Planning our first nursery!

andycarmi

Hi, We are having our first baby in the Summer. (20 weeks now) We have some time off work in a week. We will be decorating the room and looking at things we want to go in the nursery.

Any ideas of what I really need and any do's and don't would be greatly appreciated!!! :T

Also when is the best time to buy things as I have been told not to buy things yet but don't want to wait till baby is born!!! :j

Thanks and info would be most welcome.

Spendless

It is recommended that babies sleep in their parents room upto 6 months old (or was when I had my 2, youngest nearly 3) from FSID. Other than that I needed somewhere to put their clothes, somewhere to keep their nappies and toiletries/bedding if space elsewhere was limited. I never had a baby changer, just used a mat,though even that wasn't ness. I had a baby bath with my first but it was too heavy when full of water for me to lift. I ended up using a big sponge instead or later (when I was more confident) them coming in the bath with me.
A tip a friend gave me was not to decorate babies bedroom with a border cos when they get older they'll outgrow one character and like another and then you're left stripping it off. Instead make the bedroom a 'character' one by use of accessories, eg lampshade, curtains, bedding.

inkie

Definately get some blackout blinds/curtains for the nursery.

These are the things that we had for our two and managed very well.

Moses basket and stand (can lift the baby upstairs/downstars without being disturbed)
Bouncy chair
top & tail bowl and baby bath (picked these up for a couple of quid at 'home bargains type store'
Pushchair suitable from birth to 3ish (make sure that it will fit in the car/transport easily on the bus)
Cosy toes and raincover for the above
Sun shade for the above
0-9 months car seat - I think we paid £40 from halfords
Baby sling - picked mine up second hand from local NCT sale - handy for carrying the baby around the house whilst doing other things.
Cot and matress - got the £29 one from Ikea and then progressed onto their extendable bed
4 bottom sheets/4 top sheets 2 blankets
Cot duvet
Cot mobile
Baby monitor

Clothes - i just bought 1 doz neutral body suits and babygros a couple of pairs of scratch mits and a doz pairs of socks
Don't bother with expensive nursery furniture - get 'ordinary' furniture suitable for a nursery which the child can grow up with

Didn't buy any bottles etc as breastfeeding.

Start buying a pack of nappies each week (no need for wipes - cotton wool and water do equally as well)
I would advise to get everything by the time that you are 28wks if poss - this means that in the last few weeks everything is organised.

Depends how much you want to spend - but these are really the only things that we needed. try your local freecycle as there are always prams/puschairs etc going on there ( I for one have our up in the loft - like new)

I had both my girls in the summer - it was a wonderful time - very hot and quite often baby dressed in nothing other than a nappy.
Look out for your local NCT sale - they sell quality second hand items.
I deliberately didn't buy and toys or newborn clothers other than babygro's as you end up with a pile of stuff in prezzies..

HTH

alice's_mum

Wow Congratulations :T . Do you know what you're having??
Main thing don't do too much, get as much sleep as you can, you won't get much in the following 20 weeks!!! :A

As for nursery stuff, obviously cot, chest of draws, wardrobe, are you having baby in your room in moses basket to start? Then you can wait on the cot. But you might be surprised how quickly the baby ends up in it's own room. My ds was in his cot by 6 weeks as he was so big (10lb 9oz and 28inches long) ,he had no room in the moses basket - his arms hitting the side kept me awake more than anything else.!!

with both of mine, the main thing was a high (ish) chest of drawers, (I'm 6ft) which I put a changing mat on and put nappies, bags and wipes in the top draw. This meant no bending when changing nappies and was a god send for my back and everything was too hand. Clean vests were in the draw underneath incase of a major "accident".

anything else depends on the size of your room and your budget, don't get carried away getting all "Nursery furniture" they grow up and believe me at 3 /4 no boy wants a cute room, it'll be railways or space, and girls just want barbie or pink stuff. Go for good quality that will last until they are teenagers, white or wood it usually best. I always thought of their room a bedroom and not a nursery and furnished it as I would any bedroom in my house.

As for buying stuff, maybe use this time to cost everything, go and try them out and if you want to order stuff, most big baby shops understand if you don't want the stuff in the house they will hold it for you until near the time or even after the baby is born, maybee while you're still in hospital. It gives the OH something to do while your in maternity apart from just wetting the babies head. :rolleyes:

Mainly you need at least 20 body suites (vest), 10 baby sleep suits, nappies by the crate ful, baby wipes, most shops own are as good as the Pink branded ones. nappy bags, 1000's for £1 in poundland. And as baby is due in summer some sort of sun hat, white and floppy suits boys and girls. Cardigans in white, yellow, green etc, ask grannys to get knitting.

But most of all have fun with your baby, and don't worry about everyting being perfect, babies are happy as long as they are warm, fed and got clean bots.

