This post is about the things I have found useful and not so useful during Jacks almost 8 weeks in the world. Also I've thrown in a few things I wish I knew before Jack was born. They are my own opinion and what works for us may not work for everyone else. It is a light hearted post. :)
Scratch Mitts-USELESS! I have found that scratch mitts are a waste of money, they dont stay on baby and baby looks like they have oven gloves on their hands. I found that sleepsuits with integrated scratch mitts are perfect. They just fold over their little hands and don't come off-this is perfect for night time when Jack's little hands are at their coldest. I have found these sleepsuits from Next and Essential One. Some mums say socks do the same job but I haven't tried this out.
Newborn Baby Clothes-When packing my hospital bag I packed newborn clothes because newborn clothes fit newborn babies right? I found this to be wrong and I should have packed tiny baby clothes. The sizes I've noticed in newborn clothes say up to 9lb 9oz, so I thought this would be perfect for our little one. It never occurred to me that newborn clothes wouldn't fit my newborn (?) so when our perfect 7lb 7oz baby boy came into the world, newborn clothes swamped him. Infact at 5 weeks old he could still fit into newborn clothes. Next time? Pack tiny baby clothes.
Baby toys/Bouncers/Swings (for newborns)-USELESS! Before Jack was born we bought a bouncer and a play gym, a swing was kindly given to us. They all said suitable from birth so I envisaged my tiny little baby loving life in these things. How wrong I was, he hated them! I had seen pictures of some newborn babies all cosy and content in their bouncers e.t.c What was I doing wrong? Worriedly I spoke to my HV, panicking that I weren't giving Jack enough stimulation and it turned out that all the crazy singing and talking and gazing into his eyes that I did was more than enough stimulation and that he wouldn't be interested in them till later on! So even though Jack didn't look the least bit interested in my crazy singing, infact he looked a little bit scared, he was soaking it all in. :)
Muslins-USEFUL! Muslin cloths are the absolute future! Blankets, booby cover ups, sicky swipers-there are endless things you can do with a muslin cloth!
Cotton Wool Balls- DEPENDS! They say in those first few days/weeks to use cotton wool balls on your little ones gentle skin. We bought some cotton wool balls from Wilkinson and found these to be amazing! We soon ran out of these and bought some from Asda and then Boots. The Asda cotton wool balls weren't very good, they seemed to stick to Jack's skin and he ended up a big sticky fluff ball and the Boots cotton wool balls were so small that it took about a 100 of them to clean him up. Better still the midwife recommended cotton wool PADS rather than balls, by this point we had moved onto wipes.
Swaddling- For any new mum I would advise that you learn to swaddle or better still you can buy these from Asda which swaddle for you. I didn't know these existed and I wish had because when Jack was 3 days old James and I were sat with the laptop propped up watching some random woman on Youtube showing us how to swaddle. It was so frustrating, something so simple but yet we couldn't fathom it (new baby, sleep deprived-nothing was simple in those early days) Why swaddle you ask? Well for us the answer to that was because it helped Jack sleep better in those early days-this world was a whole new experience for Jack and, like most babies, he wanted to feel snug and warm like he had been for 9 months.
Rubber ring- So if someone had said to me that an essential for after baby would have been a rubber ring I would have laughed in their face. The midwives swore by it. After having Jack I thought that I would feel fantastic, amazing, how I used to feel before pregnancy! How wrong I was. I suffered a 2nd degree tear and got the dreaded piles. I couldn't sit down for 2 weeks and the midwife recommended I buy a rubber ring just so I could sit down with comfort. Being the stubborn mule I am-I pained my way through it but boy was it hard. It made breastfeeding harder because I just couldn't get comfy. I'm my own worst enemy. So if you get any nicks and tears down there, I'd suggest a rubber ring so you can at least sit down with some comfort.
Plastic Bibs-USELESS! You know the ones, the ones that are plastic underneath. What a waste of time they are, milk just ends up everywhere! I'd much rather use the cotton ones that soak up milk and they are much comfier around Jack's neck. If anyone prefers the plastic bibs let me know, I have tons of them you can have.
I will probably add more to this as the weeks go on, I hope you enjoyed reading it :)
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