Right then everyone, I want to put another article together similar to the one 'I Wish I'd Known' which is in Features > Pregnancy and Birth (I think!).

I want as many of you as possible to say what the best piece of advice you were given before /after you had your baby......

One of the best pieces of advice I was given before I had my first baby was to relax and enjoy the baby and not to worry about stupid things like housework. The house will be there in 3 months time but you can never recapture the time spent with a newborn baby.

Totally agree with you there Kathryn I was told that too. I was told not to treat pregnancy as an illness and to enjoy every minute.

There were loads of people telling me horrible stories but I just went into that delivery suite with an open mind.

Think one of mine was when they sleep you sleep so if during the day your baby had a nap you had a nap, the first few months cann be tiring for a new mum. Actually umm years

Best advice before birth was to accept help after the baby was born. I think pride gets in the way sometimes but you really do nee all the help you can get in those first few weeks, whilst you are getting used to being a mom for the 1st time!

The best advice after was to always go with your instincts. No one knows a child better than their mother... no truer word spoken than that!

mine was when a another mum goes on about there babys the same age sleep through its normally a lie

1. Rest as much as possible in the 2 weeks before baby arrives.

2. Leave all housework and let friends and family help with it all when they visit.

3. When baby sleeps, you sleep and dont try to catch up with house work.

4. ENJOY THEM, they are not babies for long

My advice would be:

1. DO NOT BLINK, or before you know it they will be one year old
2. Take any help offered, it means you can spend more time with the baby
3. Try and schedule visiting so that you aren't watching the door every 5 mins to see whose visiting next.
4. Have a good stock of essential baby stuff in before the birth so that you don't have to go far for a week or two
5. Definately get an online shop, food shopping with a baby whilst "tender" is not a good idea!

Amanda
xxx

the best advice i recieved was

1. enjoy them while you can as they grow up so quick
2. go with your instincts not what peopel tell you to, as a mum always knows their baby best
3. dont be so proud let other help (before having corey i did everything wouldnt let paul do the washing, cook tea or anything as i had to have it done my way but after i just let him as i spent all my time fussing over corey)
4. invest in a good buggy - ive spent over £400 on 4 seperate buggys which all ended up being rubbish if only id invested in a good one to start with i would proabbly have saved a few quid

my baby sister has two gorgeous kiddies and she was my strength and my guide (as well as Ryan) during my pregnancy even though she was in New York and she organised all the things she thought i would need like cot, tummy tub (i was pertified i would drown the baby if i used a normal baby bathtub), clothes of all ages up to a year and then she coached me on the birth...

wanna know what she told me? it's pretty graphic if this is your first labour. but she was TOTALLY spot-on..

Come on Lorrie, spill the beans, what did she say?

Amanda
xxx