Flipping, freezing, sterilising and the just plain ludicrous - what daft things did you do with your PFB?

[NorthernLurker]

Talking to dd1 tonight (she is 15 and has two sisters) I remembered how totally inept dh and I were.

We:

Filled the baby bath and then carried it (taking two of us) in to the living room of our flat to bath her because it was warmer than the bathroom. Then after the bath we carried it back, sloshing right and left, to empty it.

The first night we had her at home we were so worried about overheating her we put her in a cradle in a vest with a sheet and single blanket, by a window, in April......then wondered why she cried all night and went to sleep when the sun came up.....

Sterilised the bowl for her breakfast until she was a year old. This was dh's job because I Was At Home All Day With The Baby! When he forgot and tried to get in to bed and go to sleep without doing it we had a row. Dh still complains of the 'tyranny of baby's bowl'

When she was six months old and started to roll she would roll herself on to her front to sleep. So every night we would check on her, find her on her front and flip her on to back. Unsurprisingly this woke her....but we kept doing it till my HV told me we were crazy!

Were we alone in this insanity?

Not exactly a PFB one, but mum told me that when I was born she gave me 2oz of formula very 4 hours as instructed by the midwife (late 60's, no breast feeding but an injection of something straight after birth to stop your milk). At about 6 weeks old she told the hv I was crying and unsettled all the time - she hadn't realised you were supposed to increase the amount of milk, I was starving! (Still making up for it now, pass the biscuits)

I'm due my first in a few weeks and most of these sound perfectly reasonable to me.

Oh dear.

My pfb was a lovely sleepy baby. He would either be having a huge breast feed or sleeping. However as he was my pfb I was frantically googling, asking my HV and phoning nhs direct with concerns about him never crying of course they all just told me to make the most of it!
Three dcs later I now know not to complain if a child is asleep.

We also changed DS's nappy before every feed. Even at night. It was DH's job to change his nappy, as I was BF. We did twig that he didn't like it because he was hungry, but it still didn't stop us. DH was convinced that DS would never like him because of this terrible torture, and tried to develop super speedy ways of changing him.

I also kept notebooks of how long he fed and slept for, for a good 3 or 4 months (L 10 mins, R 15 mins, slept to 6.13am etc).

Both of the above I blame on being ex-SCBU.

We also used to warm his cot with a hot water bottle every bedtime. This worked ok until the evening I was filling the hot water bottle from the kettle whilst DH was giving DS his bath, and tipped boiling water all over my hand. DS then needed to be BF, so I sat there feeding him with my hand burning, while DH drove to the supermarket to get something to put on the burn.

DC2 is due in a few weeks and obviously I will be totally rational this time round until the sleep deprivation kicks in

When dc1 was 14 months I went away for the night and my grandma looked after him. I wrote down his routine, a list of suggested foods and also some "translated" words. I knew what he meant when he asked for "ink" (drink) but I was worried grandma wouldn't and poor pfb would be distressed.

Then when he was 2yrs 4mths I had dd and I stuck the routine to the fridge, again with a list of pre approved foods that he liked to eat. Madness.

These really had me laughing so hard I nearly peed myself (I am 38 wks pg with DC2). YY to writing ridiculously detailed instructions to babysitters and feeling like no one else could possibly understand or meet DD's needs.
I think the most angry I've ever been at DH was when he decided to 'lighten' the nappy bag by taking out both the sunscreen and DD's hat.It was the middle of summer and a stupid thing to do but I really wanted to divorce him in that moment.
DD was fine, we stuck to the shade.
I don't think sitting in the back of a car with a whingy baby is too crazy though for long trips. It means you can easily give them a bottle, sing a song or whatever and avoid a long period of sustained crying as a result.

When DD was about a week old I rang the post natal ward to ask if I should be worried that she hadn't had a poo in every nappy that day

How the midwife didn't howl with laughter down the phone at me I've no idea.

On our first trip out with her we spent ALL day in John Lewis as they has such great changing facilities

I still sterilze PFB's bottles now. (he was only has a one a day)

He was two at the end of last year.

LOVING this thread

Hover bath was brilliant, but booby cornflakes wins it for me so far!

When my PFB was 8m I left him with DH and dear PIL for the weekend. I recently rediscovered the crib sheet I carefully produced for the occasion, which included pearls of unique wisdom gleaned from my extensive experience of baby care, that no one else would ever possibly know. Such as "if he starts refusing his bottle while there's still some left, see if he needs to burp and then try again. Burps make more room!".

Quite how I thought my esteemed PIL had managed to raise two (bottle fed) babies, I really don't know. And I haven't a bloody clue where I got the offensively chirpy tone from.

