Bare essentials for a newborn - help!

ammonite

Have a look on the discount board on the coupon thread. I have had a few vouchers for free "starter" packs for babies from Asda and Sainsburys just for joining up to their baby clubs.

rachbc

Once her income supprot is in place she'll be able to get a Sure Start Maternity grant of £500 - should buy most of the essentials.

Cot bedding x 2 min - sheets, blankets/ sleeping bag. I bought brushed cotton double sheets in primark and cut down.
7 sleep suits
7 vests
3 cardis/ jarkets/ warmer tops
A couple of small towels to change baby on/ dry baby with - no silly hooded baby ones needed
Feeding stuff and stuff to clean it
Some wya of transporting baby - sling/ pram/ buggy

dizziblonde

If she joins the Boots parenting club she can get a free changing bag (think it's got a travel change mat in it) with a pack of Pampers (I bought the ridiculously small pack) - it's small but it's a help.

Bounty packs have free sudocrem in - I seem to have ended up with 3 pots of the stuff and still haven't even used THEM up - let alone the proper size tub I bought.

Vests and babygros - Primark jobbie (our girl lives in them - but they ARE longer in the arms and legs than many - which suits our mini-giraffe child).

Bottles/teats/steriliser - hell if you're anywhere near Nottingham you can have our microwave one - used it twice, realised it really didn't fit in the microwave and was more of a faff than ye olde bucket o'milton jobbie - it's been mouldering on our kitchen bench ever since (served one brief stint as a fruit bowl)

Muslins - I never got the point of 'em - till she evolved into projectile vomiting exorcist stylee child... now I feed her with one on hand to catch any... ahem... reentry.

Pushchair - I see a load being sold on gumtree and local facebook pages (NOT that I have pushchair buyer's remorse and want a new one so lurk relentlessly) for not very much - considering the cost of slings and wraps (I think the cheapest stretchies I've seen are about £25 from Victoria the Sling Lady - and stretchies don't last that long really), it might be a false economy to go for a one (much as I'm a "use the carrier and sod lugging that effing pushchair about" girlie)... it's also still a little bit less conventional and she might not be comfortable attracting the looks and comments (takes me 20 minutes to walk 10 yards some days for little old ladies wanting to rub my girl's tiny feet when I'm wearing her). Depending on what you can pick up in the way of a pushchair, it might have a carrycot which can serve some form of short-term sleeping solution (our baby still sleeps in the carrycot part of ours during the day - heck it's better constructed than the moses basket).

Moses baskets people tend to flog on/hand-me-down fairly cheaply when they realise their baby's outgrown it in two weeks! (one of the perks of having a preemie - lol)

Freecycle might be worth a shot - unfortunately ours gets a lot of "oooh me toos" everytime someone asks for something and it gives everyone else ideas - but with baby stuff getting outgrown so quickly it's the sort of thing people have lying around (and it don't half hog up space in yer house)

ikkle87

If you have Facebook look and see if there is a free items group in your area. A lot of people near where I am give baby stuff away on them x

neneromanova

I'm not part of the breastfeeding brigade, but having bottle fed my first, and breastfed my second I would say, from a money and laziness point of view that Breastfeeding is soooooo much easier. that way she can save money from not buying bottles, steriliser, milk powder. She'll probably get through about a tub and a half a week (I did with my eldest) which, 4 years ago was about £8 a tub. Having said that, she might be able to get some vouchers or something for milk, i think i've heard that somewhere, but I may just be making it up.

I bought a hell of a lot of clothes off of ebay. They were in pretty good condition as well. Worth a look.

purple.sarah

neneromanova wrote: »

I'm not part of the breastfeeding brigade, but having bottle fed my first, and breastfed my second I would say, from a money and laziness point of view that Breastfeeding is soooooo much easier. that way she can save money from not buying bottles, steriliser, milk powder. She'll probably get through about a tub and a half a week (I did with my eldest) which, 4 years ago was about £8 a tub. Having said that, she might be able to get some vouchers or something for milk, i think i've heard that somewhere, but I may just be making it up.

