May 2013 - we've seen our babies and our trousers are tighter as we enter the second trimester!

[SevenElvesAndAReindeer]

Shiny new thread. Come and grab a and a .

I preferred manual I found the electric ones uncomfortable but everyone's different.I had a Tommee Tippee one and Avent.Again preferred the Tommee one

Hi all, Happy New Year! This is my first time posting on this thread... I am now 21 weeks + 4, due May 11th and am getting very excited as all becoming so much more real. I can feel the little bub kicking and tumbling away now so often! Unfortunately DH cannot feel anything yet from outside my stomach, much to his frustration!

I was wondering a couple things - if anyone has any experience:

1. When do we need to start looking for nursery / child minder / nanny? I will have to go back to work in early October (so after only about 5 months) and am not quite sure when i need to start searching for the child care options.

1. Has anyone figured out the buggy / pushchair system they are planning to get ? and can they make any recommendations?

I am going for a follow-up scan on Friday as our little one had a very small head measurement at our 20 wk scan a few weeks ago :-( Crossing all fingers and hoping all will be well (and preventing myself from googling!)

Hope everyone's first week to 2013 has started well...

x

Afternoon-

Beaut- great list. Only few things I would add-

Baby gym- DS spend hours in his- one with music- tho granted annoying after a while!

I Wud use a bath thermometer- first time parents are nervous about getting the temp right.

I'd also buy a good battery ear thermometer for when they are poorly- its amazing how quickly little ones get their first bug!

A cot sheet for swaddling the baby to sleep - newborns aren't supposed to use sleeping bags( unless they unusually large - its weight/ age advised ) and also tend to like being snuggly wrapped in vvv early days as that's what they are used to. Sleeping bags are the best invention gbl- my nearly 3 yr old still loves them- tho that's unusual!

Did u have monitor in there? We have an Phillips Avent that plays lullabies, has a night light and room temp- all very useful.

I also swore by a book( she who is not allowed to be mentioned!). Im nott an army major ;-) but I do like routine of sorts- my DS has always slept well and eaten well and I just found the theories around rough times of day to feed/sleep and amounts was a useful guideline- with a caveat of not being obsessed!

We bought and still have a silver cross linear pram ( I think ) not expensive at all and fine for what we needed. I'm sure prams for 800 quid are lovely but I would have found if a waste of money- in a mclaren as soon as big enough- far easier! Can also get Macarens now from birth so if u don't covert prams that would be the best financial solution!

We have our scan next week- dont plan on finding out and don't need to buy much- a Moses basket/ baby gym and second monitor!

beaut why did you hate the avent steriliser? I did some reading of reviews the other night and figured that the "Philips AVENT 3 In 1 Electric Baby Steam Steriliser" might be the best one to get - but perhaps I am wrong? I haven't bought it yet so if there's a better one let me know!

Roast- we have that from last time and found it fine. We will be using again as and when we use bottles

Roast it was just a pain with the lime scale I dried it thoroughly between uses and got sick of descaling it.I put it on eBay in end and had a Tommee Tippee one which I had no problems with at all.Ive gone for a Nuby one this time as lots of my mummy friends use the make and have recommended it

To all those who plan to breast feed- please have a back up plan. I fully intended to and found it really hard- we were very stressed as our DS was readmitted after a few days - unnecessarily it later transpired- I'm sure the stress impacted upon supply and the paediatric consultant insisted he was put on bottles despite our plans. All I'm saying is best laid plans and all that....

I also have one piece of advice- someone WATCH your baby bein weighed and check its right. I was in the operating theatre and didn't see it.... My DH culd have walked ver but we didnt realise the importance and presumed they would get it right! They wrote it down massively wrong which had huge implications ( even now in subsequent pregnancies they ask previous baby weights and we can't say as they don't believe me! ). We discovered the mistake 7 weeks later when a photo taken by the theatre staff on our camera gave the game away as to why our DS had lost so much weight ( cos he simply had never weighed the extra pound! ) weeks in and out of hospital cld have been simply avoided!

10 that's what I've been looking at there £65 on kiddicare lol only a few pound but every little helps ha xx

scooby I too loved the book that shall not be named although am a realist it will be more tricky when juggling it with an older child ... Apparently slightly flexed it still works.

Also re bottles I can really recommend Tommee Tippee anti colic bottles - we may have been lucky but DD used them and never suffered.

Hi, I am end of May so scan not til next Friday.. So excited! Will find out if boy or girl and so will let you know! Back to work today and spent the whole day worrying as didn't feel any movement and I had been getting lots. Lay on bed when I got home and kick kick all fine! Couldn't concentrate at all today.. Think I need to chill!

Sisi Is this your first? I have felt erratic movements with this one.I have days of feeling lots and then nothing for a while.

I have felt loads of kicks and movements since Christmas Eve. I think it's all the chocolate and rubbish Ive eaten as it always happens a while after eating

hey everyone! Love the shopping lists :) I need a new steriliser and some bottles (I used tommee tippee back to nature and they were fab) and a new breast pump but it isn't recommended if you are BFing to express until you are over 6 weeks and supply has sorted itself so will buy these things as and when... ho hum.

