Baby on the way...what are the essential buys?

Nicki

I have 3, and my essentials would be:

6 sleep suits and vests in neutral colours in newborn size and 6 in 0-3 months. They tend to vomit and poo profusely in the early weeks and you could easily go through 4 or 5 clean ones in a day, and won't have time always to be washing every day.

Nappies and cotton wool or wipes

Somewhere to sleep and bedding. We did use a Moses basket for all 3 for the first 12 weeks for them all, and it worked for us because we could have the baby sleeping in the same room as we were all the time, which saved lots of running up and down stairs. No need to buy a new one though and they often come up on free cycle. You can use cot sheets and blankets folded down if you don't want to buy special bedding.

Car seat

Pushchair. Doesn't need to be a travel system but must lie flat for a newborn. You could consider buying a second hand one for the first 6 months then selling on and buying your forever pushchair new at 6 months, as pushchairs for older babies tend to be cheaper and lighter. Or as others have said invest in a good one from the off.

Jollymummy3

Join as many of the supermarket baby clubs as possible. They all seem to offer free goodies when you sign up. Also join things like pampers, and huggies clubs as they also send out vouchers etc.

I did not have to buy any new born nappies for my last child (now 7mths old) as i got loads of vouchers for free ones.

Second hand is great for the likes of clothes, cot, prams etc. I managed to get loads from boot sales at really good prices. Obviously buy new matress and car seat, but most other things get used so little they are in fab condition.

delain

Oh also remember that even if something was expensive you can sell it on. The carrycot for Squeak's pram will go on ebay for at least £50 and ebay was where I got it from to start with :rotfl:

dreambirdie

ooh just thought of something else.. not for baby but for you, some witch hazel to put on your maternity pads! never heard of it until the midwife gave me some in the hospital its like heaven lol.

durham_girl

Sign up for all the baby clubs to get vouchers for nappies. I signed me and OH up to get twice as many! If you go to Tesco the till will accept multiple vouchers for the same pack as long as the vouchers are different.... For example, 1 voucher for £1 of and 1 for £1.50 off will work to take £2.50 off 1 packet. My bill came down from £51 to £14 doing this and about a tenner of that was food!

The_Next_Verse

K would never sleep in a Moses Basket either.

We used:

Vests
Sleepsuits with built in scratch mitts (as we found that scratch mitts on their own didn't fit him for bout 8 weeks)
A blanket to wrap around him when we went out anywhere in the car/pram instead of a coat/clothes.

Nappies (not too many in Newborn size as K was only in newborn for about 2 weeks!)
Wipes
Sudocrem (and Metanium for when nappy rash strikes!)

Sterilizer
Bottles
Teats
Bottle Brush
Dentinox/Infacol - It's only £2.50ish to buy and it's worth having in if colic decides to strike at 12:30 at night out of the blue like it did with us. Cue ASDA trip at midnight with screamy colicky baby!
A couple of cartons of ready made formula in case you can't breast feed for whatever reason. They last for 24 hours at this age and will give you plenty of time to nip tot he shop at a reasonable hour to buy powdered formula if necessary.
Flask - for taking water upstairs with you in the middle of the night if you're formula feeding. Saves boiling water at midnight as water is already the correct temperature.

Dummies if you're using them.

Cot
Cot Mattress
Sheets / Blankets for Cot

Car Seat

Pram - I highly recommend the Britax B-Smart. Can't praise it enough.

Changing Mat
Changing Bag

We didn't use (but bought):

Bottle Warmer
Baby Bath
Sling (K hated it!)
Bouncer - K had a bean bag instead and loves it!
Any books telling us how to be a parent. They were all scary and made me paranoid about what K was doing and how he should be developing.
Carrycot

I'm sure I'll think of some more, but we bought things for months and months ahead of what we will need. I am glad we did as i still haven't had to buy anything for him and he's now 20 weeks old.

Bambywamby

HUGE congratulations!!! I have found out I am expecting today too so I share your joy. :T

The following link is probably the best on MSE for those wanting an MSE baby...it also is pages and pages long so be prepared for lots of fascinating reading.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/71893




Love Bam x x

emma-uk

I know a few posters have said about not getting a changing unit and doing it on the floor/knee but we found a cot top changer one of the best things we'd got. When our son was born space was limited (1 bed flat) but I'd had an emergency C-Sec and due to infection, struggled bending for a few months. Babies'r'us sell them for around £12 and 20 months later it's still one of the most used and appreciated items we purchased. Changing him on the floor is a no no, would take all day!

lauren_1

I would still get a packet of breast pads regardless of how you are going to feed, milk will still come in and might leak.

mrbrightside842

I agree with the baby baths - I had a section and couldn't lift the thing to fill it with water etc. I just had the twins in the bath with me, DH would swap them over and dry them as I bathed to other. Was nice having them in there, too!