Recent dads (and moms): any last minute advice?

[seabass07]

Be prepared for the baby to act different when you get home. The first few days in the hospital they are tired from their journey and mostly just eat and sleep. After 3rd day so they can begin the apparent constant crying for no apparent reason.... Yes it's the same baby

Yup...My first slept 12-14 hours a day and didn't cry for anything. My second slept about 5 hours a night with a scream fit in between and screamed his head off several hours a day for the first 6 months of his life! Good luck...

 

[davefleck]

Sleep now,
Make large meals with plenty of left overs.
Start a 529
Don't hesitate to hire a lactation consultant
Watch for post partum depression-nothing has scared me like this

 

[seabass07]

Watch for post partum depression-nothing has scared me like this

Excellent advice. You can't understand how insane a normally sane person can become during or after pregnancy! My wife had something similar throughout her first pregnancy. It started at the beginning of the second trimester and was awful, like suddenly being married to a manic depressive nut case. She seriously wanted a divorce because I didn't fold a load of laundry. She cried every day. The day she gave birth the switch got flipped back and she was instantly back to normal.

 

[JohnnyO]

Burpers and bibs. You can't have enough of these freakin things.

 

[Bobby_M]

Excellent advice. You can't understand how insane a normally sane person can become during or after pregnancy! My wife had something similar throughout her first pregnancy. It started at the beginning of the second trimester and was awful, like suddenly being married to a manic depressive nut case. She seriously wanted a divorce because I didn't fold a load of laundry. She cried every day. The day she gave birth the switch got flipped back and she was instantly back to normal.

Wait sec bud. They are supposed to go back to normal? I think I need a refund.


Oh, I thought of another one. If you go to bottle feeding pretty quickly and the baby is constantly projectile vomiting it back at you, you didn't burp the kid often enough. Two of my kids needed a burp break after every ounce and once we figured that out, not a single puke ever.

 

[pernox]

I'll second the noise level - if you keep it real quiet for a couple months, expect that to stretch into a couple years.

Decide who's waking up for feeding (once you switch to formula or your wife pumps enough to last the night) BEFORE you go to bed. And even if you're working and she's staying home, you need to shoulder just as many nights as she does.

Get a week or two worth of easy-cook meals together. You're going to be too busy while the baby's up fretting over her to cook, and when she's sleeping, you need to do the same thing.

You may find yourself up at 4:00 in the morning, baby crying, won't sleep, already ate/burped/pooped/peed and you need to be up for work in half an hour. At this point, you may become immensely frustrated and need to break your pre-determined overnight arrangement and lay the kid on your wife for a minute so you can get your head together. When and if this happens, remember that she may need to do it once or twice, too.

Take pictures.

Lots, and lots of pictures. Preferably video, too. The whole baby thing goes by REAL fast.

 

[seabass07]

Wait sec bud. They are supposed to go back to normal? I think I need a refund.

Normal is relative...

Oh and baby anuses are like shotguns with a random trigger...be careful when changing diapers. It could end up in your face or on the wall.

 

[joeybeer]

Great advice ! Our second is to be delivered via c-section at 8am on 11-11-11 !! I should probably get the car seat in the car, the good news is my son loves to help (3yo) ! I can't wait to find out the sex, although I've been on team pink since day one, and see the interaction between my son and new baby.. It's about to get a lot more interesting around here, all the grandparents etc are arriving tomorrow afternoon !

 

[Sparqui]

Oh and baby anuses are like shotguns with a random trigger...be careful when changing diapers. It could end up in your face or on the wall.

seabass isn't kidding. My firstborn detonated on me during a diaper change and got half of the changing table, my desk next to the changing table and the lamp on the desk as well as the wall next to the desk.

This is when I figured out why God made little ones so cute. It keeps us from killing them. My baby pooped all over the room and I laughed and cleaned everything up, no anger at all.

 

[AnonyBrew]

Fricken excellent thread! This is what the homebrew community is all about. I'm proud to be part of it.

My advice is to not pay too much attention to all the doctors & charts that say your kid should be doing something at such & such time/age. All the kids develop differently on their own schedule. Some walk at 4 months, others at 2 years. etc.

 

[bob1852]

Fricken excellent thread! This is what the homebrew community is all about. I'm proud to be part of it.

My advice is to not pay too much attention to all the doctors & charts that say your kid should be doing something at such & such time/age. All the kids develop differently on their own schedule. Some walk at 4 months, others at 2 years. etc.

You're just saying that because your two boys are overall great!

