as long as they have been cleaned, it is probably safe. There are likely to be numerous causes of SIDS, some may be bacterial or viral, or due to overheating or suffocation so there are obviously some things that can be done such as making sure the baby doesn't get too hot, keeping him/her on his/her back (back to sleep) and with feet to foot so they can't get under the blankets and get too hot or suffocate. Also, things like not smoking near the baby and not co-sleeping if you or your partner has been smoking or drinking alcohol. All commonsense things that I'm sure we will all do/not do. Anyway, let's not dwell on this topic.

I can't wait for my booking in and most importantly finding out when the scan will be. I'm ready to tell people now I think, as I'm showing quite a bit and struggled to hide it yesterday at a big do! I'm sure a couple of people were prying for information, but I remained schtum!

Those of you with other DC, how did you tell them re your pregnancy? We have decided to tell DD after the scan, but she will be with us and may understand what's going on anyway, but I don't want her to feel worried about anything and obviously want to explain it in a way she will understand. She is 2.9 and knows about babies in peoples' tummies and baby brothers/sisters as other people have recently had babies, I just don't want her to be upset that it won't be just the three of us anymore!

generic brilliant news you got the booking in appt finally (and that you are starting to show, sqeeeee!!!!!!!!). Make sure you ask the mw re the scan date and chase it up though as eventually my hospital booked it with me on the phone!
As for telling your dd, we were out to dinner with the in laws and as they were staying for several days and would have noticed me not drinking so we decided to tell them just before the scan so we told ds at the same time. Really just along the lines of 'in the summer you are going to be a big brother. Would you like to come along and see the scan so you can see the tiny baby on tv?' and basically just reassured him he would be an awesome big brother. It helped that about a month previous he'd been watching nina and the neurons and someone on there had been shown having a scan.I'm guessing at nearly 3 she'd have a fairly good idea of whats going on even if she doesn't totally understand it?

Aw Ninja thanks! I'm kind of surprised DD hasn't guessed as she must have noticed my big tummy and has said things before about a baby in mummy's tummy. I don't want to say before the scan just in case, so we will probably tell her after, but I like the idea of focusing on her being a great big sister. Then we need to tell parents and in-laws - can't wait!

The one thing I will say is that poor ds doesn't really have a concept of time so 7 months of waiting seems like an eternity in his little life! Although he's now asking me if the baby will be here this week so at least he gets its very soon now whereas before I don't think he could actually place it in any kind of context. I'm excited for you, its so lovely when you can tell people

So happy for you Generic, how many weeks are you now? We kept it quite light with DS, just started by casually saying about the baby in my tummy and increasing the information gradually over time. We may have told him too early though (after 12 week scan) as every day then until DD arrived he kept asking if the baby was coming out now! Must've seemed like forever for him.

So excited for you now Ninja, you will tell us when you go into labour won't you? Great news re the offer on your flat, that didn't take long.

Right, I'm back. I was in a coffee shop before. Not only was the boy mingling, he also patted a dog. I'm waiting for the social workers now...

Gen we showed our boys a scan pic last time, and asked them if they knew what it was, where it was etc. When I say we, actually I mean I as my husband was in a coma at the time. Hopefully it will be we this time. I think waiting, if you can, at least until the 20 wk scan is useful as the baby looks more like a baby then, and secondly because it's such a long time for them. I think if you tell a little one you're having a baby soon, they think you mean at tea time.

Tock We had a P&T cocoon and a moses basket. The cocoons only really fit a baby in for a few weeks. We used to put it in the bed between us at night as DS3 just wouldn't settle in his moses basket, and I'm a bit terrified of co-sleeping with a very little one. Except one night we thought we'd lost him, and I eventually realised I'd 'missed' the pod and he was just on the far side by his dad. Ah, sleep deprivation. Happy days. They are a lovely thing though to be able to carry about, so you can park a push chair outside a baby group / coffee shop / other suitable / unsuitable environment, and just cart the baby in with you. I don't think we bothered with a mattress, but it was June / July, so pretty warm. They are quite padded.

ninja what excitement about your house! Hope it all goes well.

Loved the story about your brother too Nutella. Good job MN didn't exist then - your mum would have got a pasting!

Gah. I just wrote an essay about nappies and the blinking internet ate it. And now I don't have time. I will later tho, I promise!

I think I may do some nappy research tonight. I really like the money and environment saving of reusable nappies, but I'm going to have to sell them to DH and his family I think. As they are local they'll be helping with babysitting and are all very nervous of the idea of reusables.

Going to have a nice quiet night tonight, have plans to go to the gym again tomorrow, though I'm still aching. I think I might make a swimming plan for Thursday too..

Whims that really made me laugh, you're right! My Mum would (and never will, she still has her a parenting style all her own) have never met some strict MN standards being applied out there :)

But please do re-write the post about reusable nappies, I'm also interested but have no idea where to start... I think I will end up using a mix for convenience but I'd definitely like to give the washable ones a go.

x

Ok, I'll see if I can remember what I said about washables...

I suppose a key thing to consider is that you don't have to be completely dogmatic about it. We don't use them over night, for example, nor does DS have them at nursery. I have a good routine where he has reusables from Thurs am, when he is at home with me. I stick a wash on with nappies and the boys school clothes (and my husband's running kit) on friday evening, and another one of nappies and weekend clothes on Sunday evening. Then he's back in a disposable on sunday night for his 3 days at nursery.

