u/muffchoy

I’m preparing for baby’s arrival next month. We’re planning to combi feed after seeing a few friends doing this successfully, and I want to buy some things to make life as easy as possible for the formula feeding part of that. I was originally thinking to get the Tommee Tippee bundle with the perfect prep pro machine and the steriliser - both of which seem well regarded online.

But then I saw the Amazon reviews for the prep pro machine are 2.5 stars (but reviews sites are good?) I also then came across the baby brezza wash, sterilise and dry machine which seems much better than just the TT steriliser, but is a lot more expensive and my husband (who is cleaning obsessed) said he will be fine to keep on top of bottle washing and we can get a special bottle brush etc. I have to say, I hadn’t realised until recently that a steriliser doesn’t also wash the bottle and these are each separate steps (baby isn’t here yet and so we’ve never prepared bottles before so just learning the ropes now!)

Price aside, what did you actually find useful in terms of bottle prep, and washing / sterilising? We would buy a thermometer to check temperature from the prep machine.

I know there are very mixed views generally on prep and sterilising machines as some people say it’s easy enough to do it yourself etc, but I do like the sound of both so I more want to understand, from those who do use such machines, what you like. We’re moving house in Jan and will have a lot more kitchen space so space isn’t a problem (and we will just manage until then).

Thanks in advance!

I went to the day assessment unit at my hospital 2 weeks ago (when I was 27 weeks and 5 days pregnant) as I had some bad stomach pain and also kept feeling like I needed a wee but often couldn’t go. They did some tests and said everything was fine, but prescribed me an antibiotic anyway as they said in pregnancy they treat the symptoms rather than the test results. They also gave me a painkiller but it says on the PIL and online not to take if pregnant. The pain hasn’t come back and the toilet issue went away so I never ended up taking the painkillers or the antibiotics, as I didn’t want to take them unnecessarily and given they said there was no infection, it seemed silly.

The hospital just called me back today, 2 weeks later, to say they’ve now got the results of my urine sample and I do have an infection, although it’s a different kind than the one they gave me antibiotics for. So I have to go in to pick up a prescription for a different antibiotics and then start taking that daily for 7 days. Coincidentally I then have my 30 week midwife checkup next week so they can check my urine again there for infection (although perhaps a bit pointless if it will take another 2 weeks).

I’ll take the new antibiotics but just wondering if anyone has had this and if the antibiotics can still help 2 weeks later? She mentioned on the phone that this type of infection can cause early labour (!!!) and so i should also take some around the time of the birth. I didn’t fully understand how / when that would start, especially as I am having a c-section.

I’ll ask my midwife for more details next week as I couldn’t get a lot of info out of the person over the phone. But it got me a bit worried and so just wondering if others have been in this situation and how it worked out? Eg delayed taking of antibiotics due to delayed test results, the link to early labour, and taking antibiotics again during birth.

We live in London and I’m having a c-section in November. I was assuming we’d drive to the hospital and then leave in our car when I’m discharged. We’d leave any extras we pack “just in case” in the car which my husband could run back for if needed, and we’d have the car seat installed so we can easily drive home with baby. However, when asking our hospital recently about parking they said it’s not designed for that (charges by the half hour, no long stay parking) and people should take a taxi to and from the hospital for birth. We also checked local on street parking and it all has a maximum of 4 hours.

What do most people do, take a taxi there and back?! Seems crazy when we have a car and could travel much more comfortably, especially post c section with a newborn. We also want to have the car seat fitted and having checked it a million times in advance! Don’t fancy trying to install it in a taxi as first time parents travelling back with 1 day old baby (or the dodgy driving of most taxis in our area!)

My husband could go back in a taxi and then drive back in our car to collect me (40 min round trip not including any time at home) but I assume we won’t know in advance when we’ll be discharged, and I was imagining we’d both be fully around for the baby, especially as I understand I may not be able to lift her by myself straight after the c-section. It also makes it much harder to pack light as we’d need to bring in various items for all eventualities (including a prolonged hospital stay) as we just won’t know until we’re there.

Just curious as to what’s normal and what other people do, particularly if you go into spontaneous labour and surely then getting a taxi is a bit out of the question (eg if your waters have broken, and even just having to wait for it to arrive)?

Hadn’t really occurred to me that we wouldn’t just drive there!

