Discovery Home & Health

Hi all,

Im 21 weeks pregnant and starting to buy for my little one. the only problem is ive not gota clue where to start! Does anyone have any ideas or a list as to what i need from Prams, to cots to bottles to car seats??

Also, alot of family and friends are now asking what i want them to buy, so if i could make my list of everything i want they could just choose from the list!

thanks very much

Kirsten xx

Hi,

It can be a mine field buying for a baby.
here is a rough idea.

Pram/pushchair. with raincover and sun canopy or parasol
Cot
sheets
blankets
6 bottles
sterilizer
6 vests
6 babygros(all in ones)
3-4 outfits
Change bag
babybath
Depending on you pram you will need pram bedding
Carseat, I have found that 0-4years are the best long term.
Nappies
wipes
bibs
muslin squares
a bouncy chair is a godsend
I think that is is on the basics, other things that can come in handy are
a sling
reusable nappies (for the one time you run out of nappies in the middle of the night)
mobile
moses basket as a cot can be a bit big for small babies
sleeping bag
monitor.

Hope this helps.

The number one thing I have found is you don't have to spend a fortune on things.

Also don't rush into buying a pram make sure you get the right one as it will end up costing a lot of money if you find you dont like it 6 months down the line, think of it as an investment as you will be useing it for about 3 years and maybe even for other babies in the future.

Jayjay

Hey kirsten!!
I love this bit!!
In pregnancy magazines they give you a list but most of it you dont really need, from scratch i would say the following..(having had 3 i'm a bit of an expert!!, he, he!!)

A PRAM.. travel system is handy but not essential if you dont have a car- but remember you will need a car seat to bring baby home from hospital,
You will need a pram/change bag, raincover etc if these are not with your pram..

MOSES BASKET OR CARRYCOT... depending on what sort of pram you have, if its one with carrycot you can use that,
Dont forget a stand, i had a rocking one which was great it costs £15 from argos, so cheap compared to most, and its sturdy aswell.

COT... You dont really need this straight away unless you want to or have a big baby! I got mine about 6 weeks after birth! but i was space saving!!
sheets for cot- 3 FITTED, 3 FLAT AND 2 OR 3 BLANKETS,

COT MOBILE... If you want,

SHEETS..fitted moses basket ones, 3 or 4 of them, as accidents WILL happen! to save changing as often put a small sheet folded in half under baby's head and tuck in the sides so its flat..new baby's posset and it leads to endless washing!
flat sheets; 4 moses size, 2 cot size, great for swaddling baby,

BLANKETS... Cotton cellular are the best, about 3 pram/moses size, or 2 cot size and fold them, remember you are using the equivalent of 2 bankets though if folded in half..

A FLEECE OR FANCY BLANKET... For using on pram when you are out..

If bottle feeding,BOTTLES X8 STERILIZER, FORMULA,
BIBS,
MUSLIN SQUARES, handy but not essential,

BREASTFEEDING...The obvious! and plenty of breastpads, nipple cream, there are other things for coping with engorgement but cabbage leaves are the best!! and cheapest!!

NAPPIES,
CHANGING MAT,
TOP & TAIL BOWL,
BABY LOTION,
COTTON WOOL,
WIPES.. only if its an exploding poo in the early days try and limit use of wipes, warm water and cotton wool is best or a little baby lotion.. *sensitive newborn bottoms!*
TOP TO TOE WASH.. a gentle one,
baby shampoo.. you dont really need to buy this as you will get a huge one in your bounty new mum bag and it lasts forever!!
DONT USE TALC..

I personally never used, sudocreme, but you will get one in your pack, so dont buy as essential.

A BABY BOX TO KEEP EVERYTHING IN!

SOOTHERS... If you want to! but dont but newborn ones, they just spit them out, but a normal sized cherry teat one, boots own brand are good and cheaper!
they dont interfere with breastfeeding in my own experience, if given only to settle once feeding is established..

BABY CHAIR/ROCKER/BOUNCER... handy but not essential until a bit after birth as you can use pram/basket for putting baby down in,

BABY MONITOR... If you want, i only used mine 1st time around.

CLOTHES[
AT LEAST..
5 BABYGRO'S
5 VESTS
FEW PAIRS OF SOCKS
SCRATCH MITS
2 OR 3 CARDIGANS
A COUPLE OF DAY OUTFITS, OR AS MANY AS YOU LIKE!
Dont go crazy though as all your family and friends will prob buy an outfit, and half the stuff never gets used!
BOOTEES..
THIN JACKET IF SUMMER OR AN ALL IN ONE FOR WINTER..
A SHAWL..

