What kit do I need for my new baby?

digitalphase

Thanks everyone

I am planning to breastfeed if I can, but will still need bottles etc for when we go out and so OH can feed baby.

I'm not buying anything else until my scan Already got a few baby clothes that I bought last time, but not tempting fate by buying anything else until I know there's definitely a baby in there Though I feel like carp so there'd better be a reason!

I wanted to get a travel system. Kiddiecare have good deals, but it would be good to go somewhere and try some buggies out first. Don't really have a clue what we're looking for. I guess it needs to be fairly lightweight, fit in car but that shouldn't be a problem, and able to go off road a bit when we go for walks.

I got some free vouchers for nappies and 'mum to be' essentials in my bounty pack from midwife Also Boots do a great thing where you buy a pack of Nappies then get a free changing bag. Anyone know if you can do this online or is it store only?

Waiting for shopping delivery and feeling veeeeery sick now

Tammer

Evansangel wrote: »

Have you looked online at prices?

Mattress i would say between £30-£60+, depending on how good you want it. We got ours with our cotbed from ILs as Lilys cousin only used it about 5 times.

Pram, you can usually get a travel system with a car seat for about £200.

.......

Clothes you can get from ebay for cheap, or new from tesco, asda, etc. They outgrow them v. quickly!

......

Monitors you can get basic ones for £20ish. Ours were £100 for digital ones, but my dad bought them hehe.

Baby baths are cheap, but we put her in the big bath from about 10 weeks as she was so tall.

I'd say about 8-10 nappies a day, stock up now so you have a backlog. Dont get to many size 1's though as baby might outgrow them quickly.
You usually get a voucher for a free pack in your bounty pack when it comes

Hi, I thought this was a moneysaving forum?:rotfl:

I thought I'd share my experiences and show how you can save a bit more if you're on a tight budget. My son was born last week so we're all set for him. My motivation was really to lessen the impact that my son has on the environment, by minimising the number of things that we have to buy new. Some of the things we got were:

New
Breast pump (£50)
Bottles (£7)
Microwave Steriliser (£12.50)
Some bedding and a pack of disposable nappies. (around £20 in total).
A couple of packs of onesies from Asda (a few quid).

2nd Hand
My friends gave us their old M&P travel system which included a car seat and they steam-cleaned it to look as good as new. Do you have any friends or family you could borrow or buy one from? Potentially this saves you anything up to £700.

I bought a M&P cot with waterproof mattress (in immaculate condition) from Gumtree for £50, a saving on new of over £150.

My Mum bought us loads of baby clothes and blankets from car boot sales. She boil-washed them and I reckon they'll have cost around £10 in total, if that.

My friend gave us an old travel cot, which we'll use if we're staying away overnight anywhere.

A colleague gave us their old M&P buggy which I'll steam clean in the next few days.

Some friends gave us some old toys and my Mum bought some from a car boot sale. Car boot sales and Gumtree are full of people trying to get rid of all the stuff they bought now that baby's grown up a bit.

We bought a 2nd rocking hand moses basket for £30 and bought a new mattress.

For nappies, we have a trial pack of real nappies. If these are any good, we will buy some re-usable nappies from Gumtree to avoid the costs and environmental impact of disposable nappies.


I hope some of the above experiences are helpful in some way and best of luck when baby comes.

onlyroz

I really wouldn't buy too much now - especially regarding clothes, nappies, toys etc. With nappies, you don't know what size you're going to need. An early baby will need tiny nappies but a bigger baby might go straight into size 2. And in the first few months you'll be going up sizes fairly quickly and so if you've got a large stockpile you might find that you've wasted money.

A newborn doesn't need any toys - they won't be even be able to hold a rattle for the first few months. Maybe get a mobile to hang over the cot, and some books with contrasting patterns in (babies love simple pictures of faces).

If you're planning on breastfeeding then you should only need a few bottles for going out. And certainly don't fork out a fortune for a fancy steriliser. A large plastic bowl and some sterlising tablets is all you need.

For a moneysaving tip - I got my crib from the local charity shop for £10. If you use a moses basket, baby will be in it for 8 weeks max, and in a crib for 6 months max, so spend as little on these as possible. Save up the money for a full size cot-bed to use when baby hits the 6-month+ mark and can move into their own room.

digitalphase

Tammer wrote: »

Hi, I thought this was a moneysaving forum?:rotfl:

I thought I'd share my experiences and show how you can save a bit more if you're on a tight budget. My son was born last week so we're all set for him. My motivation was really to lessen the impact that my son has on the environment, by minimising the number of things that we have to buy new. Some of the things we got were:

New
Breast pump (£50)
Bottles (£7)
Microwave Steriliser (£12.50)
Some bedding and a pack of disposable nappies. (around £20 in total).
A couple of packs of onesies from Asda (a few quid).

2nd Hand
My friends gave us their old M&P travel system which included a car seat and they steam-cleaned it to look as good as new. Do you have any friends or family you could borrow or buy one from? Potentially this saves you anything up to £700.

I bought a M&P cot with waterproof mattress (in immaculate condition) from Gumtree for £50, a saving on new of over £150.

My Mum bought us loads of baby clothes and blankets from car boot sales. She boil-washed them and I reckon they'll have cost around £10 in total, if that.

My friend gave us an old travel cot, which we'll use if we're staying away overnight anywhere.

A colleague gave us their old M&P buggy which I'll steam clean in the next few days.

Some friends gave us some old toys and my Mum bought some from a car boot sale. Car boot sales and Gumtree are full of people trying to get rid of all the stuff they bought now that baby's grown up a bit.

We bought a 2nd rocking hand moses basket for £30 and bought a new mattress.

For nappies, we have a trial pack of real nappies. If these are any good, we will buy some re-usable nappies from Gumtree to avoid the costs and environmental impact of disposable nappies.


