First time dad...

[Adam]

My comments:

1 Aldi nappies and wipes cheaper and better then big brands

We found huggies to be useless and he frequently leaked through them, we will only use pampers at night for this reason.

2 Tesco own bottles cheap as chips and are far better then fancy anti colic rubbish . Trust me last thing you want at 2am is trying to unblock the rubber flap in the tommee tippee bottle . Plus tesco bottles came recommened by NICU nurses .

We found the Dr Browns bottles to be really good although they are not cheap. The normal bottles gave our baby colic and we had to put him on the Aptimel comfort formula.

3 You don't need half the amount of stuff you will buy .

To an extent this is true, our friends and family were very generous and we ended up with so many clothes it's unbelievable. Your friends/family may not have the same tastes as you though.

4 Don't tell anybody when your going home with baby . Just go home lock the door turn your phone off and enjoy it .

I disagree, I had people adding me to facebook, twitter etc as they were worried because we disappeared off the radar for 2 days while she was in labour (50+ hours). In hindsight I would have provided periodic updates to people as coming back to the missed calls, texts, voicemails etc was a pain in itself.

5 If it you end up in NICU don't panic . Spent 16 weeks with the twins in NICU and the nurses and docs are amazing .

No experience of this but my girlfriend ended up in intensive care after her cesarean section. All of the midwives were absolutely fantastic on the whole bar 2 truly awful Nigerian ones who showed absolutely no compassion towards any of us.

 

[Scuzi]

No experience of this but my girlfriend ended up in intensive care after her cesarean section. All of the midwives were absolutely fantastic on the whole bar 2 truly awful Nigerian ones who showed absolutely no compassion towards any of us.

Funny you should say that. We have been to the maternity unit twice now due to worries/complications and all of the staff have been absolutely amazing except the Nigerian midwives. They didn't seem to give a ****.

 

[Morba]

My comments:



We found huggies to be useless and he frequently leaked through them, we will only use pampers at night for this reason.

Dr Browns bottles are well worth it if needed, we had some for our girl and they made feeding time much easier.

RE the wipes and nappies. Try some of the cheaper ones, we did but neither of our kids got on with them. Cheap nappies were not so well fitting and left them slightly wet so could easily get sore.
Wipes - supermarkets always have huggies ones on sale, get loads as they come in handy for lots of things

 

[realBabelfish]

Funny you should say that. We have been to the maternity unit twice now due to worries/complications and all of the staff have been absolutely amazing except the Nigerian midwives. They didn't seem to give a ****.

no nigerian nurses at ours. just 2 incompetent white ladies. 1 who falsified documents and 1 who told my wife with clear pre-eclampsia symptoms that she was ok and that she wont be available for 4 weeks as she is on holiday and turned her phone off. less than a week later i was holding my baby (7 weeks early and emergency c-section). the rest were great though.

 

[County]

If you think having ones bad, wait till you have another

Great advice on here, get in patterns etc regards sleep. However, we did the same with both our kids and the 1st one slepts like a log from age 12 weeks. The 2nd child, dont ask

All kids are different.

 

[finga]

I am a Dad of a 2 month year old boy and the first 5-6 weeks are the hardest. My boy now sleeps through the night (well from 5 weeks) which has been a game changer.

My 2 pieces of advice are as follows:

• Go to the NCT classes - While much of the stuff is common sense, it's important for your partner to have friends in the same situation as her to help support her. They are about £180 but worth every penny, fantastic for networking.
• Make sure you get your son/daughter in a good routine, this is what helped us massively. My girlfriend read loads of books and the routines really helped us and the baby. I really think this is why he has slept so well during the nights. The other day he slept 14 hours

1st 5-6 weeks are the hardest, hmm, make the most of it because the first 10 months are like you dont even have a kid yet, its so nice to find a baby exactly where you put it, but they learn to move and break things and themselves, especially boys

 

[Macro]

Congratulations...

You'll get advice from everywhere on all sorts of things, gradually you'll pick out the bits that work for you. Having said that I'll pass on the best piece of advice that was ever given to me.

Once your kid is a little bit older they will pester you to play with them or sit with them, usually when you're trying to do something else or just want to watch the TV/read a book in peace. Whenever possible, before you react with "not now", "i'm busy" or "later" think it through. You are the world to them and although not a big deal to you, playing with daddy is a huge thing to them. Take the time to stop and go spend time with them, even if it is inconvenient, because one day, they'll get older, you'll stop being their world and the last thing they will want to do is play with you. At that point you would give anything to have that time back...

I was told this by a friend who's son used to pester him to play cricket when he was little and he was so busy with work and a career he rarely had time. By the time his career had settled down and he wanted to play with his son his son was off hanging out with friends and playing cricket with his dad was incredibly uncool and the last thing he wanted to do.

Every time mine pesters me and I go to say "later" I tend to remember that advice. It's remarkable just how often whatever it was you were doing pales into comparison when you take a second to think "is watching TV/doing this powerpoint/whatever" really more important than playing with my kid?

Just my 2c, but it works for me and the pay back is we both have great memories of having fun and an awesome relationship.

 

[Macro]

1st 5-6 weeks are the hardest, hmm, make the most of it because the first 10 months are like you dont even have a kid yet, its so nice to find a baby exactly where you put it, but they learn to move and break things and themselves, especially boys

Lol, so true!

 

[subbytna]

Hi all...


