What does a baby REALLY need? The ultimate list.

mum2one

My dd is 12 now, but going by the trial and errors, and the amount of items thats were passed down the line, some given to me, this is what i found I used.

Me..
Breast pads (even if you bottle feed, you can still get some leaks the first few days)
Towels - Maternity towels, - you need them for the 1st week or so due to the heavier bleeding (in hospital I was in there was spare towels in the bathroom, - we used theres and saved ours)
Maternity Bra - if your breast feeding, (i had 2, got measured just before I had DD)
Comfy clothes - i didnt bother with maternity clothes, just had a couple of loose tops, elastic waist trousers, skirt, -
Comfy nightwear - Might be better to have a nightshirt/nightie rather than pjs, - not meant to put you off, just if you did have stitches and also down below gets a bit of a bashing... the seam from pjs can rub the wrong places.
Knickers - personally i didnt bother with the maternity knickers, I brought about 3 packs of cheapie knickers and used them, sometimes you can stain with blood and if they dont come clean you havent ruined £10 pr o posh ones.

=baby essentials=
Pram/Pushchair/3 in 1 - I had a 3 in 1, this was better for me as I could use the top as the car seat, and then clip onto the pushchair so I didnt need to wake DD when I got her out of the car,

By the time she was 7 mths she was outgrowing the car seat side, at this time i ended up buying a lightweight fold up pushchair, (£60from toys r us).

Car seats - used the 3 in 1 till 7 mths gone, then got car seat from Halfords, (9mths to 4 yrs), then I had a graco one that went from 4 yrs plus, which went into booster seat.

I would always say buy new with the car seat, as you dont know if the old one has wore on the back straps, been in an accident etc.

Moses basket DD slept in it till she was about 10 weeks old, - didnt buy the moses basket size bedding, - just used cot sheets and folded them underneath, and loose blanket on top.

Cot I had a cot for £100 new with mattress, when DD was young, sleeping bags were just coming onto the market, - that was one of the best investments i ever made, she had them till she was about 3 yrs old

ClothesMost gifts that you get of clothes generally tend to be first size, all you really need is vests, body suits, as there on, in washing machine, grew out of, and the outfits they dont really need to be dressed up so early on.

Check sizes, - its like ladies clothing, you can be a size 14 in one shop and a 18 in another, then maybe a 10 in the 3rd shop, - clothes vary as well.

the other thing to take into account in the first year, as well as spring, summer, winter clothes your also having to keep changing sizes.

looking at newborn, 0/3, 3 to 6, 6 to 9, 9 to 12...

same with nappies, what suits one person doesn't suit another, so sign up to as many mother and baby clubs, try samples, supermarket can be as good as posh names.

Baby Bath - I found this to be a great use, - even using inside the main bath.

Bath seat - personally i didnt like them, I worried that if the suction went the baby would get tipped over in the bath.

baby bouncer chair - Good idea, we just had a basic one, and used most days.

baby swing seat - some babies take to them others dont, - around £70 - for me that £70 could be better spent.

travel cot - i used a travel cot for the front room, to use as playpen, safe zone if needed to get phone / door as well as daytime nap.

odds and ends.
Dummies - they can be a personal thing, I used them, - one tip - get more than you need, as they grow legs and walk.. i had them in the car, the bathroom, handbag.

Steraliser
Personally I found a 2 in 1 better, as you can use it in the microwave 5 mins and the bottles are sterile for 2 hrs (or opened which ever is 1st), as well as a cold water unit. The electric ones are good, I always worked on - if you had a power cut.

High Chair
If you have the room, I'd recommend the 2 in 1, which goes from a high chair to a table and chair, for us, it got used from 6mths to she about 5 yrs, otherwise just make sure got good clasps.

bag There is all these super dooper babys, matching the pram, but they all do the same job at the end of the day...

Digressing slightly....

£1 shops - soon become your best friend - if I have a friend / neighbour etc, expecting, I do a little gift set. (all sourced £1 shops, b+m, home bargains)
Bath therometer
room therometer
Diposable bibs
nappy sacks
scratch mitts (they grow legs and disappear all the time)
fold up travel mat (I had one for the car and spare for upstairs)
hooded dressing gown
wet wipes (little pack size 4 packs for £1 - great for mum and dad to use)
sudofed cream
packet tissues (mum)
small bottles of sanitizer
teething ring
mini spoons

xx

double_mummy

also dont forget things mum will need when sorting out baby things

really comfy bras as someone else said maternity pads and breast pads slippers to slip on when getting up in the night a dressing gown in case its a little chilly

i also cannot praise muslin squares enough my smallest is now 5 and i still use them to throw around them when its spaghetti night

and gro bags are amazing!!!!!!

