When I first fell pregnant, I received so much well-meaning advice. Some people couldn’t seem to accept that when I said a particular idea wasn’t really for us, it didn’t mean it was a bad idea.
Take attachment parenting, for instance. Some families love bed-sharing, co-sleeping, and baby-wearing. For me, the idea of having my child attached to me day and night makes me anxious. Therefore, we’ve never used any of these strategies.
Horses for courses.
“Sleep when the baby sleeps” was another gem that also made no sense to me.
So – will the baby study when I study, or work while I work? How do I find time to do my tasks if I’m sleeping every time I catch 40 minutes?
I do want to share the best advice I was given, though, in the hope that someone else can use it.
Save up nappies/wipes and other consumables in the year before you have a baby.
8 months in and we still haven’t used all of our packets of wipes and we only ran out of nappies after a couple of months.
Save up your baby’s 1st birthday items in the months before their birthday.
This saved us going out and buying packs of Batman plates, cups, and accessories all at once. Very useful.
Buy an umbrella stroller for overseas trips.
Enough said.
Use Gumtree/Ebay/Buy swap sell for baby brand name clothes.
You spend so little and get so much!
Take time out for yourself.
Whatever that looks like – it’s absolutely essential.
Most of the advice is chump change in the grand scheme of things, but these were my three most valuable pieces.
What were yours?