Baby Shopping List

worcester1

Hi,

Thanks for all of you good people who gave me a very good advice on the Loola travel system;

I need more feeback on the following;


1. Nappies- Which ones to buy and where is/are the best place to buy them from
2. Milk formula – My wife is going to breastfeed but we are unsure when to start giving formula milk to the baby. Also at what ratio? Should he get more off her mum than the formula? Which ones will you recommend?
3. Sterilizer – We saw one (Avent) at our local chemist for £40 (apparently comes with some free extras worth up to £20 ????). Again where did you get yours from and is £40 a fair price to pay?
4. Feeding Bottles – How many should we get? Also which ones?
5. Breast Pump – Both wife & I don’t know what this is on what it does – Well kind of know that it pumps the milk but that’s as far as we know LOL. Which one should we get? My wife has such small breast and fell that she & the baby will struggle to reach and it will be uncomfortable to both.
6. Swing – Is this something you have to get for a new born baby and how much will you pay? We saw one at JustKidding in Birmingham for £90 – is this too much to spend?
7. Cot/lad blanket – wife wants to pay £25 for this and I disagree – it’s seems too expensive. What do you think?
8. Blanket – Again £21 – refuse to pay and we saw ones at Ikea for only £1.99. How much will you spend on a blanket?
9. Cuddle robe comes with free mitts set - This is £11 – We bought a set of mitts -10 in a bag for only £2.99. How much does a cuddle robe cost?


Thanks a lot for you replies. As you can tell we are complete novice.Anyother advice on other things will be very useful. It's just my wife & I, so no family around to ask advice.

Justie

1 - disposables or cloth? I'm guessing disposables - in which case newborns ones are very cheap (to get you to buy and stick with a certain brand) everyone has their favourites and it depends on the shape of your baby as to which suit best so I would buy a pack of a couple of branded ones and a couple of packs of a supermarket one to begin with and see how you go
if you want advice on cloth then there's several threads already started and it's a whole discussion in itself.

2 If she's going to breastfeed then you won't need formula initially - it may be worth getting a couple of the cartons though just in case she can't breast feed - the size of her boobs are no indication of what her milk flow will be so don't worry about that. If she can breast feed at least to begin with then that's great. The midwife will be able to give advice on how to and how often to etc and there is help if she's finding it difficult. If you do need to go onto formula then again it varies from baby to baby as to what suits so you'd need to try a couple of brands.

3 until you know if you're going to bottle feed I wouldn't buy an expensive steraliser - you can do the MSE option of just using a pan or buy a microwave one cheaply to begin with - or see if anyone you know is passing one on (ask on Freecycle)
4 bottles - as above... it's handy ot have some incase you need them but don't spend a lot of money on them unless you know you're going to be bottle feeding - getting anti colic teats is a good plan though.

5 a pump is only needed if your wife wants to express some milk so you can do some of the feeding - until you know whether breastfeeding is going to work out or not I wouldn't buy one but if you do then start with a hand one which is fine for small amounts and only buy a full on milking machine if it's going to turn into a regular thing (ie expressing for a child who is at childcare)

6 not essential but my friend loves hers - see if you can buy off ebay or second hand but they aren't cheap

as for blankets, cuddle robes etc you can spend a fortune - only use waffle blankets for a newborn to reduce suffocation risk - some things are just too cute to resist but you can get cheaper...

there are various threads on 'what does a newborn need' which I think you'd find useful - I'll have a search and put the links up.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=459700&highlight=newborn
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=459729&highlight=newborn especially post #28
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=449261&highlight=newborn
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=369069&highlight=newborn

sonee2405

Have you joined boots parenting club for discounts and freebies.Also you get points for buying things which you can use to spend on anything in store if you have an advantage card.
nappies- expensive is not always the best (this applys to wipes aswell) own brand nappies are just as good
swing? a newborn is very satisfied as long as it is kept clean, fed and able to sleep in peace and getting lots of love.Theres so many toys to choose from but that doesn't mean they are an actual need for the child-a gym with mat may work out cheaper if you really want to get something.
pumps/sterilesers-you can get them cheaper if and when necessary(have you tried surestart groups im sure they sell the pumps cheaper)
you can get cuddles robes for £3ish from primark and even supermarkets and a soft towle will do the job just aswell
blankets and first shawl-its worth spending on these and you could always get neutral colours for everyday use and maybe just 1 in boy or girl colour after baby is born

Its worth saving some cash and spending it on newborns mummy -nipple cream and relaxing treats before &after will keep mummy &therefore baby happy and well!

