I've seen this on a few other boards (because, you know, I'm a stalker) and thought it would be awesome if we had a safe place to ask all our dumb questions about babies and motherhood or whatever as we think of them. I feel like my brain is getting full of questions, but I never want to start a whole thread for a question I'm sure will make other mothers say "duh". Hopefully I'm not the only one!
Fell in Love: January 2003
Married: May 2006
Baby Girl Born: April 2014
If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, I will answer you:
I am here to live out loud!
Re: Stupid Questions Thread
How do you clean the umbilical stump, and about when does it fall off? I don't know why, but the memories I have of my little sisters' brown, shriveled stumps still haunt me.
Question:
Can you start using nipple cream early? Mine have been dry and feeling itchy. It won't mess things up for baby's first latch somehow if I'm using it already, will it?
Question:
Are onesies really that hard to get over a newborn's head? I keep seeing moms say they are, but I never had trouble when I watched my friends' kids. They were always at least a month old, though, so I wondered. Should I get kimono style tops instead for at first?
Question:
What the heck are those little socks for hands things for? And wouldn't a swaddle do the same thing?
Baby Girl Born: April 2014
If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, I will answer you:
Why do my boobs hurt so bad when they leak?? Like, someone took an ice cube to the nipple kind of hurt. Does this mean breast feeding is gonna suck?!
How do you clean the umbilical stump, and about when does it fall off? If I remember correctly (it has been almost 3 years) you don't really clean the umbilical stump. I think they used to recommend cleaning it with alcohol, but not anymore. You really just want to keep it dry and covered. DS's fell off just after a week.
Can you start using nipple cream early? Yep, you're not going to hurt anything by using it. I hope it helps you.
Are onesies really that hard to get over a newborn's head? I never had an issue with it, and DS wore them all the time. They are designed to go over a babies head.
What the heck are those little socks for hands things for? Babies can easily scratch themselves. The hand socks prevent this. That said we never used them. And yes, a swaddle would do the same thing.
Are onesies really that hard to get over a newborn's head? I keep seeing moms say they are, but I never had trouble when I watched my friends' kids. They were always at least a month old, though, so I wondered. Should I get kimono style tops instead for at first?
I am a FTM so I have no idea if this is true or not, but I read on the Feb14 Dumb Questions thread that the little "cuffs" on the shoulders of most onsies are designed to allow for you to pull the onsie up from the feet down, eliminating the need for putting it over their heads and bending their little flexible necks! I don't know if this is true so I got some kimono style ones as well but it would be good to know :-)
That's a clever trick @irisheyes7! I'll keep that in mind.
Baby Girl Born: April 2014
If you ask me what I came to do in this world, I, an artist, I will answer you:
I found kimono onesies to be a bigger pain.
Re: hand mitts -- they do prevent scratches, but a lot of babies really like to have access to their hands, especially when they are awake. I always feel like babies in mitts look like tiny mental patients, so we never used them
BFP: 7/5/10 EDD: 3/13/11 Miscarriage 8/1/10 at 8 weeks
BFP: 10/30/10 EDD: 7/7/11 Born 7/11//11 7lb12oz, 20 in.
BFP: 7/30/13 EDD: 4/9/14 Born right on time on his due date! 8lb10oz, 21.5 in.
Awesome prophetic fortune cookie: Love is a present that can be given every single day you live
My DD1 wore onesies and never a t-shirt and they didn't bother her umbilical cord. I don't like t-shirts on newborns as they ride up under clothes and I was worried about their stomach area getting cold as it was winter when DD1 was born and will be winter here for this LO.
Ring of fire for me was while I was crowning to when the head was out. Since I had a cervical lip that was a long time- about an hour. But as PP said- I'm doing it again so it cnt be that bad! AND not all women experience this! A friend who also birthed naturally said she felt no ring of fire and instead felt numb due to the pressure on various nerves. So you never know!
ETA: on second thought I'm confusing one pain for another...ring of fire lasted probably less than 5 minutes. It took about an hour from when they could see the head to when he was out.
@ooopsbaby14
I had no interest either. I can watch anyone else give birth and I have watched a lot of videos- but me? No thanks. I'd like to just imagine its beautiful down there and springs back perfectly right after.
The hand covers are neat but we always found putting an extra pair of socks over his hands worked better. They have a little stronger elastic so they don't slip off as often.
The umbilical cord doesn't require a lot of care. I think we were told to put Vaseline on it during diaper changes. You also might need to fold down the tops of the diaper so it doesn't rub the cord. I think that depends on what type of diaper you use.
Jogger strollers: when can you start jogging with baby? I heard you had to wait a certain time but have no idea how long it is. (I'm not really planning on jogging for a while anyway, but ill pretend). And you can walk baby outside and in a stroller from day one right?
I have a million more silly questions but I can't remember any of them when I get a chance to ask them!
Then I peed on a stick...
Side note I apperantly just became super protective of my breasts and don't like DH even thinking about touching them... Even though they aren't sore at the moment.
They brought out huge mirrors and I told them to put that away (DH would have fainted, I'm too modest and didn't want that broadcast in the room), I got out my compact mirror and used that instead.
3) Newborns are floppy so it was nice to have the side snaps and not have to get it over baby's head. It depends on the onesie and the head size. It's not a huge deal but FT parents might prefer side snaps
4) Those sock things are AWESOME if your baby is born with long nails and you are freaked and afraid of cutting those baby fingers (honestly you probably will cut the fingers by accident more than once. Luckily baby won't remember). We used them while baby awake but not eating the first few weeks. We swaddled while sleeping