I’m thinking about things I can do to prepare for the baby and want to get all of her clothes washed. Lots of conflicting advice online. Do we need special washing powder / detergent? Tallow & Ash keeps advertising to me and looks great.

Anything else to know? I’ve seen you should wash baby clothes separately. Assume tumble dry is fine to dry them (we live in a flat so don’t have an outdoor line)?

Im likely having a c section and just wondering what your essential pp buys are? Any and all suggestions welcome! I’m a bit clueless so far, except a friend told me to get disposable pants. Thanks!

Maybe a silly Q to ask on here but I’m wondering if anyone else has had this experience. I had a birth choices appointment scheduled at my hospital for this afternoon (I was notified of it through my NHS app about a month ago).

I got a text and an email at 9am cancelling the appointment and rescheduling it to Monday. I can’t do Monday as I have a number of in person meetings at work that have already been scheduled for a while and there’s no way I can move them at this short notice.

I immediately replied to the text and the email explaining this and asking for another day. I also forward the email to my midwife team and explained the same thing. A couple of hours later I got another text and email (from a different number and email address) confirming the appointment for Monday. It gave a number to call. I’ve called them about 10 times so far today (and left a voicemail) and also replied to that text and that email but haven’t heard back from anyone.

I’ve also called my midwife team who said they’d send an email but as it’s from the hospital midwife teams, they can’t change it themselves.

Not sure what to do if I don’t hear back from anyone by Monday. I’ve never missed an appointment and had scheduled work around the appointment today, not expecting it to be cancelled. Interested to hear if this has happened to anyone else and how you resolved it? What happens if I don’t turn up on Monday (I literally can’t)? Thanks!

I’m struggling to find any flattering clothes at 24 weeks pregnancy and I’m thinking the issue might be my boobs which tbh are bigger than my bump. I was previously a size 8/10 but 28GG and but very quickly into the pregnancy I got refitted at 32J (which is significantly bigger and really reduces bra options even in the specialist shops, but I have managed to get a few well fitting bras). However, everyone keeps telling me I “don’t look pregnant” or “don’t have a bump”, when obviously I do and it’s massive, but as my boobs are so big now, they still extend past my giant bump and so I just look like a massive blob and I expect people are just thinking I look fat rather than pregnant, given this is coming from people who do know me (so god knows what those who don’t know me think!)

So far I’ve mainly been sizing up in clothes as there’s not many (any?) shops with maternity clothes in store to try on, and the flattering tops and dresses online look like they would only work if your bump is bigger than your boobs because they go down and then extenuate your bump. If I have anything bunch in under my boobs and before my bump, it makes my boobs look even more ginormous and ridiculous tbh. I tried it with a dress recently.

The best items I have are a couple of pairs of gym shorts which sit low and then have a large stretchy bit that covers my whole bump from bottom to top. That with a gym top clearly shows I’m pregnant and I feel much better in it, but it’s obviously only suitable for the gym. I can’t find any similar trousers, especially that would be suitable for work. I’ve seen some maternity jeans which I may buy for the winter but for now at work I’m generally wearing loose fitting trousers given the hot weather.

Any tips for how I can look a bit more flattering or at least actually pregnant from others with big boobs?!

I’m 22+2, FTM and have an anterior placenta. I’ve just in, the last few days, started to feel flutters/muscle spasms which I think must be her movements. It’s mainly when I’m laying still in bed in the morning or evening. However it’s not constant and for example I didn’t notice it all yesterday. Is that normal or should I be feeling movements all the time now? I know it doesn’t turn into proper kicks until 28 weeks but should I be noticing the flutters more often?

FYI I had scans at 20 and 21 weeks (unrelated to this) and baby is fine. She’s on the smaller side if that makes a difference.

Maybe a weird one but I’m likely having a c-section and I’m a bit anxious about the idea of creating a playlist. My music taste isn’t super conventional for a new mother I suppose. I love hip hop, rap and trip hop and some gentler stuff like some jazz and electronic. Everyone talks about creating a playlist for c-section but it doesn’t seem appropriate for our daughter to come into the world to eg Nas. But equally I don’t want to create a playlist of songs I’m not actually into/don’t know.

Does anyone just not create a playlist? Or if I really needed music as a distraction (I do that at the hygienist as I have every sensitive teeth) I could use one AirPod so that only I’m listening?!

Would welcome thoughts especially from anyone who’s been in a similar situation!

