[Citylovely]

Hi everyone,
I was talking to some of the mums from parents group the other day and we were saying we wish people had told us different things about having a baby/newborn/toddler etc.
Ie. some of the examples were:'I wish someone had told me how hard bre*stfeeding could be''I wish someone had told me that my nipples would never be the same, and they resemble sandpaper now'
So, this is where I was hoping the wonderful world of EB could help me! A dear friend of mine is due in March, and I wanted to make her something with 'I wish I knew/someone had told me....' little book.
Trying to make it a bit funny where possible.
I have two kidlets, but the oldest is only 2 so my view of parenthood is still very small.
Thanks!

[erindiv]

There have been a few of these threads done, if you do a search you might find one. There have been some really funny things that people wished they knew

[Citylovely]

Oh thanks erindiv, will do!

[Peppery]

I wish someone would have told me that it was normal lose clumps of hair in the month after having a baby.
I thought the baby was sending me bald.

[katiebear26]

I wish someone would have told me that it was normal lose clumps of hair in the month after having a baby.
I thought the baby was sending me bald.

this... plus when it starts growing back you get fuzzy flyaways everywhere! NOTHING calms my hair atm.

plus - first foods - banana causes constipation and pumpkin stains EVERYTHING.

[nicknick]

I wish someone had told me somedays it's an effort to get to the bathroom

[lozoodle]

You know what never occurred to me? That I'd actually have to work to get my baby to sleep. I mean I knew they only slept in short bursts etc, but I had just assumed baby tired, baby lies down and go to sleep. It didn't actually occur to me that I would need to GET the baby to sleep in the first place.

[Belinda18]

I wish someone would have told me that it was normal lose clumps of hair in the month after having a baby.
I thought the baby was sending me bald.

This! Except my baby is 5 months and I'm still blocking the shower drain. When does it stop?

[Lishyfips]

I didn't get much advice before my first, but two things stand out as being very helpful:
1. After 5-6 weeks babies have the odd sleep of five hours or more. After a few weeks of extreme sleep deprivation it was good to be given a time frame for when things would start to improve.
2. I'm so grateful to the friend who told me she had awful problems breastfeeding until around eight weeks, when it got easier and easier. I held onto that information through the early weeks when I had poor attachment, cracks, bleeding, agonising breast thrush and mastitis; it made me determined to get to eight weeks. She was right, too, by eight weeks things were improving and by 12 weeks it was much easier.
After my first I couldn't believe no one had warned me about the carnage 'down below' after giving birth, or the weird sack-like tummy that's left after the baby comes out. Or the rock-hard silicone breasts with milk fountains squirting in all directions. But in retrospect, I don't know if knowing about those things would have helped - it's a shock to see what happens to your body but being told it will gradually return to 'normal-ish' wouldn't have really taken away my freaked-out feelings.

[MrsShine]

This is pretty funny - it's not me but a good friend recently said that she wish she had know that her baby would require more than 3 meals a day! Lol

She honestly believed that newborns drank milk at breakfast, lunch and dinner and had no idea about them feeding every 2-3 hours