Next time ( i have a baby) I will.............

[sungirltan]

Stop obsessing about housework and just enjoy my nb.

Buy lots more sleepsuits/vest/muslins so I don't have to enslave myself to the washing machine EVERY DAY!

Use the sling from birth if I can - much less hassle than heavy pram.

Get a cot that attaches to the bed - best of both worlds i reckon.

Buy a mahoosive freezer and fill it whilst pregnant :-)

Tell people that say things like 'oh you musn't pick up the baby every time/rob for your own back blah blah' - 'i refer you to the several academic books on the shelf there which strongly support my notion that this is not a good idea' - or hit them with said books :-)

What will you do differnely? Whaqt will you do in the same way with baby no. 2/3/4....

Actually knowing something about babies would help greatly, for example, knowing that they wear vests and babygrows at the same time and not separately.

Also, not haemorrhaging or having PND for 3.5 years, that'd be cool.

I love my thermos mugs! I have one for work and it is fab.

I totally get where you are coming from with the photos. In fact, photographing friend's newborns has become a bit of a hobby of mine as a kind of result of not getting any satisfactory photos of my first baby.

And YES to the pointless waste of time that is expressing. Why bother? All that milk down the plughole - both kids only want the real thing.

Yes, expressing is a pain.

But I did it loads in the early days 'cos DD wouldn't latch and I wanted her to have BM rather than formula, if possible. I taught DD (and myself, I guess) how to breastfeed by using a SNS with breast milk as the supplement. And it worked, she's still breastfeeding at almost 13 months.
(Nothing against formula feeding, I hasten to add - but I was determined to breastfeed).

If expressing is purely with the idea that OH could give a bottle overnight while you get an extra hour or two's kip, then no - IMO, it's probably less hassle to just feed the baby (I would wake anyway, so why not?!)

However, Baby2 will breastfeed like a champion from the word go, sleep fabulously and be a contented little thing, happy to be carted around while I keep my toddler on the straight and narrow.

Positive thinking? Too right!!

Oh, one more thing for Baby2: a Kindle. Essential for evening cluster feeding (once DD is in bed).

Co-sleep and breastfeeding from the get go! It's made my life SO much easier!

a kindle and a thermos mug he he! brill. i did read a hell of a lot when i was feeding dd. during my next pregnancy i think i will stockpile books - i'm not trustworthy enough for a kindle id drop it in the bath.

i loved catching up on this thread - loads of food for thought and thing to agree with.

agree with other posters though - i probably wont do much differently but i WILL have faith in myself as a parent and not be such a wimp about the whole thing. dd is a lovely, happy child who is really bright and sleeps and eats well so i must have done well quite a lot right actually :-)

yy to co slppeing abd bf though - no more sore back for me next time!

Book a haircut and colour for two weeks before the due date, not on the due date, so that when the baby comes early I do not look like a frizzy greying mess.

The only other thing would be to trust my instincts earlier; I was the mug who put the baby in a cot in her own room from the first night (in Australia they're not so big on your-room-for-first-six-months, i'd never heard that it could be a risk) and then traipsed all the bloody way across the hall seventeen times a night to breastfeed her. I think i gave in and started cosleeping at six weeks.

Not fret about "tummy time" - god how silly.

I will not think I am supposed to be "entertaining" a 2 month old. Idiot!

Will never ever attempt to follow Annabel Karmel's menu schedule for a 6 month old (can't believe I ever tried - DC2 will just have bits of what we have, mashed up and with a few finger bits).

Will let baby have a dummy without agonising over it. Though perhaps only once breastfeeding is established.

Perhaps get a little cot that attaches to bed thing given that DD was in our bed for 3 months!

Won't worry if baby won't be put down but will just pop him or her in the sling safe in the knowledge they'll do it when they are ready.

its not shallow to want to look reasonable when you know people will take pictures of you :-)

i wont feel guilty about the next one spending hours on their may patting the baby gym - dd was obviously quite happy! i wont feel i HAVE to leave the house every day either.

dd wouldn't go on her tummy anyway and shes one of those special bum shuffling babies he he

next time i will blw but not ever bother with the book - not rocket science!

....be suing the arse off the company that made my contraceptive device

Disclaimer: I would not as I know no contraceptive is 100% effective blah blah blah

employ a cleaner and what specialknickers said I SO AGREE !!!
Just hibernate and enjoy loving and cuddling your baby and sod the rest of the world. This time is special.

Also make friends with other Mums with babies, you will go through it all together a bit like holding hands, you will laugh and cry together if you are lucky and when they are toddlers you can get together and let them all play while you put the world to rights.

onEdge - yay! this is what my mum friends and i do. though we have finally agreed they are too big and chaotic to go to cafes now :-(

sungirltan Well, we now leave them at home with DH and go out at night less hassle.