First-Time Parent: The honest guide to coping brilliantly and staying sane in your baby’s first year

CHAPTER ONE

prepare

The stuff you need, and the stuff you don’t…

Clearly nothing can really prepare you for parenthood, but most of us don’t need any encouragement when let loose in the baby section of a department store. There are plenty of fabulous accessories and gizmos for you to spend your money on. But actually, babies have extremely basic requirements. They need somewhere to sleep, some sort of transport for outings, some clothes and nappies and things to wipe their bottoms with. And milk. And you.

Essential clothes

As far as clothes are concerned, keep it simple. Buy soft, stretchy, cotton clothes as you want dressing to be as quick and painless as possible. Babygros that have poppers (or a zip) from neck to crotch and down the legs are easiest. Buttons and poppers that go up the back are a pain in the neck and any ‘little adult’ type clothes–jeans, button-up shirts, jackets and the like–are just silly for little babies: they are uncomfortable (imagine if you had to sleep in them), not stretchy enough to allow free movement, and are soon outgrown.

THE MINIMUM YOU’LL NEED TO GET YOUR BABY THROUGH THE FIRST MONTH OR SO IS:

 Six cotton vests (long or short sleeved depending on season)

 Six to ten cotton Babygros

 Six pairs of socks (stretchy towelling ones tend to stay on better–booties are generally pointless as they fall off teeny feet)

 Two to three cardigans (easier than jumpers)

 A couple of cotton hats

 A warm, all-in-one, padded suit for outings if you have a winter baby

For the first few weeks, your baby will practically live in Babygros.

Borrow stuff if you can, or buy second-hand: babies grow out of things in seconds. Try the NCT’s ‘nearly new’ sales, eBay, your local newspaper, charity shops, jumble sales and school fêtes. Accept all offers of hand-me-downs from friends with bigger kids.

Essential equipment

Aside from clothes, there are a few other essentials that you should try to buy before the baby arrives:

 At least four packs of newborn nappies (if you are using disposables). Take a pack to the hospital. You’ll change a newborn’s nappy about sixty times a week at the start.

 Three large rolls of cotton wool for wiping bottoms and washing generally

 A pack of (unperfumed) baby wipes for outings–it’s hard to do the cotton-wool-and-water bottom-wiping thing in, say, a park

 A car seat suitable from birth (see here)

 A buggy (see here)

 A crib or Moses basket with a mattress that’s British Safety Standard certified. Most babies don’t go in a bigger cot until they’re three to five months old.

 Three or four cot sheets and a Grobag baby sleeping bag appropriate for the season and your baby’s size, or three to four cellular blankets. Never use duvets or quilts with babies under one because they can overheat. Most experienced parents will tell you that buying a Grobag was the best thing they ever did. It stops your baby kicking off the covers and waking (you!) up because he’s cold.

 About ten muslin squares (get them in packs from Mothercare or Boots) for wiping up baby sick, protecting your clothes from dribble, lying the baby on in a park or making an impromptu sun hat–or, indeed, an ‘I surrender’ flag.

Strap your baby on to your chest in a sling (left)–it’s liberating for you (two free hands!) and deeply comforting for him.

Other useful, but not totally essential, baby equipment

This is stuff you don’t have to get, but if you do it could make your life a hell of a lot easier:

 A baby monitor–this way you can hear your baby wherever you are in the house or garden. Basic models are fine.

 A bouncy sling-type chair to sit him safely in when he is awake

 A baby-carrying sling–good for fussy or colicky babies, or for just getting around when he’s small enough to be easily portable. My Baby Björn sling lasted through three babies and is now being used by a friend.

