March 2016 Babies!! Our Grape-sized babies are getting Bigger!

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Thought I'd start our new thread as the old one is full up!

sherazade I was in town today and noticed I couldn't really find anything neutral it's all pinks or blues which is frustrating as we have decided not to find out the sex.
Refusing to buy anything until scan a week tomorrow.
Looking on pinterst at bedroom ideas, thought I wanted white walls and white furniture but saw today pale yellow walls with dark mahogany/walnut furniture and it looks beautiful, never done this before - so much choice.
ginger glad to hear yiu have real life support, fingers crossed for the 9th for you.

Q it is frustrating - I'd like to find out the sex butttt am just not into all the pinks and blues . H&m was fab for earthy colours when the girls were newborns but they don't have much in now. Don't get me wrong I did put them in pink but didn't feel that absolutely everything had to be pink!

I'm trying to not buy baby stuff until my scan on Thursday. I know it's probably ok as my private scan at 11+1 showed that all was well, but you never know do you...

I'll be getting the vast majority of my stuff second hand off ebay (exceptions being the sleepyhead, cot mattress and car seat). Don't see the point in forking out loads for new stuff when there's so much perfectly good barely used stuff out there for half the price! I love bargain hunting :)

We live in rented accommodation and won't be moving to our own house til after the baby's born (earliest in April, gulp) so no nursery to decorate yet! Won't bother anyway as baby will be in with us for the first six months...probably more if my friends' babies are anything to go by!

We're probably going to find out the sex but I don't think that will make much difference to the things we choose...I would probably just go for mainly neutral colours regardless of gender.

I'm not a huge fan of neutral stuff either. I hate looking at a new baby and being unable to tell the sex of it by the clothes it's wearing. I didn't find out with the girls but dp is desperate to find out so looks like we will if we can. I'm not fussed if we find out or not so will let him have his way on that one. Poor soul is hoping for a boy as he's surrounded by Us girls at the moment, even the dog is a girl

missdee I'm really hoping for a boy like your DH/DP, I feel terrible about it to be honest but I can't help it! I know once baby comes I won't care but at the moment I feel like I do.

To be honest that's partly why I want to know the sex - I know that if it's a girl I'll be a bit disappointed, and I'd like to have a few months to pull myself together and get over it!

I felt the same with ds maybe, I was so sure I was having a girl it took me a while to get my head around a boy!

No decorating here - we're in a two bed so the baby won't have its own room yet (until we move), but ds didn't have a proper room until he was ready to sleep in it either and it was fine.

We will find out the sex, but if it's a girl I won't be able to bring myself to buy any pink stuff.

For DS, we knew he was a boy but instead of neutrals we bought some lovely rainbow coloured sleep suits. Can't remember where from. I'll definitely wash all his stuff and re-use for whatever sex this one is. Anything white ends up covered in poo, and DS had reflux so puked on everything anyway.

We still haven't painted DSs bedroom . We're planning on having them share a room eventually, so we can keep a bedroom as a study (both teachers so have a LOT of work at home). Though as maybe points out that's a long way off yet.

We've got all the other gear hanging around from DS, but I want to get a co-sleeper cot and a wrap. It's quite a nice feeling, knowing we've got most things good to go (although I think a friend has my size 1 cloth nappies...)

Oh, and I won't be buying baby stuff for a while (bit short on storage space) but have ordered some maternity jeans today and plan to go over to the in-laws tomorrow to get my maternity clothes out of their loft

Thinking about potential sex: I had imagined myself with two boys, and I genuinely think I'd be happy with either, but I feel like this one is a girl. I don't think I'd cope particularly well with a girl and the pronounced gender socialisation that happens, the pink sparkly shit that inevitably creeps in. But I'm wondering if now that this thought has occurred to me (from quite early on) I might find myself disappointed if it turns out to be the boy I'd originally envisaged.

Oh no, I've got trapped in my own head again!

I think I'm getting iver excited haha fil has offered t pay for travel system, friend Is giving us her moses basket and sil is donating her cot bed so really the big expensive stuff is covered here, dp would be over the moon for a boy and I think I'd rather just because I've never really been around little girls other than myself but we decided a few weeks ago that this one will be a surprise as it's our first and we probably will never have the surprise again I do keep saying though that on the scan day we will probably change our minds and beg to be told haha!

I have no preference for boy/girl (but I have one of each already.)

I doubt that we will buy anything until close to due date, although I am working on DH to see if we can get a new pram. We got a Bugaboo Cameleon when DD was born over 5 years ago and also used it for DS. It now needs reconditioning, which will cost at least £200, and I'd rather replace it with a cheaper new pram.

Qfor just read the North/South thread and I think you live quite close to me!

I was considering a new pram too adorabeezle, I love my quinny but the tiny basket drove me nuts and I think I'll have even more stuff with two. I was wondering about selling it and buying something else second hand, so hopefully no extra cost - would love an Icandy or an uppababy.

I was so sure I'd want a girl this time, I've never been able to picture myself with only boys and no girls at all. But actually I think I'd like another boy!

Had my scan today Was amazing to see baby as was so scared something could be wrong but all healthy so far. 5 great pics to take home too.

Told DS today and he won't stop talking about his little brother or sister. He keeps asking if baby has come out yet so could be a long 6 months! Due date now 10th March.

