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Christmas

From present ideas to party food, find all your Christmas inspiration here.

Original poster

Christmas with a newborn, tips please!

26 replies

FilthyforFirth · 18/08/2020 14:53

Hi all, I am due my 2nd in November. The latest he will be born is 25th November but likely to be a week before then, so at Christmas I will have a 4/5 week old.

I will be having a section, same as last time.

DS was born in the summer so we were well eatablished in routine etc by his first Christmas.

I am a planner, what do I need to do in advance?! What did you find useful with a newborn at Christmas? Any tips for making it stress free/special?! DS will be 3.5 and we are having dinner at my parents, so I dont need to worry about cooking!

OP posts:
Cherryrainbow · 18/08/2020 15:36

I had my first in late october so I found by the time xmas came along we were still in the eat, sleep, poop rotation lol. I'd say try and relax as much as you can, I'm sure family will help out ie hold baby so you can eat xmas dinner etc. Try and start stocking up on freezer/snack food in advance and wrap up any stuff early if you can get the chance so you're not worrying about that. I find men hate xmas shopping and usually happy to have the baby a few hours if you want to go shop on your own for a bit haha x

Persephonecall · 18/08/2020 15:40

If you are not cooking, nothing much to worry about! We made sure DD had a stocking, and photographed her in it. She loves the photo so much - and is 21 now.

mylittlesandwich · 18/08/2020 15:44

DS was born 20th of November. For Christmas it was just the 3 of us. Food was all bought prepared so all DH had to do was stick it in the oven (he can cook but wanted an east life). We just chilled and watched tv. DS was given so many Christmas outfits that we changed him several times for a picture in each of them. But basically he just slept all day and we lounged about. It was great.

Spam88 · 18/08/2020 16:09

DS was 10 days old last Christmas. He spent most of the day sleeping in the sling and I enjoyed my Christmas dinner in peace (well...relative peace, DD was still there 😂).

Ricekrispie22 · 18/08/2020 16:17

Source your tree and get a delivery booked (if you use a real tree).
Get your presents sorted now
Buy wrapping paper when it starts coming into shops (September/October). Start wrapping.
Buy cards when they come into the shops and write them as soon as possible. Buy stamps for your cards now.
Get your decorations out to remind yourself of what you have, test the lights and make replacements/add to your collection.

mylittlesandwich · 18/08/2020 16:29

I also forewarned everyone not to get us anything because we wouldn't be getting for them. Those I did want to buy for I bought online before he was born and rapped them then too.

JinglesWish · 18/08/2020 17:32

I had a 2-month old a few Christmas’s ago. I did all my shopping last minute. Forgot to label things properly. FIL gave nearly everything I bought for MIL to SIL, which meant that MIL thought I’d only bought her a cook book. She took great offence, as she’s totally materialistic. Ever since, she’s been a total cow to me and the following Christmas she bought me a book on how to decorate my house 😂 For comparison, she gave SIL (BIL’s wife) a beautiful designer handbag haha.

So my tip would be to shop now to avoid last minute, tired stress shopping and wrap and label gifts before your little one arrives. Actually hopefully your gift recipients are nice normal people 😊

PotteringAlong · 18/08/2020 17:34

Your eldest will query it if they don’t have any presents, but Won’t actually Care what those presents are, so wrap up nappies in Christmas paper. It looks big, Santa has been, job done!

Original poster
FilthyforFirth · 18/08/2020 17:36

Thanks all, great suggestions. My family are terrible about terrible for telling me present ideas too far in advance so I think this will be my biggest challenge! I really would like to be bought and wrapped by the time he arrives as I think it will feel too manic once he is here!

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Original poster
FilthyforFirth · 18/08/2020 17:39

Thanks @potteringalong DS has a lovely home made stocking from MIL so will make sure she makes one for the baby too!

I have two presents for baby to 'unwrap' under the tree. Hoping that is enough to make my DS think his baby bro hasnt been forgotten by santa!

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Holyforkingshirtball · 18/08/2020 17:43

My dd was born on 6th December so was still very new on Christmas Day. She mainly slept through Christmas dinner so I did get to eat in peace. My dh, mum and SIL did most of the cooking which was great. I got all the presents bought and wrapped before she arrived. Other than that it was just a normal day although she did have an adorable reindeer onesie (that she soon vomited all over 😂)

Original poster
FilthyforFirth · 18/08/2020 17:51

I can't wait for the new christmas clothing to come online so I can get him a few outfits!

