New(ish) and future parents tips/tricks thread

[Superjakes]

Can I see a show of hands about how many people on the forum would find value in this?

No medical advice, but a place to teach others from your mistakes or victories. Which products work and which are crap, as experienced by yourselves. How do you keep them happy or get them to sleep? What is acceptable and what is BS in your opinion?

If there is an existing thread like this, let's necro that sucker and merge this in there, Mods.

 

[shakes1]

Interested, my thought:

Check compatibility between the car seat you buy and the car you own... Some car seat will need additional attachments.

 

[Superjakes]

OK, I will start as well. Over the weekend, we bought a Chelino Daytona carseat. Isofix; 360 degree spin; 0 - 36kg. Best value for money on the market in SA, in my opinion. This is the second one - for my wife's car, the first one works well, so we decided to get another. The design seems to have been upgraded from the first one, though.

 

[OCP]

Treat all of your offspring as hostile terrorists; no negotiations!

Also - wire up a sonoff power switch to the TV and WiFi AP ;-)

 

[Lupus]

Those amber teeth beads are BS and a waste, there said it. Gripe water is nothing more then sugar water and alcohol unless you get the alcohol free version then it's just sugar water. There is unfortunately no real cure for colic but time.
From my experience there is no point in taking a child to a kids movie until they are at least 3.5 years old, even maybe push it to 4. Went to the Lego movie 2 on Friday and the younger kids were mostly gone by 45 min into the movie.

 

[the eskimo]

If you get given too many size 0, 1 or 2 nappies, go to Game with the unopened packets and you can get store credit to buy the proper size you'd need (or something else). They outgrow the smaller sizes very very quickly.

 

[Superjakes]

If you get given too many size 0, 1 or 2 nappies, go to Game with the unopened packets and you can get store credit to buy the proper size you'd need (or something else). They outgrow the smaller sizes very very quickly.

Baby City also has a no questions asked policy when swapping unopened packs of nappies - the only condition is that it should be something they stock. Nappy manufacturers are very crafty with the sizes of packs - makes it tricky to determine if you are actually buying a bargain or not.

 

[Craig_]

Can I see a show of hands about how many people on the forum would find value in this?

No medical advice, but a place to teach others from your mistakes or victories. Which products work and which are crap, as experienced by yourselves. How do you keep them happy or get them to sleep? What is acceptable and what is BS in your opinion?

If there is an existing thread like this, let's necro that sucker and merge this in there, Mods.

Get into a routine as early as possible. By me, 20h00 is bed time, not negotiable. They now go to bed on their own by that time without me having to say.

And car seats, buckle them in right from their first trip. Don't be like my cnt of a BIL that now has to struggle with a 2YO that refuses to buckle up.

 

[Superjakes]

Those amber teeth beads are BS and a waste, there said it. Gripe water is nothing more then sugar water and alcohol unless you get the alcohol free version then it's just sugar water. There is unfortunately no real cure for colic but time.
From my experience there is no point in taking a child to a kids movie until they are at least 3.5 years old, even maybe push it to 4. Went to the Lego movie 2 on Friday and the younger kids were mostly gone by 45 min into the movie.

Telament drops seem to also only be sugary, but for some reason it had a very calming effect on our little one. A few drops on the dummy and he almost drifts off immediately. Maybe it contains some form of narcotic...

 

[Superjakes]

Get into a routine as early as possible. By me, 20h00 is bed time, not negotiable. They now go to bed on their own by that time without me having to say.

And car seats, buckle them in right from their first trip. Don't be like my cnt of a BIL that now has to struggle with a 2YO that refuses to buckle up.

Agreed and agreed. They need routine. We went away with my parents for a week and little one was groggy most of the time because of a lack of routine. As for the buckling up - non negotiable...

 

[Lupus]

Telament drops seem to also only be sugary, but for some reason it had a very calming effect on our little one. A few drops on the dummy and he almost drifts off immediately. Maybe it contains some form of narcotic...

Could be the sugary taste, the sucking of the dummy and you soothing them?

