Baby on the way!

Mahsroh

So, the wife is 9 weeks pregnant! We're delighted after trying for over a year but now i'm looking into everything we need to sort in the next 31 weeks and it's a bit of minefield. Pushchairs for example - seem to range from £25 - £1,500! I don't even know where to start with that?! I appreciate this is a subjective question and everyone will have different idea but what's a sensible amount to spend given that range of budget? I don't have a set budget in mind at the moment, although my wife did see an offer which included a pram, pushchair and car seat for a combined £1000 and I still nearly spat my coffee out! Is that a reasonable / average sum of money to spend on those items? Or is £150 - £200 each good value? I don't want to spend £150 on a pushchair if it's going to fall apart within a couple of months, likewise, I don't want to spend £1000 if it's not necessary, but I'm waaaaaay out of my comfort zone here and don't know where to start!!

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated! 

Fireflyaway

Congratulations! What I learned from becoming a parent is that there is so much stuff on offer that you really don't need. I think we spent about £400 On a 'travel system' basically a pram with baby car seat that clicks in and out and then becomes a pushchair when they are bigger. Ours lasted from birth to 3 years old. Then you just need a bigger car seat at around 9 months of age. I'd recommend one with tyre like wheels ( we got a 3 wheeler) rather than plastic wheels. Far easier to manoeuvre and bump up curbs. There is no doubt some people buy certain pushchairs to show off! 
My other tip is clothing. Don't go overboard with newborn stuff they outgrow it so fast and supermarkets do great baby clothes, you don't need to spend much. 

Mrsn

Congratulations to you both!

You absolutely do not need to spend £1000 on a pram/pushchair, I have never ever seen the sense in that but have known friends that have done so.

A travel system can be handy because you can at least have a portable car seat for those first few months. We had a silver cross one that with the car seat was just over £300 (I believe it was on sale and it was 6.5 years ago so prices will have changed!) that was the main pushchair which was still going strong when we donated it to charity when she was 3.

I also had brought a cheap stroller for holidays etc because travel systems whilst very sturdy are hard to travel with on airplanes etc. A cheap Mclaren one which was fairly light and cleaned up really well.

Other things to consider, we didn’t buy a crib.... we had a Moses basket and then they went into the cot (which also then turned into a cot bed so lasted for 3ish years). We didn’t bother with specialist nursery furniture just stuff from Argos that could be used in any bedroom ( I couldn’t justify paying over a thousand pounds for “nursery furniture”) 

Don’t worry about lots of teeny outfits, people will usually be very generous and buy you lots of things. Just a few sleep suits and vests to start with is all you need. Lots of bibs or muslin cloths depending on your preference will be useful too.

The best thing that I did was stock up on baby wipes and nappies before I started my maternity leave. We had around 26 packs of wipes at the beginning and a few boxes of sizes 1,2 and 3 nappies to see us through for a bit. We had also brought a few tins of milk but I wouldn’t buy too much of that in advance if you are bottle feeding because there is always the risk of the milk not agreeing with baby due to colic, reflux or intolerance.

It is a minefield but if you have friends with children already they may be able to offer suggestions or ask away in here like you already have.

Good luck!

Socajam

I think what you need to do is set set up a budget of things you needs, start savings for those things and do not spend any money until your wife is ready to give birth or have given birth.
A lot of things can happen between now and the day your baby is born and as well as with the uncertainty that we are living through
Have the money readily available in the bank to go shopping, do a lot of research and decide between the two of you what will be bought.
Getting the room ready - decorating it all that I would do.

HampshireH

We spent £499 on an ickle bubba V3 system on online4baby & 6.4% cashanck on quidco

Great bargain 
https://www.online4baby.com/for-baby/27285/Ickle-Bubba-Joie-Stomp-V3-Black-Everything-You-Need-Travel-System-Bundle-With-Base---Graphite-Grey?istCompanyId=de21a2a3-8ec8-4653-bd6c-4559fe95eb33&istFeedId=7d9bc8c6-c509-4e2d-81e8-cad6c9102c34&istItemId=irilrrptp&istBid=t&gclid=Cj0KCQjwtLT1BRD9ARIsAMH3BtW1JlCY9mUia9txTH73nq8OsQDDa4xczSWPLZ4OXFbmCXBNv_ZrEI8aAmeqEALw_wcB

Has so much with it. You get the same system in Smyths with no extras. (We tested it there 1st)

Savvy_Sue

You don't need hundreds of wipes: cotton wool and a bowl of water will do the job at home. Keep the wipes for going out. 

Mojisola

Ask around family and friends who have completed their families and see what they've got tucked away in the attic that they would be happy to loan/gift you.

If there's no-one to ask, keep an eye on local selling or free sites.  Your baby won't mind if their cot or buggy isn't brand new - but I would recommend buying a new mattress.

Car seats should always be bought new because you won't know the history of a second-hand one.

ThumbRemote

Some people like travel systems. We bought a lightweight, relatively cheap pushchair that folded up small and was very manoeuvrable in shops. Similarly a basic car seat did the job for us. We never had a pram. 

Drawingaline

Pushchairs really don't hold there value. Find one you like and see if you can get it second hand. With travel system types you should be able to source the car seat new on its own. 

I had a variety of pushchairs. Best one was a lightweight stroller for £85. Did all four kids.

Babies don't need a huge amount of stuff and clothing/additional bedding is often bought as gifts. The only things that actually need to be bought new are mattresses and a car seat. Everything else can be sourced second hand if you want. 

Mahsroh

Thank you so much everyone for all your help and advice. I will of course speak to friends etc. who have had kids, but other than parents and siblings the pregnancy is still hush hush for the time being, hence i thought i'd ask the question on here. 

Don't worry we're not spending anything yet. I agree it's far too early in the pregnancy for that. Just trying to get an idea of what sort of budget we need at this stage really, but this thread has genuinely been invaluable so thank you to everyone who's taken the time to comment. 

strawbubbi

You definitely don't need to spend hundreds on a decent 3 in one travel system (pram/pushchair/car seat). With my first I bought a decent black new one from eBay for about £150. It lasted for about 2 years but then the one leg snapped, however I'm certain someone did it on purpose as it was a clean cut Anyway then my partner bought a new one from Amazon which I'm sure was no more than £200 and was great, sold it when he was walking around and didn't use it anymore. Then I had a baby 9 weeks ago and my partners mum wanted to buy us one from this place she bought several of her other grandchildren's from (this place is super expensive but she was adamant!). We chose a nice grey one which is really lovely and the handlebar can go up which is great as my partner is tall so he loves it, but it was about £600!! If she hadn't of offered I would never of paid that much, personally I wouldn't spend more than £300 for a good all in one travel system that will last a few years until you no longer need it.
Also with the car seat it'll last around a year or so until you need to invest in a bigger one, but keep them rear facing for a long as possible for safety reasons. When you do get the car seat, practice putting it in the car correctly too so you'll be a pro for when baby is here.
I would recommend looking on Facebook marketplace or selling groups for a lot of baby products, especially clothing. You'll save so much money, a lot will be in great condition because babies grow out of things so quickly or don't like certain products (some babies don't like sleeping in cribs or moses baskets for example, or they won't like certain bouncy chairs etc). Also don't forget to get the free Emma's Diary packs and Bounty packs!