Having a Baby.... What do we NEED?
Discussion
Remember not everything has to be brand new and junior will quickly grow out of things quickly so apart from car seats buying secondhand will save you a fortune.
Buggies are very expensive and do not be drawn into buying the matching everything for it. choose a sensible colour that will not show the vomit/poo/mud. Will it fit in your car without it being totally dismantled? A £1000 buggy is not necessarily better than a £200 one. Play with it in the shop to put it up and down.
Changing bags are a rip-off and my wife prefers using a laptop bag or courier bag. They also come in more man friendly colours.
Just because something works for your friends does not mean that it will work for you, every baby is different.
Buy furniture that will grow with your child. So that the cot can be used from very early on until they are three or four.
Final piece of advice, buy your nappies and wipes from Aldi, you will save a fortune.
Good luck, enjoy it and it is not as bad as it is often portrayed!
Buggies are very expensive and do not be drawn into buying the matching everything for it. choose a sensible colour that will not show the vomit/poo/mud. Will it fit in your car without it being totally dismantled? A £1000 buggy is not necessarily better than a £200 one. Play with it in the shop to put it up and down.
Changing bags are a rip-off and my wife prefers using a laptop bag or courier bag. They also come in more man friendly colours.
Just because something works for your friends does not mean that it will work for you, every baby is different.
Buy furniture that will grow with your child. So that the cot can be used from very early on until they are three or four.
Final piece of advice, buy your nappies and wipes from Aldi, you will save a fortune.
Good luck, enjoy it and it is not as bad as it is often portrayed!
Vaud said:
BoRED S2upid said:
Were you two going on a short vacation after the birth? And having the baby in a hospital without shops?
We were both in work up till lunchtime and I was back at home with a glass of red by 10pm! Went back the following morning via Asda for some super small baby clothes to find where they had taken BS2 junior.
My wife was in for 6 days... 3 days of induced labour, emergency c-section (very scary) and then 3 days post op. The first 3 days I slept on a sofa in the day room thanks to some very tolerant nurses who even brought me toast and a cup of tea.We were both in work up till lunchtime and I was back at home with a glass of red by 10pm! Went back the following morning via Asda for some super small baby clothes to find where they had taken BS2 junior.
OP - don't forget the nurses. When it's all done, pop back after a week with a box of biscuits. It's always massively appreciated.
We spent £2,200 on nursery furniture for Vikingette1. Only the cot was used, everything else was a total waste of money. The wardrobe was small raised and stylised with bugger all room inside - we should have stuck to an Ikea one. The chest of drawers with change table was again overly large and never used. We changed V1 on the single bed in the room. I tried selling the stuff and no-one wanted it, tried giving it away and no-one wanted it, in the end I took it to the tip.
You'll need a car travel system/buggy of some sort. Only you'll know if the larger wheeled "off-road" ones are for you if you do a lot of walking. We bought a McLaren Triumph buggy for £60 for shopping centres because they are narrow, fold up small and turn on their own axis.
The cot was given to my sister and passed to my brother so it's done sterling service. Same with the McLaren buggy. Everything else was in hindsight wasted and bulls
t.
My brothers generation seem to be using the Avent water heater measurer dispenser thingy.
About the only other accessory that was good was the nappy bin and my homemade wireless CCTV to keep an eye on V1. There's so much BS on how if you don't have something your kid will die. Buy it if you want it and can afford it but factor in if its a decent brand that can be resold later.
You'll need a car travel system/buggy of some sort. Only you'll know if the larger wheeled "off-road" ones are for you if you do a lot of walking. We bought a McLaren Triumph buggy for £60 for shopping centres because they are narrow, fold up small and turn on their own axis.
The cot was given to my sister and passed to my brother so it's done sterling service. Same with the McLaren buggy. Everything else was in hindsight wasted and bulls
t.My brothers generation seem to be using the Avent water heater measurer dispenser thingy.
About the only other accessory that was good was the nappy bin and my homemade wireless CCTV to keep an eye on V1. There's so much BS on how if you don't have something your kid will die. Buy it if you want it and can afford it but factor in if its a decent brand that can be resold later.
I would recommend trying a few nappy brands in small quantities as every baby is different in what they react too, our son ended up in Aldi nappies which we also felt were the easiest to put on as the waistband is a little rigid, pampers is like a cloth in comparison. Big bonus that they are much cheaper too.
Consider not buying vastly overpriced travel system - we didn't, we just used a babycarrier. It feels great to have the baby on you and shopping/dog walking etc is so much easier without a pram. Once/if they get too heavy to carry, they will be fine in a simple Maclaren buggy.
As said - Growbags are brilliant.
Breast feeding is best - for baby and daddy!
Moses basket was only really used for the first few weeks when he slept in the daytime. At night we used a Sleepyhead thing (bit like a soft dogs bed!) and later on he went straight onto a mattress on the floor - his bedroom is baby safe and it's brilliant not to have to 'cage' them in a cot. Google Montessori.
We love our wooden Stokke high hair - it's not huge like the plastic Daley style rubbish we looked at in Mamas&Papas and a Stokke will fetch good money 2nd hand if you ever want to sell.
As said - Growbags are brilliant.
Breast feeding is best - for baby and daddy!
Moses basket was only really used for the first few weeks when he slept in the daytime. At night we used a Sleepyhead thing (bit like a soft dogs bed!) and later on he went straight onto a mattress on the floor - his bedroom is baby safe and it's brilliant not to have to 'cage' them in a cot. Google Montessori.
We love our wooden Stokke high hair - it's not huge like the plastic Daley style rubbish we looked at in Mamas&Papas and a Stokke will fetch good money 2nd hand if you ever want to sell.
yellowtang said:
Consider not buying vastly overpriced travel system
We bought one second-hand for £50. In fact we bought the huge majority of stuff second-hand for a fraction of its new cost. 
