I miss the third trimester forum!

[DaisyAnne]

I may not miss being pregnant, but I miss the third trimester forum, lol!
Anyone have any questions for a first-time mom 3 months in? Mainly I just like talking about babies!

Just a summary of my experiences: had my beautiful baby boy at 39 weeks via induction due to pre-eclampsia, started breastfeeding from the beginning- had a lot of problems with that, but finally got BF sorted out by around 6-7 weeks (had to use both breast and bottle, formula and breastmilk for a little bit), intended to 'try' cloth diapering by now but totally haven't even started! And not much has gone according to "plan" lol! Seems like I've just learned never say never! You never know what you'll change your mind about at 3am with a screaming baby! Lol

Hang in there, you're almost done and meeting your baby!

 

[19Mommy]

how was the first couple of days with a new baby? Im alittle worried I wont know what to do

 

[DaisyAnne]

I'm in the U.S. so I had him Wednesday evening, and we left the hospital Friday afternoon. I remember being a little overwhelmed when they took me to my post-partum room and left us there with him right away. I was kinda like, wait...you're going to leave us alone with him for the night?! haha! But really we figured it out just fine. We could've done things smoother, but it's just part of the learning process. In the beginning, all cries sounded the same- so if he cried, we checked his diaper. If that was ok, I fed him (he fed so often in the beginning). Made sure he was swaddled. Held him. Rocked him. Those are pretty much the basics, and I think we instinctively go through them. I didn't sleep much those first two nights especially, but also because I was mesmerized by him and couldn't put him down!

Breastfeeding was a struggle. But it eased my mind know they don't need much at all each feed in the beginning.

I highly recommend watching "The Happiest Baby on the Block" beforehand. It teaches you how to handle a crying baby- we didn't find this until he was 7 weeks, wish I'd seen it sooner!

(Also it's great if someone can be there to help with diapers and whatnot at first. I didn't feel much like moving around a lot in the beginning- don't be too scared of that pain, though, bc you're so mesmerized by your baby and you're allowed to have meds again!)

 

[cbass929]

ME TOO!!! So much!!!

 

[LadyLupton]

Congratulations! Here's a FTM question: what do you dress your baby in? I'm planning on just keeping Baby Boy in sleepsuits over vests but i'm not sure if that's right.

x

 

[Beccaboop]

I miss it here too! It seemed more exciting! I used to love reading all the 'this is it' storys!

Can i join in and answer the questions if no one minds?

The first night:
Was great my lo was born at 4.54pm and he didnt really make much noise on the first night he slept really well and i think i only fed him once and changed him nappy once! I think he was in shock from my long stressful labour or maybe it was cos i had an epidural and that made him sleepy i dont really know but im so glad he was cos i was numb and couldnt move i could hardly reach to pick him up also i was knackered after a 4 day labour!!

The second night:
This was so different from the first!! I was still in hospital and it was horrible!! (sorry i dont want to scare anyone!) my baby just cried all night!! I didnt have a clue what was wrong with him! I tried feeding him, changing him, taking some clothes off cos it was boiling in the hospital, then i thought maybe he was cold so i put clothes back on, i rocked him and everything i could think of but everytime he dropped off to sleep it was only for 5 mins then hed wake up again!! In the end i asked a midwife to take him for a bit so i could get a bit of sleep and cried myself to sleep cos id given my baby away on his second night of life!!

The third night:
This was so much better! I had gone home and had my husbands help and also i think the problem on the second night was that he was hungry but he wouldnt take more than 120/30mls from the bottles in hospital maybe it was the teats or that they didnt warm it up as he was much better with our tt bottles and warm milk! He slept 2-3 hours and woke up to be fed then went back to sleep!

He now goes 3/5 hours wakes to be fed then goes back to sleep!

What does a newborn wear?
Ive put my lo in outfits from birth just cos i think they are cute and then change him into a babygrow for bed but its a personal choice!! He will be fine and warm enough in a vest and baby grow all the time too!

 

[CupcakeBaby]

Thanks for starting this thread.

I can't think of anything to ask right now, but I'm loving readign everyone elses questions and answers.

Huge congrats on your baby and so glad it's all going well (if not quite to plan - which of course it's never going to!) for you. Xxxx

 

[detterose]

I miss this forum too!!

 

[MorganEvans]

Gave birth last year, yet still on these forums

 

[Smanderson]

Great thread im going to be a ftm too and im so scared i wont have all the things we will need...is there anything you needed and didnt know you would need or anything you thought you would need and didnt?