BargainJunky

My boys are now 10 and 5 and to be honest you learn as you go along.

Some of the things I regret buying are:

A stupidly expensive Mamas and Papas cotbed, wardrobe, changing unit with drawers and a shelf. The cotbed was used by both of them and we still use the wardrobe and changing unit - the shelf is still sitting on top of the wardrobe and has never been fixed to a wall and the changing unit has never been used for its intended purpose of changing a baby I always used a towel on the bed. I could have probably got a similar set up for less than half the price from Ikea.

Muslin squares - they stayed in the packets I preferred tissue or kitchen roll as you throw it away instead of boil washing it.

Dirty nappy bins - yuk - dont bother just buy nappy bags.

Moses basket for downstairs - I was terrified the dog would knock it over so that was only used a couple of times. However the 2nd hand rocking crib lasted both of them for nearly 6 months.

Flat cotbed and crib sheets - never used any of them. I only used fitted sheets and both boys used Grobags until they were old enough for a duvet.7

Frogletina

mgdavid wrote: »

<seriously confused>
could somebody kindly explain what this does or is for as I think my 36 and 33-year-old must have missed out on something?

I had to keep my little girl in a very warm room as she was premature - but I didn't use a room thermometer. Mind you, I didn't have central heating either.

Mine were also born in the era when you stayed longer in hospital. We fully bathed and 'topped and tailed' them on alternate days - we were not given thermometers to test the temperature of the water but used the old elbow test.

colleensims

Thanks. There has been some really helpful replies

LilElvis

Dimmer switches for the rooms where you are likely to do night feeds - low light will make it easier for both of you to go back to sleep.

I wish I had had my Kindle when my daughter was a baby! Feeding takes up a huge part of your day and its tricky trying to balance a book with the page open - Kindle would have been much easier and doesn't require bright light to be able to read.

A mattress protector for cot/Moses basket.

Lots of easy to reheat meals stashed in the freezer.

Northern78

Best advice I was given when we had DS was about sterilising.

A 5lt container with a lid and Milton tablets. You can buy a Milton bucket but any container with a lid will do. Needs changing every 24 hours but you can just leave it on the side and chuck things in throughout the day. While ever things are in it they are sterile so you take out bottles, teats, dummies as you need them.

amus

This is just my opinion but 0-4 M:


ESSENTIAL: Sleepsuits, vests, sheets, moses basket and or cot, nappies, wipes/cotton wool, changing mat, feeding equipment bottles, steriliser etc (if bottle feeding), pram and/or carrier, blankets, coat/snowsuit (if winter baby), car seat.


NICE TO HAVE: Baby bouncer, play gym, baby bath (this is a contentious one as some find them useless, but I liked having one in the first few months), monitor (I personally liked the ones with movement sensor but again many don't), also lots of monitors have built in temperature sensors so I also found that useful as keeping baby at the correct temperature is very important, IMO and the opinion of lots of research.


4-12M: (In addition to the above)


ESSENTIAL: Highchair, a few books/baby toys, sippy cup.


NICE TO HAVE: Jumperoo!!!! Bath support.

Gloomendoom

fireyfirenze wrote: »

research (that probably hadn't been carrier out 36 or 33 years ago...) has shown that overheating is linked to sudden infant death syndrome so I like knowing the temperature of the room

36 or 33 years ago, overheating in the average house was probably very rare.

A bit like over eating.

amus

Gloomendoom wrote: »

36 or 33 years ago, overheating in the average house was probably very rare.

A bit like over eating.

Personally I think it's a bit silly and petty to be arguing about the fact that some people find it useful to use a thermometer in the bedroom, we live in 2014, most people do have heating and therefore it is important that people aren't swaddling babies in too many layers.


Lots of research has been conducted into SIDS and for very good reason, parents following advice on how to prevent this awful thing from happening has led to a reduction in deaths from 33 years ago, so as far as I'm concerned that's a very good thing.


Not sure why there's always some person of the older generation who feels the need to pipe in with useless comments because things are done differently now (and I'm not referring to you but the original poster who chirped up because somebody found a room thermometer useful). Times change. Move on.