newbie questions

[surfmama]

hello experienced mums.

Could you help me? 26 weeks woop!

Car seats - are these okay for newborns as my sister thinks they aren't but will need to bring the small home somehow. What's the best one in your opinion?

Sleeping - getting a friends moses basket, will get a new mattress but what does baby sleep in, get covered with if anything? (Due june 17th)

Pushchair thing - I did post about this previously as wanted something that might go on beach, but am wondering if strollers that go into pram things are actually okay for a newborn?

My expansive body - feels like it doesn't want to expand much more - really tight and uncomfortable but I have 14 weeks to go - what will happen?!!!

thanks sorry for being a bit thick....

Hey Surf congrats on your pregnancy.

Firstly car seat - essential for all babies, they come with newborn inserts so will work for a brand new baby. I have the maxi cosi pebble that goes with my quinny buzz.

Sleeping - get a couple of cellular blankets to start and then gro bags for when baby is a bit bigger. The blankets are good for swaddling too.

Pushchair is a bit more complicated. I went to mothercare and discussed what I wanted/needed then found it cheaper online.

And as for size your body is designed for this and will grow where it has to so don't worry :) hth

ha lil thanks very much. I was thinking about the quinny also, so do you think it would be any good on the beach? carseat and blankies - all understood thank you! body well i hope so!

Congratulations!

I had one of those bases that stays fixed into the car and the rear facing car seat 'clips' onto it so if the baby's asleep you don't have to disturb them getting them in and out of the car.

You have to buy the base and seat separately though and they seem to cost more but worth it if you can afford to. I found Graco was the cheapest make of these by quite alot. Make sure what you buy is compatible with your car before purchase.

To sleep, get a baby room thermometer (they come free with alot of baby bedding now). It will show you if your room is an appropriate temp for baby. Alot of baby bedding also has guidelines on safe amounts of layers to swaddle the baby in to sleep. As Lilpud says cellulars are fab for when they're tiny and grobags are brill when they're older (and more wriggly!) MW told me no loose bedding or no duvets/pillows till they turn 1. Also was told not to use cot bumpers. (I don't mean to be patronising! Just don't know how much you need to know! )

Pushchairs...Well it really depends on how often you'll use it. Maybe just try a sling untill baby's here then you can really see hwat your need is without risking buying a huge pram that you can't even fit in the boot!

And moisturise your belly as much as possible to ease the itchy tightness but I promise you will not burst!

Good Luck! :)

Hi!
I think the bugaboo cameleon can be used well on sand. Have a look at their website - think there is a video.

Hi.

The only issue I can think that your sister might be concerned about with car seats is that they're not good to leave a newborn in for more than a could of hours - they are curved and can curve the baby's soft impressionable spine. However, some hospitals won't let you leave without a car seat there, so they are essential for car travel.

A sling is a fab idea especially if baby wants to time held all the time and you need to wash up or hang out some washing...

I found the Baby Show was great for seeing buggies in the 'flesh' & working out what we wanted, but its only on in Feb & Oct so too late to help you OP!! Do some surfing and see what's out there, you might even be able to get something second hand and then if its no good for you, it won't have cost the Earth.

Boots does a range of different stretch-mark creams and I had some bought for me, but I found slapping some moisturiser (anything will do, as long as you're not sensitive to the ingredients) on after a shower and before bed helped. It also helps when you get that 'itchy' feeling too.

Good luck :)

^Stupid spellcheck/autocorrect - could = couple of

Hi
Agree with your sister and ChunkyChicken: carseat is OK but only for 30 minutes, not very good for the baby's spine. Baby needs to lie flat.
Pushchair on the beach : be careful with overheating and sun, babies can loose their fluids very quickly, I would not use a pushchair, too easy to get forgetful, use the sling, at least you will feel baby moving against you.
Stretchmark creams can be very expensive, ridiculously expensive, I used sweet almond oil for my first baby, everyday, once a day and had only 2 small stretchmarks on one side that appeared in week 38...
The only thing is if your skin is very itchy, you might want to see a MW or the GP, it could be linked to your liver and gestational diabetes... don't be too concerned, I just thought I should mention that because I did not know until my GP told me.

hi mums thanks for this. I will get some celular blankets and that is all the baby needs for sleeping in and swadling. I will get a thermometer for babies room and an ear temp thing.

