Things no one told me....

[bunnyrabbit]

Thought I'd pop my head back in to this board and pass on just a few things that might be useful..

Once you bundle has arrived you will be washing your hands constantly so stock up on antibacterial mosturising hand wash. Also buy some industrial strength hand cream and leave tubes of it everywhere as your hands will look like a fisherwives for the first few weeks.

Muslins are a girls best friend. They are well worth the money.

Velcro bibs are much easier than ties, but noisy when trying to remove from a sleeping baby. Pull over bibs are a b**y nightmare.

Buy yourself shoes that you can put on and take off when you have a hand full of baby.

Invest in a wirelss and handsfree phone and remember to take it with you when you change the baby!! The phone always rings half way through.

If you have a boy, never look away when he has his nappy off. He will wee even if he's just been!!

If you sleep naked, invest in some night clothes that you are able to put on with the light off. You'll need them for night feeds when baby is in his/her own room and for when the postman knocks in the morning.

and something I was told but ignored...

SLEEP WHEN BABY SLEEPS!! S*D THE HOUSE WORK/WASHING/WASHING UP ETC. IT'LL STILL BE THERE IN 3 MONTHS TIME.

And it still is...

More later...

BR (Mother of adorable DS now 17 weeks)

That's worth knowing

CD, agree about the love. It blew us away. We felt (and still feel) like members of a very special club to which only parents know the password.

That leaving the house for the first time (once you're home) is the strangest experience. I felt like I had a huge sign above my head saying "Mum with baby" and I felt like I was made of cut glass.

Ds was eight days old before I dared to drive, and usually I love driving. I would never have guessed that this came with early motherhood, but after talking to several friends it is apparently quite common. It wasn't that it was painful or anything, just the world seemed far too big a place for me (the first time I drove was to rush out for a presecription, leaving dp & ds at home. All the time the only thing I could think of was "will dp be able to find the contingency bottle feeding stuff if I have a crash and die."

Oh yes, and the washing machine will never idle.

Oh yes, fisil that remonds me... stock up on washing powder/liquid/tablets etc.....

and get a tumble dryer.... baby clothes much softer drying this way and house dont stink like a washer-house

and remember never to use biological powder on baby clothes or nappies - poor DD got terrible rashes when we forgot. maybe that's obvious to most people but we'd not realised.

Fennel,

Not at all obvious - I hadn't realised this either

If you can't breastfeed don't feel awful. I kicked myself for giving up on day 3 until somebody pointed out that E was happy and healthy, and my husband told me he loved feeding her.

Shop in sales for baby clothes!

I wish i had not bothered buying so many small sized clothes, E got loads when she was born and friends gave me their children's old stuff. She hasn't worn half of it, i would have been better spending my money on the bigger sizes.

Everytime you go to the supermarket buy nappies. If someone asks what to get you ask for NAPPIES!

GenT- think you self lucky i bleed for 8 WHOLE WEEKS

I must have been thinking about some craving at that point and never heard that bit about bleeding. I really never expected it, silly eh, maybe I should have thought that inside needed healing as well.

The light should have clicked when they said to get towels.

Message withdrawn