muslins? those bits of cloth? why?

Read the book by Gina Ford, think I'm not going into that "every 15mins regimented lark" and then use it as a guide to get the baby sleeping through the night except when you wake her up to feed her (and the weening one is very good too). Worked a treat and meant if the baby was crying it was due to a soiled nappy or she was ill (and not tired/hungry) took loads of guess work out of being a parent and meant we could travel loads.

You pretty much have the minimum.

microwave bottle steraliser jobbie.
babywipes.
inflatable baby bath.
vasaline/sudocream/bepenthan/oilatum.
blackout blinds and comfy chair in nursery.
those grow bags are ace, can't rate them highly enough.

those grow bags are ace, can't rate them highly enough.

Very much agreed – have spares for when they gip up everywhere though. Ebay and TK Maxx both have them much cheaper then list price. If you have a small newborn, be sure to use the ones with the extra poppers on the side so they can't slide down inside the bag.

Muslins – pretty much essential I would say.

Wow! Thanks guys! Tons of great info and advice here!

Its a bit daunting, but I like having all the info up front and it's really encouraging to find that so many people are so willing to pass things down or sell stuff cheap.

Just for those who don't seem to realise – I'm the Mum! Not the Dad – I know it's rare for STW, but there are a few of us! Not to worry though Mr. MM will be made to read this entire thread and especially the bit about buying the Mrs presents!

Aracer – thanks for putting an end to the great bath debate – it was getting a bit catty, wasn't it! 😉 Oh and please thank your wife for the advice.

FWIW – I'm definitely up for trying breast feeding and really hope it works out for us, but appreciate the advice of not being pressured by the Midwife – my friends have said the same and it's awful how some of them were made to feel like they'd 'failed'. Makes me cross.

I feel like I want to reply to each persons comments and say thanks, etc. but there are sooo many – so please just know that I've read them all (and will probably read most of them over several times again) and do really appreciate all the advice and personal experience you've shared. I know I can read books – but nothing beats good honest opinion from folk who have been there.

Anyway, I'm waffling now – just wanted to say thanks really…

If you can get them still, those finger size sample packs of Sudocrem, great for keeping in the car, or with you while you are out.

those finger size sample packs of Sudocrem,

The Bounty packs have them in – it lasts forever that stuff!

And when you are at your lowest ebb in the middle of the night just remind yourself of how wonderful he/she is and how much brighter things will feel in the morning.

Ohh, and if you have the space, make a little workstation in the nursery so you don't have to go up and down stairs during the night. We had a little beer fridge which we used to keep bottles cool and took up all the bottles/powder/hot water/wipes etc we needed for the night feeds.

If you are breastfeeding spend the extra on an electic pump – my wife got the Modela Twin (does both at the same time) so halves time needed and can be had for around £75. We then sold ours for £60 on Ebay when we were finished. In an emergency once we had to buy a hand-pump and it really was utter rubbish – in itself it would have been enough for my wife to give up on breast-feeding/expressing if it was the only option.

One thing I would absolutely recommend is to find out when the NCT nearly new sales are in your area. I've been to 2 and picked up pretty much everything we needed for the first 6 months for under £100. Also, Freecycle is great for this sort of thing. You post what you want and let the offers come to you!

With respect to bed linen and sick – we just stretched a muslin across the cot where Junior's head was and this meant if he was sick all we had to do was replace the muslin, not all the sheets.

We started using a steamer for sterilising but have found using a tub filled with milton solution much easier.

All the comments about breastfeeding are spot on – I think you'll know very quickly if it's not for you.

If the little'un has a cold, we put a couple of drops of Olbas oil on a flannel and put it over the radiator which saves on the plug-in vapourisers.

If you're near an Ikea some of the stuff in there is quite cheap.

We use an old courier bag for everything as it's good for access if you've only got one free hand.

Lots of good suggestions above….

Ignore advice and do what works for you. (Within reason.)

