April 2015 thread 7: Our viable, wriggling bumps have us walking belly-first into the new year!

[BrixtonBunny]

New thread xx

cinnamon those were the type of car seats DH was looking at. I'd love it if you would elaborate on travel systems as I'm really not sure how much we would use the car seat on the pram. For me the biggest plus about a group 0 seat is that we can move baby easily from car while sleeping, or just carry short distances instead of transferring to pram each time.

Sorry missed your post before RL didn't want to seem like I was ignoring! Sounds like a difficult situation, sounds like you're already doing what you can, my strategy is to try not to get sucked into arguments and disagreements and try and stay neutral/impartial and wait for the next drama that will probably be around something/someone completely different. Hope things calm down.

Travel systems are fine if you'd correctly but most people don't use them as recommended. Babies are not supposed to spend more than 30 mins at a time in those seats as its not a natural position for the spine. They are not only left in the seat for longer journeys but then round the shops etc and the journey back. Because they sleep well in them they're regualrly left in them way long than they should be. Plus they are really bad for mums, that much weight of one side of the body, which inevitably are carried from place to place because they are convenient and can cause some serious posture problems with a post pregnancy body.

They do take up a lot less space than a seat that rear faces and then forward faces but because a lot of babies out grow the travel systems before they should be forward facing they are put in forward facing only seats for convenience rather than buying another seat.

My experience is that if you wrap a baby before you lift them out they are still snuggly and warm and tend to stay sleeping anyway. Once they get used to that you can move them much more easily which makes life easier as they get older.

Thanks cinnamon, really useful. The recommendation for time spent in the car seat was the reason I was unsure how much we would actually use it on the travel system. Need to do some investigating and see what all the options offer.

Having said all of that, so many babies are left in the seats for long periods of time and are absolutely fine so perhaps the concerns are unfounded and I'm just being paranoid. But having done it with two I'm not going to change for my third

I actually rarely used the travel system car seat in the pram. It was too heavy for me to carry around once DD was in it. The only reason we even had it was because I had the same pram as my sister and we shared the car seat between the two of us. Our babies were 9 months apart so it worked out quite well. I bought a Brittax one for my car that cost £100+ and DH got a cheap £30 Kiddicare one for his car. Mine was heavy and awkward to fit. His was dead simple and was lighter. (Between me, DH, MiL and my mum we had 4 car seats in the same grouping)

Also to keep in mind they won't let you out of the maternity ward without one these days.

When it comes to car seats expensive isn't always better and try and get one that covers at least 2 stages. It'll last longer and give you more value for money.

Thankyou penguin. Yes that's what I plan to do, I'll keep everyone updated. Thanks for the comments etc.

On a lighter note, me and my mum bought my first baby things today
Just a few tops and little trousers, and I bought some booties.
Definitely made it all feel more real! I suppose I can officially say I've started buying things now, ha ha!
Also starting to think more about baby boy names now, although it's hard! X

I've tried to find info before about babies being in car seats but struggled to find anything reliable. We have a couple of annual trips planned next year, Scotland and Cornwall, so 4-5hrs and 6-7hrs (when baby will be 3.5 months and 4.5 months) and was trying to find info on how many breaks we'd need to take (besides feeding). Anyone have any substantial evidence?

rl sorry things with your Family-in-law are so stressful, I'd definitely tell your partner that things need to change, you really don't need the added stress right now,e specially whilst you have all he pregnancy stress to deal with!

thanks for the encouragement ladies, I've got a few boring posts on there already, I made a half hearted attempt back in October I think but it didn't really get anywhere, I am now full of inspiration and vigour. I've got a couple of posts up about the Project B boxes I've opened and I've queued a few posts ready to go up on wednesday nights / thursday mornings (the time is American and I can't quite get my head round it) I also need a domain name... I was thinking booandbel.co.uk because we call DD Boo and bump is likely to end up being nicknamed Bel due to the Isabella in her name...

Cinnamon I have to disagree in a friendly fashion about the group 0 car seat

It was invaluable to us to be able to quickly move her - the recommended time in them is maximum 2 hours not 30 mins. That would be near impossible to get anywhere! I used it for quick trips into town and could just move the car seat without waking her and clip it on the pram and quickly do my errands with the huge Uppababy Vista basket (still love it!) - she usually woke if we unstrapped her (not always). Having said that we often carried her in our arms until she was 3 or 4 months old. We never carried her in the car seat, why would you, I don't get people who do that. They are so heavy, carry the baby if you aren't going far enough to use the pram! It's MUCH better for the baby to be right next to you in your arms than in any sort of carriage (baby wearing not included of course, this is good too ) They are so much happier being carried. I loathe seeing people dragging a car seat around the shop or into a GP surgery. WHY??? Give it a cuddle!!! And save your back...

Most of the time I did get her out and put her in the pram because I felt it was better for her, unless we had had a day of difficulty with sleep and needed to make the most of it, or it was a short trip. If ever I stopped for a coffee she would come out for a cuddle (and usually a feed!) too!

Secondly we did tons of research before we bought a car seat, dh is a stickler for spread sheets too and knowing everything about everything before making any decisions. The group 0 car seats come out safer in Which for newborns if used correctly. So for us that was that, she got the maxi cosi pebble with the travel system (came out better than the cabriofix at the time and was isofix).

We have now got dd in a front facing maxi cosi priori isofix, and she has been in it since she was about 16 months old. It cost £170 I think but again is good on safety and she loves being able to sit forward like a grown up. Rear facing have lots going for them safety wise and can be safer but it must be the right car or it is more dangerous! Best to see a car seat fitter for stage 1 car seat to make sure you get the best sort for your situation (plus what you have found out of course). The Priori goes up to age 4 I think. The car seats after that are pretty much just booster seats with a shell of a back and don't cost a lot at all - about £20-£30 since they use the usual car seat belt instead of having their own.

