Alternitives to "Baby" Products Please?

Squidgy

Hi lillibet.

I know it's tempting but buy only the necessary clothes, I got so many from friends and family and they didn't last long.

I used a steam sterilliser in the microwave at home and a cold water container (with milton) when we were on hols. I didn't really like using the cold water method as I didn't feel it got everything as clean as I would have liked.

I used cotton wool and water to begin with, but I found wipes much eaiser to use on a wiggly baby! I also used dove soap when needed (with plain water in the bath).

!!!ANYONE SQUEMISH MIGHT NOT WANT TO READ THIS BIT!!!
If you tear when in labour then you will be better off with maternity pads. I found when I used normal sani pads I had a really painful pulling sensation down below. When I spoke to the midwife about this she said it was due to the plastic backing on the sani pads, maternity pads don't have a plastic backing and so didn't cause any pain.
Also if you do tear or bruise use arnica cream (which you can get from mothercare etc) as this is really good for the healing process. You could also have a salt bath - just chuck a load of salt under running water, i found this didn't sting and was very soothing (and good for other things like thrush and cystitus).

HTH
Squidgy

Yoga_Girl

I would agree with all the posts so far- you don't actually "need" most of the "baby" products at all.

I used just water and cotton wool to clean my little ones, I kept some baby lotion to hand which I only needed to use very occasionally for those "stubborn stains" (sticky poos!).

For shampoo I bought an organic natural baby shampoo (reduced in a closing down sale at local chemist!) but this has lasted 2 years as you only need such a small amount (its very good quality stuff, I got a good bargain there!).

I also bought a load of white flannels (cheap ones from Ikea) which I use to wipe sticky faces/hands after meals then just bung in the wash.

I had a steam steriliser which is excellent, just pop in a bit of water and in a few minutes everythings done. Easy to de-scale as well with white vinegar!

Never used talc, couldn't see any reason to!

I only used nappy cream if they were sore, I didn't see the point of slapping a load of cream on if their skin was fine. And if they do get sore sometimes its better to lie them on a towel with no nappy on and let the air get to them!

Good luck and remember those advertisers prey on our insecurities to try to make us believe we're inadequate parents unless we buy their product!

mini

Congratulations!

Have you joined Tesco baby club? presuming they still do it I got vouchers for free mat towels & disposable knickers, i remember raving about how great the knickers were to a midwife who said that was the best part of the job she had discovered disposable knickers without having to have children, I presume she was joking My mother in law also joined the baby club & used her vouchers for freebies, they are good for money off vouchers too & the vouchers you can get off pampers. I agree with mat towels in the first few days and remember the hospital ones being massive & resembling bandages.

I have never used talc, a tiny bit of bubble bath I don't think you need it just washing with water will suffice, I used a washing up bowl for my daughters first bath 99p! but she was tiny and I couldn't find a pink bath!! We soon moved onto bathing her in real bath because it was quick & easy, you can also bath with them you need to wrap them up as soon as possible as they lose heat so quickly, hey thats money saving family baths:D

If I think of anything else I'll post back, oh if you go for a microwave steriliser check it fits your microwave, my microwave steriliser was great it kept items sterilised for about 6-8 hours, can't remember exactly so you didn't have to rush & do bottles with the chemical sterilise I found the teats went funny if you left them intoo long & I didn't like the chemical smell, handy for when you are using feeding dishes though


mini

Becles

Yoga_Girl wrote:

And if they do get sore sometimes its better to lie them on a towel with no nappy on and let the air get to them!

Only do that with supervision!

My eldest had bad nappy rash and the health visitor advised leaving his nappy off on his afternoon nap, but putting a towel on the matress in case he did a wee.

When I went in to get him out of the cot, the smell hit me from the door! He'd done a huge poo, and had managed to smear it all over himself, all over the cot and up the wall :eek:

Plasticman

I agree with Squidgy about the baby clothes. We definitely bought too much last time. My wife is pregnant with our second baby now and we have been a lot more sensible this time around. Last time we had loads of clothes that didn't see the light of day because our daughter had outgrown them before she had chance to wear them. This time we've got everything ready for the first few weeks and rather than spending anything else now we are saving the money so we can buy things we really need when we need them.

We found baby wipes more convenient too but if you can manage with cotton wool I suspect it would be a lot cheaper.

Don't think I'm qualified to comment on the maternity pads

suki1964

You may find this link interesting
http://www.aubrey-organics.com/about/articles/healthy9.cfm

Lillibet_2

Thanks everyone, I'm glad I'm clearly not the only one who is cynical about all these sorts of products!
I probably shuld have said at the beginning that I am planning on using washable nappies after the first couple of weeks, I have already got them in & was also hoping to avoid disposable wipes & use flannels instead? I take it cotton wool would be better?
I will avoid the J & J products & stick with my plain old unscented soap, someone told me liquid soap is a lot easier to use than a bar when trying to hold down a wriggling baby & not drown it which makes sense! Other than that I guess it's just Sudofed type cream for emergencies & a stack of camomile tea bags!
Please could someone tell me what cold water sterlising is? I've never heard of this? If I don't/can't breast feed woudl this method be OK for a few days until we can get around to buying a sterliser? I don't want to buy it unnecessarily.

Thanks for everyones advice
x.

td

I'd echo most of what's been said - but for the bigger stuff Mothercare is outrageously expensive - go to Kiddicare.com - I have never found things cheaper.

Also if you are breastfeeding - instead of buying nipple cream run some of your milk round each time baby feeds to stop it getting sore.

I was advised not to use anything on my daughter's skin as she had baby excema and she was never smelly.

My invaluable purchase was a plug in electric breast pump - very expensive - bought from La leche i think - only worth buying if u stick with b/feeding and need to express.

Go car booting - there's always loads and loads of baby stuff.

td

td

Oh and check out https://www.babycentre.co.uk for help and advise from people in exactly the same boat as you - the chat rooms for mums at the same stage of pg as you will be invaluable.

td

Plasticman

Even though you are planning to breast feed it's probably worth having a list of what you will need if it doesn't work out. We've bought a couple of bottles (still have the steriliser from last time) just in case. Our daughter was sick after every feed and started to lose weight so we had to give her formula in addition to the breast milk. Even when she was breast fed we used the bottles to freeze some milk for emergencies.

My wife used a cheap electric breast pump and it was rubbish so I would suggest asking people what they recommend before you buy one.