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Fathers of GrandOldTeam

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Adam-GOTTV said:
Lads, my wife is due this week with our little girl. I'm proper excited and under no illusions about how tough parenthood can be, but I wondered what advice you all have?

If you could go back and do anything different again with your first, what would it be? I have my bag packed for the hospital and it's all getting very real now!

I'm genuinely intrigued to get any advice and hear about your own experiences. Fire away.
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We had our first 9 weeks ago also a daughter. Just enjoy it, it's new and exciting and you can kind of get lost in the whole thing for a bit. So step back and take it all in when you can. Two things that struck me 1) when your wife is in labour there is absolutely nothing you can do, you are an observer only, yes you can hold her hand and say nice things but you will never in life feel like such as useless prick again as you do for that 12 hrs. 2) There is absolutely no feeling in the world like the one you will get when she falls asleep curled up like a ball on your chest, at that time you will realise that life is now complete and everything you have ever done was simply in preparation for that moment.
Our daughter was born on Wednesday morning so now every Wednesday morning my wife takes a photo of her in the same place (on the changing table after dressing her). The change in her over 9 weeks is amazing and the weekly photos from 1-9 are an amazing record of something you will probably miss as you see her so often.
Best of luck with it, it's a truly amazing experience
 
This has been one of the nicest threads on this site. Thank you all, some good advice, happy and interesting experiences. Many congratulations and best wishes to Adam-GOTTV and his family.
 
Share the load with your partner and try to ensure you have at least a small bit of time each week where you can individually sit down, relax and compose yourself.

Spend time nurturing your family and ignore those individuals, who usually are childless, that jibe that you don't socialise as much as you did or aren't as fun.

Read with your children on a daily basis and give them as many different experiences as you can, even if it's simply a walk in the park or seeing the local area.

Build a routine as children thrive on it and try to make sure they don't become fussy eaters - our eldest and youngest eat anything, but the middle one is a pain.
 
Do the very best you can for your child/children love them every step of the way. Pick them up and dust them down when times are tough for them and try to understand their views even though you may not understand or agree with them.
Then when they in turn have their children, you then have the opportunity to do a right proper job with your grandchildren having learnt from the many mistakes you will be making as a parent.
Good luck!
 

Absolutely love some of these responses and I'll do my best to take some of this onboard. It's been great reading these. I'll keep you all posted and keep the comments coming!
 
Carry out your threats and keep your promises, only advice I recieved. I ignored it of course and I'm now a gibbering mess...it's all cool though, just make it up as you go along, don't listen to these on here, we've all winged it ;)
 
I became a dad 5 weeks ago and when they say they grow up fast it's unbelievable! Just watching them grow is scary but it will make you incredibly happy every chance you get.

Get as much skin to skin with them (insert Wool joke here) you will never get that chance again and it's so special.

It sounds weird but don't stress it, a baby needs are very simple:
Food
Change Nappy
Wind
Sleep

Just take it all in and don't rush anything because you will be repeating your day like it's groundhog Day for the first few weeks.

We have all the gear and no idea at times but always have:
Nappies
Wipes
Change of clothes X 5 just incase because you'll have a sick day more then once.

The best bit of kit we bought is this
ollie_the_owl2.webp

It's magic if you want a newborn to sleep.

Names aren't too important, once you see them you might wanna change it so just call it baby unless your surname is Fiddler.

Oh and sleep as much as you x

Good Luck and Welcome to the Club.
 

Oh in terms of good products, it depends on your baby but there's something called a Mamaroo rocker which was a godsend for us, combined with something called a babacush which fits on to it if your baby has reflux/wind.

Expensive but worth keeping in mind if you have issues.

Oh, and the Tommee Tippee Perfect Prep machine if not breast feeding is really good.
 
Adam-GOTTV said:
Lads, my wife is due this week with our little girl. I'm proper excited and under no illusions about how tough parenthood can be, but I wondered what advice you all have?

If you could go back and do anything different again with your first, what would it be? I have my bag packed for the hospital and it's all getting very real now!

I'm genuinely intrigued to get any advice and hear about your own experiences. Fire away.
Click to expand...
Take many pictures and videos as you can. Get it all, even the stuff that's not 'picture perfect'. You'll forget 90% of your days in the first 6 months.
 
Loads of Muslin, have them everywhere around the house!

Snuzpod was good for us, as you can tag it next to the bed - handy if breastfeeding.

If she's breastfeeding, be on hand to make lots of drinks, that stuff is thirsty work!

Start scoping out nurseries, if you haven't already.
 

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