Sitting here feeding my 11 week old pfb now and laughing - I am definitely guilty of lots already. So can you microwave milk then? Expressing and been warming it in water - takes ages. Is the hot spot thing bollocks?

The hot spot thing is correct, but you can deal with it by shaking the bottle really thoroughly!

Regarding hot spots, eventually we realised that they are easily avoided if you swirl the milk around thoroughly. We would stop half way through warming, swirl, warm again then a good swirl again. SO much faster than waiting for a bottle on a bowl of warm water.

Have to say I don't see anything pfb in warming pjs on radiators. I think it's a nice motherly thing to do. Not that II ever do of course, but I might start!

These days I work and am pg with no2 so probably more in the 'benign neglect' end of the spectrum. :)

It's better to "swirl" expressed milk than shake it because shaking it breaks the long chain... something. It's still good but it's not as good

I have a feeling microwaving breaks them too so may not be a good idea.

However breaking the long whatever they are does nothing at all to the vitamin content, but does something to one of the things that makes breastmilk good.

I expect if you google "why not shake breastmik" then it will give you the real answer.

Oh dear. PFB is nearly 8 and I still warm her knickers on the radiator each morning .

And yes, I warmed her Moses basket with a hottie too all those years ago.

Ah. My baby. My PFB

Carrying tummy tub to bedroom cos it was warmer - check
Obsessively writing down feeds and nappies - check
Sterilising EVERYTHING obsessively - check

Also
Freaking out that the Dr Browns bottle kids had holes in so how could they be sterile
Nudging the Moses basket to check she was breathing.
She could sit about five months ish. Probably would have liked to be out her pram and sitting up. But no. Must be six months old before pram becomes buggy.
Being slightly concerned that her BLW would start when she was two days under six months.

Lunacy

All those of you putting pjs on radiators: put your own on there too. Then it no longer counts as pfb behaviour, instead it's a lovely essential wintry treat.

Oh my, this is too funny!

Let me see, PFB had to have fresh clothes on for bedtime (even if he'd been in a sleep suit all day). He'd doze on us in th evening, then we would wake him up and change him when we came to bed. Poor old second -born DD lived in the same sleep suit for days on end when she was a newborn.

I called NHS Direct when DS was 9 days old because he'd been asleep for too long... After he'd woken and had a feed .

I often end up in the back of the car, wedged between the toddler and the baby...

And how could I ever forget, DS had his porridge made with expressed breast milk, every single morning until he was 12 months.

I have to admit, I read this thread and thought "Ooh, what a GOOD idea to warm the 'jamas" - and nipped straight upstairs and put the DC's nightwear on the radiator to warm before their baths...

We still warm pjs on the radiator after the bath I also do mine

I regularly find DH boiling up toothbrushes to sterilise ( DD is 3!)

I'm sure I read on an old thread about someone bing worried about allergies and weaning so they parked up in the hospital car park when trying out new foods in case of a reaction? Fantastic pfb story!

We did the bath thing with dc1

Dc2&3 just got stuck in the sink

I also remember taking my dd to the docs for her check up and being told she had a mild virus/ cold ...i cried! I asked tentatively... Is it common for babies to get a virus? The nice doc looke at me and said in a bored tone, babies get ill, on average, every month or two.

I also took her to the docs and when checking her over the nice doc asked if i could hold her close while he did so .. I panicked and asked, why close? Your not going to hurt her are you? He looked really angry! 'Us doctors are not in buisness of hurting babies!' Was his memorable retort! My dh nearly died, bless him.
I also remember asking the doc to check her eyesight as i was concerned... He did. She followed his pen perfectly. Is that ok then? I asked! He looked at me like I had had a blow to the head.
The poor GPs must have howled at me as I left. I was never out the place... They even requested I visit the health visitor or a nice family friend prior to making the appointment ... If not serious.( It never was!!)
In my defence I do have PND so I was/am more anxious than most... But this thread has enabled me to laugh at myself!!

I thought you weren't supposed to microwave breastmilk as it kills the good somethingorothers in it?

we DEMAND that FIL washes his hands before holding the baby (with both DCs)
That said, first time that happened must have been the first time he'd EVER washed them!
AND we have to police the use of soap in said process, too.

My husband insisted our DS (his first, my third) must have a bee or some other terrible insect in the pampers as he did not stop crying. Well, i still do not know what it was why he was crying, but had to demonstrate there was no bee. Twice.

They also returned from one of their first strolls in the park with a nice bunch of pine needles in the pram. I asked why on earth and hubby said they smelled so great in the cold snowy winter weather that he thought it would be good if the baby also had this experince more firsthand. So put some into pram.

And even with my fourth i sometimes disturbed his sleep to make sure he is alive.......