What do you wish you would have known?

[amum23]

What do you wish you would have known or had more information about, during pregnancy, birth postpartum and/or  the first year of your baby's life?

[Trekfan]

I don't like to "should have" on myself, but I really wish I had known how vital friend & family support is. If I could rewind the clock, my brothers and I would all be living in the same town, and I wouldn't have moved all around the country & instead had solid girlfriends going through mommyhood with me.  I wouldn't have eaten all that Ben & Jerry's at the end of the day which led to an 8 year obesity run. I wouldn't have put all my emotional eggs into my husband's basket & would've  let go of my "cinderella- expectations- marriage- fantasy" much sooner.   I would've bought a treadmill & starting running much sooner.  On the happy side, my homebirths were awesome, extended breastfeeding was great, cosleeping for the first 14 months or so worked out well.  Cloth diapering worked great until we bought a house with a laundry in the basement.  Carrying sloshy poopy pails down a flight of stairs didn't do much for me. A local Moms Club chapter was great for playdates & talking to other SAHM moms.

[Melamma]

There are too many things to list here of what I should have known with my first two. I was young and didn't know much. But with my third who I ad at home, there is one thing I wish I had known. I wish I had known to call a Lactation Consultant the second I thought something was wrong. I waited till my daughter was 5 months old. It was her latch that was wrong. By then there was no way to fix it as she was much older and had her way down. Tis time, I will be calling the second I think there's a problem.

[peanut06]

That leaving the baby en caul can reduce tearing by cushioning the perineum.