I have all DSs old clothes but they are in storage so won't be able to see what I have until I move in feb! I want to see! There is the cutest boutique style shop up the road tho that sells horrobly expensive babygrows and I am going to get one for MY baby instead of cooing over them and getting them for friends' babies :) can't wait, will seem so real then!

beaver bless but that info is a tad out of date Now people (tho not enough tbh) know that boobs don't run out of milk but you will get hungry if you are feeding often as it will use lots of calories (400 a day in the first few months!). MY DS was SUCH a boobmonster, it was hard going actually but worth it to see the fat on him! Also, rather than being helpful for your supply, if you FF instead of BF for some feeds this can negatively affect supply as the demand is not there so the milk goes down, especially at nighttime as night feeding is the most important time for the hormone prolactin to be stimulated, which promotes supply. However, I know some ladies on this board successfully mix-fed and will be able to advise you on this much better than I :) I hope that helps.

If anyone fancies a decent BF book I read 'so that's what they're for!' and it was a total godsend!

Am busy crocheting my son a really crap blanket poor mite.

Wilde I breast and bottle fed. I also used a breast pump from straight away as I produce so much the midwifes were shocked and told me to express regularly. I didn't last long at all. Having read what you have put maybe I did it all wrong.

Hi, beauticiannotnmagician... Actually it is my second but my daughter is 11!!..so I don't remember much about first pregnancy, don't remember worrying so much, but obviously I was much younger. Good to hear others have active days and quiet days.

Sisi No real reason I asked if was your first other than I'm nosy
Wow 11 years, I have a 7 year age gap between ds2 and this one and I've about forgot everything.At least being the same sex again the one thing I do remember is to change boy nappies at super speed to avoid getting a face full of wee

Haha...I have a girl and so a boy would definitely be a whole new world!! I did follow the book with no name with my first 11 years ago, still have it and will do it again.... With the note of caution others mention... A great guide but not to take too literally as can eat quite stressful.

beaut I have no idea about your personal experience and it is advised if you have a strong let-down (spurting milk and freaking the bubs out!) then you express by hand a wee bit, or sit with a muslin cloth over your spurty boob until let-down calms (a few mins tops) and then pop the baby on. If you express properly tho you actually increase your supply and therefore compound the problem... (and if you FF sometimes too then your boobs will just want to explode by the time you feed which can be very stressful.) Your boobs will actually remember which feed to really fill up for so if you find yourself regularly expressing to 'reduce' milk, say for a night feed, that will get more and more milk in it each night as your boob thinks 'ah ha last night there wasn't enough, she wanted more!' and you end up with a mahousive supply! I don't know if you can relate to that or not but am always interested in BF stories :)

generally IIRC, for the first six weeks you, your boobs and your baby are all trying to suss each other out and it is a steep learning curve for all of you. Is like you are learning each other's languages and habits (yes, even your boobs'!). Then it all settles down... (eek I shall have to keep telling myself this when am leaking everywhere and the baby won't latch on at 4am!)

sis welcome :) mine was so quiet yesterday I was worried but today has been a right wriggler.

Thanks Wilderumpus, I am learning so much from reading all the posts ..can't believe I didn't join earlier! Also I haven't bought anything yet... You lot have got me planning a trip to John Lewis this week!!

I was going say what Wilde said about bf supply/demand but she's put it much more eloquently than I would
Interesting to read what people consider to be 'essentials' for when baby is born. In many ways its a very personal thing. I wrote a list for a friend last year who was expecting and emailed it to her so I'll dig it out and paste it next time for your perusal.

beaut If there's one thing I've learnt since having DS, it's that you can only do things the way that is best for you and your family. If it worked for you then it wasn't 'wrong'.

Got my scan Friday. A little nervous but looking forward to it. Can feel baby very definitely now so know there's something still in there! We will find out the sex. As someone said up thread, it helps me to humanise the bean I have to say that I can't help thinking 'girl' and will be a bit surprised if it isn't. It's funny really as before getting pg I imagined having 2 boys. both my bro and sis had a boy then a girl so I've always thought the likelihood of me doing so was slim. Either way, I'll be happy!

wilde I had oversupply and forceful letdown with dc1, let just say I didn't need a pump to express.
Dc2 however I has undersupply and had to take fenugreek capsules.

Thanks for the shopping list ladies!

Got another cervical scan tomorrow at the preterm birth unit. Hopefully all ok as it was last time

Then got our midterm scan on Monday. We've said we're not going to buy anything or do the spare room til we get the all clear but there's sooooo many lovely wee things out there (& we've already decided on the furniture)

Still want it to be a surprise but feel we should have a girl to even up the very blue thread!

People getting kicks - a lot of mine seem to be low down, between the hips/ at the top of the pube line kinda area. Is that usual?? (Or am I translating digestion..?)

Hope everyone's keeping well after our rock & roll NYEs!

All of my kicks are also almost entirely very low down... Which I found surprising, but must be the position I guess ... ??