New Parents

emer_b

Yep I'll always worry about what my parents think. Not enough to stop me doing what I want to do (i.e. no christening), but enough to not want to disappoint them. It's only because I respect them and care about them.
I have one family member who wants to have a "naming ceremony" in lieu of a christening. To me that's just an excuse for a day out, it's not like the baby will notice, will cost us a fortune and I think it will just draw attention to the fact that its not a christening and I'll have to be explaining my reasons. As someone pointed out to me, she's going to lose out on a load of cash but she'll just have to wait for her first birthday for a big shindig!!
(No offence to anyone having naming ceremonies, just not my thing!)

Clareman

I've never heard of a naming ceremony, sounds to me like people wanting to have a Christening but not have 1. 1 thing that annoys me is drink being such an important thing for kids events, imvho it gives a bad impression to kids, and I love my drink, probably drink too much if anything.

liliq

I have been to a few naming ceremonies that were so lovely!
Usually just on the homes with some food and friends, fairy godparents saying a little verse or something about the baby being welcomed etc, little rituals... Very sweet.

Clareman

Sounds nice actually, a way of welcoming the baby into the community i suppose

pwurple

I've been to one in someone's house that was lovely. The other was a Baby Welcoming Party on the invite, but was actually a pub piss up. A 6 month old propped in a corner of a pub while the family got completely rat arsed. Christenings can go that way as well, and crikey I like a drink too, but not with a baby or other kids there. It was not my thing at all.

Rachineire

We are planning on a naming ceremony as I'm not Catholic and don't want to christen my son but my OH still wants a nice gathering of friends and family to.welcome the baby and to.recognize two very close friends as "godparents" (not officially of course). No ulterior motive for us besides wanting to show off.our LO to our.family and friends

I'm adding to New.parents woes....I'm from overseas and had my mother for the last 9 days staying in my home....now she has swapped places and my father and stepmom are here for.the next 8 days....so I'm trying to figure out this new mom thing, play host and deal with family all at the same time...and I'm still pulling the night.shift....totally going to crack over here.Augh!!!

emer_b

Rachineire I would crack up in your situation! Definitely not easy having all those extra people around.

My earlier comment about a naming ceremony being "an excuse for a day out" might have been a bit harsh. I'm interested to know what people do for the ceremony, are there any little traditions or a few speeches? All I've heard from friends is that it was just a bit of a p!ss-up, without the church part. I'm sure most people put a bit more thought into it.

So anyway I told my folks that we're not going to have a christening. The conversation was a lot harder than I expected. We're so catholic in Ireland that it felt like I was turning my back on part of my own childhood. They were mostly concerned that my daughter will have a hard time in school (she will be going to a small country school), its not likely that there will be many/any non-Catholics in her class so I'm sure Holy Communion year will be difficult. Also that her poor little soul wouldn't go to heaven, that nearly broke my heart when my Dad said that.

naughtysmurf

Wait until she is 7 and she turns to you an says "speak to the hand" like ours did the other night :eek: and you have to constantly have One Direction on in the car
The fuss will die down soon enough although the hand cleaner thing is a bit OTT, think it's better not to have everything too sterile, helps the immune system, unless your relatives are manky, then fair enough

naughtysmurf

liliq wrote: »

I have been to a few naming ceremonies that were so lovely!
Usually just on the homes with some food and friends, fairy godparents saying a little verse or something about the baby being welcomed etc, little rituals... Very sweet.

Cool

Clareman

The 2 hand cleaner bottles we have are both half full now, they've been that way for about 6 weeks, in fact 1 of them was hidden behind a load of Christmas cards.

BTW, I don't know if anyone else got any, but how great is it to get Christmas cards for your little one? The amount of people that sent "On Your First Christmas" cards was amazing, a friend of mine wrote "And don't let your parents read your post"

Neyite

emer_b wrote: »

They were mostly concerned that my daughter will have a hard time in school (she will be going to a small country school), its not likely that there will be many/any non-Catholics in her class so I'm sure Holy Communion year will be difficult.

