Alternitives to "Baby" Products Please?

gf

Hi there congrats on your pregnancy.
basically you don't need to use any baby products for the first few months (i.e soap and shampoo, bar maybe a bit of moisteriser when necessary. just bath the baby in water. actually this is advised. a lot of the johnson and avent products are not encouraged by many health visitors ( from my experience anyhow). talc is quite old fashioned and unecessary and can dry a babies skin.
after around 6 mths you can use a gentle shampoo/ bath wash .
as for sterilizing i was given an avent no expense spared steam steriliser of which i have used hardly at all as tended to cold water sterilise or leave in boiling water for a while. i found that much easier. a lot of people swear by steam sterilizers tho.
maternity pads - just buy a few maternity ones and then the rest cheapo thick sanitary pads.
i'm a great fan of getting back to basics - alot of the stuff on the market you won't get much use out of
hope of some help

jellyhead

i posted this in a boots thread but thought pregnant moneysavers might be interested:


i just did a great shop in boots. i'm having a baby so it's all baby related i'm afraid. still it might be of interest to anyone with a little one. i bought two copies of the march prima baby mag from tesco (using various coupons to get 20 percent off the price). each mag has a voucher for a free pack of newborn huggies nappies at boots. the mag also has a 75p off corsodyl voucher, it scans at tesco where you don't need to buy the product to get the 75p saving on your shopping. there's also £1 off a baby mam toothbrush at boots. if you were buying mam bottles send off for their free teat offer (it's on this forum somewhere!) as the teat comes with a £1 coupon off bottles at boots. also search for the hipp thread to get £10 worth of coupons (although the 50p magazine coupon has expired). one of the hipp coupons is for a free stage 1 jar, others are for 30p+ off various products.

anyway, i spent over £25 to get the free 500 points and they also have a triple points offer for if you're spending over £15 instore. and an electrical beauty voucher if it's any good. i was given 800 points for my transaction. i paid £16.04 cash for it, goods worth £31.26.

i bought 2 packs of huggies newborn, they were on special 2 packs for £6 but my 2 free pack vouchers were credited at the full price of £3.58 each. i'm going to use washable nappies but i've heard that newborn poo stains and the washables might rub at his cord stump to begin with, plus i can't use washables in hospital, i stayed 5 days last time so i reckon that's 2 newborn packs needed.

i bought 4 jars of hipp stage 1 baby food, on special at 54p a jar but with 2 free jar vouchers (i used somebody else's coupon as well as my own) and 2 30p off vouchers it cost me 48p for the 4 jars, not bad - even if i plan to puree my own food it's worth trying the jars at that price.

£1.95 for baby scissors.

tommee tippee microwave steriliser - normally £19.99. it can be used as a cold water steriliser too, good for weekends away if there's no microwave. it comes with 4 tabs but they're only needed for the cold water method. it includes £15 worth of TT bottles. i plan to breastfeed but i reckon i'll use the steriliser on feeding bowls etc. and toys and the baby might want a bottle for water/juice. the steriliser had £5 off too so was £14.99.

all that stuff was great for £16.04 and i got £8 worth of points for it. higher savings could be achieved if you bought lots of hipp food and used lots of vouchers from the £10 pack, they last for about a year so you could even buy them now if you're still pregnant. you could also buy MAM toothbrushes and bottles and use the coupons if you have them. disposable nappies etc. are on special, either 3 for 2 or a reduced price for 2 packs. lots of johnsons stuff is on 2 for 1 including wipes, shampoo, softwash etc. loads of opportunities to spend £25 on baby stuff. they also sell terry nappies, pins and pants and my boots sell all in one washable nappies and swim nappies in the larger size but they don't sell the smaller size. most bottles, sterilisers and breastpumps seem to be discounted a bit.

sorry for waffling but babies are so expensive and this is a great way to save money lol!

jellyhead

kidtechnical wrote:

I used a GroBag, it was great but I thought it very expensive, as they grow out of them & need to be replaced with the next sized, equally expensive GroBag. A few months ago I saw a GroBag style sleeping bag in a catalogue for 0-18 months & it was 15 pounds, but I can't for the life of me remember where I saw it. I hope I remember cos my sister is having a baby & it'll save her having to buy different sizes if she can get this one and use it for 18 months.

