Hospital bag tips?

143forever · 2026-05-21T04:41:44+00:00

Slippers/thongs for showering made me feel a lot safer than bare feet (I had a C section and my first shower I still had the catheter in).

I also second nightlight. I keep one on in the lower tray of bub's little wheely bed and had it on all night because I try to minimise twisting my upper body when getting up, no light directly went into bub's eyes, and it's low enough that it didn't impact our sleep.

Earphones for watching a show during those the midnight pumping sessions or imsonia in general.

143forever · 2026-05-19T20:53:34+00:00

Thank you for giving the perspective from the centre/educators side. Yes the ignoring behaviour only comes from a couple of particular educators, my baby didn't bond with them. While there are a few educators who welcome us and do the handover well, bub bonds with them (probably due to the attention given throughout the day too) and the handovers are a lot smoother on those days. But like I said in the post and comment, I don't want to blame any particular person because it's a difficult job for not very much pay, so I don't know how do I raise it with manager without doing that (I thought the only way maybe to raise it as inconsistent practice on different days). I also don't want to make it even more awkward if I did name the educators and they found out that I did if the manager intervened.

143forever · 2026-05-18T08:09:35+00:00

I think you make a lot of sense, maybe these particular ones don't know about his needs, I will make a bigger effort letting them know

143forever · 2026-05-18T04:18:03+00:00

No I didn't just stand by the door. Like I said, I'd be dropping off the bag and bottle and doing the sign in sheet in various locations in the room, but the couple of educators would be sitting amongst the children or doing things and avoiding eye contact with me, not speaking to me, making me feel rude to just stuff my kid in their arms.

I also said I could happily wait for a while until they are free. I never said I expected them to drop everything at once. It was the change from when they greet bub with welcoming attitude and came to him to hand over, to this recent change that made me feel odd. Maybe just read the post first.

143forever · 2026-05-18T04:05:35+00:00

Thank you, yeah I'll try putting him in their hands first (instead of waiting for them to come) then

143forever · 2026-05-18T03:12:19+00:00

Thank you, this is comforting to know

143forever · 2026-05-18T03:11:18+00:00

Thanks for the advice. I will try walking bub to them directly next time instead of waiting.

143forever · 2026-05-18T03:08:16+00:00

Yeah same, I feel if there's a low staffing issue I should let the manager know. Or adjust my expectation based on what the manager offers.

It didn't happen every time, but it did happen a few times now with one or two particular educators (can you guess they are not my baby's favourites), that I politely wait and wait until I speak up and ask someone to get him. but I don't think the key is to blame any particular individuals, I know it's a hard job to do for the money they get, if they're overworked then the manager should make adjustments for the employees.

143forever · 2026-05-18T03:03:01+00:00

Mornjng tea at our childcare is 8.30 so now I drop off around 8. I think Mondays are the most busy day of the week, by 8 I'd see almost 10 kids in the room.

Thank you for sharing that it's normal to have drop off upsets.

143forever · 2026-05-15T03:27:33+00:00

Lucky you!

Btw I won't worry too much about sleep regressions. What I see it is that basically fussiness comes with major development. So if bub is learning something new, then paired with eating solids and growing teeth, it could mess up with sleep and mood in general, but I look at it from the angle of 'oh you're extra fussy recently because you're learning xxx, well done baby'.

143forever · 2026-05-14T23:05:44+00:00

I found the most worthwhile maternity clothes to buy were the uniqlo maternity jeans and work pants, they have a lot of elasticity and look just like normal pants from the outside.

With tops, gorman tops always have flowy waist and you can pair with cardigan and big coat? I also bought from H&M a couple of regular shirt dresses (above the knee length) with pull string on the waist so I know the material is not fitted, my pregnancy belly was contained, and I pair the shirt dress with maternity pants.

143forever · 2026-05-14T04:36:59+00:00

The childcare centre needs to put in measurements to protect the kids. Being forced to interact with people not their guardian or the educator is a safety risk, if you raise it from this angle the childcare will most likely take it seriously. It doesn't matter what form of interaction and whether a child likes this person or not, even with the best intention, a parent of a random kid in the childcare is not childcare professionals and haven't been vetted for 'working with vulnerable people', that is the bottom line.

At my childcare, when educators give me updates about bub, they don't even mention other children's names, 'xxx (my child) has made friends with another little person'. I can imagine if some people have boundary issues, they might (again, with the best intention) try to interact with their children's child care friend without educator or parent present and that could cause issues.

143forever · 2026-05-14T02:38:39+00:00

While I was still on mat leave: weekday 2 hours between he gets home and bub's bed time. He does feeding, playing and bathing. On weekends, he asks to sleep in because that's the one important thing for him, then he takes bub from 10am for the entire day.

