What's the number one investment for making life with a newborn a little bit easier?!

[runlolarun10]

Is there anything that I could buy or request as a gift that might make life as a first time mum just a little bit easier?

Thank you . I think I'd like a grown-up sized one.

The Baby Whisperer and grobags.

A post-natal doula for as long as you can beg, borrow or steal the fees. I had one (I had no family or other support available) and she kept me sane. Would look after DS while I had some proper uninterrupted kip (which I desperately needed in order to recover from pretty traumatic end of pregnancy and labour), make lunch, iron, wash up, do shopping, you name it. And just generally reassure me, through the fog of PND, that I was doing fine.

Good small light buggy that is v portable. I have the bugaboo bee and it is brilliant! DD sleeps in it instantly - she loves it.

I had high hopes for a sling, but DD doesn't like it. It's very hard to know what they will take to! White noise also does nothing for DD. Likewise swaddling. Don't expect your baby to conform to others!

A cleaner - as often as you can. Daily is not too often but let's face it, people are unlikely to be offering you £3,650.
Dishwasher.
Microwave.

I wish I had spent the money on a bugaboo. Lovely MIL sent a cheque for enough and I thought it would be more sensible to buy a pushchair and a cot for that amount of money. Wrong.

Lansinoh, grobags (although own brand alternatives also often fine), mother's help/cleaner for a few hours a week, online supermarket delivery.

Gin.

Big enough bed to cosleep.

If breast feeding - naice juice and sky+

Doula

I no particular order...

A sling and a wonderful DP/DH.

For us, by a country mile it was this chair (ours was a different colour actually).

It was excellent, baby had reflux and slept in it slightly upright and it was teh only time she was happy. Later she liked sitting in it watching what we were all doing, playing with the dangly toys and having a kick about.
We got ours reduced when they brought out new colours, it was £45 and it was a very well spent £45.

Otherwise, my stretchy wrap sling was amazing when they were newborns as an alternative to always taking the buggy.

These swaddle pods are bloody amazing, wish I'd known about them the first time around, they slept so well in them. When they outgrew them they went into GroBags, which I love too.

V shaped feeding pillow (for the baby)
Throw and cushions on the chair/sofa you sit on to bf (for you)
'what to expect in the first year' book
Freezer full of meals
Comfy underwear
New, glam coat and scarves to wear until your body pings back

A couple of Grobags. If you get the Grobag brand ones then they are suitable from 7lb and you don't have to faff around with sheets and blankets or swaddling in the middle of the night.

If breastfeeding then learning how to feed in bed makes nights so much easier. I didn't cosleep, just lifted the baby in and then out again when finished.

I also found a dummy extremely useful for the early months, dropped it fairly easily at about 7 months with both children.

Thank you all so much
Can anyone recommend a good swinging chair?
Am about to google white noise - assume I can just download some onto my ipod?
Really useful advice re the breastfeeding QTPie - thank you.
Want to have as many weapons in my armoury for the first few weeks/months as possible!
If anyone knows of someone who is willing to be clean my house, fill my freezer, administer gin and be on stand by with earplugs can you please let me know but after I've pushed a baby out my DP will do all of the above without question and with a smile on his face

Yeah Grobags are amazing!

I only downloaded the white noise CD after I saw DS' reaction to the hoover, extractor fan and hairdryer (yes, that was all in one afternoon - but the CD was only 4 tracks and cost £17 so I needed to know it would be worth it!). AND for when you are out - a rainmaker like this: www.mothercare.com/Mothercare-Rainmaker/dp/B002GV3IDW

Frozen meals that can be eaten one handed also essential (fish pie/cottage pie/risottos etc)

Couldn't have lived without my sling (a HotSling - although DH thought it was too 'hippy' for him and he loved the babybjorn which I couldn't get on with).

Any good friend/family member willing to hold/watch the baby while you sleep/shower/make lunch/walk around the block is worth their weight in gold - don't be afraid to ask them directly for what you want as people often want to help without knowing what to do!

A freezer full of home cooked meals or decent ready meals (M&S are very good).
And obviously a microwave.

A dummy and a bouncy / swingy chair

I'd recommend a widgy breastfeeding cushion, can sometimes find them cheap in tesco or asda, they are very padded and give lots of support so you don't hurt your back. I bought mine five years ago for my firstborn and have used it for 12 months to feed her then for 2 years to feed ds, is now used by ds to sit on when watching tv! Well worth the money.

Buy grobags in TKMaxx. They are half the RRP. Although DS3 didn't really get on with them as a newborn. He preferred swaddling.

Nappies, nappies, nappies and wipes, we bought loads Esp when on offer, before dd1 was born-dh thought I was mad at the time, but it really does help and he realised that in the end, even offered to look for offers on nappies before dd2 was born.
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