May 2017 #5 - 20 week scans and pram buying plans

[Adventuregame]

Almost half way through ladies.........

It's the first baby in our family so to say mum and sister are excited would be an understatement! Also helps that we brought loads of decorations and games to throw a baby shower for a close friend last summer, but she ended up going into labour prematurely the day of so we never got round to it

Good luck to all those having scans this week! Feels like time is flying along now. I've definitely got an obvious bump at 22 weeks but I'm not feeling the 'glow' yet at all! I think some post Xmas healthy eating and fresh air is needed.

Just in case anyone has a silver cross car seat - we've just pre-ordered the isofix base which is half price at Mothercare. Great deal. Should be in stock next week so fingers crossed we get one.

We've decided on the cot but are struggling with drawers - our nursery is too tiny to fit any of the matching sets. If we got a narrower drawer unit could we just use a changing mat on top? John Lewis have a wedge shaped mat. Or do we need to have something with edges?

Also do we need to get a baby rocker/bounce thingy? Do any of you use one a lot?

Tea we used kiddies kingdom and got the pushchair, car seat and isofix base with £200 off. We then added the carrycot as extra

Ahh had a huge clean out of old stuff from the house. Just amazing how much stuff accumulates. There were boxes and boxes in the spare room, and now there's much more space (still a case of wine in there, think that'll have to shift in time).

Can't see us redecorating the room - it's certainly not very 'nursery' style. In part it's because I want to move before too long. Tomorrow at long long last (well I hope anyway, and second to finding out all else hopefully ok) will be finding out if said room will be occupied by a little boy or girl, eep!

Very much wanting the snuzpod but bed currently at max height and I want to get a mattress topper to help these limited sleeping positions we're offered! That would make it too high. Also it would mean I couldn't access the drawers underneath, which is a small consideration. Sometimes I feel I'm overthinking everything.

I love the look of the snoozepods, we've gone for a Moses basket for the bedroom though. I don't intend on doing feeds in our room or her staying in our room for too long after she's born. Of course we'll see how that pans out, but couldn't justify buying another 'bed' when we were given a perfectly good one.

We've spent quite a bit of time clearing things out this weekend. We live in a relatively small flat, so we don't have huge amounts of space anyway. We are hoping to move in the first year post-baby, so at the moment no real plans to make a nursery. We will be turning our spare room into more of a baby friendly room though, but I'm not sure about decorating.

Good luck to everyone with scans this week.

Have been & picked pram & car seat - going for Bugaboo Buffalo (do a LOT of off road walking) and a pebble plus. Went to mothercare who were super helpful - I was able to push pram around, fold it up, put it in my car etc. Apparently Mothercare have an evening 2 x a year where everything is 10% off. Next one near us is Feb so going to buy the stuff then.

Haven't started on nursery yet - will be our spare / dressing room which is full of our clothes and general bits. Will need carpet ripped up, wallpaper off, replastering - we live in a 1930s house which hasn't been decorated in forever. Have been renovating over last 3 years and nursery is the last room! Think we will paint it white.

That's a job for the new year!

Does anyone else not have a nursery and have ideas to share? We are thinking about how to carve out space/storage in our flat, but the baby won't have a whole room.

(Late) happy new year to all!
Can confirm glow is a raging lie, along with 12 week fade of NVP 🤢

Miniatures of the harder variety might not be such a bad idea for the bag! I reckon I know someone who will need them. That is if he manages to stay conscious. Which is unlikely tbh. 😂

Raspberry, will you be getting up and going to another room every time she wakes and wants feeding in the night then? I just want to make life easier and co-sleeping is meant to be good for them. I thought they were meant to stay in your room until 6 months old or do people move them out before that? We are planning to keep ours in with us for the full 6 months and then into the nursery. Not sure if we can fit a nursing chair in there though so might have to feed on the bed in the spare room then.

Lucie that's our intention. My sister in law has nannied babies and supported new mums for a number of years and had amazing results in getting routines down within 6-8 weeks. Not always of course and each to their own, but we're going to try for sure.

There's a big possibility that I'll be taking a month and then going straight back to work due to uncertainty of DHs job and I can't be in a position of not getting sleep.

The routines she try's to go with start by everything other than initial sleeping happening in babies room to ensure that they become settled and used to their surroundings, all changes, feeds, play time etc happens in their room.