Eels100

Congratulations!

I agree with Justie. A lot of the stuff you think you need is actually not essential at all!

I have disposables (often on BOGOF in supermarkets) for the first few days but my local council does a scheme whereby you get a pack of real nappies on trial for a £20 refundable deposit. Check your council website out.

As far as formula/sterilisers/bottles etc go, I wouldn't go mad. All these things are easily picked up in a chemist or supermarket if you need them.

I'm on a tight budget and I too plan to breastfeed, so all I have bought is a small pack of formula for emergencies, three bottles, some Milton (sterilising solution) and I got a hand-held breast pump yesterday for £5, down from £18 - bargain! If I don't manage to breastfeed then I will obviously get more bottles and may consider buying a steriliser.

Sometimes I think we forget that we're still allowed into shops once the baby is born - we don't have to buy something to cover every eventuality before it arrives!

As far as blankets etc go - eBay is good, but keep an eye on your local Freecycle too. Places like Matalan, IKEA or the supermarkets often to multi-packs of bedding for reasonable prices.

squashy

1. Nappies- Which ones to buy and where is/are the best place to buy them from

For true Money Saving have a look at cloth nappies. There is an article at the top of this forum. Inmy experience they are no more trouble than disposables, the extra washing barealy equated to the extra shopping for disposables and extra bin emptying

2. Milk formula – My wife is going to breastfeed but we are unsure when to start giving formula milk to the baby. Also at what ratio? Should he get more off her mum than the formula? Which ones will you recommend?

Well done to your wife for choosing to breastfeed. The reality is, it is extremely unusual for a woman to be unable to breastfeed, so I woulddn't bother with buying in emergency formula just in case. If she can breastfeed exclusively for the first six months then that is the ideal scenario as baby will get a great start in life, I am sure you have already heard about decreased risk of cot death, less risk of athsma and excema, better immune systems etc... also if she breastfeeds exclusively then her body will get used to producing the right amount of milk as the baby feeds, otherwise initially she may find her boobs leaking when the baby cries for its feed but is given a bottle. Does that make sense?

3. Sterilizer – We saw one (Avent) at our local chemist for £40 (apparently comes with some free extras worth up to £20 ????). Again where did you get yours from and is £40 a fair price to pay?

See above. You may want one if you are going to be using dummies, but TBH you can just boil everything in a pan.

4. Feeding Bottles – How many should we get? Also which ones?

See above re breastfeeding. My DD would never take a bottle (nipple confusion probably) and went straight from the breast to an infant cup. I am not too sure on which bottles are better than others, I guess you would need to buy just one and see if baby suited it, if not try another brand?

5. Breast Pump – Both wife & I don’t know what this is on what it does – Well kind of know that it pumps the milk but that’s as far as we know LOL. Which one should we get? My wife has such small breast and fell that she & the baby will struggle to reach and it will be uncomfortable to both.

Pumps are good if you want to feed the baby breastmilk from a bottle, eg if mum is returning to work. The manual ones take some getting used to, the battery/electric ones are easier to use and can sometimes be hired from the hospital. I could never get on with pumping really. I guess youhave to weigh up the cost against whether you think you will need it. Just to note, it is quite possible to express breastmilk directly into a jug/bottle using a firm thumb and forefingers (again, easier for some than others )

6. Swing – Is this something you have to get for a new born baby and how much will you pay? We saw one at JustKidding in Birmingham for £90 – is this too much to spend?

£90 does seem a lot for something that is fairly gimmicky IMO. A better investment might be a basic bouncy chair, as the baby kicks it's feet the chair rocks. For example:
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/3753794/Trail/C%24cip%3D49651.Toys%2Band%2Bbaby%3EC%24cip%3D49652.Baby%2Band%2Bnursery%2Bequipment%3EC%24cip%3D49661.Baby%2Bbouncers%2Band%2Bswings.htm

7. Cot/lad blanket – wife wants to pay £25 for this and I disagree – it’s seems too expensive. What do you think?
8. Blanket – Again £21 – refuse to pay and we saw ones at Ikea for only £1.99. How much will you spend on a blanket?
9. Cuddle robe comes with free mitts set - This is £11 – We bought a set of mitts -10 in a bag for only £2.99. How much does a cuddle robe cost?

