in this thread you give me all your newborn baby advice

[PhillyB]

Change more diapers than your wife does.

 

[Zod]

homebaby won't turn upside down, which means a C-section, which means scheduling it, which means phillyb is gonna have a kid on monday. sweet hot damn that's soon.

go.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Baby-Wise-Giving-Nighttime/dp/1932740139

 

 

This is the only book I recommend.

 

Read it, practice what it tells you, and you will be sleeping through the night in 8 weeks.

[Zod]

Also, the first few months is the easiest you will ever have.

 

They don't move around, they just stay wherever you put them. Hell you could keep them in a drawer for a few weeks.

 

 

Once they get mobile.... things get harder.

[pstall]

Babywise is a must read. Get the kid on YOUR schedule not the other way around.

[Kurb]

http://www.amazon.com/Becoming-Baby-Wise-Giving-Nighttime/dp/1932740139

 

 

This is the only book I recommend.

 

Read it, practice what it tells you, and you will be sleeping through the night in 8 weeks.

 

We found that "Baby Wise" works, but we used it as a "loose" guide instead of the stringent schedule they suggest.

 

That said, we had one and you had 2 at once when you used it, so you needed that tighter schedule most likely.

 

It's a good read tho.

 

We had Z on basically a all night sleep schedule by 6 months. So exceptions will apply and of course every baby is different.

 

 

The Amazon Mom program might be a God send, especially while you kids are in Central America (?). Discounts on diapers etc if and Amazon Prime might save you a ton on shipping.

 

If possibly get Diapers and Wipes from Costco. Cheap and Good quality, unless you do the cloth thing.

 

Forumla (when you get there) will be cheaper at membership clubs too.

[Zod]

The earlier the brat.. I mean kid learns that the universe does not revolve around them the better off he/she will be.

[Kurb]

The earlier the brat.. I mean kid learns that the universe does not revolve around them the better off he/she will be.

 

LOL

 

Zac has opinions now.

I liked him better before this happened.

 

 

MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE MINE

 

[Kettle]

Someone mentioned swaddling. We used swaddling blankets that were like little sleeping bags with Velcro closures. It made wrapping my girl up tight really easy and she only occasionally got an arm out.

[Kurb]

Swaddling

 

 
 
His swaddle is for poo, but that is the general idea.

[Kurb]

Also steal everything you can from the Hospital, the blankts, creams, everything. Ask for more to take home.

[CatofWar]

When mine were tiny they liked watching baby Einstein. Even at 4 weeks they would sit and watch it. My oldest liked watching ac/dc family jewels. He was around 6 months when he got into that. When your kid gets older and gets into cartoons is really a fun time. You realize the writers know adults are watching as well and they make you laugh. I now find myself watching sponge bob, regular show and adventure time by myself.

[Cat]

You're going to be tired, you may even want to throw the baby out the window at some point. Don't feel bad, its more normal than you think. You'll get threw it though at the time you might feel trapped in an eternity of throw up, crying, peeing, pooping and feeding. Remember you aren't, before you know it you'll be getting full night sleep and hardly able to remember when they were brand new.

 

Good luck I'm sure you'll do better than most people that have kids.

 

Oh yeah we did a schedule thing Zod did. it was great for getting the baby to sleep through the night early however it's not easy going and you miss out on a lot of cuddling. And toys with lights are mesmerizing at a very young age. 

[Bronn]

Haven't read the other replies yet, but here's my advice:

Have your wife take it easy after you get home. My wife's C section incision opened up one night in the shower, and we had to have home-healthcare come check it out a couple times a week, and I had to dress the wound a couple times a day. It was more of an inconvenience than anything gross or whatever, but it could have been a bigger problem.

 

Let the hospital keep the baby in the nursery all you can. I know it will be tough, but it'll be doing a lot of sleeping, and you and wifey will need to do so also. There'll still be plenty of time for you to bond at the hospital and obviously once you get home.

 

Share duties once you get home. In fact, you probably need to take the lead for at least the first few days. This means pulling night shift and all that jazz.

We let our son sleep in his crib from day one. I've heard this suggested a lot on the web and it worked great for us. He slept through the night at 3 weeks old. So did we. You might want to give that a try, too. Obviously, this is assuming you have some sort of monitor system, and are also going to be going in at intervals to check on your baby.

 

You can try a pacifier, but my son wasn't really interested.

 

Your baby will be doing a lot of sleeping at first, obviously. But once it is more alert and awake during the day, you might want to get a play mat of some sort for it. It encourages the development of various skills the earlier on you do it.

 

Congrats and good luck!

 

 

 

[mmmbeans]

sleep begets sleep.  keeping them up in an attempt to tire them out so they sleep longer backfires spectacularly.  

 

Within the first three months, establish a sleep schedule and stick to it.  The more they sleep the more the want to sleep.  This will save your f*cking life.

 

 

 

EDIT:  learn to swaddle well.  they have little blankets with velcro corners... one of the best investments i'v ever made.