I know that recommendations are that baby cosleeps for 6 months but if I'm going back to work, there's no way that's going to work for me sadly. The way SIL has done it is that they cosleep for 2-4 weeks in a Moses basket with that being put in the cot after that time so they are still in their little bubble but getting used to having the cot bars around them. She has around a 75% success rate of babies sleeping in their own room 7pm-7am within 6-8 weeks.

As I say though, it may be total shit and not work for us, but I'm sure happy to give it a go.

Wow that sounds good raspberry! Obviously understandable if you need to go back to work so quickly. I would like to establish a routine but don't know where to start with that yet. I will have to get some books. Don't they need to feed every 3-4 hours at 6 weeks old though?

grow yep you can put the changing mat on top of anything until they start to roll. But that won't be long. Then you'll need something with sides or to move to the floor or your bed.

Would recommend a bouncy chair for in the bathroom so you've got somewhere to put the baby down when you are in the shower.

yes they still feed all the time at 6 weeks. Unfortunately! I introduced a bottle for one feed a day at 6 weeks and that worked well for giving me a bit of a break.

7-7 with no Feeds at 6-8 weeks my lovely little boy didn't crack that till he was over 1 babies doing 7-7 so young would be in the massive minority and I don't want anyone to think they've failed if theirs don't do that!

Barnes please don't get too focused on your weight gain or its distribution, I'm very petite and anyone who looked at me would think i was all bump but my thighs are fatter (things don't fit etc). It's perfectly normal.

Raspberry if you go back to work after a month will your DH be staying home with the baby? Hope it all works out for you and you get a longer mat leave if you want one. There is a fairly big chance you could still be bleeding, leaking milk and emotionally all over the place at 4 weeks PP. hope you have masses of RL support to help you if it does happen.

Of course if bodily I'm in not fit state to go back then I'll have to stay off, but if DH isn't working, financially it might be what we have to do sooner rather than later.

Sorry - the 7pm-7am, is with parent waking baby for late feed at c.10pm.

For those interested, routine plans for 6-8 weeks

Express 6.45am
Feed 7am
Nap 9-9.45am
Feed 10.45am
Nap 11.45/12noon - 2/2.30pm
Feed 2/2.30pm
Nap 4.30-5pm
Feed 5pm
Feed 6/6.15pm
Express 9.30pm
Feed 10/10.30pm (mum to wake baby)

If anyone is interested in the rest of the routines, let me know and I'll happily send them privately.

Likes peas said - no one, myself included should feel like they have failed if such things don't work. As I said - it's my intention but could all go to pot!

Isn't that still a long time for a 6 week old to go 9 hours from 10pm to 7am without a feed? Sorry I'm new to all this too so not trying to criticise but just learn myself and have only read the basics at the moment but thought they needed to be fed quite a lot?

Yes, that's a long time for a baby to go without milk. Some will do so naturally but in my experience they are in a very small minority. I followed the 'if it cries feed it' approach which worked very well for us - especially as we coslept so i never had to get out of bed for a crying baby. We haven't enforced any sort of routine for our (now) 4yo and it's worked well for us. Having said that all babies, and all families, are different and you'll need to find what works for you.

If anyone is interested in the rest of the routines, let me know and I'll happily send them privately.
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RasperryInAMelon* would love to know more about the routine please! Don't know how/if I can DM you here though :/

Forgot to say by co sleeping i mean baby slept in same bed as us, not just same room. We had a co sleeper sidecar cot but he slept much more restfully in bed with me so that's what happened.

1 out of 3 of mine could have followed a routine like that. But didn't sleep long stretches until 12 weeks. The other 2, not a chance!

Ahhh, sorry Lucie, what I said probably didn't make sense as I got confused between snuzzpod and poddle pod

Has anyone thought about nappies yet? Is it best to try a few brands and see what works best? How long on average do they last in each nappy before moving up size?

Got the Emma's Diaries packs today, few bits and pieces in there that will be useful, but in case anyone wants them, my local (huge) boots didn't have any, and Argos said they were stopping doing them, so would be worth going in sooner rather than later to get them.

Back to work for me tomorrow, had a lovely 10 days off, and dreading it! No idea how I will cope with 13 months off when baby comes!

Bright, I don't know a lot about nappies but got a great deal on mothercare website. A big pack of about 75 nappies for £10.99 and another pack free. I got size 1 and 2 which should be ok for a bit. Thinking about getting some more if they have any left.