There is no right or wrong answer here. Sometimes it feels "right" to indulge in fancy things, matching bedding and co-ordinated lampshades can make a nursery look very pretty, but your baby wont be any better off because of them, if they are clean, fed and dry then they are happy. Maybe you could reach a compromise and buy one or two nice things but then get the basics elsewhere, eg supermarket sleepsuits and vests etc. Don't forget you will probably get lots of lovely things as gifts once baby is born. I remember with mine, loads of outfits went to the charity shop having been worn just once- they grow so quickly!

Lots of luck at this exciting time!

Curious_George_2

join this club for a free excellent quality cuddle robe, bib, cup and other bits (infact if you and your wife both join you will get 2)
https://www.smanutrition.co.uk/smasecure/mumsnetwork/joinnetwork.asp

join this club for a free changing bag, nappy sample, a disposable camera, tons of coupons and other bits
http://www.bootsparentingclub.com/index.html

nappies - keep your eye out for buy one get one free offers and stock up (do not buy too many newborn size, the average baby wont fit into them for long!)

formula - if your wife cant feed for any reason then your health visitor should steer you in the right direction, but do NOT be bullied by the 'breast is best brigade'.... looking after your baby is whats best and if formula is the way you need to go then do it without any guilt.

steriliser - £40 is a normal shop price for a brand new electric one, but keep an eye on tesco direct or boots online as the price can drop considerably,
£20 is an average price for a new microwave/cold one,
i didnt want anything second hand for my first baby but if your into it then ebay has some reasonable offers.. and as the whole point of it is to be sterile, there shouldnt be any fears over how clean it is!

bottles - you will get a few in your steriliser (if you buy it new)
last time we had regular avent bottles and she needed about 6 a day, this time we have tommee tippee closer to nature as i think they are very "breast like" and will cause less confusion (plus they are cute as a bug!!)

breast pumps - best not to pick this until you have picked your bottles (so they definitely fit together) im sure others have already explained but this is for your wife to pump milk directly into a sterilised bottle so you can have a go at feeding! or in my case it was a god send as i refused to breastfeed infront of my family let alone out in public, so getting out a bottle of expressed milk on a trip to the shops was a great help.
and the size of her breasts will have no effect on her milk production or the babies ability to feed

swing - we never had one, couldnt live without the bouncy chair though, brand new they range from £20 to whatever you want to pay!

blankets/sheets etc check out http://www.nurseryandtoys.com/
they have an 80% sale on at the moment and its fab! (ive got a ton of stuff from here on the way!)

good luck

crispeater

asda are doing 3 packets of huggies wipes with shea butter for £3 at the moment and they seem to be quite nice. the only blankets i brought for my children were the £12 shawls in mothercare and my dd (nearly 4) still goes to bed with hers. she actually smells them to see if its hers or her brothers lol
what i was leading too was that LOADS of people brought the new baby blankets as a gift, my mum brought me the steriliser and i brought a breast pump off ebay (much cheaper)

poodlehorse

worcester1 wrote: »

