First child, need advice!

[Jessie2024]

I am seven months pregnant with my first baby, and I don’t know where to start with mentally preparing to become a parent! Please give me all of your best tips and tricks for a first time mum, and any advice that will help me navigate this crazy adventure I’m about to embark on! Thanks!

There is a book "Bringing Up Baby" I think, by Daisy Goodwin it's not really a parenting book but a look at different parenting trends throughout the ages and the social context they happened in. It was a really great read as it put all of the advice you receive from family, friends, random passers by and modern trends into perspective.

Congratulations on your pregnancy. I'm 14 years in, and it's really true that the days are long but the years are sort. Trust your instincts our bodies and we have been made to do this job,modern living often means we are out of touch with those instinctive reactions and we assume someone else knows how to do things better.

Congratulations on your pregnancy.

I don't think there's really anything that can mentally prepare you for parenthood. I think it depends on how the birth goes initially as to how you feel in the early days. All I would say is be kind to yourself and don't expect to immediately love your baby like they do in films. It's not always like that. It's ok to think WTF have I done to my life - I know I did. Saying that though, I have four children now so if it was that bad, I'd have stuck to just one.

I hope all goes well for you

So much I didn't know about babies. Newborns sleep all the time (when not feeding)... for about a few weeks, and not at night btw.

Then at some point you have to start actually putting them down for naps! Which isn't easy and they don't often want to!

And sometimes you just can't put them down at all.

Try and get out of the house every day even if it's a massive effort. I had my first midwinter and the daylight hours seemed so short and the nights so long.

Lovely snuggles though. They change all the time- just as you think you've got a handle on things, they seem like a different baby as they get that bit older!