Sorry for such an essay. L

ribenagirl

Hello, I'm 25 weeks, and we've just started on the nursery. We bought a cot (2nd hand), cot mattress (new), and baby changing unit (2nd hand) all off of Ebay and have saved tons that way - paid £17 for a brand new, top of the range Coolmax/ sprung mattress, £30 for the changing unit and £40 for the cot. We picked up a chest of drawers from our local Lions club (who sell 2nd hand furniture) to put baby's clothes, and bits and pieces in. We'll also be getting a baby monitor off Ebay. I've turned into a right Ebayholic during this pregnancy!!

It's our first too and I'm not totally sure what else we'll need. We are fortunate in that we don't have to worry too much about sticking to a tight budget, but are still not spending where we don't have to.

As for decorating, we know we're having a girl, but as we're planning to have another baby later we are still decorating in yellow so that we save by not having to do it twice. We're putting up lining paper and then painting it as it was cheaper than wallpaper. We have gone with a Mamas and Papas style, and have picked up matching accessories (lamp shades, matching curtain tie backs, cot mobile, baby bouncer) again 2nd hand off Ebay. so we really only bought the border, and if you look at places like https://www.glasgowpramcentre.co.uk, they sell Mamas and Papas nursery designs at discounted prices.

You can also buy these things which are like animal cut outs, or disney characters, called stickarounds, which come in a pack and you literally just stick them where you want in the room and they peel off if you ever want to change the design or move them so that can work out cheaper in the long run.

As for when to start buying, we've been buying things as we've seen a good deal really since the start, thinking that if the worst came to the worst we would just re-Ebay, but only really seriously started doing anything once I got to 24 weeks.

HTH a bit, Take care xx

Rhiannon_of_Woolamai

In addition to the previous poster

We didn't use my daughters room for about 9 months after birth!! Just to store clothes -

so maybe just paint it, and leave lots of personal touches until later. Try to avoid buying too much stuff - you get given lots, and it is nice (once you've worked out how to leave the house!) to go shopping for pretty things. You'll find that by the time your child is 2+ you have so much stuff that you can't store it all - so eak out the buying pleasure. Also, you'll find that most of your early purchases (e.g. clothes and toys) are not very practical! So save it until you know what sort of things your baby likes to play with, and are easy to put on. ps I recommend a really large cotton blanket for swaddling. I found these ones from Pumpkin Patch (currently on special at £4.99 really great) http://www.pumpkinpatch.co.uk/favlooks.cfm?fav_look_img_id=128&fav_look_section_id=2&fav_look_screen_id=1&web_site_id=3&on_sale_only_flag=1&season_codes=W02,W03,W04,W05&anchor=128&thepage=3&viewall=0&QueryNav.offset=21&QueryNav.len=10&#top

In terms of furniture:
1. Chest of drawers for clothes (I find it useful to have lots of small drawers - i.e. so that one draw has long sleeved body suits, another with sleepysuits, etc.. so that I don't have to rummage through finding the right thing. Ikea do some good fabric drawer dividers which I've found really useful e.g. to separate socks, tights, gloves, hats, etc. in the drawers
2a. Cot: cotbeds are good as they last longer (my daughter aged 2.5 still sleeps very happily in hers). The mattresses are expensive. I found that https://www.kiddicare.co.uk was cheapest for lots of baby stuff. I got a really nice memory foam mattress (relaxan) from lullabys http://www.lullabys.co.uk/shop/index.html. It's not much more expensive than the cheap nasty ones in Mothercare and Babysrus and is much better quality - and will last her when we convert the cotbed into a bed.
2b. I find that I don't need many sheets (not as many as all the books recommend). My daughter has always had a patchwork quilt and a blanket on top (no sheet) and a fitted sheet underneath.
3. Bookshelf (a big one). We have lots of books, and the bottom shelves have wicker baskets for soft toys. Makes the room look really nice - and very practical.
4. Black out linings on the curtains (or blackout blinds - but I've always found that these are noisy to roll up and down)
5. I made a quilt for my daughter - patchwork. It looks lovely, and took up lots of time during my "nesting" phase (so it kept me busy rather than out buying stuff I didn't need)
6. A baby bath is useful - but just go for the cheapest, basic one as it will only fit for about 4 months. Don't bother with a matching "top and tail" thing as I find an empty stork margarine container is just as practical (it's smaller too)- and goes through the dishwasher nicely. Don't bother with those hooded towels, etc.. they don't fit for long - your normal hand towels are fine (in fact I swaddle up my baby in my big bath towel as she loves it)

Things to possibly avoid:
1. Personally I wouldn't bother with a nappy changing unit (but I do have friends who love theirs) - I've always found my children far to wriggly at an early age, and likely to roll off - I bought a cheap plastic changing mat and change nappies on the floor in the spare room (so that it doesn't make their bedrooms smell).
2. I've never been a fan of all those cot activity mobiles, etc.. I take the view that the bedroom is the place to sleep - thus needs to be dark, and simple- and the lounge room is the place for activity and stimulation.