Hi,


1. Nappies- Which ones to buy and where is/are the best place to buy them from
If you are going with cloth the local council should be contacted as their are usually local schemes for grants etc (your midwife/HV will let you know actually) and if you mean disposables then as someone said by a small amount of a few brands until you find the one that is best for baby, don't go mad as my son was out of the first size quite quickly. I found Pampers Newborn great as they really sucked in the poo
2. Milk formula – My wife is going to breastfeed but we are unsure when to start giving formula milk to the baby. Also at what ratio? Should he get more off her mum than the formula? Which ones will you recommend?Great news DW is going to go for breastfeeding but it doesn't always work (as I can testify) I used SMA as that is what I had been fed on and every baby in my family so it just felt right, I would go and look at the prices of formula in the shop initially and start with whatever looks cheapest as they are all of similar quality and only move on if baby doesn't agree with it. In hospital I had the option of SMA, Cow and Gate or Farleys I think, as I say I didn't manage to BF successfully for long so had to mix feed before leaving after a section, what I would suggest though is bagging a few formula bottles from the hospital if they are as freely available as mine were, we could just go in and pick up a ready to feed bottle and a new teat and so I snuck a few out before I left to give us time to go and get organised with bottles, formula and sterilising. Even if you don't want to do that buying in a couple of ready to feed cartons is an easy way to have in without committing to too much cash in case baby doesn't like it or whatever. Also sometimes you can buy your formula through the HV clinic more cheaply than at the supermarket but I think it depends on the area and the formulaR]
3. Sterilizer – We saw one (Avent) at our local chemist for £40 (apparently comes with some free extras worth up to £20 ????). Again where did you get yours from and is £40 a fair price to pay?I think that is average for sterilizers that are the electric steam variety and they do come with avent bottles, it is what I bought. I then discovered that DS had colic and so bought Baby Be Free (Dr Browns) anti colic bottles for the bigger size, I loved my sterilizer but I believe microwaveable ones are good and cheaper to buy and of course the good old fashioned milton ones are cheaper still and you can add items in at any time with them. I always seemed to be waiting for the damn thing to finish to get on with the bottles and then you had to wait for it to cool or burn your fingers off. If you are only sterilising dummys then mothercare do a little box thing that you put a teeny bit of water in and then nuke for 3 mins which I used when I needed just a dummy
4. Feeding Bottles – How many should we get? Also which ones?If you get with your steriliser then I would just go with them initially and see how you go. If you need to buy more then I would buy enough for a whole day of feeds so you can get them ready once a day as when making up formula you have boil the water from fresh and then let cool so planning is the key, I used to just make up the water in the bottles and add my formula at the last minute (SMA works well for this but not all do apparently) and DS liked it room temp but you could then warm bottle as you need it and it wouldn't take as long in the middle of the night or indeed make up bottles leaving a bit out and when you need it just boil fresh and top up to required level add formula and shake and it should be right temp for baby, you need to experiment a bit on the hot cold ratio
5. Breast Pump – Both wife & I don’t know what this is on what it does – Well kind of know that it pumps the milk but that’s as far as we know LOL. Which one should we get? My wife has such small breast and fell that she & the baby will struggle to reach and it will be uncomfortable to both.I bough a Medela electric one from Mothercare and it could be used with mains or batteries, it worked better on mains though to be fair, I wouldn't fancy a manual one, it would take forever, I am sure you could maybe hire one (ask the midwife) or get secondhand for cheaper
6. Swing – Is this something you have to get for a new born baby and how much will you pay? We saw one at JustKidding in Birmingham for £90 – is this too much to spend?no you don't, they are a nice gadget and babies come with lots of opportunities for those. I didn't get one but had a bouncy chair (£10 from mothercare) and I did buy a bumbo secondhand which DS loved and a door bouncer thing which I also got secondhand, neither were necessary, also remember that it is important for baby to have lots of tummy time so I used to put DS on the floor on his tummy with toys on a fleece blanket (as much for posset catching purposes as anything) and he loved practising his crawl attempts
7. Cot/lad blanket – wife wants to pay £25 for this and I disagree – it’s seems too expensive. What do you think?I think a blanket is a blanket and bear in mind you might want to consider a Grobag which baby can't kick off, these are fab and Asda ones are just fine you dont' need the expensive ones. I got given a lot of blankets and you will find that you will get given loads too, Matalan is a great source of baby stuff as is Asda. Don't spend too much they grow so quickly and you will find they are in a box under your bed before you know it
8. Blanket – Again £21 – refuse to pay and we saw ones at Ikea for only £1.99. How much will you spend on a blanket?as above
9. Cuddle robe comes with free mitts set - This is £11 – We bought a set of mitts -10 in a bag for only £2.99. How much does a cuddle robe cost?
I don't even know what a cuddle robe is so I doubt we ever had one, if it is that silly little towels they make with the hood then don't bother, we bought one of them as instructed at our show bath in hospital and DS was a big baby so by the time we got him home it was useless as it didn't cover him, got used twice and then we just used a normal towel.

QUOTE]


Can I just agree with the other poster who suggested nice things for mummy too, she will need cossetted as much as baby. HAve things in the freezer before the birth as baby will probably want attention the second you two think about feeding yourselves. Budget for the odd takeaway if you can. Make sure mummy has a comfy place in front of the telly to feed as she will be stuck there a LOT in the early days so she will need remote controls (sorry but she gets control for a while;) ), the phone, something to drink (she needs to drink plenty if feeding) and healthy snacks. Okay so I stuck to choc chip cookies but that isn't recommended.:rolleyes: And don't let her feel guilty about anything, I know I felt I didn't give birth "properly" and I didn't manage to feed "properly" and I got myself into an awful tizzy about it. DH was great one day 2 and a half weeks in when I was struggling yet again to get DS to latch on and he said "I think you have done enough, he has had the colostrum now, if you want to go with formula I think you should", I could have cried I was so relieved. But you lose perspective a bit with all those hormones. I am so glad DH gave me "permission" as I needed him to say it and otherwise I think I would have been heading for a serious case of PND actually. Just be aware that when things don't go exactly to plan we women can make a bigger deal of it than we ought to and sometime you need to hear sense in a very caring,nurturing way from the dad. What baby will remember is a wonderful loving family to have grown up in and not every newfangled device or expensive item. My son played for hours with my pans and a wooden spoon before he could walk. It was much more fun than any toy he had. He also had a bit of a thing for the clothes pegs. And a cardboard box....well don't get me started on how fun that can be!!

