What can I do on mat leave to prepare for when the baby comes?

[BristolLFR]

Apart from sleep/ relax as much as possible!

I'm a planner and a prepper so like the idea of having as much sorted in advance of the baby to make life easier when it comes. What can I do?

So far I have:
Huge shop to fill the cupboards with (dried/tinned) food
Cook, portion and freeze batches of soup/ bolognese/ casserole/ curry etc
Bake and freeze flapjack/ muffin/ cereal bar type things for semi healthy grazing
Wash all baby stuff

There must be more...?

Spring clean
See friends for lunch
Go to the cinema in the day

I did a lot of jigsaws

Do your Christmas shopping?

That's pretty much it! Just make sure that a thermos type cup and water bottle are on your list for the big shop.
Seriously though, sleep. Sleep as much as you can!

I'm struggling myself with this one and I just tend to sleep all day.
Hospital bag ready
Try and get out as much as possible.
Start writing a diary on how your feeling your fears and things your looking forward to ect
Baking? Make something you wouldn't usually bake that is abit of a challenge.

X

I second the Christmas shopping. I'm due end Oct & have nearly bought & wrapped everything already. I really don't want to be worrying about that when I'm severely sleep deprived & carrying/feeding/changing a baby 24/7.

I made my first a blanket. I'm not very crafty and it took me a while, but I'm really glad I did it. It's a nice thing to keep and remember those baby times. I've kept some baby grows etc in a keepsake box, but the blanket is still on his bed now he is 3. He really likes the fact that I made it just for him.

Have a haircut, get your nails done or whatever you like to do cos once baby is here you won't get a chance.

Read some baby books.

Make sure you have loads of maternity pads and breast pads, lansinoh, big knickers etc for the glamourous post baby stage.

Otherwise apart from what has been said I don't think there is much else as everything else is maintenance of the baby once it gets here ie nappy changes, feeding, change of clothes etc. Enjoy your mat leave!

Research local baby clubs, mum and baby meet ups, and breastfeeding support groups, so that you know where and when they are.

Think about what kind of childcare you may want in future and put the baby down for any local nurseries you like the look of - I know it sounds ridiculous but in some areas the waiting lists are insane (we approached one local nursery when baby was 6 months and were told he has no chance of getting a place till he's 3!).

Get a haircut. You may not be able to go again for a few months.

Find out what baby groups etc are on locally so you can start to plan how you will spend your time on maternity leave.

Get some decent boxsets / books in because you will be at home a lot over the next few months.

Catch up with some old friends.

I also agree with previous poster about looking into childcare in your area if you plan on needing this in future. It might seem mad but depending on your area some places have 6-12 months waiting lists for spaces.

Do a bit of a spring clean as you won't get much time for anything more than spritz cleans for a while after the baby comes.

You could write a diary for the baby? It'll be nice to look back on how you felt on the weeks before s/he was born and what you were like before you were a mum (if you aren't one already). I would love to have something like that from my own mum!

In terms of practical things - make sure you have enough muslins (we went through millions of the bastards) and get biscuits in for post baby visitors. But do as much resting and sleeping as you can and enjoy spending time on your own!

Nothing.

Do nothing.

No amount of anything can prepare you for your first baby, and you'll probably never get the chance to just do nothing ever again.

Heaving myself off the sofa felt like a full time job during maternity leave. I did actually get fairly stuck once

I'm very of the people actually managing to get shit done.

I use that time to ring around and get better deals for all our utilities and bills.

Hunt down the best Netflix series to marathon through in the middle of the night. I find getting into a series difficult, so I'm glad to have started a few and then found it easier to slip deep into with baby brained fog.

Have lovely long lunches with friends.

At this time of year buy and wrap Christmas presents so they aren't even a thought with a new baby.

Sort through the baby clothes you have and organise them into boxes/drawers for sizes. It's so much easier to have everything divided up before the baby is here.

Sleep... it might be 5 years or more before you get to do it again

I went swimming lots, had lovely lunches with friends, watched an entire season of OITNB, cleaned my windows, batch cooked, read, washed baby clothes.

Definitely agree with the Christmas shopping, that will really help you out. Also get your Christmas cards and thank you cards so you can write them.
With both my boys I promised myself I would clean the oven. Ds 1 is 4 and I have only just done it properly because we're moving!
Do things like get your cats/dog vaccinated it annual checks if they are due because that's a mission with a baby in a car seat
Rather than batch cook loads I made up prepped bags of veg for casseroles, soups etc to just dump in the slow cooker and got lots of those Schwartz sachets, chicken thighs, meat etc in and froze that instead. I learned from experience that no one wants to eat the same 3 meals on rotation for 3 weeks and we ended up living on takeaways after ds1.