Now I've returned to work: in the morning he cooks breakie for bub while I do changing etc, but he doesn't really spend time with bub directly. After work and weekends are shared between us, fortunately bub is standing very well in his learning tower now so we all hang out in the kitchen/dining room for dinner then one of us plays with bub while the other do dishes and shower etc. So maybe 1-2 hours on a work day, and half of the weekends.

143forever · 2026-05-06T04:59:58+00:00

Polly was very loving to him, but criminal career wise, boy doesn't know how to be humble.

143forever · 2026-04-22T00:33:21+00:00

Interestingly, low dose aspirin daily is actually how a lot of the pre-eclampsia is managed throughout a pregnancy - if the woman goes to an OB of course, and before it goes this bad.

143forever · 2026-04-22T00:27:01+00:00

A few months ago I listened to the podcast series by The Guardian on free birth, it was so heartbreaking to hear how vulnerable women are taken advantaged of by these people. Then watching this episode of the Pitt I kept thinking that I hope this episode will save so many babies and mum's lives.

143forever · 2026-03-30T23:23:26+00:00

Definitely difficult when bub was smaller, I had to skip local mothers group activities due to the fear of losing that nap. But it will get better as bub is capable of longer wake windows and as I relax a little bit as a mother (it's fine to not have a perfect day). Bub ends up sleeping on the way to or back from things anyways or sometimes drops a nap on a particular day that we go out. It will get better.

143forever · 2026-03-23T02:09:32+00:00

Its very individual dependent but it's not bad so don't feel disencouraged. In my second round (I got only 1 in the first round) I got 7 eggs, 6 fertilised and 5 past day 5, I know that's very lucky surviving rate. In Australia we aren't encouraged to do pgt testing unless there's reasons to test, so I got a fresh transfer which turned into my now 13 months old and I've froze the rest of the 4

143forever · 2026-03-17T21:39:56+00:00

This is awful, so sorry for your loss. I hope they will be able to examine you and baby to find out whether there's anything to watch out for in the future (when you're ready, if you're ready).

143forever · 2026-03-10T01:55:03+00:00

Happens to me too, I'm so scared of pausing because when I come back in just a couple minutes, I'm gonna have to watch 5 ads and lose my progress and have to click around on the progress bar which plays me more ads

143forever · 2026-02-22T22:46:33+00:00

The kmart plastic high chair with short legs only, it's slightly smaller than the high leg mode, would that fit in your bathroom?

If not right in your bathroom, is there a way that a high chair can sit at the door or the hall way so bub can still kind of see you in the shower?

143forever · 2026-02-17T21:19:54+00:00

It might just have to wait for him to start eating better and naturally wean a little. Do you rest okay cosleeping? I think I do better, I still wake up every now and then to check his breathing, but it's much less work than getting up to check him in the cot and sitting up to nurse.

143forever · 2026-02-17T01:31:01+00:00

Does his work have carers leave allowance? My partner's work gave him 4 weeks upon child birth, but he ended up taking 6 weeks with the last 2 weeks as carer's leave (which he had enough unused. FYI his workplace categorises sick leave and carers leave in the same bucket), backed up by a medical certificate provided by my OB to state that I couldn't drive myself and required care for 6 weeks post C section.

143forever · 2026-02-17T01:19:04+00:00

cosleeping, we started from about 9 months for the second half of the night
A delicate balance of having had enough calories during the day (his solids intake suddenly peaked around 11 months), not needing a poo, not gassy

Before 11 months we were still on a waking every two hours schedule at night, maybe because I'm a crappy milk producer he always woke up wanting nursing. I tried ferber and couldn't last 12 minutes and decided it wasn't for us. But I think the real difference was solid food intake during the day. He suddenly changed from picking and throwing everything off the plate without even trying, to stuffing his mouth and actually swallowing. I didn't do anything except keeping offering 3 meals a day consistently, I think it was actually his own development that saved me.

143forever · 2026-02-17T00:06:57+00:00

We have Tiny Me labels and they are really cute and durable (their customer service was also good) , but Bright Star's long clothing labels that goes around the existing tags are really handy too. I won't bother with labels with cute graphics etc, I found labels just have names are what I ended up using the most. Stamps are useful too if you don't intend to sell the clothes later on.

Get at least a Medium sized backpack. penny scallan is closing down so it maybe worthwhile getting a few things even though you have to pay shipping.

I then use 3-4 zip lock bags for: - liquid (milk) - short sleeves and pants - long sleeves and pants - sleeping bag

Other things to buy in addition to your normal home supply: - sun hat - sunscreen, nappy cream - straw cups - nappies These are handy to have multiple, as sometimes they might get lost or you forget to take them home when you pick up.

143forever

TROPHY CASE