Thats the reason our lad got baptised. The place he will be going to school is where his cousins currently go. Its all white, irish, catholic kids that attend and I would hate for them all to be chattering excitedly about their first communion and for him to feel left out.

Also that it means he is automatically enrolled in the local school and its a feeder school to the secondary one that we would like means I dont have to worry about places.

While the grandparents would have been disappointed if we chose not to baptise, they would have respected our views and not made a fuss if we had a naming ceremony instead.

Clareman

So much of growing up in Ireland is engrained in the church, from First Holy Communion, Confession and Confirmation nearly all of Primary School is taken up with the ceremonies, it's up to everyone to decide how to go about it.

I forgot to add, my little 1 is 11 weeks old today, she's 62cm tall She also had her 6 in 1 injection today, was delayed because of Christmas and the Doctor's opening hours. Everything was grand for the actual injection, except for about 10 minutes of crying, was easy for me out in the car waiting, it was hell for Mrs. Clareman. The rest of the day was grand as well, in fact loads and loads of smiles, especially around dinner time when she sat up and watched us eat, now however things have changed and we're getting a bit worried, her temp is up to 38.2 and she seems to be a bit unsettled although asleep, we've given her some Calpol and waiting to see if the temp goes down, if it doesn't it'll be our first call to ShannonDoc.

On a side note, ear thermometers are 1 of the best inventions ever.

NyquistFreak

Just on naming ceremonies, friends of ours had a beautiful gathering for their daughter a few months ago, they had a sand ceremony where the parents poured sand into a beautiful glass vase, and each if the god parent types layered different coloured sand on top, they sealed the jar and have it for a keepsake for their daughter, it was a really lovely idea.
We had toyed with the idea of doing something similar ourselves, well I did, OH wasn't too gone on it to be honest, we had said before little man was born that we'd do something to welcome him, but at the start was just too wrecked to entertain the idea, and as time went on and nobody was asking anyway we just didn't feel the need in the end. We still haven't spoken about it with the family, although they all know us well enough not to ask either. Each to their own I guess, my little fella is six months now and I think the time has passed for worrying about such things anyway!

pwurple

A jar of sand though. I dunno, I can't see any 18 year old being too impressed with that. Ceremony is fine, but I would have binned the sand afterwards. One good shake and it's mixed up.

Clareman

I don't know, sounds nice to me, I'm thinking a jar full of sand so it can't be shaken up, lets be honest none of us have anything to show for our Christening, having a keep sake would be lovely, even if it was just kept in your parents cupboard.

Rachineire

I think the sand is nice! I know a lot of people do that when getting married...and even sand mixing is symbolic...you can't ever separate the grains again...ie that person will always be in your life, etc.

Can I say again never have family stay for long periods right after having a baby?? I might be getting a few breaks every couple of nights by getting rest but I am driven mad in ever other aspect. And no one will lay the baby down to nap and he refuses to sleep in Moses basket or cot now. That will be a joy for me when everyone is gone home again...Grrr

Clareman

Go postal and tell them all to f**k off into a hotel, in a couple of years blame the hormones.

Ginny

We were married in the Untarian church and they do a welcoming the child into the world/ family ceremony so we will be doing that in the next few months. Our little man has just learned how to blow raspberries and thinks its the funniest thing every, he's now rolling over too which is fun! Jesus I could to have people staying now never mind 5 months ago with a newborn! I would have killed them! We're just breaking the bad Christmas habits now, back to normal nap times instead of falling asleep in Daddy's arms....:D

Rachineire

Clareman wrote: »

Go postal and tell them all to f**k off into a hotel, in a couple of years blame the hormones.

Should really do this....they broke the fupping guest bed they were staying in anyways...and are now giving me hassle regarding replacement. Oh the joys

Clareman

Your mother and father in law broke the bed? I'm sure there's a comment there somewhere.....

