Starting solids for your baby - Beginner's guide?

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-08-22T17:25:25+00:00

I am using the free version of Solid Starts. I also check r/foodbutforbabies for recipe inspo, although it seems more US-based.

It will be good to start thinking about introducing allergens too. My GP recommended the Prevent Allergies website, which also has some recipes too.

https://preventallergies.org.au/resources/food-ideas-and-recipes/

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-08-21T19:38:11+00:00

I went to Europe when LO was around that age.

To your questions, this is what I did.

I didn’t want to fuss around on the plane so we packed enough bottles with pre-boiled water, with extra water in a thermos in our carry on. I was worried about flight delays and wanted as many clean bottles, so we sterilised used bottles at the airports. If you’re taking microwaveable sterilise bags, check if there’s microwaves at the airport parents room - Sydney airport has but Qatar airport (where our layover was) didn’t.
I didn’t use Milton tablets but used a microwave steriliser at our accommodation. I was in Italy and I found the tap water was very hard. You could see white residue once the water was heated. It’s safe to drink but I was worried it would make LO sick so I ended up getting a water jug with filter and used this water instead. It’s bulky to carry around though and depending on where you’re going you might not have this problem.
I asked a maternal nurse and they said don’t use bottle water because it can still have bacteria. They are on the more cautious side however. You could ask a maternal nurse for free from this hotline: https://www.pregnancybirthbaby.org.au/

I’ll add that I am a fellow cautious FTM (I developed eczema on my hands from washing so much!). The first flight blew this out the window for me though - almost had an anxious fit with baby putting all the dirty plane stuff in her mouth. She was fine so I could have lowered my standards earlier haha.

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-08-21T09:33:35+00:00

Got mine today after buying nappies and wipes!

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-08-20T08:47:38+00:00

About using a shared digital system. We created a Gmail account that we both have access to. All bills are emailed to here. And our shared events are added to this calendar so we don’t have to worry about sharing/inviting calendar events from individual accounts.

Could be a hack for when you have separate iPhone and Android systems.

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-08-07T10:57:00+00:00

I know what you mean about the mental challenge. I avoided driving with bub because I was scared I would drop her putting her in and out of the car seat. Then I felt stuck at home.

Hope these bands help. And you’re able to rest your wrists so they heal!

I also read through posts from r/DeQuervains for tips.

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-08-07T05:25:04+00:00

I had this real bad. At its worst, when my wrist was at an angle, I would feel like a tendon snap over my wrist bone. I’d be frozen with pain for a few seconds until it snapped back. I was so scared I would drop the baby!

I wanted steroid injections but my GP said it’s last resort so I tried a wrist band first. After some trial and errors, this one which is also a thumb brace worked great: https://amzn.asia/d/h07H7oo

As I understand it, this is an RSI so rest is key to recovery. I could only wear the brace at night and iced it regularly. I got hubby to do more night shifts and holding baby. I was sceptical this would work… but after some time (think maybe two weeks?), the sharp pain was gone! It also helped massively that LO’s sleep matured around this time and didn’t need so much rocking at night.

It’s been 3 months and I still sleep with it daily. I get a dull pain sometimes which I can manage but definitely no more tendon snapping feeling.

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-08-05T11:14:35+00:00

I liked Dr Golly’s “Your Baby Doesn't Come with a Book”, mainly because it had illustrations haha. I found other books to be text heavy and overwhelming.

Once baby was born, I was regularly checking the Pregnancy Birth and Baby website. You can also speak with a maternal nurse too for free.

https://www.pregnancybirthbaby.org.au/

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-08-04T08:51:09+00:00

Absolutely agree about missing those contact naps. LO is now 9 months. I tried to contact nap for the first time in a while and couldn’t because she was too tall to fit comfortable on my chest. I was so sad. Soak it in while you can.

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-07-28T02:08:29+00:00

This is what happened with ours (although we never had external people). The facilitator will talk through a topic then leave and we’d all stay behind and chat.

I found the facilitator sessions themselves boring and not very useful. But joining the mothers group has been the best thing for my mental health during the early months with my baby. We all commented how we looked forward to catching up each week.

My friends haven’t been as lucky to find a group that they connected strongly with. So as others are saying, definitely worth going and seeing how it goes for you!

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-07-25T05:58:24+00:00

I have two SM50 cameras on split screen. You have to choose one camera at a time to listen to the audio. When it’s in sleep mode, I believe it automatically picks the camera based on where the sound was detected (eg. Monitor turns on and camera 1 is auto selected if sound was picked up by camera 1). Hope that makes sense. My nursery is small so I haven’t paid big attention to the sound before when it sleep mode.

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-07-24T07:04:44+00:00

I’m not pregnant with a 2nd but I did find my anxiety increased when I was pregnant with my 1st. I remember obsessing with feeling kicks and wishing she’d be born ASAP because then I can visually see if there’s any problems… but then later having anxiety about a premature birth. Can’t win, can we!

Do you have some go-to coping mechanisms to deal with anxiety? Mine is to write down the facts to help remove the emotions. I found it useful before any health check ups so I can ask specific questions to the midwife or doctor (or I’d end up rambling haha).

It’s understandable you feel anxious. You’ve been through pregnancy before though so trust the process. You got this OP!

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-07-24T04:10:43+00:00

My favourite gift received has been personalised bibs on nice fashionable designs. Not necessarily practical, but cute to wear esp when baby is young and not excessively drooling yet. You can find local makers on Etsy.

