MSE help needed for first baby

rozeepozee

Don't bathe your child very often (save water and heating!) and when you do don't use fancy soaps and shampoos, just warm water.

My little boy had a bath about 24 times in his first two years....

This might seem slightly shocking in a culture that seems to favour a nightly bath as part of baby's bedtime routine but despite his lack of baths his skin was perfect and commented on many times by my health visitors who felt that many babies are overbathed these days. Of course he was top and tailed every time his nappy was changed and his face and hands washed before/after meals and flanneled every now and then but it seems to have done him no harm and saved me precious time too in the process.

elf06

All I can advise is reusable nappies! I used them and they were a great - not all the hassle some folk (including my midwife!!!!!) say they are

Oh and I agree about the bathing thing - my son had exzema and the less I bathed him the better his skin was. Hardly ever use baby bath cos again it aggrivates his skin so its a bath 3 times a week and plain old warm water for him :rotfl:

HariboJunkie

rozeepozee wrote: »

I agree - I think the child has to be ready and the parent/carer has ro be ready too - but potty training is getting later and later and all our mothers can't have been wrong having us potty trained at 2 or before. (They were very motivated because of the lack of washing machines and money, I guess). It's about lifestyle and what you are willing to tolerate. If my LO has an accident, I don't make a fuss, just say "oh dear" and change his pants from the many I carry round with me. I'm a full time mum too. I doubt I'd have been able to do this if not as I'd have needed the childminder/nursey on board too. However, one of the main reasons I can afford to be a full time mum is because of my fervent money saving, so it's possibly a little bit circular....

I agree. Our mothers did potty train us earlier but we don't remember how stressed they or we were at the time as a result.:D And as you say, washing was more of a chore in those days. I tried to potty train mine early but they clearly weren't quite ready so we left it six months and tried again. They had it cracked in 2 days.

With regards to the "elimination communication", there are possibly good reasons why it has been adopted in some cultures and not others as you have suggested.

I also only bathed my twins about twice a week. Babies really don't get dirty and I found bathtime one of the most stressful times of the day for all of us.

hanstar

i found that you dont need half the things you think you need, i brought a rocking crib that my son went in about 2 times, a bath we used 5 times max, and a changing mat we never used. also 1 1/2 years on we are still using the same bottle of baby shampoo and bubble bath.
the only items i brought new were a car seat and a cot/matress. and these i shopped around for ages so i got good deals. i found car boots and ebay great for buying everyhting cheaply and if you go for bundles (not individual items) of baby clothes you can get some amazing bargains.
using re-usable nappies is also a great way to save pennies, i found them great and would highly recommend giving them a go. even though you may find it a bit trial and error with a few different types/brands. you can get these second hand so you can try them out cheaply first, if you are intrested in tyring reusables i can give you some websitess that have have some good classifieds sections for buying/selling nappies.

rozeepozee

HariboJunkie wrote: »

I agree. Our mothers did potty train us earlier but we don't remember how stressed they or we were at the time as a result.:D And as you say, washing was more of a chore in those days. I tried to potty train mine early but they clearly weren't quite ready so we left it six months and tried again. They had it cracked in 2 days.

With regards to the "elimination communication", there are possibly good reasons why it has been adopted in some cultures and not others as you have suggested.

I also only bathed my twins about twice a week. Babies really don't get dirty and I found bathtime one of the most stressful times of the day for all of us.

As regards your signature, I'd like to add ... and it's so much more satisfying when you do :rotfl:

HariboJunkie

rozeepozee wrote: »

As regards your signature, I'd like to add ... and it's so much more satisfying when you do :rotfl:

As long as we're not talking about children. That's a whole other thread. :rotfl:

li'l_p

My baby is due on Sunday, and we've got the majority of our stuff second-hand: i.e. freecycle, ebay and car boot sales. Having a baby can be as cheap or expensive as you want it to be, it's personal preference. There are items I have bought new, as I alway said I would, these were the travel system, bottles, cot mattress and dummies.

Luckily I was given about 6 bin bags full of girl clothes from my friend, and most of these hadn't even been worn and still had the tags attached. I also got a couple of odd bags off freecycle, again stuff which had barely been worn! My drawers are now full of clothes and even I don't think my little one will get a chance to wear everything, but I'm not bothered becaue I haven't paid out for them. We've bought the odd item as you can't help buying stuff yourself.

I got the following items off Freecycle:
• Cot
• 2 rolls of nursery border
• Tub Chair (for BF)
• Medela Electric Breast Pump - just bought replacement shield and valves brand new
• Cot Sheets
• 2 packs of Pampers newborn nappies (disposables) - I intend to use re-useables so these will be handy for the first few days and for emergencies.

I got the following from car boot sale:
• Baby Bouncer Chair - Fisher Price Pink/Vibrating one - £8
• Various Blankets - 50p each
• Winnie the Pooh Floor Play Mat - £2
• Mamas & Papas Pine Change Unit - £15
• Mamas & Papas Pine High Chair - £10
• Baby Bath Seat - £3
• Tommee Tippee Steam Steriliser - £1.50

I got the following from ebay:
• Moses basket & stand - £25 (we weren't going to have one but at the 11th hour (i.e. this week) have got one after seeing a friend with her little one)
• Reuseable nappies (and some were bought new)

We also got gift vouchers when I went on maternity leave from work and at my baby shower, so these were used to purchase the cot mattress, baby monitors and few other little bits that we fancied (and because we could).

