Some silly questions about newborns from a novice

[DuelingFanjo]

Hey there :)

These questions will no doubt seem really dumb but I need to know so here goes.

Baby is due in Dec so will be chilly. What do I dress my baby in? Is it true that you should give a newborn baby one more layer than you would wear yourself? So we would put a vest thing on and then a baby-grow/sleep suit? Do we need to also put something on the baby's legs under the sleep suit?

we have a quinny buzz but not the Carrycot (yet?) - can we put the baby straight into the seat on the reclining/flat position and also (sorry if this is really stupid) but do we have to strap the baby in with the harness? It doens't look that comfortable to me.

Do we have to moisturise the baby's skin - i.e arms and legs etc? Or is this just totally unecessary.

What natural products would people recommend?

thank you

DS3 was born in January and i always put a vest on underneath his babygro. Didn't worry about his legs as he had a blanket covering him then.

I don't know about the Quinny , but i'm presuming that if it says from birth then you should be ok. If not in a carrycot then i would strap them in.

Naural products - water. Not really nessicary to use anything more, but i do massage coconut oil into DS3's skin after a bath. Also use African black soap to wash him in and wash his hair.

I'm not really convinced about the advice about dressing your baby in one layer more than you. my DD has always been a hot little thing, and I feel the cold, so I found she was generally more comfortable in lighter clothing. I'm sure that a vest and sleepsuit will be fine for indoors, with perhaps a cardigan if your house is not so warm (like mine).

we only moisturised DD if her skin looked dry - newborns sometimes get dry skin which flakes off leaving softer skin underneath. We used a drop of olive oil.

Never used a Buzz so no idea!

Not silly questions!

Indoors I would dress baby in vest and babygrow, when going out would add a hat, cardi and pop them into a wee snowsuit or fleecy sleeping bag type footmuff for pushchair. Yes the one more layer than you are wearing is something they advise, you can check they are warm enough by feeling back of their neck.

Not sure about quinny buzz.

Moisturiser - always used olive oil (not cooking stuff, distilled stuff from chemist) its about 80p I think.

hth

Congratulations! Our little boy is only 3 weeks old, so not sure about cold weather, sorry!

But regarding moisturising - we use olive oil, just from the supermarket. Just a little bit on a cotton wool ball, dab it on anywhere they look a bit dry.

Hi

Yes, one more layer than yourself is a good idea. Depending on how warm your house is I'd say a vest (always a vest) and a babygro for sleeping, then a cardi on top for playing. If you feel her chest, if it is cold to the touch she needs more clothes, clammy she needs less, same as yours or a bit warmer she is fine. Fingers are fine to feel colder, but they shouldn't be hot and clammy.
Baby will need a hat for outside, and probably a snowsuit.

Pushchair sounds fine, just make sure you have blankets.

Don't bother with any products just yet apart from nappy rash cream (and Sudocreme is much better than the others). It's not a good idea to put products on a tiny baby, especially scented ones. If you do need to moisturise, E45 should do but wait and see, the doctor, midwife or HV is probably the best person to recommend a cream.

For you, I would recommend Body Shop's hemp hand cream. You will smell like a lentil-weaver, but you will wash your hands so much over the first few weeks, that if you're anything like me you'll end up with cracked hands. (I got a wee bit OCD after prem baby and prolonged hospital stay).

Now that DD is a bit older, when she's really dirty we use Body Shop baby buriti bath wash, which smells just like newborn baby smell and isn't too harmful. Be wary of Johnson's products, they say suitable for babies but are full of chemicals.

Good luck! xxx

Oh yes, forgot about olive oil, that's what they recommend. (Supermarket is fine, doesn't have to be chemist, but chemist is cheaper)

Yes new babies need to be warm. They can only tell you what's wrong by crying. How many clothes depends on how warm you keep your house. Vest and sleepsuit sounds sensible. You might also like to consider vest, tights and nightie as it's less fiddly to put them on than poking tiny legs into a sleepsuit. Cardigans also useful as layering is good.

I carried my babies in a sling for first 6 months or so, so am not expert in carrycots. But if it be uinely lies flat, I guess it's ok. Yes, you must strap in, to avoid risk of babe rolling out over kerbs, uneven ground etc.

Olive oil is good to massage/ moisturize, and to clean if the babe doesn't like the bath. Tiny amounts of lavender or chamomile are soothing.

And congratulations!

