Having a Baby.... What do we NEED?

[col2e]

All good advice above, pick out the bits that work/apply to you.

My addition would be to not go overboard when stocking up on things such as nappies and clothes. When my second was due, we got all the new born stuff from the first (who was in 0-3 months stuff when born) ready - except she was much bigger and straight into 3-6m stuff. Not a huge problem, just meant getting another vac bag from the loft, but the bulk buy of nappies we'd done was completely wasted!

Just buy enough to last you a couple of days.

Good luck and enjoy it!

Edited by col2e on Wednesday 24th August 18:11

[jamiem555]

Car seats. We went maxi cosi pebble and then pearl as it uses the same familyfix base. That should do them until they're 5. Not the cheapest but I sold the pebble seats for half what I paid in a matter of days on Gumtree.

[Dan_1981]

jamiem555 said:

Car seats. We went maxi cosi pebble and then pearl as it uses the same familyfix base. That should do them until they're 5. Not the cheapest but I sold the pebble seats for half what I paid in a matter of days on Gumtree.

Just got the familyfix base with these two seats in mind!

[stinkspanner]

We got given loads of clothes starting with 0-3 months and upwards. What no one expected was our baby to come early so we actually had piles of clothes, and not a single thing that actually fitted!

Everything else has pretty much been covered I expect, if your Mrs is anything like mine you're going to be getting well acquainted with the short films found on the Internet if you know what I mean.

Apart from that having a baby is very nice indeed!

[Jasandjules]

toastybase said:

2 bags of sand (builders merchant will sell this)

Go on then, I have to know WTF you did with your baby to have a list like that...

[768]

We needed a car seat to get home from the hospital and had that lined up way in advance.

After that, anything was bought on a just-in-time basis. Bottles and all the associated paraphernalia were the only things which felt rushed after our son ended up back in hospital after the first week; he was losing weight, for whatever reason the breast feeding wasn't sufficient and we had to top him up. An Amazon Prime trial might be a good idea.

We were perhaps lucky, but friends and family bought us so much. Probably literally saved a 5 figure sum by not buying everything people said we needed up front. Besides, doing the shopping for bits and pieces as needed was a good excuse to leave the house and one or other of you will need that regardless of who the baby goes with.

Still have the two 3 door cars we had before our son too, I'm still trying to figure out how I can get away with a 2 seater rather than something even bigger.

[Vaud]

768 said:

Still have the two 3 door cars we had before our son too, I'm still trying to figure out how I can get away with a 2 seater rather than something even bigger.

We manage fine with a 2 seater and a 4/5 seater.

One car for family trips.

The MX5 (very PH, I know) is for whenever it's just two of us. My (now) 3 year old has always loved the MX5, loves the roof off to nursery, even in very cold weather. Has Isofix and can disable the airbag. Plus kids love being next to their parents, not in the back.

Tonights fun moment was sat at the lights with her next to me and she tapped me on the arm, "I love you daddy. Can this go really fast please? Please?"

Fortunately at this age 45mph in 3rd is really fast, if you say "whoosh" at the same time.

[Dogwatch]

essayer said:

Also keep an eye out for NCT nearly new sales nearby.

Only skimmed this thread so someone may have picked up on this, but NCT sales are a brilliant source of good used stuff for parents, and grand-parents who don't want to shell out for new.

[Skyrat]

jshell said:

andy-xr said:

What we actually need when we whittled it down was a car seat (they all seem to be rear facing now for babies?) for the drive home, I'm told they wont let you leave if you dont have a proper seat. Which is pointless spending a load of money on, because after a while you dont want them facing the rear window, you want to be able to see them in the mirror.

Personal choice, but we went rear-facing for even the later stage car-seat. The kid doesn't mind and you get large decorative mirrors that hang off the back seat so you can still see them.

This. Put a mirror on the back seat. Job done.

Whenever the discussion comes up about front v rear facing seats I like to share this video

https://youtu.be/sssIsceKd6U

FWIW we shelled out £600+ for two of the safest rear facing seats around up to age 4 (18kg). I've never regretted spending a penny of that.

[glenrobbo]

bulldong said:

eybic said:

You can never have enough muslin cloths.

Quite right! Buy loads.

As a father of three ( now grown ups ) and now a grandparent for the first time, I am uncertain about the repeated reference to muslin squares. Are they needed for polishing the V70 or what????

I agree on the Aldi disposable nappies,the Tommy Tippie feeding bottle system - fantastic ( wish they had been around for my kids ).
No need for expensive electronic toys: Just turned One year old, my granddaughter's favourite toy is a basket of coloured plastic clothes pegs, or the TV remote control, or my smartphone!
Best/ easiest / most manageable / most compact so you don't fall over it & break your neck/ most portable transportation system...... is the McLaren type folding buggy. Forget the expensive all-encompassing multi-role systems. They'll be useless after 6 months and take up sooooo much space. Worthwhile only if you're planning for a few more offspring.