FOR MUM TO TAKE TO HOSPITAL..

NIGHTIE FOR LABOUR,

BIG PANTS for after THE BIRTH, remember you will have a belly, and skimpy knicks dont house a huge maternity pad very well! Black ones are best..for obvious reasons!

2 FRONT OPENING NIGHTIE'S OR P'J'S

2 BRA's... for either feeding of support..remember when your milk comes in they go bigger!!

DRESSING GOWN... A thin one, its hot in there! Handy for covering up as little leaks tend to happen!

SLIPPERS... Believe me, ive seen all sorts spilt on the floors on baby wards!! you wouldnt think!

TOILETRES BAG... Put in it,
Small tube toothpaste,
toothbrush,
deodarant,
body wash, -not soap!! what do you do with wet soap???
Brush/comb,
scrunchie/face cloth to wash with,
mosturiser,
lipsalve- major dry lips in hospital!!

MATERNITY PADS, DONT GET THIN ONES (LIKE ALWAYS) WITH THE PLASTIC TOP TO KEEP THE LEAKS IN, THEY CAUSE INFECTIONS AND BREED GERMS...nice!! get big ones like Kotex night time or proper maternity ones..

TOWELS.. LARGE BATH TOWL IN DARK COLOUR,
2 SMALLER ONES-

DONT FORGET TO PACK 2/3 BABYGRO'S AND 2/3 VESTS, CARDIGAN MITS AND HAT FOR BABY DEPENDING ON HOW LONG YOU ARE IN FOR..A COAT DEPENDING ON WEATHER.

CLOTHES FOR MUM TO GO HOME IN, REMEMBERYOU WONT BE PRE-PREGGERS SIZE YET!!

I tried to keep the list simple, these are just the basics that i can think of, i will add anything else i think of..
or i'm sure other people will add things they found useful!!

Good luck and happy shopping!!!!!

Emma. x

Hi!

It's so easy to go completely overboard buying for baby cos you want them to have everything they could possibly need, nice and new!

Angel, that's a great tip about putting a folded up sheet under their head, I'll definately be remembering that one for future use!

Angel and Jayjay's tips were really good so I'll try not to duplicate.

I think probably the most important (and expensive) item is the pram. If you get the right one from the start it could last you a few years. That's definately something that I learned as my ds will be 2 next month and we're on buggy number 4... Make sure you get one that fits in the boot of your car (if you have one) cos our first pram didn't fit unless we took the parcel shelf off and it was really heavy to get in and out of the car. We bought our 2nd buggy when ds was 6 weeks old cos the 1st one was so impractical.

Some ideas you could ask friends or relatives for as gifts...

There are some fab books in the early learning centre that I would recommend. They have black, white and red patterns and pictures and are great cos even little babies of only a few weeks old love looking at them.

I used baby gro bags for ds until he was nearly 18 months old. Again, I can't recommend them enough as most babies kick the covers off during the night and can end up being too cold.

The Philips room/bath thermometer is great too. It's only about £12 and it's been invaluable.

We used natural sponge to wash ds with when he was little cos it's really, really soft. I think they cost about £7 but I'm sure you can get some cheaper than that.

Changing bag.


Things for your hospital bag

I took some cheapy plastic flip flops with me to hospital and even wore them in the shower cos it was pretty minging! I didn't want to ruin a pair of slippers, I just threw the flip flops in the bin before I left.

A bottle of water with a sports cap for when you're in labour cos it's easier to drink from.

Lip balm cos your lips get so chapped.

Proper maternity pads cos they're more absorbent and more padded to sit on!

Don't buy too many nappies in advance cos you don't know what size baby will be. One or 2 small packs is enough to begin with as someone can always go and get you more if you need them.

CAMERA - don't forget to pack your camera!

Programme a 'group' of people into your's or dh's phone so you can send a mass text when baby is born.

Things I bought that I never used

I only used our top and tail bowl once I think! We bought a bath set from Mothercare for about £35 and it was one of the biggest wastes of money. We used the bath but not the bits and bobs that came with it. You can actually get a nice plain baby bath from asda for about £3 and it's perfect!

Hope this all helps! Good luck with the rest of your pregnancy, Hels x

Hels..good advice!

I think i will do the flip flop thing aswell, as my slippers went in the bin last time anyway..