 

[The_MAC]

Good topic, but I don't have the energy to retype all my top tips and do's/don'ts again...

 

[Craig_]

Same advice as with marriage. Be prepared to swap your hobbies for new ones involving other people. Those new 'hobbies' will very likely not be your first choice if you were single, but everything you put time and effort into will grow on you, even if it's hard work - sometimes especially if it's hard work. What you put in is what you get out.

If I were to offer one piece of advice, it would be - be consistent with your kids and discipline. Don't make idle threats. Let your yes be yes and your no, no. If you tell them there are consequences for actions, let there be consequences and be thick skinned with dealing with their cries when they get what's coming. That's the one thing that will make the difference between them understanding how the real world works and being perpetual chancers / whingers in life. Don't be sold on teaching them this modern 'human rights' and 'fairness' bull that people peddle today - life is never 'fair'. Teach them to be fair, but don't teach them to expect x y and z in life.

I would like this twice if I could. Very much agreed on all of those, especially on the discipline thing.

 

[The_MAC]

Same advice as with marriage. Be prepared to swap your hobbies for new ones involving other people. Those new 'hobbies' will very likely not be your first choice if you were single, but everything you put time and effort into will grow on you, even if it's hard work - sometimes especially if it's hard work. What you put in is what you get out.

If I were to offer one piece of advice, it would be - be consistent with your kids and discipline. Don't make idle threats. Let your yes be yes and your no, no. If you tell them there are consequences for actions, let there be consequences and be thick skinned with dealing with their cries when they get what's coming. That's the one thing that will make the difference between them understanding how the real world works and being perpetual chancers / whingers in life. Don't be sold on teaching them this modern 'human rights' and 'fairness' bull that people peddle today - life is never 'fair'. Teach them to be fair, but don't teach them to expect x y and z in life.

+1

And never ever be too proud to apologise, most of the things your kids learn will be caught, and not taught.

 

[The_MAC]

Get into a routine as early as possible. By me, 20h00 is bed time, not negotiable. They now go to bed on their own by that time without me having to say.

And car seats, buckle them in right from their first trip. Don't be like my cnt of a BIL that now has to struggle with a 2YO that refuses to buckle up.

Absolutely, do not negotiate with terrorists.

Don't sweat the small stuff, but this I agree with.

 

[Craig_]

+1

And never ever be too proud to apologise, most of the things your kids learn will be caught, and not taught.

Yeah, I've been correcting my 7yo the whole of last week as I thought she had the words to a song wrong (her drama music), she stood her ground. On saturday we put the cd on again and I realized I was wrong, had to apologize.
As you say, they do what you do, not what you say.

 

[me_]

Baby City also has a no questions asked policy when swapping unopened packs of nappies - the only condition is that it should be something they stock.

This isn't limited to nappies - you can take back anything they stock. We took back most of what we got from the baby shower and swapped it for stuff we wanted.

 

[The_MAC]

This isn't limited to nappies - you can take back anything they stock. We took back most of what we got from the baby shower and swapped it for stuff we wanted.

I don't like Baby City for this reason - feels like pre CPA days where they deny you a cash refund - many times they don't have an alternative product in stock, then I am forced to take a voucher, tsek.

I prefer Dischem/Checkers/PnP for that, they refund cash, not fake money..

 

[Superjakes]

I don't like Baby City for this reason - feels like pre CPA days where they deny you a cash refund - many times they don't have an alternative product in stock, then I am forced to take a voucher, tsek.

I prefer Dischem/Checkers/PnP for that, they refund cash, not fake money..

I see where you're coming from. The difference is that Dischem and PnP require proof of purchase for that (both from personal experience) while Baby City does it without asking questions. That helps for items received on baby showers or from well meaning family, etc.

 

[The_MAC]

I see where you're coming from. The difference is that Dischem and PnP require proof of purchase for that (both from personal experience) while Baby City does it without asking questions. That helps for items received on baby showers or from well meaning family, etc.

Oh ok, wasn't aware that they give vouchers when returning without a slip. I vaguely remember trying that and being told no, maybe that was just that one store.