Good luck with the baby - just try to resist buying too much!!

andycarmi

Wow sound advice. Thanks. :j

We have decided not to find out the sex of the baby.
We have just had the room plastered and thinking of painting it yellow. We are lucky as its a nice big room.

Yes we will be having the baby in our room at first thats a super point. :T
Thanks.

Little_Miss_Confused

Check out the car boot sales for baby clothes and toys although don't buy car seats/mattresses or anything with health and safety implications. Check anything you buy thoroughly and make sure it's washable. Ensure toys can be sterilised. Ultimately you can spend as much or as little as you want.
With my two I could not have survived without the bouncy chair. I used it from birth until they could sit on their own.

Poppy9

We went for lemon and left until baby born to get curtains etc. I kept DD in my room until 9mths. I bought curtains, fabric for cot quilt, lightshade and border in Laura Ashley then. The fabric was suitable from baby and is now in use in guest bedroom. I changed the borders over the years (easy with a wallpaper stripper if on silk paint) from baby toys to teddies to ballerinas etc.

I notice in yesterday's Mail that Ikea have recalled two of their cots.

I didn't bother with changing unit. I used ordinary chest of drawers until too wiggly and then used an ottoman (which I used to decorate with matching border) with mat on. Careful with ottoman's lids as toy chests once they are able to open it as it could slam down on them while they are head first in it!!

Baby bath I didn't use after first time. Yes lovely to bath baby in front of fire but too heavy too carry when full of water. I had a big handbasin in bathroom so covered taps with towel and bathed her in there.

I didn't buy anything like 20 sleepsuits or vests. Just a couple of packets of 3 as I knew I would want the 'right' colour when I knew the sex of baby.
You will probably find yourself washing almost everyday at first so if you have a tumble drier or it's summer you can turn the clothes around much quicker. Therefore you should be able to get away with 3 cots sheets and fewer clothes. Else you end up with immaculate barely worn clothes that are too small in a few weeks.

If you can borrow a carrycot & stand from friends so you can have 1 upstairs and 1 down. Much easier than trying to carry up and down stairs. I didn't manage to borrow a carry cot just the stand but it still made my life easier.

I stocked up on baby wipes, baby bath etc and DD was allergic to it all. Had to use cotton wool and water for bottom and plain water in bath. Wasted a lot of money there.

Also wasted money on a bouncing chair that she screamed everytime she sat in. She enjoyed the playmat much more and it saved moping sick up off the carpet.

Pram, go for smallish wheels it has to go in the car frequently. Big wheels often don't fit or take up too much room.

I breastfed but bought a couple of bottles in case but didn't bother with bottle warmer etc.

I also got DD used to sleeping in dark bedroom from the beginning so we didn't have to be reliant on nightlight. Now she can't sleep with any light but surprisingly 10 & 11 year old friends who sleepover need the landing light left on.

You might want to think about getting a V shape pillow for your wife as it makes feeding more comfortable.

Rachie_B

as an alternative to a baby bath we found the supabath from mothercare fab ,it fits on top of the normal bath so no stooping down low

http://www.mothercare.com/invt/lu0159&bklist=

we had a changing unit but didnt use it much TBH ,preferring to just use changing mat on floor (one set of changing stuff upstairs and one downstairs to make life easier !)

Lillibet_2

My son is now 7 1/2 months, we knew he was a boy but still kept the room green & neutral as we knew green is the most calming colour for a bedroom. We kept the cream curtains & lampshade that we were already using : he doesn't care that they aren't covered unrealistic zebras or whatever, plus his room is so full of toys & stuff that it's nice to keep some things plain instead of busy! We bought a black out blind from Ikea (rolls very queitly!). We got our cot from ebay. The toy box was mine & before that my mums, just needed a coat of paint. Haven't got a proper chest of drawers yet but when we do it'll be second hand so that we don't have to worry if it gets trashed with bumper trucks being rolled into it or drinks spilt over it. Don't need a wardrobe yet as his clothes are too small to hang but thankfully there is a built in cupboard when we do. Never bothered with a changing table, he can't roll off a changing mat or towel on the bathroom floor! Love baby sleeping bags & would recommend these as babe can't kick covers off & get cold plus they keep them warm & snuggly during night feeds, but you might not need one of these straight away as it'll be a summer baby. We are still using the hooded towels we were given & although I never would have bought them myself I have found them to be a godsend to stop post-bath shivers (and still long enough even though he is in 9-12 month clothes). Other than that, we added a 2nd hand futon so that one of us can sleep in with him if he is sick etc & some glow stars to the ceiling as we both have fond memories of these when we were young. Alphabet & counting posters from Woolies & a free Mr Man poster with a set of Mr Man books which we are reading to him before his afternoon naps.

HTH