 A fleece or soft, thick rug to lie your baby on when he’s awake and needs to kick around a bit

 A wipe-down nappy-changing mat (or you can just use an old towel)

 A nappy bag (discuss whether you both really want the one with pink teddy logos) with travel changing mat. It doesn’t have to be a specific ‘nappy’ bag–you can use any bag at all, as long as it is big enough to fit:

→ Three or four nappies

→ A pack of wipes

→ A small, folding changing mat

→ A small pot of nappy-rash cream

→ A complete change of baby clothing

→ A toy or two, and maybe a book for you

→ A water bottle and maybe a snack for you

→ A baby-feeding bottle and small carton of formula if bottle-feeding

→ Your phone, wallet and keys

Postnatal shopping list

FOR YOUR VAGINA/PERINEUM

 Several small packets of frozen peas to soothe your perineum

 Squeezy bottles or jugs for pouring on yourself as you pee (see here)

 Large cotton-feel sanitary pads or ‘maternity’ pads

 Disposable or old/cheapo knickers (ten to fifteen pairs). Bin them when messy.

 A couple of pairs of comfy pyjamas that fit you when pregnant

 A bottle of witch hazel for soothing your sore bits (see here)

 A sitz bath (or plastic basin) you can use to bathe your bits after vaginal birth, plus essential oils or herbs to add (see here)

FOR YOUR BREASTFEEDING BOOBS

 Two or three soft breastfeeding bras

 The telephone number of your hospital’s infant-feeding specialist and other breastfeeding counsellors

 Several packets of breast pads to stop your breasts leaking on to your shirt

 Extra pillows–good for propping up the baby while breastfeeding

 A footstool to help with a good breastfeeding position (a few old phone directories taped together with masking tape work fine)

 Lanisoh for sore nipples. You can buy this in Waitrose and some chemists.

 A breast pump

• = BASICS

(if nothing else, get these)

GENERALLY

 A large pack of paracetamol (for afterpains)

 A hot water bottle (ditto)

 Lots of healthy meals for your freezer (such as portions of home-made soup, casseroles and pasta sauces)

 Soft stretchy clothes like sweatpants

 Any midwife-recommended postnatal vitamins and iron tablets

Feeding equipment

IF BREASTFEEDING (WHOEVER SAID IT WAS ‘FREE’?)

 Your boobs (any size and shape will do)

 Three comfy but oh-so-stylish feeding bras (Elle Macpherson does a fantastic range available from www.bloomingmarvellous.com)

 Breastfeeding help numbers (see Contacts), including your hospital breastfeeding specialist if there is one

 A breast pump. Manual pumps are generally cheaper, quieter and more portable than electric ones, but they can be hard work and slow. Electrics tend to be faster and, for some, more effective. You can hire a breast pump from the NCT, or you can borrow one from your hospital’s breastfeeding clinic. Two good ones are the Medela Harmony Mini Electric (www.medela.co.uk) and the Avent Isis Manual (www.avent.com).

 Pre-sterilised bags are useful for storing breast milk if you are breastfeeding and want to pump and freeze milk to feed your baby in a bottle sometimes.

IF BOTTLE-FEEDINC

 About six 250-280 ml bottles, with ‘slow flow’ newborn teats to start with. There are all sorts of bottles on the market, but both Avent and Boots own brand are perfectly good ones to start with.

 A way to sterilise them (see here)

 A baby-bottle brush for washing them up

 A supply of powdered baby formula. Most infant formula milks are based on modified cow’s milk. If you think your baby may be allergic to cow’s milk, talk to your GP–don’t buy over-the-counter alternatives like soya or goat’s milk as they may make your baby ill. sma is a well-known brand of formula, and Hipp Organics does a popular (if pricey) organic formula available in many supermarkets (and Boots).

 Cartons of formula for feeding on the go

What buggy?

‘Buggy’, ‘stroller’, ‘pushchair’, ‘pram’, ‘three-in-one’, ‘travel system’, ‘jogger’: there are countless devices for transporting your baby from A to B. In essence, you need to buy some form of transport for your newborn that lies flat for the first three months, because tiny babies don’t have the head control to cope with sitting more upright. After about three months you want to be able to raise the back of the buggy seat up progressively so that, by about six months, your baby can sit up in it. You can buy expensive lie-flat prams for new babies, but they’ll be redundant after a few months. As a basic rule, if you want a buggy to last you from birth to four years, it needs to be lightweight, easily foldable and have a back that can lie flat but with several more upright positions too.

