Newbie, and first time expectant mum. Help.

Savvy_Sue

Surprised no-one has yet mentioned the NCT: if you have a local branch they often seem to run second hand sales and they are a very good way of picking up quality stuff. They can also be a good way of making friends in a similar situation.

Slings: if your hubby wants one, fine. We had one, but rarely used it as it did my back in and made him too hot when he carried baby!

Pushchairs/prams: I'm not up to date with the latest models, but I got through several, all secondhand, which met my needs at different times. I didn't have use of a car initially, but I did have a hall, so left the pram there and babies slept in it or a Moses basket until they outgrew it. Did have a toddler pram seat for a little while but it didn't feel very safe to me!

Once pram outgrown I moved onto a big heavy pushchair with a big tray underneath for shopping.

At all times I had a lightweight folding buggy in the boot of the car, one which could lie flat for babies or sit more upright for toddlers. I flirted briefly with a double buggy which could take a carry cot one side, but it was too wide for most doorways and drove me quietly round the bend. The carrycot fitted the single buggy frame, however, so that was useful!

Now, if you have someone prepared to pay a lot of money for something which will certainly last through baby stage into toddlerdom, that's fine, but I just feel it's not necessarily the best way to go. Getting what you need now and changing it when it's no longer suitable can be equally appropriate. After all, if you fall pregnant again within a year of baby's birth (!) you will definitely need a double something!

KK

You've had some great advice here. Get the best buggy/pushchair you can afford, particularly if you plan on having more than one - they get knackered so easily. My M&P Pliko is 4.5 years old and has been well used (including going on flights) and could easily do another child (won't be doing so...). If you can keep the same pushchair from birth upwards it saves time and money. A 3 wheeler is great for sturdiness but they are bulky and aren't always that comfy for newborns (unless you get a carrycot one). Travel systems where you put the baby car seat on a chassis of some sort are good if you are going to use a car regularly. I didn't have a car so I hardly used my travel system as such, but used both items separately tons. Don't buy a big pram with a carrycot and a big chassis unless you really want one. The baby won't want to lie down looking at the sky for many weeks (mine was nosy and wanted to be in a semi sitting position from about 4 weeks!) and there are really bulky to store unless you have a huge hallway.

I found my baby monitor invaluable, but I used it more for naps (so I could hear whether she had settled down and when she woke up) and also when we were in the garden in the summer. Mine had a little portable bit that came out of the unit that you could carry around.

I'm not sure about the cot bed debate. A normal size cot lasts until about 2.5 years, then why not go straight for a single bed which will last them until they leave home?! Cot beds are bigger therefore the bedding is more expensive, and they grow out of them by about 4 years, then you have to buy yet another bed. My moses basket was hardly used as my little one slept with me for the first 8 weeks (I know, I swore I wouldn't do it!) and then went into her own cot. It was useful to bring downstairs for her to sleep in in the daytime.

I used my sling quite a bit and it lasted me for the first year - depends on how much walking you will be doing and whether you want your hands free. It's good for shopping, but your buggy could have a big shopping basket. We used it for walks and going to places where there were lots of people.

Clothes - you will get loads given and probably have friends with babies more than willing to pass on stuff. NCT nearly new sales are fabulous - go to one in a wealthy area and grab yourself some bargains! My nursery guard, playpen, rocker chair and baby backpack (for when they get too heavy to go in a sling) all came from those.

Baby rocking seat - like a car seat for the house. Well worth buying (2nd hand if you like) as the baby can sit in them for daytime/wake periods, sleep in it, you can feed a baby in them etc. Great for those moments when you don't want to hold them. My daughter used to come everywhere in hers - she watched me ironing, cooking, hanging out the washing etc - it had handles to carry it around.

Wish I'd used washable nappies - how much money I wasted!

Breastfeeding - is easy and free! You may even bypass the need for sterilisers and bottles altogether. Go straight to a feeding cup.

My mum made me cot sheets out of old bedsheets but I also had fitted sheets for ease.

Fleece blankets were cheap and brilliant as they washed and dried really easily.

Good luck in your pregnancy and happy shopping.

jellyhead

this is a great thread :-)

congratulations tilly! my son will be 9 when this one's born in july so i've forgotten almost everything and have no clue about the bewildering array of baby equipment. went into babiesrus at the weekend just for a look around while son used his toysrus xmas voucher and i was really depressed by how expensive everything is.

what do you all have downstairs for putting babies in? last time i was ill and lived with my parents in a downstairs bedroom i pinched off my brother for a few months so when baby was asleep i just put him on the downstairs bed. this time i'm not sure what we need, i don't think i'll want to trek upstairs to the cot everytime baby naps. we've been offered a second hand travel system, i wondered if maybe the car seat part will be suitable for other things - will we still need a bouncy chair and what about a moses basket for downstairs? does the baby need a different place for sleep and for play or can the same thing do for both? my pregnancy book says baby needs to be laid flat on its back for sleep.

the other thing i was wondering is does anyone have a babydan i think they're called. it's a playpen that could also be used as a room divider or stair or fireguard. it has a soft mat at the bottom, could the baby sleep on that if the playpen was up all the time? are there any cheaper playpens that could also be used for putting baby down for a sleep? how long before a baby is too big and wriggly for a bouncy chair?

