Having a baby Old Style???

kateandpete

Not sure if similar has been suggested but two things I have done which have worked well for me at least have been:

1. instead of buying bf tops I've worn a vest top or bump band under a normal top. The outer layer goes up and the inner down.

2. reusable wipes are easier to use with reusable nappies as all goes in the bucket rather than wipes/cotton wool in the bin. We have made enough to last from cutting up old t-shirts. I have a spray bottle with water and a drop of baby bath in it which I use to damp the wipes as I need them

wssla00

If anyone is interested in baby led weaning, the Prima baby magazine this month has a free book on it.

xnatalie81x

rachbc wrote: »

Well the unwanted advise from matrons is one of the reasons I had my first baby at home and discharged myself from delivery suite 3 horus after my second! There is a huge difference between falling asleep cuddling your baby and planned bed sharing where everything is done to minimize the risks - babies die in cots left alone too yet no one is advising us not to do that, in fact SIDS is virtually unheard of in cultures where cosleeping is the norm! I coslept with my first, with my second I had a bedside cot.

Yes a car seat is essential too - if you have a car!

Totally agree. I co-slept with first as it 'felt right' - tried to follow all advice with second and she cried for 12 weeks of her life, then fully researched the subject and co-slept with third from his firstnight home (and he slept all night with one wake for a feed) - i truly believe it works for me but you do need a kind of 'risk assessment' to ensure it is as safe as possible.

JennieL

I have 2 lovely boys now and made all my mistakes with the first!

First time I spent £300 on a travel system. This time, I trawled Ebay until I found the one I wanted at a price that was reasonable. I paid £92 for it. A brand new car seat is a must but you can spend as little or as much as you want on one of those.

2nd hand cots or cotbeds are fine as long as you buy a new mattress and it's the same with moses baskets too.

Making baby food is easy and I found that my electric steamers broke really easily through overuse. One that goes on the hob is better. I prefer doing my baby food in ice cube trays as the baby gets a variety as one cube is rarely enough. You mix a bit of babies milk to get it to the right consistency. My blender cost me £4, 4 years ago and it works a treat.

Clothes are also great off ebay. I would not buy used clothes for a child over 3 or 4 as clothes get totally trashed by this age so 2nd hand are not good for children but babies are fine. Plus for a bit of your money back you can resell them again on ebay. Plus when the sales are on, you can buy for the following year as the clothes will be right for the season then.

Good luck with your decision and may I add that having my children is the best decision I ever made. They fill my heart and life with joy.

babyshoes

£100-£300

Afraid I haven't read the whole thread, but I am sure someone must have already mentioned Freecycle. There often seems to be baby stuff on there, from big stuff like cots & prams to clothing.

aless02

Reusable wipes are soooooo much better than normal ones. They feel cleaner and are pennies to do - if you're washing laundry anyway, it's no trouble. I make a solution from camomile tea, slosh of veg oil & couple of drops of lavender oil. Never had a rash and he's 6 months old .

The most MSE thing is to do baby-led weaning and skip purees altogether . No special food, no equipment!

ScarlettsMum

Hi,

I haven't read all of this thread so don't know if this has been mentioned before but I would like to share a couple of things that saved me a lot of money.

1. Reusable nappies - lot of Councils around the country are offering 'cashback' to people who use reusable nappies as they are cutting waste going to landfill. I bought some on ebay for £50 and recieved the cashback from my local council (just needed to send in a simple form with the receipt and they were perfectly happy with ebay second hands ones and a copy of babies birth certificate)

Different councils do this differently some offer you a free starter pack some give cashback but it really is worth finding out about.

With the free ones I was given by a friend so far I have spent £5 on nappy liners and that is it and at the moment I cut the liners into thirds as they are so big. My baby is now 11 weeks old but I know I won't have to spend any money on nappies until she's potty trained! Just the odd pack of flushable liners which works out £5 for 450 nappies.

2. NCT sales are fab. If you find your local second hand sale from the nct (you can search on their website) and go along you'll be surprised at how cheep everything is. It's like a car boot sale with just baby stuff. All my daughters clothes have come from NCT apart from the ones we were given.

I noticed some one said to ask for baby clothes in size 3-6 months rather than 0-3 or newborn from friends and I would question this. It's seems like a lot of my friends/family got the same idea - I swear Scarlett won't need her clothes washed in this size as we have so many she'll only wear each set once!

My tip is to keep the labels on the clothes you are given and then return to the shop and ask for whichever size you don't have a lot of. Believe it or not we had hardly any 0-3 month clothes/babygros and so I swapped a couple of outfits in tescos for a few sets of babygros/bodysuits. Most shops are happy to exchange without a receipt especially if you want exactly the same but in a bigger/smaller size.

3. Travelsystems are a waste of money. Either get a second hand one or pick a pushchair that can be used from birth. From what I've heard most travelsystems are only used until baby is about 6 months even if they say up to 3 yrs+ because they are just so heavy and awkward people swap for a simple pushchair that is much lighter, smaller and easier to push.

I've been lucky that my sister gave me her old travel system and will be passing on her old pushchair before Scarlett is 6 months so haven't had to buy either.

I've noticed that the carrycot part of the travel system can cost a lot extra too and would say that it is even more of a waste of money as Scarlett only used this for 8 weeks! She's not a big baby either but is was getting to small and her head was way to close to the top for comfort.

4. Get £500 for free

I didn't qualify for the Sure Start Maternity grant while I was pregnant as I was working and not on benifits. However there is a loophole which meant I did qualify when she was born as mine and OH incomes are not huge. In order to get the money I had to apply before she was 3 months old. This is what I did:
+ Apply for tax credits as soon as you can. I called up for the form when she was 3 days old.
+complete the form with last years income details and send off
+When you get your tax credit stuff sent back to you - call up the helpline to explain your change in circumstances - being that you are on maternity leave. Give them the updated figures of what you will be earning this year (this can be hard to work out but is worth it) - they then take off £100 a week from the date you started your maternity leave as apparantly that doesn't count and recalculate your tax credits.
+when you recieve your second notification if the amount you are given is equal to or more than the "family element" then you are entitled to the grant.
+download the form from the internet and get your GP or health visitor to complete the last page. I took mine to my six week check.
+ post off and recieve £500.

Hope that this helps someone else

ScarlettsMum

sparkle76

Hi everyone just a bump to this thread as I find it so useful and am keen to learn even more suggestions please! x

quintwins

i had a summer baby so for breatfeeding i wore to think £1 vest tops from primark and did one up one down and i also highly recommend reusable breastpads, you could even make your own, and your just throw them in the wash (an underwear bag is good for this as there abit small)

sparkle76

Just popping in to say we have bought some toys second hand, a couple of cute bears at boot fairs, and I think that to keep spending low we will keep looking at boot fairs and markets for toys and clothes too. Clothes we got from a boot fair were £0.20p each!

Freecycle has also been really good, I have got maternity jeans, a cot, clothes, baby name books and a bouncer from there and when we are done with them I will Freecycle again...