A baby's first month- a first-time dad's view

As a first-time parents this is what we have experienced in our first month:

1) the first three weeks are really hard work.... don't let anyone lead to you believe anything else. For one you don't really know what are you doing and your baby will cry and there is no way you can work out what it is wrong with them. Sleepless nights are a given - we were up every couple of hours to start with and it was exhausting. I'm sure every baby is different, but our experience was that if you could feed them enough - then that really helps in getting them to sleep for a decent length of time that you can have a break. This might mean topping your baby up with a bottle to start with - expressed breast milk in a bottle was a massive help to us in getting Jack to have enough milk. So tip one is to buy an express milking machine to make sure that your baby gets enough breast milk in those first few weeks.

2) Infacol: we have found this really helpful in getting Jack to bring up wind. We have been using it from day one on recommendation from some friends and it seems to have worked really well in helping him burp.

3) A good tip for easy nappy changing that I read was to unfold the clean nappy under your baby so that you can remove the dirty nappy and the clean one is already in place. This helps to speed up the process, which is pretty important if your baby hates having their nappy changed as ours did. And remember if its a boy point his winky down and it'll save you lots of wet baby suits and cot sheets.

4) Try to get them to go to sleep in their cot - and not in your arms when you want them to go to sleep. This can be hard to start with - Jack always preffered sleeping in our arms than the cot. But you have to get them in the habit otherwise they won't sleep without being cuddled.

5) Buy a Baby Bjorn or a similar baby sling so you can you get your baby out in the fresh air. They are so easy to use and far quicker than getting the pram out all the time.