Basically I'm clueless and could do with some 'real world' advise

When baby sleeps - you sleep...even if it's 4pm
Housework - DOES NOT REALLY MATTER in the first few weeks
Baby wipes - Start buying now - 3 or 4 packs a month until baby is born - Have 20 packs in storage to use - they will clean anything from baby's bum to a sticky pile of baby vomit on the floor

 

[subbytna]

Quite the opposite, my life just begun when my son was born. I now have a new purpose and a new set of objectives to raise him and ensure he has the best opportunities I can possibly provide him.

He means your "social" life is over

 

[ci_newman]

As much as the NCT Antinatal classes help to prepare you for what is to come, we have actually found that the friends we met in the class have been just as helpful, especially to my wife. As most of the babies in your class will be due around the same time, you more or less go through the same things at the same times as those in your class.

My wife has formed a close friendship with the 5 other mums that we met there and there is no better form of reassurance than speaking to other people going through the same things.

To summarise other bits:

a) Babies are not money pits
b) Some babies will sleep for a solid 12 hours a night, whereas some will wake up every 2 or 3 hours. From my experience, the breast fed babies wake up more regularly at night as they need more frequent feeds. DO NOT let this put your partner off of breastfeeding though - it is best for both Mum and Baby
c) The range of poo that your baby will produce is astonishing.
d) Routine is a must-have for most babies, but some will do ok without it
e) Just remember that most bad habits can be broken within 3 days, so don't worry if you think you are doing something wrong.
f) Stock up on adult cold and flu medicine - you will now catch every bug & sickness known to man
g) Stock up on baby Calpol.
h) If your baby is crying insesently, they probably have wind.

My son turned 9 months last week and he already walks

 

[Mobius 1]

Oh, I nearly forgot ...... When your mates ask you what the name of that tune is that you've been whistling for the last twenty minutes and it suddenly dawns on you that it's the Hot Dog Hot Dog Hot Diggity Dog song from Mickey Mouse's Clubhouse then you are well and truly on the road of no return

Haha, this is so true! Baby jake is also pretty catchy

Congrats by the way. I have two of my own. They're deffo worth the effort

 

[ci_newman]

Haha, this is so true! Baby jake is also pretty catchy

Congrats by the way. I have two of my own. They're deffo worth the effort

Hot dog hot dog hot diggity dog is almost as bad as "they're two, they're four, they're six, they're eight, shunting trunks and hauling freight"..

 

[Nate75]

My first will be here all being well in a couple of hours...

 

[johnny6]

I wouldn't bother stocking up on nappies, wipes and the like. The last thing you'll want to end up with is 20 packets of johnsons or pampers wipes that neither you or the baby likes/gets on with. Best to save the money, buy a small selection and see which ones you like/work with your baby when they are here. Don't listen too much to anyone who says brand x nappies are rubbish only you'll know which brands work for you and your baby. Hell loads of people in the very thread have slated huggies nappies, but we have had zero issues with them in 9 months.

Get 2 baby grow bags for each stage. One for sleeping one for washing. Our little one sleeps much better in a grow bag than a blanket, as he can't kick the grow bag off in the night.

Tesco baby clothes are the worst out of all the supermarket brands.

Only shop when the supermarkets have their baby events on, you can get some good savings that way.

Sign up for all of the brands mailing lists. Huggies for example do a free new born pack which contains a pack of nappies, wipes, a hat and various vouchers. Do the same for tesco, asda, boots etc.

The Quincy buzz 3 is cool fact!!!!!

Always remember mothercare will price match any and I mean any dodgy Internet shop, as long as its in stock and you can add the item to the basket. Ive got them to price match sites that you wouldn't catch me using if you paid me. Plus if you find the item even cheaper else where within 14 days you can go back to mothercare and get the difference back.

 

[johnny6]

Don't bother buying nappy rash cream, and ignore people who tell you that you must use it every time you change baby. After nine months we haven't even used up the small pot we got as a freebie in one of the packs. In all that time our little man has had slight nappy rash twice.

Take all advise you get from healthvisiters with a pinch of salt. We've seen about a dozen in the last 9 months and they all tell you something different. I was tempted to slap the one who told my wife weening baby a single day before 6 months would 1) make him an fat toddler (I'm sure that's more likely to be the crap food some parents insist on feeding their kids rather than a bit of baby rice at 4 months) and 2) would more than likely result in kidney problems/failure (I'm surprised they don't take this stuff of the shop shelves given its so dangerous).

 

[johnny6]

Whatever you do for the love of god don't miss place the babies red book (I assume it's red everywhere) it's the book that tracks your babies growth. My wife was nearly in tears when she thought ours was lost as she sees it as irreplaceable.

Get a memories box as a gift for our wife/girlfriend. She'll be able to put any keep sakes in it she wants and you'll score some brownie points for being thoughtful.

 

[mollymoo]

Best tip ever is take everyone's advice and I mean everyone's, with a pinch of salt. All babies are different and only you will know what is best. When I stopped listening to the constant bits and bats of advice people seem to feel they need to tell you, always based around what they did with their kids, I all of a sudden found looking after a baby very easy, and the most fulfilling experience Ive ever known or likely to know.

 

[Haggisman]

1st 5-6 weeks are the hardest, hmm, make the most of it because the first 10 months are like you dont even have a kid yet, its so nice to find a baby exactly where you put it, but they learn to move and break things and themselves, especially boys

Haha, yeah, my little boy is 10 months today and he's into literally everything, especially dad's ps3 controllers

h) If your baby is crying insesently, they probably have wind.

Dentinox is your friend. And 24hr supermarkets when you realise you've run out at 3am!

 

[eatcustard]

Enjoy your sleep while you can.
Don't waste money on silly baby gadgets.
And in a few years time CBBC will be your favorite channel.

And congrats to both of you.