Congratulations on your beautiful babies and starting your parenting journeys and thank you for poping back to share your experiences with us xx

 

[DaisyAnne]

Congratulations! Here's a FTM question: what do you dress your baby in? I'm planning on just keeping Baby Boy in sleepsuits over vests but i'm not sure if that's right.

x

Sleepsuits over vests (onesies here) is great! I pretty much hated using pants in those early days because it was a lot more fuss to take off just to check to see if you need a diaper change. The easier the better, in my opinion. In the beginning, they are so scrunched up and difficult to dress- I even preferred the sleepsuits that zipped up instead of snapped up because it was a lot easier. Later on, he wore more complicated things, but at first they're more of a challenge to dress.
Honestly, the simplest was a side-snap shirt, a diaper and a swaddle or blanket (and a hat).

For night, my favorite was a wearable blanket that zipped up and had fabric at the top that wrapped around to swaddle his arms. It was done so you could unzip the bottom for a diaper change without ruining the swaddle! It was genius! I also like gowns, particularly the ones that had snaps or a zipper so you didn't have to pull it over his head.

 

[DaisyAnne]

Great thread im going to be a ftm too and im so scared i wont have all the things we will need...is there anything you needed and didnt know you would need or anything you thought you would need and didnt?

Congratulations on your beautiful babies and starting your parenting journeys and thank you for poping back to share your experiences with us xx

I was worried, too! I know exactly how you feel..I actually ended up on bedrest a lot at the end, so I had gotten far fewer things than I had planned on having beforehand! I think it actually worked out better to get things as we needed them. Once we had him, it was much clearer exactly what we would use, especially clothing-wise. As long as you have easy access to stores, and someone other than you who can go, you can get things pretty easily and there shouldn't be a problem. Make sure you have diapers (I only used like 2 boxes of newborn, and maybe 4 boxes of size 1, so don't stock up "too" much just in case), wipes, burp cloths (you can't have too many), blankets and swaddles, a couple hats, and something to feed him. That should get you started and you can add as you go.

One thing I kinda do wish I had was a baby thermometer- while we never needed it, I was worried about him getting sick during cold and flu season, so I always felt uneasy not having one.

For yourself, have some heavy flow pads and cheap, loose, comfy underwear. The hospital gave me some of both, but I still needed more. If you plan to breastfeed, go ahead and get yourself some nipple cream (just get one, you may not need more than that), and I'd recommend having those gel soothies- those really helped and someone had to go get them for me when I was desperate. Also, have comfy, loose bras that are at least one size bigger than you are now (I just used sleeper bras in the beginning).

Addition- what we didn't use:
*swing...bought two kinds and returned them bc he was a bouncer baby and didn't like the swing
*pacifiers...thought we would use them, have bought several kinds, but he won't take them. I would prefer the pacifier over his hands, because it's better for dental development and an easier habit to break than sucking on their hands, but it hasn't worked out yet
*too many of the wrong kind of clothes. So we had lots of cute clothes that hardly saw the light of day. Now I buy a fewer so they get a lot of use

 

[Smanderson]

Thanks DaisyAnne, great tips i got a swing and a bouncer too am now thinking we should keep the boxes great advice with the nappy sizes too its so hard to know what we need but i'll start stocking up on sizes 2+

Are the swaddles good? I have 2 but i dont know if thats enough we have lots of muslins so should be ok for them

Do you have a thermometer now? Which one did you go for if you do? I have been looking at the ear thermometers but have yet to choose which one

Did you pack much for the hospital? Did you have everything you needed or too much? xxxx

 

[DaisyAnne]

Our pediatrician recommended a good old rectal thermometer for the most accuracy, so that's what we have now. She said an underarm one is ok, too- so we have both.

For swaddling: we used receiving blankets and those 'SwaddleMe's, and he basically lived in a swaddle most of the time in the beginning. We had a lot, but didn't quite need all of them (a lot of people gave them to us). It's hard to remember exactly how many would be best, but 2 would not have been enough for us since he lived in them. Maybe at least 4? That way you can have 2 in the wash and 2 out for him to use. I think we had 8 receiving blankets and about 5 or 6 swaddlemes (if I had to do it again, I'd maybe have 4 receiving blankets or muslins and maybe 3 swaddlemes).

For the hospital: I felt like I had too much, but really, I wouldn't have brought anything different. My essentials (other than basics like clothes) were my rice heating pad, my slippers, my own pillows, and my tablet/phone. I even "did" manage to use my flat iron and makeup briefly. So pack it if you think you might want it, and you can always leave things in your car if you're not sure you need it. I had a separate bag for post-partum versus actual labor that hubby could go and get stuff from if needed.

