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

How fun it is watching babies grow and learn. Everyone likes to scare you with the horror stories. Lets give new mums some happy stories!

That your baby is an individual and won't always follow the textbook steps and feeding/sleep cycles you read about so if your baby sleeps less, sleeps more, cries more, poops more etc its probably perfectly normal for your little individual. I also wish someone had told me to nap when my baby slept instead of rushing around in those couple of hours trying to make the house pristine. I wish someone had told me to enjoy the precious moments and leave all the worries about mundane day to day things. The washing and ironing being left for a while won't bring on the end of the world and can always be done the next day. Precious moments with your new baby and bonding is far more important.

Babies are unknowingly born with a crafty instict, the more attention you give the happier they are but they wikk seek attention at the expense of your relationship with daddy and their siblings. You have to strike a balance between a spoilt child and a happy child who knows that you love them but they are part of a family unit, everyone needs love but they are not always the most important person.

that sometimes babies do cry from tiredness and overstimulation.

I wish I was told to catch up on as much sleep as possible because I woudn't be getting any for the next couple of weeks!

the hours are long, the work thankless and tiring, but in the long run the rewards are worth it all

Everyone will have a tip or advice to give you, but nothing beats mothers instinct.
Do what you think is right and best for you and your baby

That I would learn more about myself from being a mother & parent.

That my bump would still be there even after the baby came out only with the most revolting jelly like wobblyness! I had no idea but that was very naive, I just had no experience of pregnant people! Someone asked me when the baby was due...a week after he'd been born!

That nursery costs are more expensive than your mortgage payments, so stop getting takeaways and start saving!

I think I wish I had been told more about just how much it affects you physically! Some of the changes to my body (and bodily functions), absolutely terrified me, as I just hadn't been expecting them at all. A little heads up on the day 3 sobfest might've been good too - thought I was losing the plot! ;-)

Just how much sleep I wouldn't get !

I wish I'd been told that breastfeeding wasn't as easy as the midwives led me to believe. After sore and cracked nipples and a bout of mastitis I gave up. Although my daughter is absolutely gorgeous and was worth the pain - now I can see it from a distance!

I wish someone had told me to just savour the time you have with your newborn. We get so caught up in getting jobs done at home and making sure your doing everything right that you don't have time to just enjoy them. Before you know it they are all grown up.

To buy a really good concealer

I wish I was told not to stress, not to make grand plans and not to plan out every little detail. Just go with the flow... follow the babies que's and don't try to make a round peg fit in to a square hole as it were! :)

to try and enjoy your pregnancy and not worry so much!

I wish I'd been told to trust my own insticts more and to stick to my guns. I paid too much attention to what health visitors and family/friends told me, esp where feeding was concerned. As a result, I tried to wean my twins way too early, causing stress to them and me. I knew they weren't ready, but felt so pressured, I did it anyway. BIG mistake!

That there is no right or wrong way to do many things, relax and make the choice that's right for your child not the one that's right for your friends child or the one your family used to use.

That it would be a seriously good idea to spray a pack of maternity pads with water and keep them in the freezer for my return from hospital. I could not sit down for weeks.

I wish I'd been told the effect it would have on my relationship

I wish I'd been told to expect lots of sleepless nights, more than you thought possible. But they soon go and you totally forget about the lack of sleep.

The way the baby may not latch on during feeding! oh, and how panful it would be!

If people offer to help, even if they get on your nerves, take the help, you don't need to do it all by yourself.