AS PART OF TheJournal.ie’s weekly Family Magazine, we wanted to create a space for parents to share their views. A place where mums and dads could share their experiences, lessons learned, and even mistakes along the way. 

Pregnancy only lasts nine months, but there’s a whole lot of expense that goes with it. Separating the essentials from the ‘why on earth did I buy that?’ purchases can be a tough process, so we asked our panel of Irish parents for advice.

What one purchase made your pregnancy easier?

Here’s what they had to say…

Top L-R: Olly Keegan, Alan Dooley, Denise, Ken Hyland. Middle L-R: Ríona Flood, Ross Boxshall, Marta Lisiecka, Denise Cumiskey. Bottom L-R: Kait Quinn, Susannah O’Brien, Derek McInerney, Suzie Kelly

Breathable cotton dresses for the office: The right pregnancy clothes made a huge difference for me. I had two high-street cotton dresses that were breathable and made working in a hot office bearable. I also loved my maternity leggings and jeans with the high, stretchy pull up waist. I ended up wearing them a lot post-partum as well as they helped keep my tummy covered when breastfeeding in public.

- Kait Quinn

A breastfeeding pillow: I had a large wrap-around breastfeeding pillow that I slept with between my knees at night time to take pressure off my hips. It worked an absolute treat!

- Denise

My pregnancy book and comfortable shoes: My best purchase ever was the book What To Expect When You’re Expecting. It gave a week by week account of pregnancy for both me and the baby. It helped me to know if what I was feeling was normal or not. That and my comfy shoes for swollen feet were a lifesaver.

- Denise Cumiskey

Shutterstock / igorstevanovic Shutterstock / igorstevanovic / igorstevanovic

My electric heat pad for back pain: When I was pregnant I got quite bad lower back pain. I bought an electric heat pad, kind of like a small electric blanket, which was a godsend through late stage pregnancy and when I was breastfeeding. As it was flat, it moulded itself to my back, much better than a hot water bottle could have.

- Olly Keegan

A birthing ball: I loved my pregnancy ball as I had troubles with my lower back. Sitting on the ball instead of the couch really helped me.

- Marta Lisiecka

Shutterstock / Elina Manninen Shutterstock / Elina Manninen / Elina Manninen

My pregnancy ‘bible’: I have read What to Expect When You’re Expecting cover to cover many times and it really was my bible during each pregnancy. I found myself referring back to it all the time whenever a new and unusual symptom made itself known. Then of course, multipacks of white-chocolate covered ice creams. I couldn’t live without them, especially for my summer babies!

- Susannah O’Brien

Acupuncture sessions: For my wife, acupuncture was a great investment, as was a belt to hold the bump up and the pelvis together. She has pubis symphysis disfunction and so was in pain throughout her pregnancies, and both of these helped enormously.

- Alan Dooley

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