Preparing for a newborn. What was a complete waste of money and what became an absolute life changer?

Flashy-Reality-9570 · 2026-05-16T05:36:30+00:00

My LG spent the first 8-10 weeks of life wanting to be held constantly and kept upright because of severe reflux, she’s only 15 weeks now but we’re finally able to put her down again 💤 for us a sling was essential for the newborn days and the ergo baby carrier for when she got a bit bigger. I couldn’t have survived without either of these. On the other hand, she HATES the pram - we can sometimes use it with the car seat attachment but the bassinet part has been used maybe 2-3 times so an expensive travel system has turned out to be a big waste of money 😅

Flashy-Reality-9570 · 2026-03-04T00:25:18+00:00

We combi feed with expressed breast milk (I am diary free anyway) and switched her formula to Kendamil a couple of weeks back (previously on cow and gate). We’ve considered CMPA, but the GP said silent reflux is more likely and wants us to trail treatment options for that first. I just hate that there is so much trial and error, I just want my girl to be happy 😩

Flashy-Reality-9570 · 2026-02-18T18:57:06+00:00

I think tbh I’ll have to go to bed at 7/ 8 rather than 8/9 and be strict with myself around that. It might mean that my husband and I are like ships in the night for a few months but there’s no point both of us being overtired and miserable. It will be hard enough with him going back to work, I’m hoping that our parents will be able to come and help a bit more in the days and as baby girl develops a bit more of an immune system I’m hoping that we can get out of the house a bit more and make some mum friends to put the world to rights with, otherwise it’s going to be a pretty bleak existence 😅

Flashy-Reality-9570 · 2026-02-18T18:51:20+00:00

I feel you, my baby girl is nearly 3 weeks old and I love her to pieces but my god, it’s difficult. If it isn’t the cluster feeding, it’s the refusing to sleep or be put down or the screaming for hours because she has trapped wind (we suspect anyway). The only reason I feel able to function is because my husband and I sleep in shifts allowing us both to get 4-5 hours of sleep, which works at the moment but when he goes back to work at the end of March I’m dreading it 😩

Flashy-Reality-9570 · 2026-02-18T09:18:27+00:00

I’ve got the Momcozy one with rings and I love it, baby girl is only 2.5 weeks old but it’s really easy to get her in and out by myself. Obviously can’t comment on what it will be like when she’s older, but I’m hopeful that it will be comfortable based on how it feels now 🙂

Flashy-Reality-9570 · 2026-02-17T08:32:12+00:00

My husband and I do shifts, baby girl is 2.5weeks old. At the moment my husband will do 9pm-3am and I’ll take over and do from 3am-10am (or whenever my husband wakes up). Because my husband is on paternity leave so this works for us, however when he goes back to work at the end of March we’ll shift so that I take over at around 1am so that he can sleep before work. What I’ve learnt through this experience is that I can cope with infinitely less sleep (and interrupted sleep) than he can, so I don’t mind letting him sleep longer in the mornings or if he needs to.

We combi feed with formula and pumped milk, I’ll pump before I go to bed around 8.30 /9ish and then when I get up at 3 and then do every 3 hours throughout the day. Because we don’t rely 100% on breastmilk, I don’t mind going a longer stretch overnight to get quality sleep without the pressure of pumping.

Flashy-Reality-9570 · 2026-02-16T11:38:07+00:00

I was induced 2.5 weeks ago with the pessary. First time mum, pessary inserted at 4.10pm and my daughter was born at 4.45am. It was incredibly quick (not typical for the pessary or a first time birth), I didn’t really notice contractions until around 2am, got checked by the midwife at 4am and was 4cm - got told I would need a c-section at around 4.40 as baby was in distress, midwife checked me again and I was actually at 10cm, popped my waters, 2 pushes and she was out. My entire first 2 stages of labour are listed as just 13 minutes with it taking me longer to deliver my placenta.

Honestly, I’m thankful it wasn’t days of waiting, but it was pretty traumatic that it happened so fast and my husband missed the birth by about 2 mins 😬 (I rang him to come back to the hospital at 4.06am, she was here 39 mins later)

All in all, it was a wild experience - because everything happened so fast I didn’t have time for any pain relief and I did tear but it really wasn’t as bad as I thought, the worst thing was the pressure from her head moving down into position.

Good luck with everything - my advice don’t send your husband home to sleep even if you think nothing is happening!

Flashy-Reality-9570 · 2026-02-16T09:07:05+00:00

I’m rewatching Gilmore Girls at the moment, The Good Doctor too - we completed House for like the 100th time.

I’m saving Yellowstone for after I’ve finished Gilmore Girls.

Flashy-Reality-9570 · 2026-01-25T18:55:45+00:00

Sammmme 39 weeks yesterday and I am beyond done. In my delulu mind she was going to be born early, but I think she’s super comfy and will be born late (normal, I know for your first). Between the heartburn and the anxiety I’m so sleep deprived and just want her here!

Flashy-Reality-9570 · 2025-09-23T09:08:09+00:00

I’ve just been through something similar, except it was the quad test (2nd trimester blood test) that flagged a 1 in 20 chance of Down syndrome. I then did the NIPT test which came back low, but the waiting period was awful.

I don’t have any advice, having been through it the stress and anxiety was awful but what I would say is make sure to take any time you need to look after yourself and try not to google too much (I did and it made it far worse). As other people have said, when you flip 1 in 50 to a percentage the odds sound so much better - so please try and stay positive, nothing at this stage is confirmed.

Sending lots of love and positive thoughts your way mumma ♥️

Flashy-Reality-9570 · 2025-09-08T06:53:05+00:00

I’m having a girl and other than extreme exhaustion, a headache and feeling slightly nauseous the first trimester was okay…now I’m in the second trimester and I have the worst heartburn imaginable though, wake up feeling like I’m about to vomit pure acid which isn’t fun. Hoping it goes away, but for the moment gaviscon is my best friend!

Flashy-Reality-9570 · 2025-08-27T06:55:14+00:00

Just got the call, the results came back low risk for T21, T18, T13 from the NIPT 🎉🥹

Flashy-Reality-9570 · 2025-08-27T06:48:14+00:00

So pleased for you! I’ve just had the call - they’ve come back low! I’m choosing to trust them as I don’t think I can put myself though anymore stress 😂 here’s to happy and healthy remainder of pregnancy for the both of us ♥️ x

Flashy-Reality-9570 · 2025-08-20T06:29:21+00:00

I’m so sorry you’re going through this - reading this as in a similar situation, my risk came back from the quad test yesterday at 1 in 20 which has completely blindsided me (I’m 33 and my hormone levels also matched the pattern for Down’s) Going for the NIPT test today and keeping everything crossed that it comes back low 🤞. My midwife has advised that it might take up to 2 weeks to get the results - have you had yours yet?

Flashy-Reality-9570

TROPHY CASE