 

[DaisyAnne]

I miss it here too! It seemed more exciting! I used to love reading all the 'this is it' storys!

Can i join in and answer the questions if no one minds?

The first night:
Was great my lo was born at 4.54pm and he didnt really make much noise on the first night he slept really well and i think i only fed him once and changed him nappy once! I think he was in shock from my long stressful labour or maybe it was cos i had an epidural and that made him sleepy i dont really know but im so glad he was cos i was numb and couldnt move i could hardly reach to pick him up also i was knackered after a 4 day labour!!

The second night:
This was so different from the first!! I was still in hospital and it was horrible!! (sorry i dont want to scare anyone!) my baby just cried all night!! I didnt have a clue what was wrong with him! I tried feeding him, changing him, taking some clothes off cos it was boiling in the hospital, then i thought maybe he was cold so i put clothes back on, i rocked him and everything i could think of but everytime he dropped off to sleep it was only for 5 mins then hed wake up again!! In the end i asked a midwife to take him for a bit so i could get a bit of sleep and cried myself to sleep cos id given my baby away on his second night of life!!

The third night:
This was so much better! I had gone home and had my husbands help and also i think the problem on the second night was that he was hungry but he wouldnt take more than 120/30mls from the bottles in hospital maybe it was the teats or that they didnt warm it up as he was much better with our tt bottles and warm milk! He slept 2-3 hours and woke up to be fed then went back to sleep!

He now goes 3/5 hours wakes to be fed then goes back to sleep!

What does a newborn wear?
Ive put my lo in outfits from birth just cos i think they are cute and then change him into a babygrow for bed but its a personal choice!! He will be fine and warm enough in a vest and baby grow all the time too!

My SIL also put her baby in outfits from the get-go and hated the sleepsuits, I think it is just a personal choice, too! I was the opposite, haha.

I remember the baby crying all night the first few nights, too- more so the 2nd and 3rd nights. I remember holding, rocking, trying to walk around with him best I could, etc (and hubby managed to sleep through a lot of it, haha!). The 3rd night for us was the WORST...it was so stressful because that's when my milk was just starting to come in, which made it hard for him to latch, breastfeeding got super painful (also from him injuring me), and he just screamed his head off whenever I tried to feed him...I wanted to scream, too, when he did try to feed. We were up all night, finally my hubby made a 3am formula run and he did better after we gave him some formula. Actually- it even helped breastfeeding cause he wasn't *so* desperately hungry that he just bit me as much, he had a good day of BF after that. But the breastfeeding issues is a whole other very looong story, hahah!

Thanks for your perspective, too!

 

[detterose]

Congratulations! Here's a FTM question: what do you dress your baby in? I'm planning on just keeping Baby Boy in sleepsuits over vests but i'm not sure if that's right.

x

Sleepsuits over vests (onesies here) is great! I pretty much hated using pants in those early days because it was a lot more fuss to take off just to check to see if you need a diaper change. The easier the better, in my opinion. In the beginning, they are so scrunched up and difficult to dress- I even preferred the sleepsuits that zipped up instead of snapped up because it was a lot easier. Later on, he wore more complicated things, but at first they're more of a challenge to dress.
Honestly, the simplest was a side-snap shirt, a diaper and a swaddle or blanket (and a hat).

For night, my favorite was a wearable blanket that zipped up and had fabric at the top that wrapped around to swaddle his arms. It was done so you could unzip the bottom for a diaper change without ruining the swaddle! It was genius! I also like gowns, particularly the ones that had snaps or a zipper so you didn't have to pull it over his head.

Agreed!! I spent loads of money on cute and tiny but difficult outfits that LO never wears because when you're sleep deprived, the last thing you want is to be mucking around to check a nappy or change one! It's summer here and LO has pretty much lived in singlets and a nappy. Or a short sleeve plain onesie with snap buttons. Save your money on those cute clothes for the nappies, believe me LOL! I had no idea how much they peed til now.

 

[Smanderson]

DaisyAnne thanks again so much for all your advice, im taking notes!!! At the risk of sounding dumb.....whats a receiving blanket?

I may have already been spending on outfits for the bubs might try and stop that habit now though will wait till he is a bit bigger

 

[DaisyAnne]

a receiving blanket is just a thin blanket used for swaddling, ...apparently i don't know what a muslin is, though, I guess just cloth diapers, but I thought it was something else at first!

 

[fertiliciousx]

a receiving blanket is just a thin blanket used for swaddling, ...apparently i don't know what a muslin is, though, I guess just cloth diapers, but I thought it was something else at first!

muslin cloth is i think what you call burp cloths...