Having A Baby?
If you are having a baby soon, you will be collecting together all the equipment and baby clothes, and wondering exactly what you need in the first few months of your new baby’s life. Every new parent finds different ways of caring for a new baby but a reader of Best10Tips.Co.Uk has submitted the following invaluable tips that you only usually find out AFTER the baby arrives….
- Don’t bother buying baby mittens. They are used in the first weeks and help keep them warm and stop your baby from scratching their face with tiny sharp fingernails. Baby mittens constantly fall off and get lost ( even in a cot! ) and a better solution is to buy a Baby Gro all-in-one with double cuffs that fold back over your baby’s hands.
- If you are choosing baby feeding bottles, make sure that you buy a brand that is available in all shops, including supermarkets. The bottle accessories such as teets, spouts and handles all need replacing and some brands of baby bottle are only available through a chemist. If you buy a good brand like Avent then you can always buy the new accessories, wherever you are.
- Don’t bother with expensive baby parasols for your buggy. They are a constant nuisance in shops, snag on things and are usually never actually shielding your baby from the sun. They also break easily. Get a muslin cloth, that you buy in places like Mothercare, and 4 clothes pegs to attach it to the hood and the legs of the buggy. It keeps the sun out brilliantly and is an extra cloth for cleaning up if your baby is sick ( they always are !).
- If you are borrowing baby clothes, don’t borrow their first ever babygro and vest. You will almost certainly want to keep these special things long after your baby has grown up and it seems less special if the clothes belonged to someone elses baby too (and impossible if you have to give them back to where you borrowed them from).
- Before choosing your first baby pram or buggy, ask the shop if they will let you put it in the boot of your car to see if it actually fits. Make sure you do this on your own to see how heavy it is going to be. Also, don’t spend a lot of money on any buggies, baby car seats or other equipment. You will ALWAYS find that you want to buy a different one after time spent heaving it in and out of the car, steering it with one hand in a tiny shop or trying to get it up stairs. Leave some money in the budget for the next one.
- You can never have too many muslin cloths!!!
- Get blankets instead of using layers of baby clothes for warmth. Babies are better cool rather than hot and it is easier to remove blankets when going indoors.
- You don’t need to use the “top brand” disposable nappies. Supermarkets own brand nappies are just as good if not better and are cheaper too! Before having your baby, stock up with at least 4 packets of newborn size nappies ( if you are using disposable ones) - they come on packets fo 24-28 depending on brand. You won’t want to be going to the shops within a couple days of coming home.
- Get some poster paint and heavy paper/card ready to make the foot and hand prints of your baby while they are really tiny. They grow so quickly it is nicer to make them when they are really small but you will need 2 people to make the prints well. Don’t be disappointed if you don’t get any decent hand prints from your baby though- it is really tricky!
- If you have your baby in hospital, make sure your house has no excited relatives when you first arrive home. It might seem nice to have new grandparents eagerly welcoming you back but you will really want space for you, you partner and your lovely new baby. You can cry or collapse in a heap in privacy.
Thanks to pretty-pixie from Bristol , UK who sent Having A Baby? 10 Tips You Should Know BEFORE they arrive! If you have any more great tips for Having A Baby…. feel free to comment below.