i saw an advert just now in an NCT magazine and remembered you mentioning the sleeping bags. The ad was for extendable sleeping bags £16 each, one size fits babies 3 months to 3 years. it looks like it folds underneath with poppers to make it smaller for smaller babies. sleepy bunnies - tel (01865) 300310 or email sleepybunn@aol.com

i don't know how good they are, it's only a tiny picture and i don't know if you'd need to buy them in different tog ratings for different seasons, or if you'd only use the bag when it's cold.

charlotte3

Hi Lilibet,

Congratulations on your pregnancy! :j It is a wonderful time! I loved being pregnant! All the changes every week.... I had a diary I bought from boots which showed you the changes in baby week by week!! It was wonderful, sooo exciting!!

Anyway.... I have 3 children, 2 boys and a girl. Baby products are not all they are hyped up to be, but there are also some 'can't do with out' products as well.

Firstly, I don't know if this has been mentioned before, but you MUST find your local NCT (National Childbirth Trust) group. They often have second hand baby/child goods sales (including good quality clothing) and you will probably be able to pick up most of the equipment you need at a bargain price.

A sterilizer is a must by the way, a great investment if you intend to have more than one child and you can always sell it on if you don't. I agree with one of the other replies that it is not practical to boil utensils, and when you can pick up sterilizers so cheaply it does make life a whole lot easier, especially as, if I remember rightly, the items remain sterile until you open the lid so you can leave them in there for some time. But do check the instructions on this!

Good old fashioned cotton wool and a bowl of tepid water does a great job when it comes to nappy changing time! I found even gentle baby wipes harsh on my babies sensitive skin.

Vaseline is a great barrier to protect from nappy rash. Again this stuff lasts ages as you use so little of it each time! And if you prevent nappy rash then you don't need expelsive creams to heal it. However, I would keep a small tube/tub of nappy rash cream for emergencies.

I never used talc on any of my three. It seems to dry the skin out and has no practical or beneficial purpose so cross it off the list!!

Use a non-bio washing detergent, this is less aggresive to babies skin.

As for baby bath products, to be honest you won't need them in the early days, but when you start to ween, 'things' can get a little more acidic, you may want to use a baby 'bubble' bath. But again, you will use so little of it, just a couple of drops in a baby bath, it will not work out expensive at all. The soapy bath water is also all you will need to wash babe's hair too. When baby has a lot of hair and you find you need to use a shampoo, some of the baby ones are no tears formula which is obviously more comfortable. By the way, if baby gets cradle cap, try using olive oil dabbed on with cotton wool. It moisturises the dry skin and helps remove it when washing the hair/scalp.

Something I would recomend buying is a digital thermometer. You can place it under baby's arm pit and get an accurate reading to tell you if they are ill or not, to either reassure you or alert you if they are ill.

Don't bother with baby nail clippers, you can use ordinary ones!

Can't think of anything else at the moment.... but I will let you know if anything else pops into my mind!!;)

Good luck!!

charlotte3

Hush-Puppy wrote:

LOL!

Yes, rub any oil into your perenium, then insert a finger-tip, and slowly stretch it outwards and downwards. I did about 10 stretches a day for the last 3 months in particular. This has prevented me having any stitches or tears with my three kids, I just ended up with grazing.

The 2nd tip - for if you DO get grazed 'down there', is to remember , when you Pee, it WILL sting like mad (NO midwifes warned me of this).

It stung like acid, so much so that I refused to go to the loo unless I REALLY needed to, which didn't impress the midwifes, as they wanted samples.

To help with this, firstly - try to pee in a bidet/bath/bowl of water. Sounds gross but really reduces the sting. Secondly, and more usefully, try to bend forwards when you are on the loo, so that your hands touch the floor. This directs the pee away from the stingy bits, and REALLY helps.

Hope the tips are useful to someone, I realise most mums might have figured them out already, but for 1st timers - well I wish someone had told ME!

Hushy

I have to agree with Hush on the 'pee' issue!! Again, I would recomend vaseline before going to the loo!! Worked for me, so pack a pot in your hospital/maternity bag.;)