Marshall Ward
- Clothing and footwear for girls and boys. Also nursery equipment, clothing and toys for babies and toddlers.

Preparing for a New Baby

The time leading up to the birth of a new baby is exciting, full of anticipation about what the future will bring. Yet, for first time parents especially, it can be quite a daunting time, wondering if you will be able to cope with all the demands that a new addition to the family will bring.

I myself remember very clearly the mixed feelings that I had after giving birth to my eldest child, Sam, who is now thirteen years old. As I looked at him lying there in his plastic cot next to my bed, I felt so many emotions. The biggest one by far was love, for this amazing little baby boy that my body had produced. And I felt a huge relief that the delivery was over without anything horrendous happening, and that I had a healthy little boy, complete with ten tiny fingers and ten tiny toes. Yet I also felt a huge amount of responsibility. I knew that no longer could I just think about me and what I wanted to do - I had to now take into consideration the needs of my new son - my life had changed forever.

This article, I hope, will in some small way enable you to prepare yourself, both practically and emotionally, for your new arrival.

Incidentally, I recently became aware of a company that hires out fetal dopplers. A fetal doppler is a device that uses ultrasound to locate your baby's heart beat. If you would like to spend time impressing your friends and family with your baby's heart beat, or just want to listen to it yourself, visit fetal doppler rental.

Preparing for the Birth

If you are giving birth in hospital, you will need to pack a bag about 6 weeks before your due date containing items that you will need in the hospital. This will need to include:

• A change of clothes (best to put maternity clothes in your bag - it will take a few weeks for your uterus to shrink back to its pre pregnancy state even if you haven't gained any extra weight.)
• Nursing bras, if you are planning to breast feed.
• Toiletries, a sports cup (useful for drinking water from whilst giving birth - gas and air is wonderful but it might make the back of your throat go dry).
• Your birthing plan, if you have one.
• Nappies and cotton wool (cotton wool soaked in warm water is far kinder for cleaning your new baby's bottom than any proprietary wipes or lotions, especially in allergy prone children)
• Clothes for your new baby to come home in - unless you know the sex it would be best to choose none commital colours such as white or yellow.
• Two nighties - one to give birth in and a spare - plus a dressing gown and slippers.
• A camera and / or a camcorder.
• The phone numbers of anyone you might want to ring up from hospital.
• A car seat - so your baby's first outing can be a safe one. If you stay in hospital overnight, your partner can bring the car seat in with him before you go home.
• It may also be useful to take additional items to the hospital such as fruit, snacks, drinks, magazines, books etc to keep you and your partner / visitors entertained.

Breast Feeding

You will probably by now have decided whether you intend to breast or bottle feed your baby. If you have decided that you would like to breastfeed your baby, then you should try and inform yourself as much as possible about breastfeeding, as there is a lot of misinformation out there - often from midwives and doctors themselves who ought to know better.

In a nutshell, 99% of women are physically capable of breast feeding their children. It is very unlikely that you would have insufficient milk - breast fed babies seem to feed almost constantly on occasions and this is normal, it does not mean that your milk is inadequate in anyway. The more a baby sucks, the more milk you will produce. It's a wonderful balance between supply and demand. Giving your baby a bottle damages this supply and demand and bottles should not be used until breast feeding is well established.

I do not have space here to talk about breast feeding in any greater depth, but the NCT (National Childbirth Trust) have all the advice and support you could wish for, together with information on the many advantages of breastfeeding, and their counsellors will come and help you free of charge if you would like them to.

Nursing Chair

This nursing chair and matching footstool are currently available at Woolworths. They have been specially designed to help maintain your comfort and posture whilst feeding your baby.

  Page 2   |  Page 3   |  Page 4  |  Christenings

Costume Crazy
- Fancy dress costumes for boys and girls from 3 to 10 yrs. Ideal for Birthdays, Christmas, parties and school plays.

BuggyLand
- Pushchairs, buggies and car seats by Graco, Mutsy Mutsy, Cosatto and Mountain Buggy, together with a range of accessories by Buggysnuggle. The Kiddyboard is also available.