Congratulations! I had a December baby last year.
Quinny Buzz is fine with the car seat for a new born. I worried about whether to get the carry cot or not, decided we would get one if we needed it and never did.
The best thing I had was a good fleecy snowsuit for trips out. (The best one was from Emile et Rose but also had ones from Debenhams) Dead easy to get ready to go out, simple for feeds and changing.
Just used a drop of olive oil for moisture (overdue and really dry skin). And now use Kiehls.
Loopyloops hand cream advice is also dead on - still have rubbish nails from the early days of soaking and washing.

I only put my dc's in a babygro in the house, it's a warm house though. When we went out in the winter they had a babygro, snow suit and the cosy toes, in shops I had to take it off as it was way too hot.

I always loosely strapped my dc's in with the harness, because obviously there are people stealing babies all the time .

Didn't moisturise their skin, although they had excema as they got older so needed all kinds of potions from the GP's.

...and the hand cream should be top of your list! My hands bled they were so sore. Lush Helping Hands or Clarin were my favourites.

Wow - thank you

Glad they are not stupid guestions

I'll get some olive oil then as it seems to be the thing. I am a bit wary of all the Johnsons type stuff which gets pushed in every magazine or pack I am given as we want to be as natural as possible.

I have a couple of slings so hope to do this, bit scared about slinging a newborn and specially about the baby overheating? I have a Moby cloth one and a fleece one which I thought I could use ourdoors? We've not got the carrycot yet because we're not sure how much use we'd really get out of it.

Thank you all

I am sure we'll have more questions soon.

oh - I DO have another question

I have some cellular blankets but also bought a fleece one. Are these ok? Would this make a baby too hot and should I save it for trips out rather than when he/she is sleeping in the house?

We put a cellular blanket over them if they were dozing in the moses basket / playmat in the day. But it was gro-bags for night. And I used to keep the fleece blankets for car journeys, very cold days in the buggy.

Dress the baby in one layer more than you advice is good.

If you're worried about not having a carrycot get one from ebay for £45.

But implies that you can use the pushchair unit from birth.

You should use cellular ones for your Moses basket/ cot so if the baby pulls them over their head they can still breathe. I used the fleece ones for outside tucked into the pram.
A really great thing that we had was a snuggle me swaddling for night time made of fleece. Babies can get cold quickly at night when you are up and feeding.

Cellular blankets are best for indoors.

Fleece will be better for outdoors when it is very cold.

I would not worry about overheating in a sling.

I used to wear a jacket that I could also wrap around the baby if I was wearing a sling.

oh - great advice Thank you :) I looked at the swaddling blankets so will look into getting one.

Blankets really depend on how warm your house is. Also a little I think on the baby - when my ds was born he was only 5lb 9 oz and really skinny so tended to use more blankets to keep him warm. Now almost one he just sleeps in a baby grow and always kicks his blankets off.

Also, you haven't asked but i would recommend getting lots of cotton wool, for nappy changes they advise just wiping with water and cotton wool for the first month I think rather than using any products at all.

I use cellular blankets on moses basket and also pushchair. Didnt use fleece one for new babies, but fine when they are older.

Hi DF
Agree with everyone else - vest and sleepsuit in the house. If you're taking baby out in the sling just put a cardi on him/her and then wear a stretchy jumper yourself over baby. That's what I did with DS. Slinging a newborn is fab - I didn't even own a pushchair for the first 3 weeks, DS went everywhere in the sling. As the weather will be cold I wouldn't worry about baby overheating while out - just don't dress him/her up in a snowsuit if they're going in the sling.

Don't worry too much about products for baby. I use infacare now to wash DS's hair, and he has special cream on prescription for his eczema. I did use Dentinox cradle cap shampoo when he had bad cradle cap though.

When taking baby out in the pushchair, always strap them in. If the pushchair hits a bump, baby can get thrown out if not strapped.

I used my carry cot for months, and used to put a sheepskin rug in it, with a muslin cloth over it.

My baby was snug as a bug in a rug.

I remember it was really cold some days last December, and you also have the wind and rain to contend with.

I think you might prefer a carry cot at first, a cheap one will do.

How exciting a December baby. Just wonderful.

I've never used a carrycot, but I do think they are a very good idea, especially if you have more than one child, and would be a good investment if you think you may have more.

Olive oil has quite a strong, distinctive smell. I can't smell it warming in the pan without being transported back to baby massage class 8 years ago in an instant. I didn't know about the distilled stuff until this thread!

No question is dumb - there's always something to learn. Very best of luck!

and a little cardigan. Baby might not wear it much - but you'll keep it forever!

Re carry cot - we had a swing crib rather than a moses basket so the carry cot was useful to let ds sleep in the living room. Also it came with straps so could attach to seatbelts and be used as an alternative to a car seat eg for long journeys so that he could lie flat.

S&S My DS wore his little cardigan from woolworths LOADS. I do still have it though