You can buy ‘travel systems’ or ‘three-in-ones’, which give you an infant car seat, pram and pushchair in one package. If you get one of these, make it lightweight or you’ll almost certainly ditch it when your baby reaches about six months, as it’ll become too clumsy and hefty. After about six months a lightweight ‘umbrella-type’ stroller that folds easily is really all you need (you can buy these suitable from birth–Maclaren does a popular one that lies flat for newborns).

As for the rest, in general, buggy accessories add money but not much value. The only really useful ‘extras’ are: somewhere to put your shopping (a sling-type pocket under the buggy is fine); a good rain cover; some form of sun canopy (you can buy clip-on sun umbrellas) and, in the winter, a ‘cosy toes’ sleeping bag that fits on the buggy can be handy (blankets slip off easily when you’re mobile).

WHEN CHOOSING YOUR BUGGY, YOU SHOULD ALSO CONSIDER:

 What you’ll use it for. Will it fit in your front door and into your car? Will you be mostly in the city or jogging down country lanes? Carrying it up stairs? On to buses?

 How long you want it to last. The first few months? Or all the way to three or four years?

 Your budget. But bear in mind that cheapo ones can be a false economy–they break, or you just get sick to death of how crap they are then crack and buy a pricey one.

 Quality. Forget the fabric design–you want it to be easy to steer, solid, relatively lightweight, reasonably padded with good suspension and a smooth folding action.

The constituent parts of a ‘three-in-one’ (clockwise from bottom): the car seat, the buggy fitting (which can lie flat or upright), the carry cot and the frame. (above)

You can fit the carry cot, the car seat or the buggy fitting on to the basic frame.

From about six months you’ll probably decide to ditch this stuff and get a lightweight ‘umbrella-type’ stroller, (right)

For details of all these companies, see Contacts.

Mamas & Papas, my favourite, do lightweight buggies that lie completely flat for a newborn but work all the way to four. Babydan are sturdy and Graco are lower budget but OK. For a posh long-lasting three-wheeler (from New Zealand, home of outdoorsy fanatics) try Phil & Ted’s. Bugaboo is the latest trendy design with great features. For double buggies, Mountain Buggy Urban Double is a top-of-the-range three-wheeler from birth to four years, and Maclaren do a popular, solid but not heavy ‘umbrella’ double buggy.

Go and try out a display model in Mothercare or Babies ‘R’ Us before you buy it at half the price online. A great place for baby equipment is eBay.

It is essential to have the correct car seat (left). This is a backwards-facing baby seat suitable until nine to twelve months.

What car seat?

Car accidents are a leading cause of death and injury in children, so this is one to take very, very seriously. You can buy car seats suitable from birth to four years, or a backwards-facing baby seat suitable until nine to twelve months (depending on the size of your baby), then a car seat suitable from about nine months to four years. The backwards-facing baby seat is useful as you can clip it in and out of the car and carry or sit your baby in it when you’re in café or friends’ houses.

THERE ARE CERTAIN CAR-SAFETY RULES YOU SHOULD ALWAYS FOLLOW:

 Always put your baby in a properly fitted seat, suitable for his age and weight.

 Be sure the car seat is genuinely a safe one. It should have a British Standard Kitemark or United Nations Standard Regulation 44.03 and is the one piece of equipment you shouldn’t buy second-hand unless you know its history (i.e. no accidents) and have the instructions. For information on choosing the right car seat and fitting it correctly go to www.thinkroadsafety.gov.uk or www.childcarseats.org.uk.

 Never fit an infant car seat in the front seat of a car with air bags. The back seat is the safest place (unless your car is, freakishly, without back-seat seatbelts).

 Never ever take your baby out of the car seat when the car is moving, even if he is purple in the face and bellowing and your pulse is racing. We have all been tempted to do this but it’s extremely dangerous. Always pull over somewhere safe before you get him out.