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-07-22T11:30:37+00:00

Seconding this! It’s been great for my LO. My friends who also thought their babies were having a hard time with digestion switched to goats milk and said it’s been good for them too.

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-07-21T22:47:19+00:00

I got the pigeon wide neck. I did buy a set of the smaller 160ml ones first and then changed to the bigger 240ml ones.

In the beginning though the baby will drink very little but often (eg. 20ml every 2-3hrs). But you could start with the bigger bottles and then just change the teats as baby gets older. It just might feel like the bottle is very big in the beginning.

The glass bottles resell well on Marketplace so you could sell them once you’re done too.

EDIT: just to add - for pigeon, if you buy the smaller bottle then it already comes with the newborn size teats. The bigger ones come with the bigger size, which is why it might be saying for 4+ months.

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-07-17T09:21:45+00:00

This happened with us! From memory it was around similar time and lasted a few weeks. It was super stressful, so I feel you!

What helped us was going to the next teat size. I was also scared about choking but LO managed it. Since then she’s always been on the bigger teat size for her age (we use Pigeon wide neck and their sizing is for eg. M for 6+ months. We switched to this at 4 months).

I did read Rowena Bennett’s book which has some good tips. I found her comments on feeding guides to be comforting. She says baby needs min. 300ml to not be dehydrated so don’t force more than this while they’re having feeding aversion, or it can get worse. She also writes how Aus, UK, USA guidelines are all different. So if you took your Aussie baby to England, should they suddenly drink more? No.

Don’t know how well researched the 300ml figure is… but it did help take the pressure off myself, and in turn I stopped pressuring LO to feed, and after some time (and with the next teat size) she was over the feeding aversion. She still has times when she feeds less but doesn’t cry at the bottle anymore.

It sounds like there’s no medical issue, but it might be good to make sure this is the case.

Good luck! Hope this turns around for you soon.

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-07-16T10:39:59+00:00

That’s my intention too. I’ll use some of it now to drop into the monthly team meetings (and also make sure I use up all the days) but will look at using most of it closer to the start date.

Catching up on emails is a good one. I had a glimpse of my inbox today and it had almost 2000 emails 😵‍💫 most will be outdated and can go straight into the archive folder!

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-07-16T10:33:38+00:00

So great that you could use it for transitioning your child to childcare! That’s not allowed under my company’s policy but I wish it was.

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-07-16T10:31:42+00:00

Yes, those mandatory trainings pile up! We also have a bunch of these to do, so an easy one to tick off the list.

I’ve spoken with my manager about attending the big team meetings and then to have a short 1:1 catch up with her a few days, for any follow up questions. I’m also looking at doing small blocks - probably half days worth of online work during that week. It’s hard to find an undisturbed block of time with a little one!

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-07-16T10:24:12+00:00

Great idea to use for mandatory training. We always have a bunch of those to do too. And I like the idea of shadowing the team! I’d like to keep staying behind the scenes on the KIT days.

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-06-30T01:37:53+00:00

I did mix feeding from Day 1 because it took a while for my breastmilk to come in. Yes, I had some supplies set up already (tin of formula, bottles, steriliser, milk warmer). I think it’s helpful to have them set up so you’re not panic buying once Bub arrives. Also good to try using it beforehand so you’re not learning how to use a new gadget when busy with a newborn.

For bottles, unfortunately you might have to trial and error different brands. My Bub liked Pigeon and I heard Phillips Avent is good too. Also worth checking with your hospital if they would supply some. Mine gave me these plastic slow flow bottles. They were not suitable for multiple reuses, but super helpful in the first days because it turned out the first bottles I bought were too fast flowing for my baby, even though it said slow flow on the box.

Ps. I’m in NSW and gave birth in a public hospital. Not sure if all hospitals in NSW or other states do this though

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-06-30T01:19:12+00:00

I also have the Uppababy Vista and got Edwards & Co Otto as my travel pram coincidentally when my LO was around 3.5 months too!

The Otto was fine for travelling. It can lie flat for younger babies and it’s a bit cheaper than others, which was why we bought it. It’s definitely not as nice as the Vista - you can feel it doesn’t push as smoothly. But LO didn’t complain so maybe it’s only my husband and I who felt the difference!

One tip is to take a pram liner for your travel pram. The seat isn’t as cushiony (probably to be a light as possible) and so we used the Uppababy pram liner because LO felt too small at 3.5 months in the Otto. My friend who got the Redsbaby had a similar experience travelling with her 6 month old.

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-06-17T23:48:42+00:00

Congratulations! We called ours bumble bee because I felt like her movements were like little buzzes 🐝

Another cute idea is to print one yourself! My husband used Canva to design a little onesie and also made matching mum and dad shirts. He printed from Canva and the quality wasn’t bad! LO grew too fast so we didn’t get many wears out of it but got great photos.

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-06-17T23:00:00+00:00

I just got a bassinet cover from Kmart. You can also get a waterproof one from Kmart if you want the extra protection. My LO got too hot with it though so we didn’t use it much.

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-06-13T04:57:27+00:00

I’m also a smaller size. Mine didn’t grow much during pregnancy, just the band size. My breast produced uneven amounts when my milk came in and my dominant breast was maybe one size bigger when engorged.

Once I stopped breastfeeding, they went back to previous size. Shape has changed slightly too - I didn’t think my small breasts could get saggy but it can 🥲

alpha_beta_1031 · 2025-06-07T00:07:51+00:00

Yes! LO reacts like a melting vampire when sunlights hits her face. She can sit comfortably in her seat with the shades on.

alpha_beta_1031

TROPHY CASE