We’re having a baby girl in November and once we found out the gender, my husband and I quickly settled on the same first name. Exciting! Except after days of checking with him “you’re saying it with an E, right?” and him saying “yes”, it turns out we were both spelling it differently - he likes Amelia whilst I like Emilia. (He said he meant the third letter was an e, when I was asking…)

This was 2-3 months ago now and we still don’t agree on the preferred spelling. I love “Emmie” as a shortened version of Emilia (I had a baby doll called Emma as a kid which I loved, although I want something a bit more interesting than Emma as the name). He loves “Mia” as a name, I don’t love it as her full name but don’t mind it as a nickname and that works with both versions.

I always thought the name was usually spelt with an E but now I see it’s with an A, and with an A is one of the top 10 most common girl names in the UK, which I don’t love. He’s concerned with the opposite - that we don’t want to give her a “different” name for the sake of it, although I hadn’t originally thought of it as a “different” name. This will probably sound stupid but I also think “Amelia” just sounds a little too girly and we have no idea how girly she will be until she grows up (which I don’t see as much with Emilia). His main hang up is that he used to teach a naughty girl called Emilia and that’s what he associates the name with.

He’s reluctantly said we can just go with my choice if I really want, but I would love for us to have a name we both love. Any suggested alternatives?

I also love Celine but he hates that as it sounds like we’re naming her after the brand. And I love Rose as a middle name after my great nan but he thinks that sounds too old fashioned. He’s more against these than Emilia. I think we’d only have a middle name if it means something to us.

Our last name is Choy (husband is from HK but moved to UK in his childhood). I’d quite like a middle name to honour his family but they haven’t requested anything so far and he’s not bothered, and said she already has the last name. He did come up with Josephine after his favourite aunty who goes by Jojo, but I hate the name and associate it with my evil stepmum (Jo, short for Joanne). So we may have no middle name.

We had our 20 week scan this morning which was quite stressful due to hospital parking, appointment running late and then a lot of confusion as I’d agreed to take part in the Fraiya Study, which added another 30 mins on before they could start the scan as they couldn’t work out which side of the study I should be on (I’d maybe recommend avoiding this if you’re anxious about the scan and/or have been asked to drink a litre of water before the scan!) There was also no screen for me to look as it was broken, but she turned her screen to me now and again.

Anyway, when the scan eventually got going, it lasted for about 45 mins and she kept saying everything was normal and good throughout other than my placenta being low but not touching the cervix, which she said was fine. Then as I was getting dressed and she was doing the notes, she mentioned that the baby’s head was smaller than average and in the 3rd centile so we’d get a referral to the fetal medicine unit who will call us in a few days for a more detailed scan. She also mentioned the placenta again and that if I experience any spotting or bleeding I should immediately call the labour ward, and that I would need another scan at 32 weeks to check on this. She said if I had any questions to discuss with my midwife.

When we got the ultrasound report after, it says “presentation: breech, placenta: anterior low”, then all the fetal anatomy results say “normal” but the comment says “the scan has shown BPD and HC growth scan velocity is at and just above the 3rd centile.”

I have emailed my midwife and am waiting for the fetal medicine unit to call, however this has left us quite worried as she wasn’t really able to answer any questions and I’m not sure what all of these things together could mean. We have just booked a private anatomy scan for tomorrow for some extra peace of mind, and in case the measurements weren’t completely accurate, does that seem overkill?

Has anyone had a similar experience?

For additional context, my husband and I are both quite short (I’m 5”2 and he’s 5”7). My head is small although his is quite big (as is most of his family’s). I’m white British and he’s Chinese in case ethnicity plays a part.

We have previously done an NIPT test at 9 weeks which came back normal and the NHS blood test at 12 weeks which came back normal.

I know there’s not much else we can do but wait now, but it doesn’t stop my mind going into overdrive! I don’t think the stressful start to the scan helped.

I’ve had a lot of low level nausea throughout my pregnancy and, from about 14-18 weeks a fair bit of vomiting, as well as feeling more tired and various food preferences and dislikes etc.

However, I realised for the last few days I feel quite normal, the nausea has stopped and I don’t really feel like I’m pregnant except for my growing belly and boobs. People have been telling me for weeks that the nausea should have gone by week 12 (helpful, thanks!), but maybe now it actually has gone, which is now making me worried cos for example today if it wasn’t for my body shape I wouldn’t even know I was pregnant.