Basically we started with the travel system and were happy that for us it was the right decision, convenient and safer (in our opinion). But everyone is different!

Mumsnet is great for lots of different view points!

Mel sorry to hear about dp. Keep your chin up, you have a bump that needs you to have your head on straight!

RL it can be hard but your dp obviously cares a lot about you and you about him. Try to detach yourself and let it blow over again. Being worried about your dc having an overbearing family is totally fair, and maybe you feel it would be better off without them - but would it truly be better off without your dp too? It sounds like you have been through a lot, and a strong small family unit (you, dp and it) is everything it needs for a great start. If there are problems once it is born things will be clearer then about what you need to do and how you need to do it. Until then, just breathe and find something else to occupy your mind.

Went to work this morning and found out I had been incorrectly booked on annual leave so got sent home again! Oh well, bonus since I wasn't really up for it today... Got chance to chat about my maternity leave though. Mine is starting probably on 23rd March but annual leave from 16th March so finish on 13th March. Taking 9 months (current plan, hopefully I'm strong enough not to change my mind to a year half way through!) and then sticking most of my next year's annual leave on the end so returning on 25th January. My contract ends in April next year and I will have left myself about a week of annual leave to take between 25th Jan and whenever my post finishes in April, which feels about right.

25+3

Cinnamon's right you're not meant to have them in car seat for too long. We defo overdid it at times first time around (although mainly unavoidably, with car journeys).

This time around I expect the baby car seat will live permanently in the car as I won't be doing much adventuring as DD's nursery and activities will mean staying local most of the time and fitting in with her. It's a maxicosi something or other, came as part of the maxicosi Streety that we bought.

24+2

As ours was fixed in the car the midwife carried ds1 all the way to the car Lauren82000! I had my community midwife deliver ds2 (happened to be on her hospital shift for the week) and we were the only people in the delivery suite when we left so she was pretty relaxed and I carried him out to the car

Thanks daholster - useful to read different opinions on things, and I take your point about carrying the baby in the car seat. Reading your post made me wonder why I thought that was a benefit when I can just carry the baby without the seat

Feeling a bit more informed now so will try and sit down with DH this weekend and look into the different options available.

Sorry somehow missed your post daholster, the joys of parenting everyone has different opinions :) and so much of it you don't know until you've tried! I think people carry them in it because you just put the carrier down and not have to find somewhere to put the baby down if you need to.

Car seats - we got the group 0 maxi cosi cabriofix which dd outgrew at 15 months. Have now moved on to the Britax First Class which is suitable from 0 to 4 years. With hindsight I wish we'd got the Britax or another 0-4 yrs seat from the start. The benefits of the group 0 were that it's much lighter, easier to carry and swap between cars, and can attach to a pram. But we virtually never did any of those things so it wasn't really worth it for us! And I have to say I think DD was a bit squished (and v grumpy) in the group 0 from about 11 months so might have been better with the 0-4yr seat.

We will be getting a car seat that attaches to the travel system but only because it all matches. I doubt we will use it outside of the car, but the options there if we ever want to.

Most of our trips will be long ones so I expect we will just have to get used to stopping half way for a coffee and baby yoga session haha

I feel all productive this evening ladies! Who wants things dyed?

when DD was a tiddler she was only ever really in the car seat when we were in the car, and that was barely ever longer than half an hour, other than that she'd go in the carry cot or be having cuddles.

Boo I've got LOADS of very bright yellow Dylon machine dye left over from dying some bedding. I might just have to take a leaf out of your book and dye some baby stuff (when I get more bits). Is it you that hates the colour yellow? Otherwise happy to post you some next time I go to the post office, never going to get through it all!

I normally detest yellow but there was some stuff that was stained with colostrum and or breast fed poo, yellow was the only thing that was going to cover it :P

Boo if you want me to send you a pack DM me your address - if not I won't be offended

I'll assess how much more stuff we have that needs dying and get back to you that brixton I've got some flamingo pink and some blue to use up yet! Thanks for the offer either way :D

Yeah cinnamon we get 20 day but 5 of them we have to save for Christmas when we close, so you get 15 you can take whenever. Not the most gengenerous of companies ! So ill take 10 days before and 10 at the end coz I can't roll over all 20 days

Should I have ccopied my mat1b? I just handed it in and they said they'd send it to our accountants. I tried scanning it in at work but it was broken

Chin upRL you must have done well so far.

Hi all, happy New Year! Seen this thread before but realised going to have to read from the outset as looks like a lot of good tips :)

Thing is really don't want to buy anything until after the birth. Sorry for the downer but after 2 mmcs, though know at 24 wks now past highest mc risk, over the years known 3 people lose at 7/8 months + 2 stillbirths at term, including colleague's wife recently. Suppose though if other colleagues notice next week (only told close team yet) I might avoid the 'have you sorted the nursery' type questions because of his loss, without having to reference my own early 2 which'd prefer others not to know of.
9-week wait for a car seat though? Kind of screws our plans to only get one of those just before then send DH to Argos/Mothercare for other stuff shortly after. Best get researching...noted importance of getting a light one, thanks!

No need for the blushing banana! Unless you think about it it's just what you see people do... It's true that it's a bit of a pain if you have nowhere to put them down and you want to use your hands but it's worth the cuddling

There are so many decisions about what to buy in preparation for a baby that aren't at all straightforward, you just don't realise until you start sorting things!