Tip: Immunisation

When you are visited by your maternal health nurse they give you all of the info for your local community immunisations... What they don't tell you is that you can go to your GP and have your baby immunised there... We didn't know this for Marley's first immunisation and went along to the community option, we were there for close to two hours, waiting to be served, then waiting for the oral immunisation then waiting for the injections... All the while you are around sniffly kids with your newborn, listening to all of the children cry when they get their needles, its a pretty horrible experience... On the other hand if you book in to be the first appointment of the day at your GP (to lessen exposure to randoms sickness) you are in and out in 15 minutes, without the build up and constant heartbreaking crying of other kids...

Tip: Bibs

If you have a dribbly baby, much like mine, you will find yourself with a store of bibs... I have found that the button up bibs are best as the velcro ones get stuck to other things in the washing machine, sometimes ruining other fabrics... As your baby gets older it is also easier to rip off velcro bibs, while button ups seem to stay on...

Target matenity bra

The Target maternity bra is not super supportive, but super comfy, great for bed (in those early months when you need to sleep with a bra on)… I do love these bras, for at home, wouldn't wear them out as they don't do your boobs any favours... Only downside is they only come in black and white...

Bonds maternity/breastfeeding singlets

Bonds singlets

These come in great colours and are very supportive… The downsides are that they don’t quite keep their shape and run a size too small… Having bought only one size bigger then my pre pregancy size coming out of hospital I had no chance of fitting into the ones I had bought, so maybe get one a couple sizes big for the initial start and then once you have lost some of the weight try the next desired size on? Like the Target ones the bra pops down which gives an amount of exposure but if you are wearing the singlet under a normal top then the top comes up, bra comes down and you cant see anything except what the baby has in its mouth... 8 months on I am still loving these singlets, highly recommend them...

Target breastfeeding singlets

Target singlets

In my experience there were two singlets for breast feeding available from Target, I have two of each...

Version 1
This singlet is just a plain singlet which has the fold down tabs with slits where your nipples can pop out to feed... This is the ultimate in discretion, but there is NO SUPPORT at all! How do they expect women carrying an extra kilo or so in boobs to waltz around with no support? I highly recommend not getting this one!

Version 2
The style of the outside of this singlet is the exact same as the other, but it has a built in bra, the supportive bra bit folds down which does allow an amount of exposure, but I recommend wearing these singlets under your normal top, so the top comes up, the bra come down and there is hardly any skin outside of what the baby needs... It also has the bra clip at the back so you can adjust the size of your bra between the usual three options as you change of the time you feed... I highly recommend this style on par with the bonds maternity singlet...

Tip: Clothes for the early days

When you bring your precious little bundle of joy home you will probably already have many many outfits , so before you get to that point keep in mind that in the very early days (sizes 0000 and 000) there is a good chance that you are going to be too tired to be changing your baby into tricky outfits... I highly recommend just buying a bunch of onesies, babygros, rompers, whatever you like to call them... They are easy to get on and off, easy to change nappies, just plain easy... I would save my cash for hot little outfits for when they are a little bit bigger and you aren't quite as tired...

Up the Duff - Kaz Cooke

Up the Duff - Kaz Cooke
From www.kazcooke.com
The new edition of Up the Duff is out now, with all the favourite features including week-by-week info on what's happening to you and the baby and Hermoine's hilarious pregnancy diary, plus new stuff for blokes, all the latest on medical tests including when to have them and why, what you need to know if you're trying to get pregnant and what to do if it's not happening, help with feelings about post-baby body image and sex, and all the latest medical and emotional help you need, including stacks of recommended websites, contacts and books on special issues.

This book was recommended by a friend... If you only buy one pregnancy book this should be it... The week by week low down is very user friendly and makes for good reading for both you and your partner... Humourous but factual, Mark read this to me once a week so we were both up to date with how my pregnancy was progressing...