Lisa wrote: What should every parent know before bringing home a baby?

What does baby need right away?

What do you wish you knew when you got home with a new baby?

What do you wish you had bought?

Basically, any kind of advice you wish you knew about pregnancy, birth or baby?

Mommy is crazy emotional! Especially in the first week, hormones, sleep loss, and the wonderful miracle in your arms. I highly recommend a little table beside your nursing/rocking chair with everything you need (including a bottle of water and tissues for those emotional moments), nursing pads, just anything you may need its great within arms reach. I also had a small CD player in baby's room and would play soft music as nursing sometimes takes a long time.

Something else was to bring your own pillow to hospital. If you nurse you are supposed to bring baby to breast and if u use their pillows its useless and you are hunched over and uncomfortable.

I wish I knew just how much you'd love the little bundle. Just when you think you cannot possibly love your baby more he/she does something that just makes your heart explode with even more love.

Lisa wrote: A video monitor

For 7 1/2 month we had a auto monitor and it was so hard because anytime my son would make a noise or cry, I was always worried and wondering what he was doing, thinking is he okay.  The only way to find out why he was making these noises was to go in his room and many nights he was sleeping but when i went in he woke up.

Then I bought a video monitor and it has been the best thing I have ever bought. (my son is 2 now and I still love it)

Now if he makes a noise I can just look at him on the monitor and see that he was just turning over or switching positions.

Video monitors cost a lot more then an auto monitor but so worth it!

Good Luck!

My advice to new moms....

I ended up having lots of issues breastfeeding which I didn't anticipate.  I thought all the reading I did before was enough to prepare me.  I really wish I had actually taken a course on breastfeeding before my baby arrived so I was better prepared to handle the challenges I faced and be able to identify issues earlier.    Not sure why I thought it would be smooth sailing!!!   

If I hadn't taken a course, I wish I had booked ahead with a lactation consultant or someone for support a couple of times in the first week or two I was home.    When my first issues appeared about 2 weeks in, it took a couple of days to get into the public health clinic when I really needed help and was in a lot of pain.  My hospital had an inhouse consultant but she was fully booked so it took 3 or 4 days to get in to see her after the birth of my daughter and she was helpful, but that was before my problems appeared.  It would have just been better to have had the public health clinic visit booked ahead as well and had to cancel vs. have to wait.

I finally ended up going to the Newman Breastfeeding clinic in North York which was fabulous and helped identify the multiple problems I had right away which weren't identified by the hospital lactation clinic, or the public health one either.  They truly are the experts and well worth the $50 fee to visit.   It is purely because of them that I didn't give up and managed to feed my daughter until she was 13 months.

Lisa wrote: Hi Mandy,

After trying many different kinds and returning them we settled with the Summer Infant Best View Handheld Color Video monitor. 

If you have any other question please let me know,

Good Luck, 

Lisa