what's something you wish someone had told you before your first baby?

[firsttimemum111]

Hello, I'm about to become a mum for the first time and I'm genuinely clueless about most things to come 🙈
(I'm hoping that's the case for everyone and not just me!)

What's something you wish you had known before you had you had your first babies 👶

Or the best advice you received/ can give to someone about becoming a mum?

Don't stress. There isn't a right way. The right way will be different for different baby personalities and you don't always know what is exactly right, so don't try to be a perfect parent. Good enough is fine.

If you breastfeed you MUST drink lots and lots of water. It is the biggest reason I struggled with supply with DD1. It is pretty obvious but babies drink A LOT so you need to drink an awful lot. Have a large refillable water bottle and keep glugging it down.

I wish someone had told me just how bloody brilliant having children can be.

I was 18 when I had my first and was told nothing but doom and gloom - "your life's over/you'll never go out again till they're 18" and all that claptrap. I wish I'd been told the positives - it actually made me quite depressed and a nervous wreck during the pregnancy as I truly believed I had nothing more to look forward to. That's not to say it's all a piece of cake - the newborn stage is hard. You learn as you go. Just do what you have to get through each day. It gets easier. And then you forget what your life was like without children! You will have so much fun and your child will bring you so much joy. You will feel love and pride like you have never known before.

Another PP has already said "The days are long but the years are short" - that is very true! I've blinked and my eldest is now 28.

@KurtWilde my dd is 20 and I definitely agree! Babies are far easier than teens or young adults. She is away studying and I worry sick about her all the time and can do nothing about those worries.

As a baby you put them down somewhere safe and they stay put! They're near you the majority of the time and most problems are quickly and easily solved.

Now I worry about her personal safety, finances,is she coping with studies, her mh, how is she coping with her disability (undx until she was high school age) she's currently struggling to get her orthotics sorted as there isn't a place near her that does them regularly and they keep fitting them wrong! How she is coping with friendship and work politics issues (she works part time to supplement student income) is she overdoing things and wearing herself out... ALL the time!

Babies are EASY in comparison - though I appreciate until you have the experience of parenting a teen or young adult that might seem bonkers!

@Graphista exactly that! I have 2 young adult DC and also primary aged DC, so I have varying degrees of worry that I just didn't have when they were tiny! My eldest DD is expecting her first baby soon. I think I'm more worried about her pregnancy and labour than I was about my own!