I hope some of the above experiences are helpful in some way and best of luck when baby comes.

Thanks, that's very helpful

We are on a tight budget, so will be trying to get as much second hand as we can, but some things I won't budge on new

Hopefully the grandparents will offer to put something towards a travel system, as this is the most expensive bit and we want it new.

Unfortunately we don't know anyone who has anything they don't need anymore. My OH's sister has had her two kids and youngest is 5 and they've given everything away already.

Nara

I got everything second hand, I'm glad i did since they don't seem to use much for very long and alot of baby stuff i found pointless.

We had a pram and only used it twice, it was like £10 from a boot sale! (get there early for good bargains!)
Buggy i got from Ebay
Clothes bought in bulk from Ebay second hand
Didn;t bother with moses basket waste of time
Cot was second hand from a friend, another friend lent us a travel cot which she ended up in most the time anyway
I breastfed for 18 months so needed no bottles/dummies (this was a mistake make sure you get em onto a bottle so you get a break!)
Carseats i got second hand, yeah i know you shouldn't but i did :P
Parents/family bought alot of stuff too, toys and clothes so tbh i hardly spent anything lol.

I would say Ebay and boot sales are your friend.

**confuzzled**

I've not paid full price for any of the big things that we've bought new:) Use all the vouchers and join as many clubs as humanly possible...helps more than you'd think:D

The things I've had 2nd hand/given by friends are:
Sling - £5 from Netmums
Breast Pump - Free from friend
baby bouncer - Freecycle

everything else has been new:) and so far we've spent just under £500 and don't under-estimate what parents and ILs are prepared to buy for you;) Ours have bought the little bits & bobs like the baby grooming kits/clothing/blankets, also worth looking at the baby events in the various supermarkets..always a good deal to be had
we've not bought many clothes for bubs either for various reasons..the main one being I'm sick of beige/white/yellow:o they grow out of stuff so fast..and once we know what flavour bubs is the Grandparents will be off to the shops in a flash:rotfl: oh and I know my sister has 2 suitcases of new clothes her kids never wore and seeing as she has one of each flavour we've got all bases covered:D
Again nappies, not got huge amounts as I'm gonna try the washable route 1st, if that doesn't pan out so well...we get MILs discount where she works so will stock up as and when, also bubs' size is very debatable as we're up and down with midwife measurements and with DH being 6ft and me being 5ft it could go either way:rotfl:

If you want I can email you a copy of my spreadsheet....as we've gone along we've realised there's stuff we won't need...plan was to buy a baby monitor but we figured that the rooms bubs will sleep in we won't be far away although its a 3bed house we can always hear baby...we've tried and tested it with a friends kid:o:) also moses basket..decided against it coz bubs won't be in it for long and seeing as our travel system came with a carry cot we can use that and the travel system also also lies flat and then there's the baby bouncer so baby definitely has options:D Assuming that Mummy & Daddies arms aren't good enough;):)

Right I've ranted on too much now:o If you need any more help or need to add to your list of stuff to buy, pop over to the pg thread...I'm sure there's always at least one of us thats bought something 'absolutely necessary' that is then deemed pointless when baby arrives:rotfl::rotfl:

clw1

It might be worth going to a local NCT nearly new sale, that's where I got my cot (£25), playmat (£10), toys (c£2 - £5 each), bath (£4), clothes etc. Round my area they are in Autumn and Spring so they are happening in the next few weeks.
http://www.nctpregnancyandbabycare.com/in-your-area/nearly-new-sales

Also look at ebay, netmums and baby second hand shops in your area.

As for the other stuff:
- My baby monitor was £50 but that was new.
- Matress was £80
- buggy's can be anything from £100 - £800
- car seat is about £100 for an isofix one or from £50 if non-isofix
- feeding stuff - I got a tommee tippee set with 2 bottles, bottle brush & a microwave / cold water steriliser for £20 (these are on half price in boots at the moment). Plus I bought an extra 2 bottles, sterlising liquid etc.

Other things you might need that aren't on the list
- cot sheets (I find the John Lewis stuff washes well but Mothercare's sheets don't fit my cot well).
- Blankets or baby sleeping bags (sleeping bags can be £20 each !)
- Moses basket (borrow it if you can as they only get used for a few weeks)
- wipes & toiletries (buy when they are on special offer)
- change mat and change table
- Muslin cloths

My LO uses 6-8 nappies per day but like the others say don't buy too many as some babies don't fit certain brands well or grow very fast.

digitalphase

Thanks everyone

I already mentioned to OH I want to go to one of the nearly new sales when I'm a bit further on. Seems like you can get some real bargains

I like the idea of a moses basket, but already read that baby won't stay in there long. We are both tall, so baby will outgrow it too quickly I guess. So straight into a cot, then a cotbed.

We may not need the monitor then, as it is quite a small house even though a 3-bed.

Just want to get a few bottles as it will be nice for OH to feed baby as well, and give my nips a rest :rotfl:

**confuzzled**

digitalphase wrote: »

Just want to get a few bottles as it will be nice for OH to feed baby as well, and give my nips a rest :rotfl:

If you're happy to buy soonish.......Argos are currently selling quite a bit of the Tommee Tippee Closer to Nature range at half price:D I've just been and got some bottles, 6 for £9.99 whereas they're usually £20 for the bigger size(260ml):money:I'm planning on breastfeeding but once established I'm hoping to express so I get a break and hubby can feed bubs:) Although cost me nothing as I had a voucher from doing surveys:money:
You could ask for vouchers for various places as christmas presents? Would help keep the cost down and means you have time to research the best prices;) and see how long the deals are on for:D

FairyShazza

Confuzzled - can I have a copy of your list please?