With the baby bath i think its just down to personal choice and kirsten you will find out yourself if you are a bath or top and tail person!! Personally i dont use the baby bath, had one 1st time around but used it 3 time as;
1) It was really heavy to lift when full..i hurt my back lifting it the ist time..
2)If you dont have much roon like me, its a pain to store,
3)If i was bathing baby i would just put in bath with me..or put in the big bath before me..but thats a back killer leaning over aswell!

I have to say i found my top and tail bowl brilliant as i used it every dirty nappy change, and for £3 its not much if you find its not used,
As hels said though, steer away from cute baby bath sets that are stupidly priced, about £35 i think!!! A bath for £3, bowl for £2-£3 and a small white towel for £2 is exactly what you get..£8 versus £35!! I know which i'd pick!

I forgot to mention, I also had baby sponges, for when baby is bit older, Ramer sponges from boots are really soft, they are about £2, get one for face and one for bottom though, 2 different colours are useful!
I just used cotton wool for washing face in early days as they get gunky eyes so easily.

With the pram aswell, dont rush to buy it! I agree! I had a graco quattro tour deluxe, I used it loads as i didnt drive then, but when it came to putting it in the car the boot woulny close so i ended up buying a maclaren techno xt when Dd was 5 month old, i hardly used the travel system after that and regreted buying it- I had spent £500+ on 2 prams when i could of saved!

The good thing about this thread is, we can all share what was best for us as someone else might have a tip someone else never thought of!

Emma. x

it's a minefield out there! here's a few top tips from me:

Best buys:

gro bags - every time someone i know has a baby now it's what i buy them as i know it's the best thing anyone bought me. not cheap (around £30) but so so worth it!

nursery furniture - you may be tempted by the lovely m&p/mothercare furniture ranges but the prices are rediculous, for less than half the price we bought our wardrobe and drawers from a pine shop. the cotbed was by m&p's but we got this from a baby warehouse a hell of a lot cheaper than at the actual shop.

ditto on the nursing chairs. look nice but rediculously expensive. i just got a swuishy armchair from ikea, ~~~~£60 and very comfy. a godsend for those night time feeds.

a dimmer switch for the nursery - so you dont blind the poor mite when going into them at night. also a blackout blind for day time naps.

clothes - like the others have said, dont go mad as you will get tonnes when your LO arrives. just get the basics. mothercare do a handy starter set for about £15.00

http://www.mothercare.com/gp/product/B00115EVTE/sr=1-4/...&n=60626031&mcb=core

you'll also need a pram suit/coat..i see you're having a summer baby, my first was too. for some reason i totally forgot this and ended up with about 5 fluffy pram suits, oh so cute but never got used cuz it was summer - d'uh!

another tip is to take some of the clothes back that you get bought to swap for different sizes, as you'll probably get lots in newborn that will be grow out of within weeks.

bath seat - a god send for jittery first time baths as you get your hands free to wash with. we got one with suckers on the bottom that fit in both the baby bath and the bath and used it until he was big enough to sit up.

moses basket - not essential but we found it useful as he slept in our room for the first 5 weeks. also good to take downstairs for nap time.

boucy chair - come with/without vibration/music good for early days and also for once you start weaning when baby is too young for a highchair.

dummies - i swore i'd never use them but i'm so glad i bought some just in case. if not i'd have never got my boobs back because ds was a very sucky baby!

for reviews on car seats/prams have a look on the mum's net website for help.

x

thought of a couple more things..

rather than a fancy changing unit or set of drawers with the changing table on top i'd reccomend a cot top changer, especially if you don't have much space as you can keep it under the cot and just put it on top when you need to.

storage - i bought 3 small wicker baskets (about the size of a shoe box) from ikea to store all the nappies/wipes/cotton wool in so i had everything to hand for a nappy change. also i got some drawer dividers, again only a pound from ikea they were great for sectioning off space for tiny socks, bibs, shoes, hats etc.

i also had the bt monitor and couldn't reccomend it highly enough still use it now actually. i wouldn't get one of those motion sensor monitors though as they constantly go off and scare the hell out of you. i dont think they understand that babies are still when they're fast asleep! if you're extra cautious the video monitors are probably better as you can at least see your baby is ok.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: kalyjade,

Not going to add much to what everyone else has said, just a couple of things that i found useful!

I wouldnt bother with a top and tail bowl or fancy bath sets, i used the top and tail bowl for soaking dirty clothes in rather than what it was meant to be used for!

I didnt find muslin squares very good to be honest, i found the terry towelling nappies from boots were much much better, soaked up sick and poo much better and were softer on babys face when burpring on your shoulder etc!

