11–20 of 114 posts
Baby 411 was a good book.
The hospital also offered a class on things like how to swaddle and change diapers, which was helpful.
And we liked an app called The Wonder Weeks that describes some of the milestones / developments the baby is going through.
Otherwise we didn’t do much else and we were just fine. There’s always google if something comes up!
Presumably you're a guy. Make sure your wife gets some spare time. Let her go out for an hour or three and look after the baby by yourself. Its really hard work being the main responsible one. If you have Grandparents that can help this is invaluable.
The Baby Book: How to Enjoy Year One Paperback by Rachel Waddilove, was the best book we read. Its very structured, which is good to enforce some routine in your life. Dont follow all the rules, but is a good guidance.
Dont forget you'll often feel terrible at the time, but you'll look back fondly at the memories.
I also joined up with babycenter.com, which has a newsletter that they will send you each week saying what size the baby is "pea, lemon, etc" and things that you should expect like physical body changes as well as logistics like "this week you'll probably get an ultrasound for the anatomy". Stuff like that.
I tried reading some books, but they all sucked and bored me.
Other that that, I tried to get as many big chores done as possible. I cleaned out the garage and storage, trimmed all the trees outside and all the bushes, got the cars fixed and had their oil changed, bought and built the crib and stroller, the kind of stuff that is tedious and hard to do with a baby strapped to you.
And lastly, I tried to get a lot of good sleep. It'll be hard after the baby comes.
Good luck! It'll change your life but for me all the joy and fun has been worth every moment!
The serious answer is, there’s nothing we can think of and say, oh I wish we’d done/had that. Be ready for a lot of disruption and learning on short notice and bonding with a new person who’ll depend on you for everything and is working really hard on improving their communication.
Oh you’ll probably also benefit from knowing where the hospital is, how to get there, where to park/get off the bus, &c.
Better than any book or video about parenting it’s better to learn to be calm and collected.
Your life is over, what ever it is / was it’s done. You now get the opportunity to build a new life, with a new family. When you have a baby it’s like getting a significant other which needs your assistance to do everything.
I found that just starting by giving everything up and slowly adding back a social life, work, etc worked best for me. For both kids I basically cleared my slate and saw what I could do.
In terms of preparing, I’d recommend any local parenting classes (get to know people too). You can also get the book “Nurture” (I believe it’s called). But the reality is little can prepare you, but you’ll figure it out with time. A lot of one off searches like “what to do when toddler won’t stop vomiting” are things you’ll probably need most.
Also! Set a schedule and stick to it. It makes it easier to at least know you’ll have your significant other take over in 15 min so you can sleep.
We got them before #1 arrive and they've worked great for all 7 of our kids with very different personalities and temperaments.
I joined /r/babybumps on reddit. It's technically for expectant mothers, which I wasn't, but it was enlightening as a way to better empathize with my spouse. I could also participate by relating what was happening to my wife to the other women there (with her permission of course). I also joined up with babycenter.com, which has a newsletter that they will send you each week saying what size the baby is "pea, lemon,…
Oh yeah, I cooked 10 kilos of pasta sauce & mince and froze it so we didn’t have to think about cooking.
Something that I wish was made clear to me beforehand is that there is a huge variance in children, even between siblings. This means that what works well for some kids will fail terribly for others. Half of parenting is trying out a bunch of different things to find out what works well for your kids, and is also acceptable for you. This variance is also a big reason why there is no "one true way" of raising kids, an…