We use flushable liners, but you can put them through the wash a couple of times if they're just wee-y. I tried washable liners, but baby poo slid off and toddler poo was too sticky and the sluicing (with the shower hose from the bath into the loo) was too much of a faff. That said though, when they were little, i did use a wet flannel for bottom wiping. But again, toddler poo is too yuck.

Also, and I suppose this is especially for stacks, you don't need to ask other people to do it. When they see you do it, they'll realise it's no harder than disposables, but until then, there's no shame in using a disposable when someone else is looking after the baby. Just remember, every time you use a reusable, you stop a disposable going to landfill, and you save yourself 30p, so even if you only do a couple of days a week, it's better than nothing.

Another thing to consider is that until you ween, and especially with a breast fed baby, poos tend to be quite explosive, so you're likely to be doing lots of poo washes (and sicky ones), so sticking some nappies in too isn't the end of the world.

So, in terms of the different sorts, there's a kind of sliding scale in terms of cost and alleged ease of use. To be honest though, none of them are that tricky. People wax lyrical about the fitted sort and the difference between them and the terry squares of our youth, but the real difference is with the pants. old fashioned nappy pants apparently never fitted very well and so were leaky, whereas the more modern sort are very good with elastic and different poppers / velcro to give different fittings.

That's actually another point to consider - the fact that you have 2 layers with reusables gives you a kind of belt and braces approach so that leakages are less frequent than you might expect.

So, terries. I've never used them, but friends have. They're not that tricky. You can get things called nappy nippers which keep them done up without scary pins. They're cheap. they dry quickly. They are handy to use for lots of different things (so to lie your baby on if you don't have a changing mat handy, or to go on the changing mat, to wipe up sick off the floor, or wash the dog). You'll also always be able to improvise with a tea towel if you're caught short. Just don't tell the owner of the tea towel.

Pre folds are the next step up. They are smaller than terries, but padded in strategic places so you fold them differently for girls and boys. You do less folding than with terries, but similarly they are quite versatile and dry quickly. This is a serious consideration, as tumbling them is a bit counter productive for the old environment (although we stick ours in to start them off in spring and autumn when it's too cold/ wet (oh, that could be summer too) to dry outside, but the heating isn't on.)

Bambino Mio is a brand of pre folds.

With pre folds and terries you need to buy new 3 or maybe 4 sizes as your child grows, so the economy isn't all that. And you still need the pants, which also come in different sizes. The pants are not an area to economise on!

Shaped ones coming up next!

Are you still following me?

So the next up in terms of price are shaped ones. These often come in 'birth to potty' sets, or are sold as birth to potty types. some are more shaped than others. The most shaped, with elastic at waist and leg i didn't get on with that well, as they were very bulky and took forever to dry. Motherease would be an example of this sort.

The sort I liked best are called One Life. They're a UK company, I think made in Cornwall, and I don't think are organic, which keeps the unit cost down a bit. They aren't elasticated, so dry flat quicker than some other ones. They also come with a pad (as many do) so that when your baby is little they are a bit less bulky.

This sort aren't entirely suitable from birth to potty, as a very small newborn would be swamped by them, and a big toddler wouldn't really fit in them. I think we probably used them from about 12 or 15 pounds, and my two year old still fits them - just. But I've no idea if he's big or not. I imagine he's pretty average.

But there's no shame in using disposables with a new baby anyway! I actually used little shaped ones (that don't seem to be made anymore) for the first few weeks. But I'm a bit obsessive - if you can't tell.

The most expensive in terms of unit cost (although you don't need pants) are all in ones. I think Tots Bots are a brand of this sort. I didn't get on with these at all. They took forever to dry so you need a gazillion. For example, if you use 6 a day and wash every other day, you need at least 12. But if they then take 2 days to dry, you need 24 if you see what i mean. False economy. Also, you don't get the 'belt and braces' aspect of the two layers of nappy and pants.

With separate pants, you only need 3 or 4 pairs with maybe 12 or 15 nappies as they don't need washing so often. If they get a bit of poo on, you can often get away with a swipe of a wet wipe rather than changing them altogether.

Right, I think that's about it. Any questions? As you can tell, I'm something of an enthusiast. I've used reusables since day one really, and did a stint as a board member for a nappy company. I also had 6 months with 2 in nappies, and I've used loads of different sorts for various reasons. And actually, nearly all my friends have. Most of us are a bit lefty, but not massively so. We're all just normal people really.

Thanks Whims that's great. Very easy digestible information ;)

Speaking of digestion when's my heartburn going to bugger off?

Wow whims thanks for that!

each to their own whims but after reading your posts, i am glad we are using disposables. It sounds just as much faff as i imagined, we have enough washing as it is without worrying about washing nappies. I bulk buy our nappies whenever there is a good deal on, DS is nearly 20 months and we've only actually bought 2 lots of nappies, the first lot were £9 per MEGA box and the second lot (due to a supermarket pricing cock up :) ) worked out at £7 per MEGA box...contents of boxes vary dependant on nappy size but i think the most we've paid per nappy is 7.3p....and the loft is full of boxes ready for DS2, and shouldn't need to buy many for DS1, just depends on what age he potty trains. In my mind, it worked out cheaper for us to do this than to buy reusables, plus washing powder, water and electricity to run the washing machine, and invariably electricity for the tumble drier. We do recycle, and grow our own veg and have chickens, so figure we are doing good stuff re the environment in other ways...but as DS ended up with reflux, i am very glad we used disposables, as i had enough washing to cope with, without worrying about running out of nappies etc...