A few things I've picked up

Khannie

I've been meaning to post this for a while. I'm up to child number 5 now so I've learned a few things each time. I thought I'd try to pass some of them on before I forget for good.....(this one's the last for sure). Some of this is very basic but first time around you might not know it.

Please add your own! I'm not finished learning

Pregnancy / birth:
- Dads to be: Learn how to deliver a baby. It happens! We had to deliver one at home and friends of ours got stuck on the side of the road.
- Mums to be: Remember you're in charge when you're in the hospital. For the first time we got put under significant pressure on something on the last baby. We had to very firmly say no on it.

Newborns / early months:
- Newborns hate having their nappy changed. For whatever reason, a hairdryer on lowest heat setting blowing towards them from a safe distance is instantly calming (not sure how the hell we figured this out, but anyway!). Not towards their face though!
- If baby is going to puke and you have time to react, aim them towards yourself. It's so much easier to change your clothes than clean the smell out of your rug / couch / cushions
- Baby had a poop explosion that leaked outside their nappy? Most vests are designed to be brought down over the shoulders so you don't have to bring it near their face
- Nuclear poop explosion? Get the scissors out. You wont be saving that vest anyway. Quick sink bath afterwards ftw.
- Take any opportunity for sleep you can in the early days
- If / when you're moving to bottles and possibly facing difficulty with gagging, consider trying a different teat or brand. Some babies are very fussy.
- One of our kids was born with what's called otapostasis or "bat ear". Think elf ear. It was caused by her ear being bent and staying like that after her head had engaged before birth. You can correct this without surgery up to about 9 months because the cartilage is still very pliable. There's a medical device we bought online that worked a treat. Sorry but I can't remember much more than this as it was a long time ago.
- If you're breastfeeding, you probably need to supplement baby's vitamin D. You can get "one drop a day" ones very cheap on iherb. If you're bottle feeding, formula has vitamin D in there.
- Bepanthen is the best nappy cream we've used
- Caldesene powder is also great for sore bums (alternating with bepanthen works great)
- Bonjela is amazing stuff for teething. Instant relief. Keep it in the fridge for extra goodness.

Toddler:
- Magnetic press locks are the best of the various locks we've used
- Bumpers on table corners save a lot of tears
- Put the stair gates up early as it gives other kids (and you) a chance to adjust to remembering to close them
- Door latches like this can be used to keep doors open and unmovable (you attach one end to the door, the other to the skirting). Saves fingers for babies that like to play with doors.

General stuff:
- Add about 10ml of water to a pack of baby wipes as you open it. Makes it easier to wipe stuff up / is gentler on baby. I'm convinced they're dropping the amount of liquid in them over time to keep weight down.
- calpol 6 plus is exactly twice the dose of calpol so if your baby's recommended dose is 5ml of normal calpol, you can give them 2.5ml (small end of those spoons) of calpol 6 plus. Same for nurofen / nurofen 6 plus.
- If your child is very sick, you can alternate calpol and nurofen as they work in different ways
- A tiny minority of kids react to vaccines. It happened to one of ours (nothing serious). If it happens to yours, talk to your GP / nurse about spacing them out. This worked well for us just make sure you complete them all or you'll be burning the rest of us!


I'm definitely forgetting loads here so I'll update this post as and when I remember them.