[glenrobbo]

toastybase said:

2 bags of sand (builders merchant will sell this)

20-30 tins of salmon

Vicks vapour rub

A draft excluder

4 pairs of steady yet comfy shoe. Obviously keep 2 pairs down by the stairs.

Box of shoe polish, black brown and neutral

Round nosed scissors

Battery packs

Re: Sand: Is that sharp sand or builders' sand? Or 1 bag of each?

Tins of salmon: Is it ok to substitute tins of tuna or pilchards if I am on a tight budget?

Vicks Vapour Rub: QED.

Draught excluder: Snake or Sausage dog thingy knitted by great granny? Or that plastic / foam rubber stuff you fix to your windows & doors?

Shoes: Do you mean sturdy rather than steady? I have some industrial steel toe-capped flip-flops and some Velcro mountainering sandals. Will those do?


Round nose scissors: I am not familiar with these, unless you mean my wife's moustache trimming set. Please would you be so kind as to post a link for reference?

Shoe polish: I have a Furniture Clinic leather % vinyl refurb kit in Navy Blue, some white trainer gel, and a suede brush. Will this be sufficient?

Battery packs: I thought that rabbit outlasts all the other battery powered products, so where's the problem?

TIA,
Robbopops.

Edited by glenrobbo on Thursday 25th August 02:19

[glenrobbo]

Jasandjules said:

toastybase said:

2 bags of sand (builders merchant will sell this)

Go on then, I have to know WTF you did with your baby to have a list like that...

Every chid needs a sandpit to play/ wee/ poo / discover insects/slugs/small dead rodents/ cigarette ends in! Where have you been? Didn't you have a childhood of your own?

[Xaero]

RosscoPCole said:

One other thing. Whoever designed the basic Ikea high chair is a genius. It is inexpensive, easy to clean, dismantles so it easily fits in your car. What more do you need!

I second this too. The cheapest one in IKEA is the best, it's about £20 in total with the detachable eating tray, don't buy the more expensive wooden ones.

We managed on mostly second hand things and probably kept the budget to £500 for the first year, they really aren't expensive especially if your friends and family are generous with gifts. We got a Grayco pushchair from my parents, a £300 one they got half price in a closing down sale which is still great 2 years later, it takes up big space in a car though compared to a folding buggy but so much easier to push. The second hand (£400 new) cotbed was given to us and good for up to a 4 year old, and they are our most expensive bits. I got car seats in closing down sales too. We never bothered with a moses basket, new borns don't move at all so don't need any significant protection from themselves.

[eliot]

Justayellowbadge said:

However much you spend on a 'travel system' it won't take long before you are solely using a car seat and foldable buggy.

This.
I always thought that people with those little Mclaren buggies couldn't afford a big pram - but soon realised that the big travel system is a big waste of money and will sit in the shed or hallway most of the time!

[anonymous-user]

Obviously most people think that not spending £1000 on a bugaboo pram is tantamount to child abuse.

I made the mistake of buying a cot and furniture from Mothercare and it is just overpriced rubbish. go to IKEA and spend a 3rd of the cost on something that is way more substantial.

[eltax91]

I've not read all 7 pages but I'm sure the essentials are covered. But one I'm sure won't have had a mention is this:-

The Fischer Price Sea Horse

Oh my lord that has saved us some lost sleep over the years. It quietly plays nursery rhymes, but slowly and in an under water kind of way. My boy, both our nieces and all of our friends babies have all been supplied one by us and they all rave about how it miraculously turns a screaming baby into a soothed and sleeping beauty.

Easily the best £15 I ever spent. Baby number 2 is due in November, nursery only just finished, but the sea horse was extracted from the loft, new batteries fitted and fully tested on both volume settings months ago.

[Adam B]

Jasandjules said:

2. Pram - we got a bugaboo because it didn't have air filled tyres and can be used to walk over fields and whatnot.

Hahaha, the pram equivalent of a Ruf Cayenne for the school run, my ex wanted one to look good, cost £600 or something stupid, repaid itself many times over by being able to negotiate the step into Starbucks with aplomb

Edited by Adam B on Thursday 25th August 07:52

[Vaud]

The Mountain Buggy does the same but for less money - the Subaru Forester of buggies

[Adam B]

Anything does the job for less money.

Purely a choice to keep up with the yummy mummys.

I kept schtum because it wasn't worth the grief and MIL was paying

[anonymous-user]

glenrobbo said:

bulldong said:

eybic said:

You can never have enough muslin cloths.

Quite right! Buy loads.

As a father of three ( now grown ups ) and now a grandparent for the first time, I am uncertain about the repeated reference to muslin squares. Are they needed for polishing the V70 or what????

If you have a baby who sicks their milk up a lot, you end up very quickly running out of cloths to wipe up the sick, or cloths to stick over your shirt to stop you getting sicked on. Much easier to wash a bunch of cloths than always be changing your clothes.

Also, if you don't have enough, you end up using anything you can find which is usually a tea towel, and then they all end up smelling absolutely rank.

Muslin cloths cost pence, so it's just a good way of being sure you don't ruin too many things with baby sick.