What do you wish you had known before you had your DC? Tell us for your chance to win a copy of Why Did Nobody Tell Me?: Home Truths Every Parent Needs to Know.

[RebeccaMumsnet]

Hello. This week we published Why Did Nobody Tell Me?: Home Truths Every Parent Needs to Know, which is the paperback version of The Mumsnet Rules.

And we wanted to mark its publication and nudge you towards a bookstore with a small but perfectly formed competition-ette.

For those who don't already know, Why Did Nobody Tell Me? is full of common sense and good cheer to steady you during the trickier patches of child-wrangling - told from the perspective of those who've been there, worn the (puree-splattered) T-shirt, and more or less emerged in a fit enough state to boggle at the PFB madnesses of their early parenting days.

So, what we're asking you wise folks now, in a competition-y way, is to tell us what you wish you'd known before you had children.

Please post your "in hindsight" confessions/admissions/witticisms here. We'll pick out ten winners from all who post - and send each of them a spanking new copy of Why Did Nobody Tell Me?

Good luck!

That it's no good putting off having children until you feel mature enough because at 35 you will still feel 18 but will feel extra knackered due to old age. And have deprived the not-getting-any-younger grandparents of several years of joy and babysitting :(

Not all babies need to sleep lots. Don't drive yourself mad trying to find solutions or beat yourself up about where you are going wrong. You are just 'lucky' enough to have got yourself a baby that thinks sleep is for the weak.

It gets easier after 6 weeks. Yeah right about 3 years after 6 weeks.

Do your pelvic floor exercises if you don't you will sneeze and wee yourself in Sainsburys.

Babies can be pretty boring, dvd box-sets will help.

Your 4 year old will pull your top down in Sainsburys and show the baker your tits, he will be horrified. This may just be me

Don't worry about your undercarriage looking like a baboon's backside after a vaginal delivery - all perfectly normal

Most of the stuff you buy for a newborn you don't need.

A white noise app for your phone is INVALUABLE. Get someone to show you how to put clothes on over a baby's'head before you give birth or the midwife will laugh. Work out how to tie your sling and install your car seat before you give birth. Make sure you procreate with a partner who will bring you a mcmuffin for breakfast when you're in hospital AND THEN LET YOU EAT HIS ASWELL. This is crucial.Buy a thermos mug.

That you will never ever have a day off again. Ever.

What do I wish I'd known?... So much. But above all, that my pelvis was too small to pass my 6.3lb titchy baby through without enduring the 24hr labour and emergency csec. Thankfully second time round I had a planned section! Nothing in the info books about that

Baby books make great bonfires. They're not much good for anything else...

Your baby isn't a blank sheet and they have a strong personality from day 1.

That there will be no more 'nipping out' to get something from the shops. Going out with dc in tow requires a military operation of organisation and enough stuff to fit in a lorry!

Getting headbutted by someone a tenth of your size still really really hurts!

That your life is over. End of.

That labour wards are hotter than the sun itself.
Labour is the worst thing EVER and nothing like what anyone has tried to describe to you.
That babies are quite robust and dressing them wont hurt them .
You will be scared to death of your first pee/poop/shag after birth.

Nothing will ever prepare you for how funny they are. How endearing they are. How annoying they are. Or how much you love them.
Being hit in the front teeth when your toddler is trying to make you drink an empty mug of tea is eye wateringly painful .

No matter how strong, happy and confident you are, you can still get PND. It can happen to any new mother, and is v v common.

Ask for drugs. Take them. The end.

Put the clothes on the baby, don't try to stuff the baby into the clothes.

Don't try and cut your toddler's hair yourself if you haven't cut hair since you got bollocked for cutting your sister's fringe when you were six.

Sleep is better than anything else ever.

You will do all those crap things that you said you wouldn't do, so give yourself a break when you find yourself bickering with your eldest over a happy meal toy while trying to breastfeed your youngest.

Sometimes it is okay to throw an item of baby clothing away if it is utterly and despicably soaked in poo.

Nothing will ever prepare you for how utterly exhausted you will be when you have a baby.

If you have problems with breastfeeding, ask for help . Continuously. Otherwise you'll give up and may seriously regret it (like me).

Until you have a baby, you have no idea how powerful your love for someone can be.

You are never, ever more sick than a sick child. Whatever happens you, and only you, are utterly and completely responsible for your child.

Nothing makes you feel more trusted than when a child puts their hand in yours.

Personally I think OpeneofJars has won already.

If you're pregnant and have an idea you might like to actually read a whole book / watch a box set in the next year or so, do it now, while you're still pregnant!

Babies take up an unimaginable amount of time!

That I would never again be able to fall into a proper deep sleep and sleep all night. Kids are now 9 and 6, and I still sleep with 1 eye open.

That baby brain is real! Before kids I never forgot anything EVER, I was the most organised person on the planet. Now I forget everything all the time, I now have a memory like sieve.

That being a single mum of a DS wasn't going to turn said DS into an aggressive underachieving delinquent. Too many hours spent worrying over that one and DS has turned out bloody lovely.