Newbie, and first time expectant mum. Help.

ViksB

Great posts
I was wondering if anyone could recomend the best places to buy maternity stuff. Clothes and in fact anything else which might be needed during pregnancy?

Thanks

jellyhead

i'm buying from ebay at the moment. there used to be a second hand shop in my town but she's started selling new stock instead, she says there just isn't the market for second hand anymore because nobody's poor ?! i am !!

Spendless

On an Argos flyer thru our door today is advertised a Century stroller, bouncer (chair) and travel cot for £99.99

Our son slept in travel cot when we went away up until he came out of ordinary cot (just before he was 2).

It was used as a playpen till he learnt to crawl (at 5 months!!) but once he could crawl he didn't like the playpen.

The cot a Graco one has only been used on odd occassions for daughter, so it depends on your lifestyle. If you go away, stop overnight at peoples houses etc it might be worth getting one.

If it's only going to be used once or twice either borrow or buy 2nd hand.

Jay-Jay_4

Hullo,

Good advice so far on here...!

Just a quickie about monitors...I've tested a range for a baby mag so had some sent out to me... Philips baby cam £200 :eek: was actually BRILL...it has night vision so you can watch how baby settles herself ... it was a great insight as when we thought baby was asleep she was actually playing quietly for sometimes over a hour!!!!

The Tomee Tipee and Angel care ones were the worst for feedback and reception, Tomy was good but the best one by far was the BT one with display.

Don't get me wrong... I wouldn't have gone out and paid nearly £100 for a monitor but I do love this BT monitor. It has talkback to baby (watched her reaction to this on the babycam.... she was intruiged!!!! ) You can also play music in baby's room from the parent unit...ace for a grumpy baby.

The best value for clear reception was the Tomy but if you have a bit of cash or it's going to be a pressie, the BT one is Fab!!!

As for prams, I've got 3. A posh £300 Britax one that hardly gets used, a £35 mothercare umbrella folding one that we use loads and a BabyJogger which I've taken halfway up Langdale and use for running and orienteering but which lives in the shed as it's always full of mud and a faff to collapse.

Decide what you're going to use a pram for before you buy... day long shopping trips... quick trips in and out of the car or all day walks around hill and vale.

I wouldn't bother with bottles at this stage, if you need them you can get them at a 24 hr supermarket in an emergency but as you want to b/feed then I wouldn't waste your money at the moment.

Tillymynt

Ooh, quite handy info there Jay-Hay, thanks. We were looking at baby monitors yesterday in Mothercare, and didn't have a scooby doo about which one to get. I actually remembered a trial in one of the pregnancy mags, and was going to search it out when I got home (but forgot).

It's probably the article that you did the test for.

I've printed your comments out anyway, so that we can have a bit of an idea when we go looking again.

Did you get to keep any of the gadgets?

Jay-Jay wrote:

Hullo,

Good advice so far on here...!

Just a quickie about monitors...I've tested a range for a baby mag so had some sent out to me... Philips baby cam £200 :eek: was actually BRILL...it has night vision so you can watch how baby settles herself ... it was a great insight as when we thought baby was asleep she was actually playing quietly for sometimes over a hour!!!!

The Tomee Tipee and Angel care ones were the worst for feedback and reception, Tomy was good but the best one by far was the BT one with display.

Don't get me wrong... I wouldn't have gone out and paid nearly £100 for a monitor but I do love this BT monitor. It has talkback to baby (watched her reaction to this on the babycam.... she was intruiged!!!! ) You can also play music in baby's room from the parent unit...ace for a grumpy baby.

The best value for clear reception was the Tomy but if you have a bit of cash or it's going to be a pressie, the BT one is Fab!!!

As for prams, I've got 3. A posh £300 Britax one that hardly gets used, a £35 mothercare umbrella folding one that we use loads and a BabyJogger which I've taken halfway up Langdale and use for running and orienteering but which lives in the shed as it's always full of mud and a faff to collapse.

Decide what you're going to use a pram for before you buy... day long shopping trips... quick trips in and out of the car or all day walks around hill and vale.

I wouldn't bother with bottles at this stage, if you need them you can get them at a 24 hr supermarket in an emergency but as you want to b/feed then I wouldn't waste your money at the moment.

Jay-Jay_4

Tillymynt wrote:

Did you get to keep any of the gadgets?

Yeah, I kept them all apart from the Philips Baby Cam :mad: they collected that after a couple of months! I was a bit gutted as I had it connected to the telly in the kitchen and I loved watching her sleep.

I still use the BT one because it's fandabbydozy, and my Mum has the Tomy Walkabout for my Nan who lives next door to her

I had already bought a Tomee Tipee before the trial so now have 2 of those along with the AngelCare one. I didn't want to sell them/give them away in case the mag wanted them back.

By the way I tested the ones with the matress sensors and I found them to be a waste of time. For the Angel care one, if you have a slatted cot base, you need to buy a piece of plyboard and cut it to size to make a solid base !!!!!!!! Too much of a faff for me and as soon as baby can move around (as early as 12 weeks) they're useless anyway.

Glad

Ikea are wonderful for basic baby equipment
eg baby bath £3.90
changing mat £3.50
5 bibs for £1
see more items HERE

I never bought any clothes for mine before they were born apart from a couple of babygros in 1st sizes, then I waited to see what I had as gifts and what I really needed.

If you are breastfeeding then one unnecessary expense is feeding bras, I fed both of mine and just used an ordinary bra that I lifted up.

Both of mine were big babies and were out of the moses basket by 4 weeks but as I'd bought it 2ndhand from a friend and then sold it on after I didn't mind too much.

We had a baby sling and rarely used it with first, seemed more comfy in pram/buggy but it did come in useful for second as I had baby in sling and toddler in pushchair.

jo_b_2

Firstly, congrats on your pregnancy. Hope you've been feeling okay in yourself!

Secondly, the 'essentials' and 'luxuries' will vary widely according to your personality and lifestyle. I personally found that a moses basket was a total waste of time when my son was born. He hated it and, because he had a twitching reflex when he was tiny, he used to fling his arms in his sleep and wake himself up on the wicker sides. Luckily, I'd borrowed one so hadn't wasted good money on something that we didn't really use.

Other people have recommended baby slings/carriers. Again, my little boy hated his. Maybe it was the particular type we had but it was such a struggle trying to get him in the thing that he ended up screaming and stressed out rather than all cosy and relaxed like I envisaged! This is something that with hindsight, I would definitely wait until after the birth before buying. At least that way you can test just how easy to use with a real live wriggling unco-operative baby!

Again, some people find them a godsend but I found it a total waste of money.

The one item that I would say is worth its wait in gold is one of the 'baby nests.' Galt make the best known design but you can get cheaper versions. Ours got months and months of use until my boy was sitting totally confidently and, although they take up loads of space they make a lovely play area, as you can just stick a pile of soft toys in the centre. If I only had to recommend one single item that would definitely be the one.

Hope that's given you something to think about at the very least. Take care and enjoy the rest of your pregnancy. Jo.

ViksB

Might sound stupid...
But other than clothes and folic acid for the first few months is there anything else you need during the pregnancy?

jo_b_2

ViksB wrote:

Might sound stupid...
But other than clothes and folic acid for the first few months is there anything else you need during the pregnancy?

Bit personal but you might need some breast pads as some people start producing milk quite early in the pregnancy. I also found one of those triangle-shaped cushions was really useful during the later stages, as I found it really uncomfortable getting to sleep with my ever-increasing bump.

Some women also need support tights during pregnancy, although I read on another thread that you can get these free from Lloyds chemists?? Oh and decent maternity bras are really important!