All in all we have saved a hell of a lot from getting stuff 2nd hand, which has meant we could spend on the items we wanted new. Just because the stuff is secondhand doesn't mean we have got rubbish. A lot of the time, people are only selling stuff because they were given multiples as gifts and/or the baby barely or never used it, so you can get some 'as new' items.

We haven't bothered with a baby bath as we don't see the point in lugging a baby bath around the house. Generally baby will be bathed in the main bath and carried to the bedroom. Even the baby change unit I was reluctant to have because I wasn't sure we would use it. My OH wanted to buy a new one for around £100 in Mothercare but I told him I wasn't sure we'd use it and would resent paying so much if we then only used it once or twice. I ended up looking on ebay, missed one locally that sold for £30 and ended up getting the exact same one the following day at a boot sale for £15! Now I am not bothered if we only use it once!

Not sure where you are based but Home & Bargains are fantastic for some baby accessories. I got all my Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature bottles from there. Not sure if they still have them, but they were doing the small bottles twin pack for £1.50 and the taller single bottles for £1.99. They have the teats in stock at the moment too and these are only 99p for the twin pack.

Sorry for the long post, but hope this helps.

rozeepozee

Home Bargains used to also be good for little tupperware pots that you can use to make homemade food and then freeze in small batches. Saved a fortune and my little boy has never had to eat a pot of over cooked vacuum sealed gunk in his life.

Also, when you get to feeding them solids, a good emergency ration is banana (or avocado) as they're nutritious and easy to mash on the hoof. I always take a couple with me even now as it's a healthy snack if we're out and about and he's hungry.

Tigerlilley1980

Hi there, I have a little girl who is 20 months and found I bought loads of things she outgrew really quickly so here is my list of things you definitely need and that helped loads

Sleeping bag from Grobag - I found the sizes are ample and lasted much longer than they should. Mine was washed loads and really helped to get her in a routine, we had a 2.5 tog which kept her warm enough without blankets.

Foam bath support from Mothercare - £6 and was great for keeping DD in place in the bath and as a nervous new mum really helped. I could use both hands to bathe her and she didn't slip about at all.

Tommee Tippee Microwave steriliser - Used this as a cold water and microwave steriliser and both ways worked great.

Cloth Nappies - My local council did a £45 voucher for free which I used to buy the Mothercare smartnappies. They were brill and we hardly had leaks.

Room thermometer - We had the Grobag Egg which I got cheap from Ebay and I found it invaluable for getting the temperature right in her room.

Things we didn't need but bought and wasted money on - Moses basket, DD was in hers four weeks if that, baby bath again used for a matter of weeks, top and tail bowl, changing mat, hardly used it was just as easy doing it on the floor without the mat, baby wipes, cheap flannels are just as good and I keep a supply of them in a tub by the sink. HTH Tiger xx

p.s. good luck with your little one! x

pretzelnut

I am 27 weeks pregnant and the only things i have bought are:

Pram, car seat and carry cot off ebay (new but cheaper than a shop),
Bottles, steriliser and breast pump from the asda baby event,
Bundle of clothes of ebay,
2 new outfits from matalan,
new vests and a few blankets from primark,

I got 1 packet of huggies nappies free from asda using the voucher in one of the bounty bag magazines.

I use flannels instead of bibs a lot cheaper and more absorbant.

My baby will use the carrycot to sleep in, i will bottle or breast feed (not sure which yet) and she has clothes.

I will wash her in the sink just like i have all my other kids as i will be having a c-section and the sink is a perfect height so im not bending over, plus the worktop is handy for putting towels and baby wash on.

I made the mistake with my 1st child of buying everything on the list, and i would say i never used 90% of it.

Now i have bought the bare basics to get us home from hospital, my OH is perfectly capable of going to the shop if there is anything else i need and i will buy other stuff as needed via the internet. We havent got the space to store loads of stuff, and i remember going mental buying baby clothes with my 1st 2 that by the toime it came to them wearing them i didnt like them anymore so bought more or they didnt grow as quick or grew to quick for the season.

Plus you will inevitably find that relatives are very generous when a baby is born and will buy outfits and things.

By the time we need a proper cot, or rocker chair it will be xmas, so my little girl will have a cot as an xmas present this year instead of me buying 100's of toys she'll never use. And i'll pay for that using the money i have earnt via quidco over the year.

It very easy to get drawn into the ''oh thats cute i have to have it'' scenario, but will you actually ever use it or is it just wasted money.

Another good tip to remember is:
If your going to buy something whether new or 2nd hand think of its resale value.

If you cant resell it for a good amount dont buy it.
A lot of the stuff you buy on ebay 2nd hand can be resold in a few months for almost the same as what you paid for it.