Your Tops Tips For a First Time Mum

[hayleylou]

My cousin is 12 weeks pregnant and she has asked me if I any tips for her durring the pregnantcy, Childbirth and Afterwards. So I have decided to put a little book together for her with all the tips and wondered if you were able to help as well?

Elsmommy, will be controversial and say "Put the baby in bed with you if it means you get some sleep as long as you do it safely"

Yeah thats what I did but she was still there a year later!!!!

don't buy one of those massive heavy prams that take up all the room and end up buying 3 more pushchairs like I did i suggest a Maclaren so you can use a buggyboard on it later on when you have 2!

PMSL! Ah, I did wonder

Take a pillow into hospital with you. It's nice to have something from home and you can sit on it in the car on the way home afterwards.

When you come home from hospital, as soon as you can, paint your toenails. It makes you feel a little tiny bit glamorous, you make a decision about something which has nothing to do with the baby/pregnancy/bfing etc ie what colour varnish and you prove to yourself that you can bend down again.

When pregnant, read all the baby books you can... then sit down and think about what sort of parent you want to be, know what you are trying to achieve, what's important to you etc. Then when the baby comes along and everyone thinks they can start telling you how you should raise your child, you can smile sweetly, nod in the right places, ignore them and carry on in your own sweet way, knowing you're doing what you want and are not being bullied into it by peer pressure / overbearing inlaws etc.

Secondly, Be realistic and know you will have to compromise your ideals... but do it for you and your baby, not for anyone else!

Remember that vegetable purees aren't more calorific than milk (breast or formula) and health visitors who pressure you to wean early onto carrots are mad and should be avoided.

The only piece of advice I can give through my own experience is listen to your baby! That might sound odd cos babies can't speak, but what it means is books are only giving guidelines, for example, if it says 'feed your baby every 4 hours', don't force your baby to drink if he/she is not hungry, similarly, don't make them wait 4 hours if they are hungry, just because that's what the book says! I hope you can word it a bit better than that!!
Also, take all the help you are offered, and if you're not offered - ASK!
All the best to your friend, just tell her to relax and look after herself xxx

Also, take pictures of her growing bump, and loads of pictures once the baby is born, they grow so quickly.