OP posts:
icedaisy · 18/08/2020 17:55

Following as having baby two 18 December.

So far all I have done is arrange to go next door to sil for lunch. Grin

Lindorballs · 18/08/2020 17:57

My second was born < one month before xmas. My oldest was just 4 so similar age to yours. I hosted my family with my dad who was pretty unwell at the time and my sister and family who had a newborn baby the same age. Embrace the chaos! We filled our freezer with food in the weeks beforehand so we didn’t have complex cooking to do. We did a buffet style meal so everyone brought things to share. Agree with trying to do your xmas shopping beforehand.

Lindorballs · 18/08/2020 17:59

Realise this makes me some kind of smug supermum 😂 that wasn’t the intention. Mainly did the hosting so I could sleep (what little bit of sleep I got with a 3 week old) in my own bed. It was a nice xmas in many ways. Enjoy it!

ipswichwitch · 18/08/2020 18:00

DS2 was 12 days old on his first Christmas. I had everything bought and wrapped by beginning of November (difficult pregnancy). Any family that weren’t helpful enough to give me an idea what they wanted got a voucher (I did warn them!)

We decided to stay home, and people did pop over but it was just us for dinner, which was ordered from M&S for minimal effort. We had a load of pastries and cinnamon buns on the table to pick at from breakfast until we did Christmas dinner at 4. In fact, it was such a lovely day we’ve done it every year since!

Perching · 18/08/2020 18:12

M&S the entire Christmas lunch. I did it the first time 10 years ago with a newborn DS1 and have continued the tradition since 😆

Eightytwenty · 18/08/2020 18:15

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Original poster
FilthyforFirth · 18/08/2020 19:03

Haha @lindorballs didnt make you sound smug at all, what a hero! I usually love hosting but I just dont feel up to doing it as I would put pressure on myself to do all the stuff I usually do!

Very close to parents and siblings also there this year so hopefully lots of help! We live close by so can have a lazy morning at ours and then wonder over for lunch/rest of the day.

I do think there will be more vouchers than usual this year! I didnt think to stock freezer with home cooked food for the whole festive run up, but will definitely add that to the list. DH is the main cook in the house anyway, but he wont be keen on cooking and missing out on snuggles!

OP posts:
SleepingStandingUp · 18/08/2020 19:05

@FilthyforFirth

Hi all, I am due my 2nd in November. The latest he will be born is 25th November but likely to be a week before then, so at Christmas I will have a 4/5 week old.

I will be having a section, same as last time.

DS was born in the summer so we were well eatablished in routine etc by his first Christmas.

I am a planner, what do I need to do in advance?! What did you find useful with a newborn at Christmas? Any tips for making it stress free/special?! DS will be 3.5 and we are having dinner at my parents, so I dont need to worry about cooking!

My twins were 2 weeks old, if you're not breastfeeding I'd say alcohol and low expectations.

Present shopping, wrapping and cards done early.

Decorations sorted. Let DP put them up.

CraftyGin · 18/08/2020 19:07

My DS2 was born at the beginning of December.

TBH, you use this as an excuse to get out of anything you don’t want to do.

SleepingStandingUp · 18/08/2020 19:08

We hosted Mil. DS, 4 fell backwrds off his chair and hit his head whilst me and DH both had 11 day old be does in our arms. Me and DS cried. Lunch was cold.

Original poster
FilthyforFirth · 18/08/2020 19:17

Oh no @sleepingstandingup, sorry to hear that. Was he ok?

I will be attempting bfing but it only lasted 3 weeks with DS and I plan to put less pressure on myself with this one if it isnt going well.

Haha will certainly use it to get out of washing up!

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SleepingStandingUp · 18/08/2020 19:26

Thankfully yes thank you @FilthyforFirth

Conceded defeat in getting him to eat at the table and he ate the rest sat on the floor with his toys. Like i said. Low expectations.

This year we have mil, 5 yo and 1 yo twins so it'll be a new level of chaos

BeingLonely · 26/08/2020 22:41

Plenty of food stashed. I had a 3 week old at Christmas and this was my saviour. I breastfed does was up starving during the night a lot and having food was great.