So now it’s made me paranoid that it could mean something is wrong with the baby? I haven’t felt a kick yet (and everyone is asking me about it and looking concerned when I say I haven’t felt it). We heard the heartbeat at my midwife appointment 3 weeks ago and all was normal, but haven’t had any scans/appointments since then.

We have the 20 week scan on Thursday so I can wait until then as I haven’t had any actual negative symptoms at all, and so maybe this is just pre scan nerves, but is it normal to suddenly feel no pregnancy symptoms around this time or should I be worried?

I just got an email about the Mamas and Papas sale this morning and wondered if anyone had any top tips on must be items? I saw they have some great discounts on prams, but not on the one we have pre-ordered with them already which we do like. But has anyone else spotted anything useful in their sale?

I saw there’s a prime sale coming up very soon too so will see if there’s anything on our Amazon baby wishlist on sale!

We just received a large sum of cash (£8k) from my husband’s family for our baby (as I am currently pregnant). We’d like to deposit this into the bank but we only have accounts with Starling, Monzo and Chase so I can’t find an obvious way to do this. We also have ISA accounts with Aviva and Trading 212.

Is it possible to deposit the cash into any of these banks or would we need to set up a new bank account with a high street bank and then transfer the money over, if that would even work? I also thought about asking a friend or family member if they could deposit into their account and then transfer to us, but expect that would be a lot of effort for anyone and also don’t want it to raise red flags.

Side note - we’re in the process of buying a house and selling our flat for a January completion. The money won’t be used for that and we’ve already provided source of funds to our solicitor and bank (for the mortgage offer) but I wondered if this would raise any alarm bells from that perspective. We primarily want to use it to buy baby stuff and potentially saving some my maternity leave. Much easier for all of these things to have it in the bank rather than in cash.

Hi, I’m 17 weeks and it’s my first pregnancy. I had my 16 week appointment on Monday and we booked in an appointment for 25 weeks (although due to scheduling it will be around the 26th week). This is all with my local midwife team. I’ve now just had an NHS message through with an additional appointment (also called “midwifery service appointment”) for 2 weeks earlier (so I’ll be 24 weeks) and it’s at my hospital.

Does anyone know what this appointment is for? They didn’t mention it at all in my 16 week appointment and it’s not my scan as those are already booked in for 20 weeks and 36 weeks. Also strange it will be at the hospital as that isn’t where my midwife appointments take place. I’ve emailed my midwife team but conscious another appointment went in for October which they had no idea what it was for so not sure if they’ll know what this one is or not.

Update: my midwife team has confirmed it’s for my birth options appointment.

I’m just over 12 weeks pregnant and have been sick twice now for the first time since being pregnant. I’ve felt nauseous the entire time but never really close to actually feeling like I was going to be sick. The last couple of weeks I’ve started to really get anxious about taking my prenatal vitamins, to the point even just thinking about them is making me gag (I have no idea why), and I can even gag taking them. But I can swallow them fine and then I’m fine after.

But this weekend, a few minutes into a car journey, out of nowhere I suddenly felt like I was going to be sick. My husband pulled over and I was sick for a few minutes. Then I was generally fine, a bit nauseous all day like normal but didn’t feel like I was going to be sick again. Then this evening, I’ve felt quite weak but managed to have something to eat and had been building up to having a shower. Finally got in the shower and thought it was making me feel a lot better, then again out of nowhere I started to gag again and was suddenly sick. Again it lasted a few minutes and now I kinda feel okay, just quite weak. Couldn’t finish washing my hair 🙈

Is this normal / is this what morning sickness actually is? Not sure if something else is going on or what. It’s weird I haven’t felt at all like being sick until the point I thought the nausea was supposed to be nearly over! Has anyone else started to experience this suddenly towards the end of the first trimester?

Hi everyone, it’s my first pregnancy and I’m almost 12 weeks (have my NHS scan next week). We had a private NIPT test and scan at 10 weeks and we’ve just got the results - everything is good and we know the gender too.

We started to tell friends and family based on this, and I mentioned to my mum I can’t wait to buy a few clothes now we know the gender, but she said most people wait until much later.

What is the normal time to start buying clothes? I just see cute little things now and again and thought it would be nice to be able to get them when I see them (not buying a whole wardrobe or any big items yet). Would love to know what others do!