Congratulations – My boy was born 11 days ago so this is new to me as he was our 1st, i have had 2 rides out (both about 1 1/4 hours ) i am in a permanent state of jet lag (we both are) i only notice when i see normal folk to chat, HE IS AMAZING changes every day . After 2 days we felt he had been here all our lives, he cries a bit ? sleeps a lot and makes me laugh when he is awake .
Moses basket yes its a shop window for visitors they don’t pick him up they just look
Cybex Sirona swivel seat adjustable back saver(its the dropper post of car seats)
Breast /pump formula – it doesn’t matter just keep IT? fed
prepare to cry
Christmas is still Christmas ,i got some nice things coming (like normal ) the wife has too , Granny is ace , Enjoy the change , it will take over you but for the better and yes every one has an opinion- think they do any way from the car you buy to blah blah – we filter out what we do not want to hear , but with our first child we suck it all in ? DO NOT
I remember my first drop off and my first drop in (BMX and skateboard) they hurt but i knew that before i committed off the lip ?- so will being a parent !

It will also come naturally as we are designed to do this – go with the flow enjoy and do take pictures
Congratulations once more , i finish my paternity leave on Tuesday so back to work Wednesday i have loved the 2 weeks getting to know a little man who cannot speak or do much – but has changed me and bonded like nothing has ever before .

Ear plugs.

If you are walking around with a screaming baby at 3am. They cut down on the screaming and make it bearable. Certainly reduced the stress for me when I did walk around duty.

They are also great if you are working and need to sleep through a feed.

Your mates might call you selfish. But in our minds it was better for me to be in a fit state for work than for both of us to be shattered.

They really are all different. If we’d had our third first we wouldn’t have three…

Just when you think you’re seasoned campaigners on the multiple battlefields of parenthood, happy to throw out advice to first timers on getting ’em to sleep, along comes a baby with the simple strength of will to make a mockery of all that. Who laughs in the face of the strategies that worked perfectly well with his older siblings. I say laughs. Vommits.

(PostScript – he became a fairly terrifying toddler with an ‘I’m about to get angry’ face that still strikes fear when I think of it. And is now a very on the level 17yr old who calls me ‘shorty’… )

Anyway: my point is that there’s often bugger all correlation between babies and the people they become, in any kind of objective terms ( tho you may feel you’ve always known them). Also don’t blame yourselves for stuffas a parent to three grown ups It always struck me how stressful the first was whilst we barely noticed the last one. that’s probably not down to you. Thirdly, erm, I signed up for babies/toddlers thinking that’s parenthood, and I must have known about teenagers somewhere in my brain. However I’m quite clear that I did not sign up for worrying about young adults as part of the deal. Have I not done enough?

Has anyone been in the situation where both of you ride?
How did that work out?

Don’t reuse cot mattresses. Some studies indicate a link to increased risk of cot death.
Don’t buy every gadget.
Simple pushchairs are smaller, lighter and more convenient than ‘travel systems’.
Microwave steam sterilisers are great.
Muslin cloths – you can never have too many.

Bibs – lots of them. The TommeeTippee ones are pretty good. A wee bit more expensive but I think they were worth it.
The isofix base for the car seat saves a lot of hassle.
Vests from your local supermarket short and long sleeved.
As others have said a freezer packed with meals is a life saver.
If breast feeding breast pads and if there is trouble latching on nipple shields.
Proper clothing for newborns is a hassle so baby grows are the way forward (think Sainsburys ones are pretty good).
Baby grows that have poppers on the front – any ones with poppers on the back are the devil.

One of the things that helped us that hasn’t been mentioned is Dr. Browns bottles.

And something that changed our world, Nutramigen, because we finally found out the puking screaming hell child was allergic cows milk (and was bottle fed).

Listen to all the advice and ignore 98% or it
Toddler taming
Do not buy Gena Ford – she is an idiot
Baby Byorn
I did until midnight but nothing after that until the morning as I had to work
Once they are sleeping through the night I did the last feed at 10 at the same time as MrsFla was milked – I used this next evening – loved doing it as it was “my time” with JuniorFla.
Ignore the breast feeding nazis and go for formula if you want/need to – JuniorFla wasnt sleeping well until we pumped an extra 3oz of milk into him in the 10pm feed at about 6 weeks – slept through the night after that.

Please feel free to ignore all of this as you will work out what works and what doesnt

Alternatively adopt a 1 yr old next time – much easier

One day you will find yourself standing, holding a vomiting baby. Stand still. Don’t do what I did and run with baby to the bathroom. The walls, cream carpets, me, the walls, everywhere. Finally had it all cleaned up and it happened again.

That and I’d recommend having a backpack with energy bars and a drink ready to go by the door. You will get to ride, just at unexpected times that defy planning.

Yeah you do get to go riding but it is less for me.
When the wife has been up all night with a colicky baby that won’t breast feed cause of tantrums then I’d feel a right shit heading into Wales for the day and leaving her to carry on.

Has anyone been in the situation where both of you ride?
How did that work out?

Yes – in fact, we had a night ride on NY eve in the pouring rain then home for slow cooked stew the week before we found out my Mrs was pregnant. Her first comment was “Bugger, was really enjoying riding my bike!”.

After 6 weeks she was back on the bike but no local family meant riding together was tricky. To start with, she’d lost fitness and confidence so I shuttled her out to the Peaks, dropped her off and gave the wee man a sleep in the car seat while she rode home with a downward gradient.

Rides together were out for ages, then we got the Croozer trailer and we love it. 2 shackles so we take turns towing and I can pop off for some good descents. Trailer is great resistance training too!

So it changes big time but riding didn’t stop and we made it work well for us. I ride a lot nearly all local, lucky to have the Peak District on the doorstep though!

To be honest most of what I would say has been said before.
But defo get a low maintenance bike. I have kids aged 4 and 6 and I still don’t have time to maintain my bikes particularly well.

Get a baby carrier, chest mounted initally and then one of those back pack type ones. It’s not riding bikes, but it’s outdoors and kids always fall asleep in them.

Don’t buy gadgety things, you’ll not use them and having babies is second to only weddings when it comes to companies trying to extract money from you.

That being said Phil and Teds prams are quite good but fill the tubes with Slime.

Try and get some sort of vague routine, especially round bedtime.
Sounds awful but we used the Bedtime Hour on CBeebies to set expectations of bath, story and then bed from quite an early age (like 1) and to be honest it seems to have worked out rather well. We never have battles at bedtime with either of them.

Don’t freak out when the kid projectile vomits/shits/pees over you, if you’re really lucky you get all 3 in one day.

One last thing: Make sure you go out on lots of “dates” before the small person arrives. You’ll not want to go out for a while afterwards!!!