What I wish people had told me when I had my first baby...

[bradleybecky]

Any thoughts?

If you're planning on breastfeeding, check your baby's tongue for a tongue tie when they're born. They're not routinely looked for and are missed a lot of the time. Dd's was missed and not snipped until 12 weeks (after a lot of campaigning to get it done and mastitis twice). A tongue tie will make breastfeeding a lot more difficult.

Trust your instincts and throw the parenting book away. Do what feels natural to you.

Oh and invest in a good sling, so much handier for public transport and getting about, in and out of shops and walks inaccessible by pram.

To tell the health visitor to fuck off.

^^ ahahahaha

My Health Visitor was marvellous but the Midwives who came round were horrible cows

@gluteustothemaximus My HV is very good. Sorry you had a bad experience, but my midwives and HV were amazing in the first few weeks, and I had daily support with breastfeeding. She's also really good at giving me lists of games and activities to do with my baby, which I have stuck up on the fridge to refer to.

Oh yes as pp said when the HV side eyes the two empty bottles of prosecco you shared with guests at the back door and says 'I hope you weren't drinking those ' tell her to fuck off 👍

Some babies breast feed well, some take effort and some won't do it at all

There is no rhyme or reason to it.

If it doesn't work well for you please ignore the smug bitches it worked for and try to make you feel bad. They aren't better than you.

That you can be in tears with frustration ready to give up then they smile and you keep going

Enjoy the first few months of feeding (whichever method you choose) and sleeping and don't feel like you have to socialise if you don't want to.
The house does not need to be spotlessly clean
Shower before DH/DP/DM whoever leaves the house as it's one less thing to stress about
Buy teething stuff now! No one tells you how demonic a teething baby can be
Don't fret about losing weight etc... plenty tome for that
Start using grocery delivery😁

Lastly, trust your gut instinct xx

My HV was really mean for my first. Second rubbish too. Last one lovely but midwives that visited afterwards were not nice. At. All. I hear it so often that 'HV said am doing this wrong/that wrong' - I want to scream - HV isn't always right!!!

Yes to trusting gut.

Am really enjoying number 3

Yes yes to trusting your instincts. No one knows your baby like you do - if you feel there's something wrong don't be brushed off by the HV or anyone else.