Best tips ever!!! Add yours...

[notsolilKel]

Hello ladies,

As a second timer I felt it would be helpful if I started a list of absolute best tips for mums-to-be. I just wish someone had told me a few things before I appeared at hospital to give birth...

For example: take very dark bath towels, black if possible (though admittedly a tad unstylish). You will bleed more than you think possible, and these will save you when emerging from bathrooms...

Also, take something to drink. I could not get enough Citrus Lemon Lucozade, for example. Water is freely available but it can get a bit dull after you've had 20 litres or so!

Looking forward to reading everyone else's best advice !

susiemj- if you're going to hospital i'd take about 10 / 12, and you always get someone else to bring more in.

Some ace advice on this thread.

• Stick a couple of bottles of water in the freezer and take them to hosp frozen. Then they'll be lovely and cold as they melt for you to drink .

• Couldn't possibly agree more about pouring luke warm water on your stitches when you wee. Would just add the top tip of having a water bottle with a sports cap: directional!

• Fybogel. Seriously.

• I was pleased I'd taken shorts and vest tops into hosp. It's so blinkin HOT on the post natal wards, and I didn't want to wander around in my nightie all the time.

Also, while you're able before baby comes, make some meals for the freezer that you can have in the first week or 2 of baby being here- chilli, stew, bolognaise etc. Also handy to do mini-meals for any kids you have already, so when you too knackered to be bothered, you can just pop one in microwave for them.

Aww, I remember this first time around!

I got this one from a similar thread - buy a thermal mug (e.g. a berghaus one) it's the only way you will get a hot cup of tea for the next year or so, make sure it has a lid so you can sit it on the sofa while holding the baby or bfing.

also, a kiddie's cup with a lid and a straw is ideal for labour and for when you are thirsty in those last few weeks in the night but can't heave yourself up! The amount of times I've spilt icy water down my neck...

also, everyone said spend the first six weeks doing NOTHING, just holding your baby and relaxing. I didn't and wish I had. The only thing worth leaving the house for is to go to a breastfeeding clinic.

Get yourself a corset!! I saw this idea recommended on MN and got myself a plain stretchy elastic one from figleaves which just went from bottom of ribs down to hips. I found it really comforting for holding post-birth floppy belly in again, while it pulled itself together (me pulling myself together took rather longer )Plus you can pretend to anyone you really want to annoy that you've miraculously lost that pregnancy weight on the journey back from hospital

Straws - for some reason it was easier to drink through a straw when in labout. Don't ask me why, but it was!

Batch cook and freeze - I really wish I had done this. Within two weeks DP and I had had enough of ready meals and takeaways. I think we managed to digest 2 months worth of salt in two weeks - yuk.

On-line grocery shopping - an absolute godsend. Have an online shop saved, then when you get home just press send and hey presto your shopping is delivered.

Nice and comfy lounge wear - I lived in mine for the 1st few weeks. They didn't put pressure on my cs scar, and it was easy to whip my boobs out whenever needed.

Pashmina - great for when you're getting to grips with bf'ing in public, and great for sheltering babba when you're having a cuddle.

Thermal cup - great in hospital, as they allow you to get a decent sized cuppa rather than a thimble full. Also great for when you're home and tied to the sofa bf'ing. I can't tell you how many cold mugs of tea I threw out before I got a cup!

• Read loads of books about birth and bringing up babies, but bin them afterwards and do your own thing. Babies don't read.

• When a baby is crying loads and you've checked everything (hungry/too hot/nappy changed etc) put them down in cot or bed and leave them for a minute or two. Sometimes they just get over-stimulated and can't fall asleep. Being alone without stimulation might just help them calm down.

• Third and final tip: the sound of appliances help many babies fall asleep: hairdryer, tumber dryer, washing machine, etc...

just thought of another one. if you can afford it, buy a laptop so you can feed your mn addiction while pinned to the sofa feeding or holding a sleeping baby for hours on end (like me today!).

oh and i would have been bored to tears without my new bt vision box to record endless episodes of scrubs, friends and newlyweds while again feeding and being stuck on the sofa!