I will deliberate over a pram thing and probably not decide and just use a sling, until MIL moans about it.

Maybe will take a trip to halfords for car seat advice and then look on internet for best price I guess.

I am not itchy. Don't know where that came from but thanks for concerns, just feeling like I might pop!

Gravy I know nothing so your advice on cot bumpers is very handy thank you, does this go for the flouncy things around the moses basket too?

hpbp won't they get hot in a sling? I know what you mean though I will be aware of them although tbh I probably won't take my eyes off it once born!

Oh don't worry - you'll know the itchy thing in a couple of weeks!!! As your skin expands, it can feel a bit dry & itchy. But, as Hpbp said, if it gets beyond that, its something to get checked out...

Agree with chunky give it a couple of weeks and you will be itchy

baby won't get too hot in a sling don't worry, you may find you have a baby who hates being put down, DD was a nightmare so a sling for me was essential, but they are not for everyone.

Going to Halfords is a great idea they will be able to show you how to fit a carseat as well :), Maxi cosi's fit into a lot of pushchairs (Quinny, ICandy, Bugaboo's) with adapters which is great if you don't want to wake baby.

A cellular blanket is great to cover baby at first but baby sleeping bags can be used from about 8.5lb and are brilliant.

Congratulations BTW

I didn't have any 'flouncy' things in our moses basket so I'm not sure
I was told basically nothing in the basket that they could smother themselves into. So no cuddly toys or anything either. Around the outside or edge of the basket is fine though i think. Just as long as baby cannot reach it.
ooh, stretchy swaddling blankets are fab too for wrapping them up nice and tightly to comfort them too.

MNers have a wealth of knowledge on every subject I could think of and people will answer any question no matter how silly you may think it is, so just keep asking :)

thanks Gravy. I do have two more questions, sorry! So. Do I swaddle baby in celular blanket at night, or just put it over baby, or just put baby to sleep in sleep suit?

also, I am looking at second hand mountain buggy with carrycot attachment on ebay. think this will go on beach and will be flat for newborn with the attachment. Do you know if I need to get a new bottom/mattress thing for the carrycot, as the baby may sleep in it I guess. Lots of advice for second hand cots and the like, but not for pram mattresses. what do you think?

and thank you happen for the congrats, still can't quite believe it really am so so excited!

It depends on when baby's due and what he temp/weather is like at the time.
Presuming you turn the heating off when you go to bed/or have it on low, I used a vest, babygrow and 2 layers of cellular blanket. But bear in mind a blanket folded in half counts as two blanket layers IYSWIM. Loose blankets aren't recommended for small babys so swaddle her.

The MW at hospital used to slip two fingers under the babys vests to feel how warm their chests were and told me that's a good thing to go on. I also never used a hat inside with DS as he was quite a 'warm' baby.

My community MW told me it's better for a baby to be chilly than to over heat (which is dangerous).
Never put a baby next to a turned on radiator though no matter how low the heat is on.

I would try and find a mattress for inside the carry cot if you think you'll use it a fair bit. If you type the measurements for the carry cot into ebay you can usually find places that make them to order. That's what we had to do with our oddly sized cot.
If you can't find one I think the advice is to clean it thoroughly, and only use it with waterproof sheets on the mattress to avoid any possible contact with previous babys bodily fluid (a possible danger). The rules on this do seem to change regularly though! So if you're not able to get a new mattress check the same rules still apply with your MW. Although DS was born 2010 so wasn't long ago I was being told this.

HTH x

arr gravy thank you. that answers everything for now!! until next time i think about anything other then just delivering the wee one safely! you are a star. due in june and we never have heating on at night much to the cat's dismay!