Dont buy plastic backed bibs, although they are cheaper they arent as good - and cant be tumble dried cus the plastic can melt!

Cant praise matalan enough when it comes to baby clothes - especially things like vests, babygrows etc. The babygrows have longer arms than alot of other makes and they also have a little flap on them which folds over as scratch mitts - they really are brilliant! Matalan also sell great moses/pram/cot bedding - sheets and blankets at really great prices.

I bought one of these from argos: http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/875339...ESTORAGE+DRAWERS.htm
Might not be the best looking of things but its great for keeping everything handy in. we had nappies in one, bibs/terry towelling nappies in another and nappy sacks/sudocrem general bits and pieces in the third one. theres nothing worse than just sitting down and finding you have forgotten something - it was great having this just by the side of my chair, made life so much easier!

So much for me not saying alot hey!

I can't add much to what's been said already. There's a magazine out called 'I'm Pregnant' and it is fab. It's about £5 but you only need to buy it once in your whole pregnancy, it cover each trimester is great detail and has excellent lists of what to buy.

The top n tail bowl was a wasted purchase for me. I tried it for a few days but it's just inpractical. I bathed ds every day so his babybath was a better buy for us. We aso succumbed to the bath set for £35 from mothercare, but no need for it.

def recommend a moses basket. We used ours for about 10 weeks. 6 weeks with the basket on a stand in our bedroom at nighttime and in the living room during the day. Then we placed the moses basket inside ds' cot as a transition between basket and cot. It worked really well.

The best buy we made was a BT monitor for his bedroom, we still use it now and he's nearly 3. I am a paranoid mother Cot mobiles are pretty but I found them very impractical. When the music stops you have to creep in and wind it up again, thus disturbing baby. The BT monitor has a remote control that you can play lullabies through. You can re-start lullabies through the parent unit and it is also a night light. It was pricy, about £60 but worth it. When ds was 2 ours broke and BT sent us a free replacement!!!!

I agree with the other post though that said you don't have to spend a lot. I was under the impression that the more something cost the better it would be, but it's really not like that. I found Ethel Austin's baby vests amazing quality, they washed well and never lost their shape.

The best tips I have, are:

1) regarding presents. I asked everyone for clothes in 6-9 and 9-12 months. It was a tip my cousin gave me and it worked a treat. We got inundated with newborn and 3-6 month outfits from friends of friends, and non-close family so the fact that everyone else got us bigger clothes meant that ds had a fully stocked wardrobe for the first year!!!

2) When you do your weekly shop throw a few bits in your trolley. A bottle of baby bath. A packet of Baby wipes. A packet of nappies (in a variety of sizes!!!). Baby shampoo. Cotton wool. Etc. These things really add up price wise if you have to buy them all at the same time. I ended up with a changing table full of toiletries for ds that lasted about 6 months.


Oh, one last thing, then i'll leave you alone (sorry!!!) baby furniture. I have never really used ds' wardrobe, but his chest of drawers are always full. I wish i'd got 2 chest of drawers instead of the wardrobe. I suppose a baby girl might make use of a wardrobe with dresses etc. Baby changing tables look sooooo pretty in the nursey but are a waste of time in my opinion. I always changed ds downstairs so his changing table was rarely used.


Sorry for waffling

Kate
xxxx

Spend money on a good baby monitor, a sturdy car seat with side impact protection (get a newborn carrier type to start with - preferably with a base then you know its fitted safely each and every time) and a brand new cot mattress.

Everything else is incidental to be honest and could be second hand - if I only had £100 to spend I'd blow the lot on a car seat and sleep the baby in a drawer -seriously!

Thats just my personal priorities (I'm mrs anal re safety sadly...) but to back up what others have said - buy a good magazine that has an article on "buying on a budget" cos then they list the essentials first - if you have cash to splash you can treat yourself to the nice extras anytime but get the basics first.

Oh and don't forget yourself...its not all about what baby needs - a happy mum will mean happy baby - get a feeding pillow (I love my "Widgey") and somewhere confortable to sit for night feeds, washable breast pads are not only cheaper in the long run by far but they don't chaffe your nips like disposables did mine last time! Only downside is they're a bit bulky under your clothes. And some nice bubble bath cos you're worth it dear!!!!

Hope this helps!

Zx

I have found matalan baby grows to be the best around, at the end of the arms they fold over to make built in scratch mits, I had them in size newborn and went back other day to get them in 0-3. My baby seems to get scatch mits off in the night and scratches her face, these stay put!!!