What a great thread. I am a bit of a fraud here cos I haven't had my baby yet. But I spent eleven hours on a maternity ward on Monday so feel qualified to add, if you're going to hospital for any period of time:

• take something nice smelling, maybe an aromatherapy spray which the shop tell you is OK for use in pregnancy. Then use it on your sheets, inside of the wrist etc. - judiciously of course, don't upset the other patients! Hospitals smell really hideous, especially at meal times. I'm not a hippy, but find my lavender and geranium roll-on bizarrely comforting.

• don't expect them to have pillows. Weird, I know.

• Take an i-pod, or, better still, some old walkman that no-one in their right mind will steal. I found I was a bit scared by the sound of other women labouring around me, so wanted to block it out with some nice Top Fifty Relaxing Classics tunes.

• I love the idea of taking in frozen bottles of water- wish I had done that. I got incredibly dehydrated in just one day. Take vaseline too.

• Magazines, magazines, trashy magazines. I was bored out of my head, but books seemed like too much work. Weirdly I also had a hankering to do easy puzzles and colouring-in! That's what ten hours of waiting to see a doctor does to you!

I am expecting my first baby and I am completely terrified at forgetting things to take to hospital. These tips are brilliant and I will be passing them onto all my other relatives who are pregnant just now.

Thanks ladies - you really have helped me out x

This thread is brilliant!!
Thank you, ladies.

get some anusol suppositories and use one before your first bowel movement

These all sound great...when's the book coming out?

ban the taking of all pictures of the mummy until she has checked her appearance in the mirror. My sister broke down when she saw how bad I looked.

Some great tips here

Bump!!

If you are going into hospital take lip salve, your lips dry out really fast. Carmex is great!
Take flip flops for wearing in the shower.
I found tea tree oil great for my stitches (few drops on the pad - be careful with it) and arnica.
Don't forget stuff to wipe the north sea oil meconium first pooh off your baby's bottom. Cotton wool balls that they provide in hospital are not really up to the job.
I also loved the bag of truffles my mum brought for me after I had my first baby - I ate the lot in one go

book a private room!

I did and it was fantastic :-p

oh, and have one hospital bag for you, and one for the baby. I had one massive bag and spent my whole stay in hospital digging through it for what I was looking for. Would have been much easier if I'd had two small ones instead.

if too hot on ward either during of after labour put cold flannel/water on your wrists

ditto on the arnica - fantastic stuff for helping speedy healing, I buy it for all my friends who are pg

I had one of those magicool sprays - fantastic for during labour - even the mw was having a shot of it

stitches and no time to pee in shower/bath? - turn round and face the toilet straddle style while you pee - not as good as shower/bath/pouring over luke warm water but sometimes you just don't have that option!!

start using your nipple cream a few weeks before the birth - those ladies are about to be abused so treat them nice to start with! let them dry naturally after feeding, let them blow about in the wind for a bit, them put cream on them

buy an oversized mans shirt (matalan again!) in cool cotton - easy to wear on ward even just with pants if warm, great to unbutton and feed with them close up and greet visitors - some nighties are great but make sure you're buying ones with buttons down the front

buy a box of forula and bottles to have in the house even if you're planning to breastfeed - this is NOT negative its realistic - I bf both my girls but was always reassured there was formula in the cupboard 'just in case'

keep taking the pain killers - do not leave hosp with a stock of them - just because you're home doesn't mean your body with go straight back to being just dandy

great idea writing your birth announcements/pre printing thank you notes - your house is about to look like a blue/pink bomb has gone off in it!!!

sky plus - magic - means you can watch what you want whilst b/f and not any old tat thats on

I'm sure my third in july so just to reassure the first timers - I am still writing down these notes as some of them are brilliant advice!

Best tip ever for post birth peeing - have to hand (take to hosp) a water bottle with the sports type pop-up cap. Fill it before you go, then squeeze to pour the water over while peeing - much easier than using a cup or jog as you can pour 'upwards'.

just found the name of the nipple cream that I used - it was BRILLIANT stuff - much better than the stuff the mw/hosp uses - called nipple care cream and they sell it on
www.activebirthcentre.com

its a great site with loads of toiletries etc - this wee tub of nipple cream is £12.95 for only 30g but I fed dd1 for 9months and still had some left at end

wonderful stuff - and promise am not related to anyone in the company!!