We will definitely find out the gender if possible. DP really wants a girl this time so he'll need time to come round if not.

sherazade can't remember if this is your first DC or not so sorry if following advice is patronising but if iirc with DD (who was 50th centile, 7lb 9 when born) she was in newborn stuff for 2-3 weeks, so lots of 0-3 was more useful and we barely used the newborn stuff we got. Though DD was a very long baby so ymmv.

If we have another girl we'll just use DDs hand me downs. In fact I really dislike pink girly things so prefer gender neutral stuff. often we have just bought boys clothes, particularly as DD has gotten older and gender neutral is harder to find. I often find boys stuff is cooler and I prefer it and I dont see why I shouldnt buy it for DD just because shes a girl. We do buy girls clothes as well, I don't like to restrict her in any way to either type of clothes, but I tend to steer clear of pink if i can help it. We got given loads of clothes by family as presents, and they were usually quite girly - both our families know I'm not into girly stuff so seemed to relish buying really girly stuff! so if we have a boy we'll have to buy some clothes as won't be able to reuse dresses! I tended to buy DD second hand clothes - as maybe said you can get some great deals on eBay. NCT nearly new sales are also a great source, we didn't get membership as didn't think it was worth it, so you don't get to go in first on things but can still get some great bargains.

indomitable its interesting you say that about gender socialisation. We worry about it with DD but try to steer clear of girly things - I've always been a tom boy (have four brothers) so hope to encourage DD to have wide interests. However I'd also worry about that sort of thing if I had a son - society expects men to behave in certain way and whereas with DD I have some understanding of peer pressure etc, I literally have no idea what boys experiences are growing up. I'm a feminist and I'd want to raise a son to be one too but would literally have no idea how to combat external influences, if that makes sense? Sorry, didn't mean to get all serious there!

Oh and just saw your post rhubard congrats

We've got a Quinny up in the garage. The straps have gone mouldy though. Hoping I can scrub it out. Don't want to buy a new one as I barely used it with DS after we got the carrier.

This is really premature, I know, but you know those books that advise on routines, etc. Does anyone know if there's one that's good for demand BF babies? We didn't do a routine or anything for DS, he was BF on demand, had reflux, and was is a generally quite difficult child. I'm thinking maybe a routine might help? But is there one that is reasonable and will work?

Haha adora kicking out the boro pride a little bit on there - don't like it being slated too much
Fil apparently has paid for the travel system for both dp's brothers first born and offered to pay for ours yesterday, I don't want to take advantage of his generosity so have looked and to be fair really like the Venicci one which is also quite reasonable too.
It is all very exciting isn't it, and as it's bank holiday virtual all round!

Oh brilliant rhu!

Marmite it's a minefield, isn't it?! With DS we've tried to avoid the guns and killing, but it's crept in from friends and some 'appropriate' films. We've heavily restricted his TV to CBeebies only (and the aforementioned films). Tried to avoid all the toy adverts? He went through a brief stage of "that's for girls" but it's not been too much of an issue so far. I expect it's about to become hideous when he starts school next week.

I imagine, though, it's easier to bring up a feminist boy, aware of his privilege and able to express himself and perform as he pleases, than to teach a girl to constantly fight for herself against the hetero-patriarchy. She's starting from a disadvantaged position. I know we've all done it, but, I don't know about you, but I didn't enjoy going through the stages of feeling inferior because I didn't want to conform, feeling inadequate when I tried to. It took 30 years to really feel comfortable being myself and be confident enough to call the world out on it.

Though, I do relish the opportunity to try to create my own little feminist! But I don't think I'd do well if she wasn't a tomboy and instead exercised her right to be more feminine.

That's gone a bit rambly. Haven't been on the I promise! But Best Exotic Marigold Hotel is on!

Love love love pram shopping! This is dc3 for me but all I have from the dds is a crib and a cotbed quilt and bumper set. I split from their dad and got rid of everything (except crib as I could part with it) as I genuinely didn't intend to have any more babies. Then dp came along and of course everything changed

Just saw this on active and had to pop in to say congrats ladies

DD2 was a March (2014) baby, a lovely month to be born.

Indomitable : for breastfeeding Routines I found that I was able to get dd2 to sleep at certain times such as nap time and bedtime, by swaddling, feeding in a dark room with no noise or stimulation. Only ever changed nappies at night unless it was a poo. Allowed plenty of light and the usual noise the rest of the time and she fell into waking and sleep routines quite easily. Feeding was always on demand and I felt that was the key to a routine which sounds contradictory but because my milk supply as well established and she was feeding as much as she could per feed, the gaps became longer and I could start to predict how often she'd feed although there were never set feeding times. I didn't mind when and how often she fed, as long as she stuck to her nap times ! I took queues from her to gauge roughly what times she fell asleep and how long for, and tried to detect a pattern, then encouraged her to sleep at those times iyswim !!

Cues not queues !!

With DS I fed on demand, he would poo halfway through every single feed, and then fall asleep. But he was so sicky with reflux he'd sick up most of it and feed almost continuously. He didn't nap for more than 35 minutes during the day. The nights were terrible! He got better eventually, but even my friends reminisce about how much of a struggle he was when he was tiny. Oh, I've just remembered that nappies always leaked at night. For months. We used disposables at night in the end, with a cloth booster and wrap or they'd leak everywhere! (They still did most of the time)

I'm hoping this one won't have reflux, or at least if it does I'll know to insist on medication sooner. I don't think we could have imposed anything on him, we just stumbled through as best we could! (Still are!). But maybe there's a plan out there that might work.

That sounds familiar Indomitable, it was one continuous feed with my refluxy boy! I'm also hoping this one won't have it.