Things we never bothered with: microwave, sterilising absolutely everything, books recommending hyper-set routines.

Things we found really useful: breastfeeding, Nature Boy/Girl nappies (way less rash issues with these), a sacrificial hoodie that I wore over my work clothes, adjustable baby seat.

The tub with Milton (or cheap alternatives) is a good idea and especially good if you are expressing as all the bulky bits take up lots of space.

If you end up just bottle feeding (as we are doing now we are weaning ours two) a microwave one is great as you can take it with you anywhere you go much more easily than a heavy plug-in one.

Whatever you do though, choose a system and stick to it – the steriliser will be designed to take the corresponding bottle etc so it just works together that bit more easily.

We also use thermal bags to keep milk at the right temperature so we can mix it up all ready then bath the girls and give them their milk straight away. Also good for when you are out and about.

Things we never bothered with: microwave, sterilising absolutely everything,

It is the things that come into contact with milk that have to be cleaned – the baby doesn't have the ability to cope with the bacteria that can quickly develop in milk until they are about 6 months old.

It is the things that come into contact with milk that have to be cleaned – the baby doesn't have the ability to cope with the bacteria that can quickly develop in milk until they are about 6 months old.

We very rarely used bottles at all, especially in the first 6 months.

Fair enough – just pointing out what items need particular attention with the sterilising and why. If breastfeeding it goes without saying that it isn't relevant.

Our three were breast fed (not by me I hasten to add as I am their father) and if you think about it it is actually the easiest way of doing it, if it works out for you, that is. You have a ready supply of milk on tap, as it were, at exactly the right temperature and consistency (it also makes nappy changing a little more pleasant :wink:)

Some things that made the first few weeks easier…

Love film subscription
Sky Plus
Marks and Spencer dine in for £10 deals
A bouncy chair
A job lot of baby grows from Tesco.

Gina Ford for the general principles, but don't let it get under your skin and don't let her think you are failing your baby if you don't stick to her daft and impossible regime! There is a book called 'the first year', which was brilliant.

Microwave- check. We've never owned one.

We don't even have a TV (could explain why I'm here all the time!), maybe I'll look into it though. We do at least have a love film subscription and a computer to watch DVDs on…

can i recommend a new bottom lip to bite through after your in-laws come for 5 days over christmas, sit on their fat arses, expect to be waited on hand and foot, do sod all then take home the 6 bottles of wine they brought having drunk all yours.
Our first born was 3.5 months old at Christmas having been born 3 months premature and been home for 3 weeks. The peak of my pissed-off-ness was when father-in-law was making a brew for his missus on day 4 and didn't think to even offer me one as I came into the kitchen after being up most of the night with his grand-daughter. a minor point in isolation but in this instance the final straw. His other daughter was requested to bring desert for Christmas dinner (arranged round her need to leave at 2:30 to swap the kids with her idiot ex-husband) and rolled up with a christmas pud with a sell-by date of May 2007

Still seething

Yardley_Hastings – Ive already put a stop to that ready for next Xmas. Another step is I do all the cooking as my missus (bless) trys too hard and really stresses out with the cooking. Whereas mine wont be as tasty but it will be ontime and painless!

Something works well is that for the first week or two my wife has a circle of friends that brought us meals so we didn't have to cook and she's contributed to them when they've had kids since.

Be prepared that everything will take at least twice as long as it did before (even getting dressed before lunch can be counted as a success).

Get sleep when you can and be prepared for the hormones to be all over the place on the 3rd day

Everyone will give advice – but just do what works best for you.

If people come round – get them to make their own drinks etc – also tell them to bugger off when you've had enough of them.