I bought a hell of a lot of clothes off of ebay. They were in pretty good condition as well. Worth a look.

You're right about the vouchers. Families on certain benefits can get free milk, fruit and vegetables with Healthy Start vouchers. Here's what can be bought with the vouchers:

"Milk
This must be plain cow’s milk and can be whole, semi-skimmed or skimmed. It must also be pasteurised, sterilised, long-life or ultra-heat treated (UHT).

You can’t spend your vouchers on flavoured milk, coloured milk, evaporated milk, condensed milk, goat’s milk, soya milk, powdered milk (unless it’s infant formula) or milk with anything added to it such as milkshakes or vitamin-enriched milk.

Plain fresh or frozen fruit and vegetables
This means any kind of plain fresh or frozen fruit or vegetables, whole or chopped, packaged or loose.

You can’t spend your vouchers on any fruit or vegetables which have added ingredients such as fat (oil), salt, sugar or flavourings – including oven chips and battered onion rings. You also can’t spend them on dried, canned, juiced or pre-cooked fruit and vegetables or on smoothies.

Infant formula milk
This must be infant formula milk that is based on cow’s milk and says on the packaging that it can be used from birth.

You can’t spend your vouchers on infant formulas that are not based on cow’s milk – such as soya formulas or follow-on formula milks that say on the packaging that they are for babies aged six months or older."
http://www.healthystart.nhs.uk/

Hopefully that should help this girl when her benefits kick in.

miss_independent

BigMomma please can you clean out your PM inbox? I've got details of a charity that can help I'd like to PM you. Only a small charity and if I posted the details on MSE they would probably get swamped!

quintwins

I also breastfeed my 3rd after bottlefeeding my first i found it saves me a fortune (altho at one point i was using 3 tins of milk a week for the twins so maybe thats why) and it was brilliant for night feeds, but it's really not for everyone and if your hearts not in it you'll never get past those first few painful weeks.

my list would be

6 sleepsuits (you can get tesco value ones at £3 for 3)
6 vests
blanket
coat
jumper
hat
2/3 sheets
muslin squares (ikea do hand towels for 20p these are fab for this i had loads to hand when i was feeding)
bottles (you can get away with 2-3 but 6 is a more ideal number)
bouncher
nail scissors
cotton bubs
pram (doesn't ahve to be expensive with all bells and whistles but needs to lay flat, check for local facebook free pages i gave 2 prams away on it recently aswell as various other things)
sterliser
dummies (if she plans to use them, personally i hate dummies but i found them a huge help with my twins and they stopped using them themselves at 5 months, my youngest would never touch one)
you could look at reusable nappies, the local council may offer free trails or refunds, some of the cheaper ebay ones are acually pretty good, again this isn't for everyone)

ikea is nice and cheap for matresses, i'd be looking on free pages and ebay for all the other bits.

clairehi

As a PP mentioned a brand new cot mattress is highly recommended even if the cot is second hand. Its important to get a mattress that fits correctly. Take a tape measure round and help her measure the cot as it may not be a standard size. There are ebay sellers that sell new cot mattresses in various sizes but it may take a while to order the right one so I would prioritise this.

Second hand pushchairs can be a really good buy, I agree with Dizziblonde's points. Slings are great but realistically there are very few people who could manage without a pushchair altogether.

Its great this girl has you to support her, I imagine she is at high risk of antenatal and/or postnatal depression if she has no family/friends nearby and will need as much help as she can. I hope the local Surestart are able to help her too?

Mrs_Imp

onlyroz wrote: »

The only things that *must* be new are the mattress and car seat.

Why?

Our car seat is second-hand from a family member. I know that it's never been in an accident and is safe to use. If you know the background of the car seat, then a second-hand one is not an issue. Just give it a good clean and wash the cover.

Similarly, a well cared for, well kept and well cleaned mattress shouldn't be an issue, as long as you know its history.