That's a great excuse though, tell them the spare room is going to be for baby and you were wondering how to get rid of the bed anyway, either that or buy a new bed for yourselves and give them your old 1, tell them it's special cause that's where you made junior, they'll never sleep in it

KGLady

My wee cailín hit the 3mth mark this week and we've had her first giggles... as if she didnt have us all wrapped around her tiny little finger enough already! She's sleeping very well now (I am a big believer in helping them develop a comfortable routine early on with putting them into the crib before they nod off) and she's already taken to her comfort bear/blanket thingy which helps tip her over into falling asleep and for general self soothing.

This week though teething has kicked in for her in a big way Time to look up the threads about amber beads here before I hand over half my bank account to the chemist for gels and calpol supplies.

Clareman

We've had giggles a while not, every morning we're nearly fighting over who will get her up cause who ever she sees first gets massive smiles and giggles

Teething is a pain, our princess is too small for the rings or anything so I'm just letting her bite down on my finger when she needs it then putting bonjella over her gums.

Neyite

Tommee Tippee have a teething soother thingy, and if you spread the teething gel on the surface it gets to more of the gum, and gives them something to bear down on.

I use the teetha sachets and the amber necklace too.

KGLady

http://www.tommeetippee.co.uk/product/stage-one-easy-reach-teether/

@ Clareman Have you seen these before? We used them for our older two and bought some today for the newb, already its a hit. They can go in a steam steriliser or be boiled. They can go in the fridge so they get cold which is a relief, or you can coat in it Bonjella before giving it to her. I was rubbing it on her gums which she loved, went from crying to giggling

I got a pair of them in boots for a little over a fiver, and they come with covers to keep them sterile too.

*Edit: left this open ages before having time to finish the post, didn't see Neyite's post and I'm laughing now at the spooky overlap!

KGLady

@ Neyite

I was going to research the amber beads tonight! Have you experienced any positive results with it?

Clareman

Thanks folks, into Boots tomorrow for us

Neyite

KGLady wrote: »

@ Neyite

I was going to research the amber beads tonight! Have you experienced any positive results with it?

I have. Though here on Boards there are the fans and anti-fans, and many consider it to be a load of nonsense. I was just at the point where he was getting maximum dosage of calpol and neurofen and it wasnt making a dent in his pain so I was willing to try any remedy if it gave him a bit of relief. He still gets cranky, but though he has been teething for a couple of weeks now, I've only given him a single dose of calpol so far. He is currently on a fourth tooth which looks like it will come up any day now.

emer_b

Just to go back to the thread title "New parents", I've been thinking about all the little (and big!) things that have changed in my life as a new parent:

The tune of twinkle twinkle little star now fills my house every day.

Hanging up a load of washing full of micro sized clothes takes 5 times as long as it used to.

I now eat when I get the chance as opposed to when I'm hungry.

Going to the shop for groceries on my own is a treat!

My cut off point for washing my clothes/hair has increased by a day. (Cleaning the house by a week!)

Cooking and shopping in bulk is the way to go.

Every excursion must be planned in advance and with the minimum amount of stops.

If I don't use some free to do what I need to do, it will be at least 3 hours before I get that opportunity again.

This isn't a moan, just amazing how life changes so much so quickly! I wouldn't change it for the world!

Clareman

Great idea Emer.

Few things that I've noticed,

Watching TV doesn't really happen.
Bed time is a good thing.
No interest in going to the pub, to me this is a big big change.
Very small things can set you off but also cheer you up, e.g. someone saying something about the way you are holding your child or her burbing after a bottle.
It's important to get some "alone" time, even if it's just 5 minutes in another room.
It's great to have gotten rid of the Christmas decorations.

emer_b

One thing I refuse to get caught up in is daytime tv. No tv until after 6pm. I would get truly depressed if I started watching Loose Women and Jeremy Kyle.
My time on the internet has increased ten-fold though. Must have read everything on After Hours and Daily Mail (shameful I know!).