Get involved with some Mums and Toddler groups – they tend to be pretty helpful + loads of people in similar situations.

by the way, hope it goes well.
babies are hard work but hugely rewarding, even when cleaning pooh from between their shoulder blades like I was last night, no idea how she managed that
we had nearly 10 weeks of getting used to the idea before we could bring her home, still a bit of a shock when your walk through your door with an extra mouth to feed and no instructions

You do get instructions.

mine came with big books (free), "ready steady baby" and in England it was "birth to five" – pretty much everything you'll ever need to know is in them.

If breastfeeding, you'll need loads of breast pads and milk collector for the other side when feeding. This means you can collect some milk, freeze it and leave it for someone else to feed baby with when you feel you can go out for a few hours. Oh, and a breast pump comes in very useful!

Also a book by Penelope Leach, Your Baby and Child, it's a common sense bible

microwave bottle steraliser jobbie.
babywipes.
inflatable baby bath.
vasaline/sudocream/bepenthan/oilatum.
blackout blinds and comfy chair in nursery.
those grow bags are ace, can't rate them highly enough.

that's about it in our experience too – other than the inflatable baby bath, which is a non-essential.
You don't need around 95% of the crap they try to convince you that you need.
I'd even hang off on the pump/pads business until you find out if your mrs is a gusher or not…

Another vote for the Nature Boy nappies – our son had bad eczma, and these were the best to cope with it, along with a swaddling blanket, which seems very old fashioned but works a treat if you have a 'wriggler' 🙂

So lets have all your baby pics then (I'll start)…

Oh on the breast feeding thing.

My missus developed a cyst and couldn't breast feed (She couldn't count to 2 at one point and didn't realise that she was wearing her glasses… fun times).

Anyhow's it's amazing how much the midwife's tune changed when it became apparent that there was going to be no breast feeding for the nipper for the forseeable future. She couldn't have been more helpful with which types of powerdered milk and bottles etc, which is where the bottle steralizer come into it's own.

We read all the bumph in waiting rooms, and were keen to give it a go, but me and my 3 siblings were all bottle fed as were the the missus and her 2 siblings and all 7 are healthy as.

Mini-clubber at about two weeks old ( he's 18 months now) in his first cycling jersey 🙂

Breast feeding's a funny old thing. As are most midwives.

– Stockpile frozen meals in the run up to the birth.

– AngelCare AC401 monitor, it has a breathing sensor so you dont have to keep checking. 2months in and no false alarms so far.

– A really good breast pump, we have a Ameda Lactaline double pump which the NCT have on sale at the moment. Forget tommee tippee, they are crap.

– Triple the number of towels and sheets you have.

– Book 3 months off work.

Here's Thomas at about six weeks 😀

If you're breastfeeding a breastfeeding pillow is a godsend, went away for xmas without mine, and I realised how much I used it.

If you decide to go the reusable nappy route get a few to try second hand, I got a load of kushies off freecycle, but due to a baby with skinny legs they just leak constantly, have tried them at different stages as she's gotten bigger, but have now given up on them.

Something else you might need…

A brush to push the poo through the plughole of your bath when your little angel decides that a nappy isn't acceptable and it is much more enjoyable to dump in the bath.

I used my finger to perform that task last night 🙂

Only had to do that once luckily. He does think it's funny to pee in the bath as soon as his feet touch the water though…

A brush to push the poo through the plughole of your bath when your little angel decides that a nappy isn't acceptable and it is much more enjoyable to dump in the bath

A shower with an adjustable stream works for this too; it breaks it up nicely.

Only had to do that once luckily. He does think it's funny to pee in the bath as soon as his feet touch the water though…

He's right. That is funny.

A shower with an adjustable stream works for this too; it breaks it up nicely.

Ours is a fixed head shower and it wasn't nearly powerful enough to break this particular monster up.

Right enough – I have to stiffle a laugh every time 🙂

Big/solid ones got picked out and dropped in the toilet.

Big/solid ones got picked out and dropped in the toilet.

Yeah I was thinking about that – then decided the finger push was the better option.

I wonder if the tool used to perform such an function would be a Pooh Stick?