Share with WaterWipes what you wish you were told before the arrival of your new born - chance to win £300! NOW CLOSED

[AnnMumsnet]

The team at WaterWipes would love to hear what you wish you'd been told before the arrival of your new born.

We all can recall those innocent days before the arrival of baby and the impact having a child can have on your life so please share on this thread what you wish someone had told you - or what you were told which was especially useful!

Here's what WaterWipes says: "WaterWipes contain only 2 ingredients: 99.9% Water and 0.1% grapefruit seed extract. Non-irritating to even the most sensitive of children’s or Mums’ skin, WaterWipes help prevent and alleviate nappy rash and other sensitive skin conditions. WaterWipes are the only baby wipe ever to be endorsed by Allergy UK. We think they're great for newborns and we'd love to hear what other pearls of wisdom you wish you knew before your baby arrived!"

Please share a comment on the thread: you'll be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win £300 voucher for the store of choice (from a list). Standard Insight T&Cs apply

Thanks and good luck
MNHQ

To relax!

Mine isn't what they didn't say.. but more of what they did. I had no end of ''no more of those fancy cars''... ''no more fancy holidays'' ... just wish people kept those things to themselves or told me that yes, life will change, but we still get to LIVE and still enjoy the things we did before! Two years on and yes, times are a difficult every now and then, but we still live life as exciting as before! xx

Not to listen to what other people do. I spent my first two weeks listening to my friends advice, which was given with good intentions but I ended up getting into a pickle. In the end I relaxed, listen to the wise words of Sinatra and... Did it my way.

that the children may have disabilities and be hard work x

I wish I'd been told to get a good back up solution for my photos

How little sleep I would get

That each phase doesn't last and things do pass. People told me that the time goes really fast but I wish I had really listened to this. To write a small diary of milestones because you do forget things.

I wish I had been told that baby grows and baby vests have sleeves like they do so that you slide them down the baby rather than have to take it over the head after a poonami ...took until child number 3 to realise!!

That it's not a race!!! Let them walk when they're ready, potty training isn't a race either, don't let other parents make you feel like your little one 'Should' be at "This" stage by now, every child is different

Things do get easier!!

I wish i'd been told to relax and enjoy it more.All too soon they are grown up and you have trouble remembering all the cute little things they used to do and say.

Sleep when baby sleeps

How much your life is going to change

Don't expect the bleeding to be like a period - initially you can't work anywhere without a big pair of knickers and a pad

How sore I'd be after the birth and what to expect from that. Everyone talks about the actual birth but not the aftermath!

Its ok if you cant breastfeed it happens to some of us and there is nothing you can do about it.

The one thing I wished I'd known from the start is that the explosive poos go everywhere...........

I got the trick in dealing with these very quickly, but for the first couple, I was clearing up for ages, and still found spots of dried poo in places I could not believe for quite a while.

I wish I had been told there was a strong possibility my son would pee in my face if I didn't cover him up while getting a replacement nappy, learned that the hard way!!

I wish I was told that after you'd conquered potty training parenthood would NOT get any easier like I hoped it might!

Breast feeding in the middle of the night wish someone had told me how to stay awake had to chat to hubby to stay awake

I wish someone had explained to me just how hard sleep deprivation is to live with! Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change things, but it would have been good to know just how hard it would be.

That if you need to pause a feed to go to the loo, do it. It might be hard work latching them back on again, but they really will not desiccate or starve in the time it takes to wee.

Don't listen to anyone else's advice re feeding / sleeping. Do what feels right- I bf DD2 on demand in the night and stick her in with me, which results in far more sleep than with DD1.

Also, baby vests have envelope necks so you can ROLL THEM DOWN, rather than try and ease a pooey vest over the head of a wriggling naked baby. This revelation has changed my life!

I wish I had been told that I didn't have to be 'supermum' and it was okay to ask for help

Best advice I had is to take up ALL offers of help because you'll need it!