IMO the base/click-in chair setup is invaluable when they're tiny but pointless once they're walking. Isofix is still useful when they're older, especially if you plan to move the seat between cars.
ETA: I must admit I'm a bit bemused by the amount of Calpol people seem to get through. Paracetamol may be relatively innocuous as drugs go but it's still not something you want to be giving a healthy baby regularly. I think we got through maybe half a bottle in total in the first two years.
Edited by kambites on Tuesday 23 August 20:52
We thought we did well initially keeping it to essentials, our only extravagance being an Egg travel system (which we've had no end of use of).
Then the tiredness kicks in & you buy anything that makes life that little bit easier. The perfect prep, the next to me crib etc).
But in terms of things we wouldn't be without:
Changing station - the OH has a bad back & this has been a lifesaver. £30 jobbie from Ebay
Kari me wrap - she loves to be upright & this means the OH can get on with house stuff with no hassle. I may have used it too
Medela breast pump - if breastfeeding this expresses in no time. Get plenty of breast pads too, Sainsburys ones are excellent
Then the tiredness kicks in & you buy anything that makes life that little bit easier. The perfect prep, the next to me crib etc).
But in terms of things we wouldn't be without:
Changing station - the OH has a bad back & this has been a lifesaver. £30 jobbie from Ebay
Kari me wrap - she loves to be upright & this means the OH can get on with house stuff with no hassle. I may have used it too
Medela breast pump - if breastfeeding this expresses in no time. Get plenty of breast pads too, Sainsburys ones are excellent
Hugo a Gogo said:
Maclaren buggies are great for folding up and fitting in the car, or pushing round a shopping centre
terrible for actually pushing around anywhere else with curbs, bumps, gravel etc
A Mountain Buggy is great, but it's pretty big for most boots. It will go pretty much anywhere though. Worth looking for used ones if you have a big boot.terrible for actually pushing around anywhere else with curbs, bumps, gravel etc
Some sort of bassinet/cradle/Moses basket type thing to have by the bed - babybay is a good call - you won't need a proper cot cot for months yet.
See if there's a sling library near you and go there rather than buying one - they vary SO MUCH, and what will or won't suit you all is horribly unpredictable.
See if there's a sling library near you and go there rather than buying one - they vary SO MUCH, and what will or won't suit you all is horribly unpredictable.
My daughter is 9 months old today. With this vast parenting experience I would suggest begging / borrowing / getting given second hand / getting relatives to buy you as much of the stuff you need (or want) as possible. A lot of the baby stuff is very handy at the time, but has a very short period of usefulness.
We were quite lucky that my boss had a load of stuff left from his two kids, one of my wife's friends recently gave up fostering, and quite a few other friends had young kids. For example :
Car seat / baby carrier - Maxi Cosi something given to us by my boss with ISOFIX base. Now grown out of, we bought the next one with mothercare vouchers.
Moses basket - From friend, only lasted 3 months or so.
Cot - Given to us by boss.
Changing table - Given to us by boss.
Travel cot - Bought for us by mother in law.
High chair - As above.
Stair gates (which we are just starting to use as she is crawling a lot!) - One off my boss, one from wife's friend.
Clothes - Some second hand, some presents, we buy some from Sainsbury's. Got two massive bags of 2 year old stuff in the loft for when grows into it.
Bottles / steriliser - We've got some where you put water in the bottom and stick in the microwave for a couple of minutes.
Jumparoo - Borrowed off a friend that was keeping it in case she had any more children. My daughter loved it, but now she is crawling isn't so bothered about being stuck in it. Which is great as it means I can get the great lump of plastic out of the dining room!
Baby monitor - £5 from a charity shop.
We bought a new pram, I think we felt guilty as we'd been given so much free stuff! But it was a Mothercare one for £300. We will probably get a small folding one soon.
Works for us, and meant we haven't really had money worries while my wife has been on maternity leave.
We were quite lucky that my boss had a load of stuff left from his two kids, one of my wife's friends recently gave up fostering, and quite a few other friends had young kids. For example :
Car seat / baby carrier - Maxi Cosi something given to us by my boss with ISOFIX base. Now grown out of, we bought the next one with mothercare vouchers.
Moses basket - From friend, only lasted 3 months or so.
Cot - Given to us by boss.
Changing table - Given to us by boss.
Travel cot - Bought for us by mother in law.
High chair - As above.
Stair gates (which we are just starting to use as she is crawling a lot!) - One off my boss, one from wife's friend.
Clothes - Some second hand, some presents, we buy some from Sainsbury's. Got two massive bags of 2 year old stuff in the loft for when grows into it.
Bottles / steriliser - We've got some where you put water in the bottom and stick in the microwave for a couple of minutes.
Jumparoo - Borrowed off a friend that was keeping it in case she had any more children. My daughter loved it, but now she is crawling isn't so bothered about being stuck in it. Which is great as it means I can get the great lump of plastic out of the dining room!
Baby monitor - £5 from a charity shop.
We bought a new pram, I think we felt guilty as we'd been given so much free stuff! But it was a Mothercare one for £300. We will probably get a small folding one soon.
Works for us, and meant we haven't really had money worries while my wife has been on maternity leave.
Edited by mike80 on Tuesday 23 August 22:28
ArsE92 said:
I know this isn't very PH, but try and get stuff second-hand. We've genuinely lost our 2nd largest bedroom because it's full of stuff that was used for 2 or 3 months then put away in there. We need to Ebay it all but can't be arsed.
If you get 2nd hand stuff you just throw it out.
Local Facebook groups are good for this. Events at community halls, buy &sell on town/village Facebook feeds are full of this stuff...If you get 2nd hand stuff you just throw it out.
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