May 2017 #6........ 'Half way there and trips to Mothercare'

[Adventuregame]

And the chat/moans/advice/excitement continues.............any newbies welcome !

Raspberry , if / when you are adding details I'm in Sheffield please! And nowhere near as organised as the rest of you! Vaguely terrified reading now!

All done for you Standard

I have bought a bottle that goes with the pump I have, it says no need to sterlise it as it can go in the dishwasher.
All my friends and family think we are slightly mad with sterilizers in the UK (they live abroad) as they just dishwasher everything.
As we are on the topic of the first few weeks after birth, has anyone come accross any organic maternity pads? I am really sensitive down there and usually use unscented organic pads and tampons during my period, was hoping for the same for maternity pads.

What about reusable's missmoomoo? No idea otherwise!!

nurse yes I have thought about just getting re useable ones. I don't know if I want to invest though as I just use tampons usually,although I have heard that they may not be comfortable once my period returns.
I will keep searching

So natracare do some!! Friend just told me, I feel silly asking now

Is anyone else considering buying a perfect prep machine? DP and I are going to be sharing the parental leave and while I'll try to breast feed, I don't really have a job where I can disappear off to express so will need to get the baby used to formula from quite early on. I know there have been some reviews about bacteria build up in them but whilst I love DP with all my heart, I feel like this would be a better option then him going rogue making bottles (not using a measuring spoon, not heating it up enough himself as it will be fine etc).

Has anyone else used one?

Those talking about hypnobirthing, I bought this cd https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1905220502/ref=mpssa111?ie=UTF8&qid=1484042708&sr=8-1&pi=ACSX2366SY340QL65&keywords=hypnobirthing+cd&dpPl=1&dpID=51hosnR83yL&ref=plSrch as I was completely terrified about birth. I was really skeptical on Hypno stuff but I have actually found it has really helped, I'm not 'excited about/ looking forward to' it still, like it suggests I should be, but I'm not scared any more and feel like I can trust my body to do what it should now. So I would definitely recommend this version to try.

I think someone on here actually recommended me that cd..! Can't remember who though, sorry

jugaoo if we formula feed then I will def be getting one. My DH would also be lax about making formula properly with a screaming baby.
We have a few friends with them and they say they are a godsend!

And jugoo not me personally but a guy I work with who had a May 16 baby absolutely swears by his tommy tippee perfect prep machine, he literally can't recommend it enough! I want to try BF before I get anything like that as I'd really like to make it work, but it's what I'd like to get if we go onto formula with our baby.

Yeah missmoomoo I know what you mean! Also you probs aren't going to want the hassle of extra washing with a newborn!

Just a thought - a few more weeks and we will all reach "viable" babies! I can't wait to be at that mark and know that if anything was to happen and early delivery was the case that it would likely all be okay!

Scary but lovely thought isn't it Nurse, a friend of mine had her DS at 25 weeks and he's now a scrummy little boy at 3 years old ☺

I looked at the Perfect Prep machines, they're quite expensive brand new, but plenty of people are selling them 2nd hand on local pages so I'm inclined to pick one up on the cheap.

In terms of local selling pages - I can't get over how cheap some of the baby clothes bundles are! I've easily picked up £300+ worth of clothes (half of it brand new) for about £40!

Isn't it just raspberry!!

Yes agreed on the baby clothes things - even eBay has some great bundles very cheap! As for the perfect prep there must be a billion of them second hand on our local selling site not an over exaggeration obviously.

I'm sitting here at the gp practice waiting for my appointment to complain how tired I am all the time. I reckon she'll just tell me that it's part of pregnancy!!

Re names we are choosing names that run in the family, and a middle name from the other family. If it's a boy, we will have a first name from my partner's family and the middle name from my family. If it's a girl we do vice versa. Only thing is, I am not 100% impressed with the boys name from his family, but it can be abbreviated to a name I can take peace with, lol. All very mysterious

Re breastfeeding I am hoping I'll be able to do this with the support of midwives and then health visitors. There's a local children's centre with 2 branches at equal distance from my house, and they do support sessions, so I'm a hopeful BF mum. My partner is ever so slightly nervous about me BFing in public but I'm shy enough as to assure that no prying looks can shame me.
We are starting on the shopping spree soon. Luckily we don't need to buy a travel system as a friend is giving me hers, although it's a bit classic. It fits with my age haha! I'm also given a Bamboo sling for which I'm grateful.
On my list:

• Car seat (stays in car)
• cot bed
• bath
• changing table/ chest of drawers
• wardrobe
• breast pump if I can't rent one

Hoping I've not forgotten anything

Yes I'm 24 weeks tomorrow so reached the viability date for my hospital. Would be truly hideous to have a baby this early but at least they would try and resuscitate and take it to the NICU.

Mind you survival rates at 24 weeks are only 30-50% depending on the hospital and likely long term complications so best they stay in there as long as possible!

Oh of course! As long inside cooking as possible please (well maybe not till 42 weeks!)

Haven't been to Mothercare in AGES! Might take a trip down tonight if the husband doesn't moan too much! Could bribe him with a Starbucks I think!

I've not bought many clothes - we know we're having a girl but haven't told anyone and won't be so don't want to buy too much girly stuff and parents etc ask to see what we've bought. I got a cheap electric breast pump from Mothercare when I was about 14 weeks - it was their innosense range that they discountinued so was heavily discounted! Got a steriliser too for pennies from the same range. Won't be too worried if it turns out to be rubbish or I don't use it!

The perfect prep is great, didn't get one till 12 weeks when I'd given up expressing but it was the best thing ever as went upstairs every night on a tray to make night feeds super easy! re: the bacteria and bad press it has had the key thing is you need to clean it, run the cleaning and descaling cycles and change the filter regularly. Nothing in the kitchen that you don't look after is going to be hygienic! Also if you buy a new one get it in a baby event or on offer at Boots where you get a load of points back! Don't pay the RRP whatever you do!

Was there something about the perfect prep not pumping out the correct temperature water? I thought I read something along those lines, maybe it was a maintenance issue though. They do sound amazing for night feeds!

Scan went well, everything seemed to be present and correct. Doctor got me to shift and poked her a little bit to get certain views which was funny. Good luck to everyone else today/this week.

Miss Moo I was going to recommend Natracare mat pads, they are mega thick great for early days and only down side for me was they didn't have wings.

Glad your scan went well lullaby. I've already bought a Perfect Prep machine (it's one of the only things I've bought so far) mainly as DH was amazed by the reviews. My SIL used it and found it great. Changing the filters sounds key so I will aim to do that regularly. Am a bit confused why we bought it so early when I've no idea how breastfeeding will go but I can't imagine at this stage never needing to bottle feed.

I think it's 30 weeks when they say the majority of babies born will survive but at 24 weeks they have to attempt life saving treatment if anything were to go wrong.

Great news about the scan lullaby and thanks for the rec on the pads, I will probably buy those nearer the time.

I was given a perfect prep last time, just used it once a day and it was so much handier than my previous experience with formula. We changed the filter and had no problems with it at all. It's in its box at the minute, but I think 4oz was the minimum amount you could make, which might mean a bit of waste at the start, but DD was probably on 6oz bottles before I started using it.

One thing I have remember is really useful so I'll share! when you buy a cotbed mattress get one with a zip off waterproof protector on it. My little one was sick in the night and so much easier than trying to clean and dry a mattress - just zip it off into the machine and then pop back on when dry! one of the best things I bought without realising how useful it would be and worth the extra £££ investment.