New(ish) and future parents tips/tricks thread

[Toxxyc]

The entire bottle or just the teets?

We went with NUK and the little guy was rejecting it completely.
Tried teets we got with a breast pump which kinda worked and then also bought pigeon teets which he started drinking from immediately.
No need to change the bottles.

Don't think you can fit Pigeon teats on a Tommee Tippee bottle. If it fits, yep. The doc told us that the standard Pigeon teats is the closest to the breast for the baby, which is why most babies like 'em out the box.

 

[Kosmik]

This. Our kid refused to latch properly on any bottles except Pigeon. Nurses and Pead recommended it. Now that he's older, the Tommee Tippees are being used, but my advice for new parents - don't buy ANY bottles until the baby is ready to start drinking from them. Then buy one from each brand, one at a time, starting with Pigeon, to see what the baby takes. Then you know without spending thousands.

If you go to a couple of baby shows, they give away tons of freebies and you can get a variety of bottles for free to help test.

 

[Mista_Mobsta]

Used Avent at first but changed to NUK as you can chop and change the bottles when the little ones are off the formula and re-purpose as sippy cups.

 

[Lupus]

Way back in near the beginning of the last decade, we used this weird banna shaped bottle we got from Crazy store of all places, tried all the expensive ones but nope this one ended up working. We also used Panda nappies from Dischem.
Still remember those bottles, orange with little giraffes on them. I miss that age sometimes.

 

[Superjakes]

Hear Ye, Hear Ye: If it is not too late yet - start your kid on room temperature formula instead of heating it. It will save you lots of heartache, time and cost.

Tommee Tippee has a formula prep machine (like a nespresso for baby formula). We saw the demo and decided it is nonsense. Best 2.5k I never spent.

 

[SyncopicNexus]

Hear Ye, Hear Ye: If it is not too late yet - start your kid on room temperature formula instead of heating it. It will save you lots of heartache, time and cost.

Tommee Tippee has a formula prep machine (like a nespresso for baby formula). We saw the demo and decided it is nonsense. Best 2.5k I never spent.

Can you elaborate please?

 

[Toxxyc]

Hear Ye, Hear Ye: If it is not too late yet - start your kid on room temperature formula instead of heating it. It will save you lots of heartache, time and cost.

Tommee Tippee has a formula prep machine (like a nespresso for baby formula). We saw the demo and decided it is nonsense. Best 2.5k I never spent.

Ours now go nuts on all milk, depending on the time of day. If it's hot, we give him cool milk. If it's colder, slightly warmer. He drinks it all.

PS: Bottle warmers overheat the milk, from my experience.

 

[Superjakes]

Can you elaborate please?

The norm is that babies' bottles get heated before they are fed. You even get bottle heaters for that purpose. In reality (think about loadshedding), you might not always be in a position to heat the bottle before feeding it to little one. If the little one is used to being fed room temperature bottles, this is no issue.

 

[Nerfherder]

Please don't buy walker for goodness sake.

Why?

Walkers are terrible. There is a lot of evidence that they delay walking and can be very dangerous if you have steps.

 

[Michaelbro]

Don't buy anything in bulk beforehand until you have tested it and it works for your child, Nappies, formula bottles.

Clothing is a real problem, they outgrow everything quickly.

My son sleeps longer on his tummy than on his side/back.

It's pretty boring for the first 3 months, only eat sleep and poop and cry, and crying is usually for one of these things, after three months is where the magic begins.

 

[Smokey888]

Looking very much forward to the birth of our first little one in the next couple of weeks

 

[Toxxyc]

Walkers are terrible. There is a lot of evidence that they delay walking and can be very dangerous if you have steps.

This. Walkers are not good. Same with those stretchy things you put in the doorframe to hang the baby in. Babies are supposed to learn and teach themselves to balance, not with a walker.

To clarify the above, those push-things are something different. Our son walks around with an upside down clothes basket, which is fine. A walker that surrounds a baby is not.

 

[Toxxyc]

Looking very much forward to the birth of our first little one in the next couple of weeks

A few things I can now say after 1 year:

1. It's easier than people say it is.
2. It's harder than people say it is.
3. Babies are cheaper than you think.
4. Babies are more expensive than you think.

 

[Nerfherder]

A few things I can now say after 1 year:

1. It's easier than people say it is.
2. It's harder than people say it is.
3. Babies are cheaper than you think.
4. Babies are more expensive than you think.

and the second kid is exponentially MORE.

 

[Sideshow Bob]

and the second kid is exponentially MORE.

Most of my colleagues have 2+ kids and generally everyone says the opposite. They say having 2nd child was easier than first one. I have no idea why they say it so but I am not adventurous to find that out myself.

 

[Nerfherder]

Most of my colleagues have 2+ kids and generally everyone says the opposite. They say having 2nd child was easier than first one. I have no idea why they say it so but I am not adventurous to find that out myself.

Its easier in that there is less of a learning curve (but somethings are different between children), its much more time and energy with two kids.

 

[dualmeister]

That thing about no sleep for the first year or more is real

 

[Toxxyc]

That thing about no sleep for the first year or more is real

I disagree. Ours have been "sleeping through" since the 6th week. It's literally only when he's a bit sick that he doesn't sleep completely through - from 8 to 7, every night.

 

[WAslayer]

I disagree. Ours have been "sleeping through" since the 6th week. It's literally only when he's a bit sick that he doesn't sleep completely through - from 8 to 7, every night.

Very lucky you are.. we are heading into year two and he has not slept through at all.. it's no longer waking up and crying but, he still stirs and moans and groans.. sometimes even getting up, walking around and getting back in bed..

 

[Toxxyc]

Very lucky you are.. we are heading into year two and he has not slept through at all.. it's no longer waking up and crying but, he still stirs and moans and groans.. sometimes even getting up, walking around and getting back in bed..

You need Vaseline. Rub it on the outside doorknob of your bedroom and close the door, then he can't get in and bother you.

I'm kidding, but yeah, I know we're lucky. I have a friend who's kid sleeps 3 hours, awake 4 hours, sleep 3 hours, awake 4 hours, all the time. So they have to time naps according to his times every day.

EDIT: Oh yes, and ours also stirs and groans, but he never wakes up. He just "repositions" himself in bed and keeps on sleeping.