i've forgotten everything and i really didn't buy much last time. we're short on money and space so anything we can do without i'd rather do without lol!

jellyhead

i don't want to hijack tilly's thread but tiff you say anyone can breastfeed - i couldn't. maybe i should start another thread about it, i do want advice if anyone's got any. anyway, i just wanted to say that not absolutely everyone can do it and if you 'fail' it can be really depressing. so don't take it for granted, by all means try but if it doesn't happen it may be worth having an idea of which steriliser and bottles you want so you can send somebody out to get it before you leave hospital. if you can't do it don't let anyone make you feel like a failure, it doesn't happen for everyone. tiff i'm going to start a new thread about this, if you have any advice could you please join my new thread, i'd really like to try breastfeeding this time :-)

Yoga_Girl

Just been looking on the Grabbit board and someone has posted that there are some good offers on baby slings online on:

www.bumpto3.com/

Spendless

Jellyhead- i lived in a small house when eldest was born and we were short of space. I bought a travel cot and used it as a playpen and also son used top sleep in it. It had the advantage of being able to be folded up on an evening.

We had to move an armchair up into one of the bedrooms to find room for the travel cot/playpen to go up though.

Son wouldn't go in playpen once he learned to crawl though (at 5 months!!!). I also had a bouncy chair but cos the room was small found i had no where to keep it when not in use.

When daughter was born we had a moses basket for her downstairs.

I had an alarm for eldest but to be honest because the house was small, we could hear him anyway. With daughter we had an alarm that wired into our tv. If baby cried it would switch onto her and we could see if she was moving about or if she'd wriggled blankets off etc. Sounds expensive but we only paid £30 for it. Can't remember the website for it though sorry

chekka

http://www.bumpto3.com/products/wintersale/

Investigate the different items within the main sales pages and you'll see the prices have dropped even lower! hope you pick up some great bargains.

tiff

jellyhead wrote:

i don't want to hijack tilly's thread but tiff you say anyone can breastfeed - i couldn't. maybe i should start another thread about it, i do want advice if anyone's got any. anyway, i just wanted to say that not absolutely everyone can do it and if you 'fail' it can be really depressing. so don't take it for granted, by all means try but if it doesn't happen it may be worth having an idea of which steriliser and bottles you want so you can send somebody out to get it before you leave hospital. if you can't do it don't let anyone make you feel like a failure, it doesn't happen for everyone. tiff i'm going to start a new thread about this, if you have any advice could you please join my new thread, i'd really like to try breastfeeding this time :-)

Sorry Jellyhead, I didnt see this before posting on the other thread. When I originally posted I was thinking that you can overcome most problems, but I've not come across anyone not having any milk before. I absolutely agree with you though, you shouldnt feel like a failure.

Did you not get leaking breasts (sorry guys) when you were pregnant? Lucky you!!

mini

I found th ecar seats were too hard & bent a newborn baby over a bit too much for my liking, we had a bouncy chair with eldest which didn't last long before she could get out of it & a reclining chair with youngest, reclining one was about £35, money well spent imho, it was adjustable so she could lie back to sleep & sit up for feeding.

Bought a super duper pram - hardly usd it after buying a £70 pushchair from mothercare, it was much easier to get in & out of car, round shops & I decided bumpy travel helped them sleep.


I used the pram dowstairs for the first few weeksonly in the daytime, never had a moses basket or crib I had heard of so many people having to resettle their babies when they changed from crib to cot I wondered what the point was, both have been excellent sleepers - thankfully.

jellyhead

no tiff i never had any leaks, i realise i'm lucky lol! there are people on the bounty message boards due in july who say they're leaking already!

reclining chair sounds like a good idea :-)

i saw changing mats for a fiver in ethel austin today, is that cheap?

also i saw a travel cot thing in a catalogue yesterday, made by graco or chicco i think. it had straps so you could have a raised platform bit for a newborn to sleep on (would only last a few weeks i should think, until they were too bog or wriggly for that, but then they could sleep on the bottom bit, the raised platform is to save you bending over too far in the first few weeks, handy if you've had a c section i should think). it also had a changing mat board to go over the top. not really necessary i suppose but i might be handy again if you've got a bad back or your tummy hurts and you don't want to get down onto the floor for changing nappies. i remember my epidural giving me really bad back pain last time. it was around £70 i think, is that expensive?

how long can you use a travel cot for? i'd imagine they could sleep in one for quite a while but once they get big and wriggly would they tip it over if you used it as a playpen? i think a travel cot might still be a good idea because we go on caravan holidays and cot hire's expensive, plus we'd use it for visiting grandparents every month or so.

i looked at moses baskets in a shop today and remembered that i had one when spud was a baby, mum borrowed it off someone. not a basket but a wooden swinging crib with white drapes, etc. - very expensive but pretty lol! he was out of it by 11 weeks and he was a small baby, i'd imagine a large baby would be out of it even sooner so i don't think i'll be buying anything like that (nice if you can borrow though) although a moses basket would take up less space than a travel cot. i suppose a travel cot would take up most of the living room though, perhaps baby would prefer the kitchen lol!