 

[triangulum33]

1. Get that lil' bebe in her own bed as soon as you can. They learn to entertain and soothe themselves which is best for everyone involved. Both our kids were in their own beds sleeping thru the night in 3 mo.
2. The teat is free bebe food!
3. Take shifts. Work out a schedule. Wifey had evening, and I had late from 11PM till whenever. Gets everyone in a pattern and is easier to deal with.

Get a Boppy. I held both of our kids in it for hours watching hockey. It great for both parents.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B001GIOPH4/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20

 

[beersteiner2345]

Awesome, awesome thread. So many things I am adding to my list for when we have kids. A few things had me laughing out loud.

Congratulations.

 

[_JP_]

Great advice ! Our second is to be delivered via c-section at 8am on 11-11-11 !! I should probably get the car seat in the car, the good news is my son loves to help (3yo) ! I can't wait to find out the sex, although I've been on team pink since day one, and see the interaction between my son and new baby.. It's about to get a lot more interesting around here, all the grandparents etc are arriving tomorrow afternoon !

The in-laws are coming today, and my parents will be here tomorrow.

Don't forget to pick up a case of Stone's 11.11.11 brew! http://www.stonebrew.com/epic/

http://blog.stonebrew.com/?p=2805

 

[FrFtr28]

Great advice so far. I would add that if your baby is crying and you don't know why, it's usually one of 3 things: they're either hungry, tired or need a diaper change.

Also, learn how to do a tight swaddle. Our oldest had to be swaddled tight before she would go to sleep.

 

[broadbill]

Great advice so far. I would add that if your baby is crying and you don't know why, it's usually one of 3 things: they're either hungry, tired or need a diaper change.

Also, learn how to do a tight swaddle. Our oldest had to be swaddled tight before she would go to sleep.

Swaddling is clutch! Also: larger babies are going to be able to bust our of their swaddles sooner....if you have this problem look into buying the Halo Swaddlesack or Swaddleme products....they have velcro to hold the swaddle together.

 

[azscoob]

My son hated being swaddled, from the first day in the hospital I would get pissy if swaddled, just goes to show you every baby is unique.

Because we adopted he is a formula-only baby, we finally floundered on a combo he likes and his plumbing is ok with, we use the Dr Brown bottles exclusively, and he has to have a 50/50 blend of Nutramigen and Alimentum. I think this is the most expensive possible combination of formula and bottle (probably why he likes it) Raising a baby is a lot of trial and error, just keep at it!

 

[azscoob]

I found this little bit of information quite helpful in those first panicked weeks.

Why_is_my_baby_crying

 

[FireBrewer]

Great advice thus far.

There is nothing wrong with letting them take the baby to the nursery at night so you guys can rest. They will come wake you for feedings and stuff.

THIS! It's the LAST TIME you'll get some sleep for a long time. And I mean years.

Being a parent is the coolest thing in the whole world. Yes, cooler than homebrewing.

QFT.

My $0.02 (having a 8yr old and a 6yr old):

1. DON'T be one of these homebrewers that thinks it's cool to use StarSan to clean baby bottles. Your baby doesn't need phosphoric acid. Baby bottles need soap and warm water, that's it. They don't need to be sterile, they need to be clean.

2. Anyone who wants to hold the baby (and everyone will) needs to wash their freakin' hands first. Especially at this time of year. Some will roll their eyes, eff them. Fact is babies get their immunity from mom and that initially drops off after the first few weeks, and then baby starts to acquire it naturally. Babies are like little cancer patients for the first 3 months of their life, are obligate nose breathers and are solely dependent upon you to keep them healthy. My youngest had RSV when he was 2 months old and stayed in the hospital for a week. Was not fun and could've killed him. Don't take this lightly.

3. Enjoy it! You'll have lots of questions, what do I do/what don't I do. It's immersion learning. In a few months you'll be changing a diaper in the dark at 3am, half-awake with one hand.

Congratulations!!

 

[seabass07]

1. DON'T be one of these homebrewers that thinks it's cool to use StarSan to clean baby bottles. Your baby doesn't need phosphoric acid. Baby bottles need soap and warm water, that's it. They don't need to be sterile, they need to be clean.

Lol. I don't use starsan for bottles or sippy cups, but I have been known to give them a good pbw soak when I'm too lazy to properly clean out the curdled milk.

 

[knotquiteawake]

My firstborn is due in the middle of February so we are currently in a state of moderate panicked preparation. I am definitely bookmarking this to come back to later.