Enjoy baby when he or she arrives, your life will be enriched in ways you didn't know how.:j

Janepig

worcester1 wrote: »

1. Nappies- Which ones to buy and where is/are the best place to buy them from

I have tended to stick to Pampers or Huggies, but always when they're on special offer and/or using boots baby club/Tescos clubcard vouchers. I use Aldi's nappies for night-time and they're fine.

2. Milk formula – My wife is going to breastfeed but we are unsure when to start giving formula milk to the baby. Also at what ratio? Should he get more off her mum than the formula? Which ones will you recommend?

My midwife recommended Aptamil so we stuck to that. I fully intended to breastfeed with DD but it didn't work out and my midwife saw my problems and told me to try formula and we didn't look back. Give it your best shot but don't beat yourself up about it if it doesn't work out.

3. Sterilizer – We saw one (Avent) at our local chemist for £40 (apparently comes with some free extras worth up to £20 ????). Again where did you get yours from and is £40 a fair price to pay?

My midwife was hugely anti-Avent so we just got a bog standard steriliser from (I think) toys r us and it lasted for both our children.

4. Feeding Bottles – How many should we get? Also which ones?

See above (re: anti-avent). Midwife recommended bog standard bottles with cheaper than cheap latex teats from Wilkinsons (medium flow to start, moving on to fast) and again, we stuck with this with no problems.

6. Swing – Is this something you have to get for a new born baby and how much will you pay? We saw one at JustKidding in Birmingham for £90 – is this too much to spend?

We got Mothercare's cheapest bouncy chair which was about £10(ish) which DD loved and DS hated so I'm glad we didn't spend too much. You could spend the £90 and your baby could hate it.

7. Cot/lad blanket – wife wants to pay £25 for this and I disagree – it’s seems too expensive. What do you think?

8. Blanket – Again £21 – refuse to pay and we saw ones at Ikea for only £1.99. How much will you spend on a blanket?

Answer to both - go with the Ikea stuff. It's only a blanket for goodness sake, as long as it keeps baby warm then what the heck. We had a nice blanket and matching bumper for DS in blue from Ikea for peanuts.

9. Cuddle robe comes with free mitts set - This is £11 – We bought a set of mitts -10 in a bag for only £2.99. How much does a cuddle robe cost?

Again we got a pack of cuddle robes in toys r us for about £10 ish which have lasted for both children.

Ikea and Toys r us are a source of good bargains as are places on the net like Kiddicare.

Jxx

ellat257

For my last one I bought formula from my local Clinic where they were all cheaper. We had aptamil which was about £2 a tin cheaper. SMA were cheaper still. Also a playmat on the floor with a newspaper overhanging the edge of the sofa can be very, very entertaining I found with no 1 son!

Breast pumps can be hired, medula hire them as do NCT also ebay had some electric ones cheap if you're not fussy over names.

My new steriliser is micro/cold water from toppee tippee with three bottles and brush for £20 from Boots.

Matalan have some nice blankets but can't remember prices but we never had a swing but a bouncy chair although a bean bag worked well. I never had mitts either with no2. They drove me crazy trying to fasten them and socks work just as well.

I found tesco nappies, pampers or huggies best and also they often sent out vouchers for money off but some of the less well known brands were good too.

Also try freezing meals now ready for later. Takeouts didn't go down well with me after no one - indegestion etc and make sure you know how to fit the car seat, blinds in the car and most important of all - have fun with the new addition!

Janepig

ellat257 wrote: »

I never had mitts either with no2. They drove me crazy trying to fasten them and socks work just as well.

What I found with DS but it wasn't until he was a couple of months old, were sleepsuits from Matalan with "built in" mitts that you just folded over at the end of the sleeve (iykwim). I so wish I'd seen them when DS was first born!

Jxx