A Day in the Life of a Mother...

[DazedEmma]

Today is my first day on here and in an hour reading through posts, I have had most of my anxieties, worries and questions answered (I'm 5months pregnant). However, I have no idea what to expect when the baby comes. I have a few questions for new mum's, particularly Mum's who are single parents of don't have the DH/DP around much.

1. When baby comes home, how often does baby sleep? Eat? Cry?

1. Do you ever get any sleep?

1. Is it as hard as they say it is?

1. On average, how much does it cost to have a baby? Bear necessities.

Are there questions normal? I suppose I just imagine I'm

Congratulations DazedEmma!
All babies are different, so no idea how much yours will eat and sleep.
If at all like me, you won't want to sleep at all because you'll want to spend every breathing moment gazing in amazement at your tiny gorgeous baby.
And, if you join freecycle.org, you may be lucky and get most baby essentials for free.

When I was pregnant, everyone warned me about sleep deprivation, but nobody told me what FUN it is. Worse still, nobody told me about MNet - congratulations for having made the discovery!

'For the first 4 weeks, forget day and night. It is perfectly reasonable to conduct most of your affairs in a milk stained nightie, and to order in pizza every night. For your lunch.'

Absolutely agree - what I meant by preserving night and day is more to give you some kind of normality. For about 3 weeks DH and I couldn't have told you if it was 4am or 4pm, and literally split our day into 3 hour shifts. I don't think it did us any good, I might have felt slightly more normal a bit sooner (and I still mean on the far end of the normal spectrum!) if we had been a bit more structured. You do what you can to survive anyway, that was just a point in hindsight from me.

I did conduct most of my affairs in a milk stained nightie! But I did feel a lot more human when I eventually got dressed in the day time.

Oh, and I know you are strapped for cash but if you can possibly afford it I would recommend a hard disk recorder, like sky plus or we have BT vision. God, it is a lifesaver for those days/nights (who knows?!) when you are stuck on the sofa feeding for hours, or not daring to move in case you wake the baby. means that instead of watching Open University at 4am you can record Dawson's Creek, Will and Grace, Scrubs and all kinds of wonderful programmes and watch them when you like.

Honestly, I would save as much as you can to get one or ask for one as a present.

So
Like others have said I can only answer from my POV

1. When baby comes home, how often does baby sleep? Eat? Cry?

Our boys were breastfed the first few weeks it was every 2-3 hours - feed, change bum, sleep, repeat

1. Do you ever get any sleep?

If you listen to all the people who tell you to forget about the house and sleep when baby sleeps then in the first couple of weeks you will get napping opportunities. not necessarily at times you feel most tired. For most parents IT DOES GET BETTER by 12 weeks 85% of my antenatal group had babies who were sleeping 8 hour chunk at night. (not necessarily 11-7 but still 8 hours!)

1. Is it as hard as they say it is?

It is more tiring that you thought possible, but you find reserves that you didn't know existed. You find love that you can't comprehend. The Joy you will feel will outweigh the hard times.

1. On average, how much does it cost to have a baby? Bear necessities.

very very little. we use washable nappies (initial expense aside), breastfed both boys, a few packs of babygrows and popper vests from tesco that is it. Assuming you have things like cot and buggy - I meant more day to day expense. They don't need any toiletries at all, no moisturiser, talc, soap, nothing. buy a value towel from a supermarket and cut it into 3inch squares use this instead of cottonwool and bung it in the washing machine.

Enjoy, it is brilliant! welcome to MN hope you realise how addictive it is!

for me and my 3-

1. When baby comes home, how often does baby sleep?varied lots between the 3.ds1 awake lots,ds2 i had to wake to feed every 4 hours!dd not sure.

Eat?dd and ds2 both breastfed on demand .ds1 bottle every few hours. Cry?dd-not a lot,ds1 constantly,ds2 only when wet,cold/hot,hungry etc

1. Do you ever get any sleep? with dd and ds1 not so much at first but was on new baby high so was ok!ds2 slept very well,i had to set alarm to feed.

1. Is it as hard as they say it is?hard one to answer.love conquers all!

1. On average, how much does it cost to have a baby? Bear necessities.

not so much.you dont 'need' everything they say you do.we used washables,breastfed(at first) ,we coslept,they dont need huge expensive buggy etc.as long as a baby is fed,loved,warm,safe its ok.

Feeling Evil- you are so right!

I remember saying to my mum

"its every bit as bad as everyone told me, but far far lovelier than anyone told me too!"

Thank you so much everyone. I feel soooo much better, I honestly didn't have a clue where to start and you lot have helped me out so much.

I'm also very excited more than scared for the first time, haha! x

Dazedemma - MN will be a great help and support to you, you are very lucky to have found it so sonn

Good DE - now relax & enjoy the peace & quiet while you can!! ;)