So freinds are having a kid, due out friday and now late.

So been down to toy shop and looked at dolls and action men for the kid, the shop lady explained the child may not appreciate them at such an early age, eg just having been born,so what gift is suitable.

Memories box?

John Lewis vouchers. They’re about to spend half their lives and half their combined fortunes in there, so why not make it a little easier on them! 🙂

Ear plugs?

Condoms?

Nappies. Wipes. Sleep suits. Blankets. Comforters.

The hooded baby towels were our standard gift for a while to friends who’d just had their first. You can spend from under £10 to £30+ for a really posh one, and they get used for quite a while. New parents always need plenty of muslins, again you can get nice ones pretty cheap or spend a bit more on posh ones. A swaddling blanket can be a nice idea too. If you’re close then hopefully you know if they already have lots of this stuff.

Clothes are always tricky because “newborn” covers quite a range of sizes and even if you get it right they’ll grow out of them very quickly. If you must, go for 3+ months.

Newborns do very little but feed and sleep and even once they become more alert they take a while to figure out how to move. They don’t really need much. Offering to take some home-cooked dinner round to your friends will probably be very much appreciated however!

When my brother and sister in law had a baby recently, instead of getting stuff for the baby, we had Tesco deliver them some really nice food and wine, plus a present for the big sister, as a surprise (we’re too far away to do it in person hence the impersonal touch of Tesco). It went down very well with them, but obviously depends on the people involved – probably different when it’s friends rather than family.

A voucher promising 4 hours of babysitting, any evening between week 3 and 13 after the birth.

Digital Ear thermometer, nothing like it for calming down a worried first time mum!

As has been said, cook them a hot meal every night for the first two weeks. Also nice high quality bathroom stuff for the mum (bubble bath, moisturiser etc).

Food went down a treat. Best ‘present’ we had by far was someone came round and cooked dinner for us and held the baby while we had a nap! Absolutely awesome and I’ll remember that for life. If that’s not possible, some meals for the freezer and flapjacks would go down well I’m sure.

A Glo Egg was handy in our cold house, reassurance the room isn’t too hot or cold.

Towels, blankets, baby grows, cuddly toys all went down well.

I bought my friends a good bottle of port. They had tons of stuff for the baby, I figured they could use something for themselves. Turns out the mother doesn’t like port. The father was very happy though!

The hooded baby towels were our standard gift for a while to friends who’d just had their first. You can spend from under £10 to £30+ for a really posh one, and they get used for quite a while. New parents always need plenty of muslins, again you can get nice ones pretty cheap or spend a bit more on posh ones. A swaddling blanket can be a nice idea too. If you’re close then hopefully you know if they already have lots of this stuff.

Clothes are always tricky because “newborn” covers quite a range of sizes and even if you get it right they’ll grow out of them very quickly. If you must, go for 3+ months.

Newborns do very little but feed and sleep and even once they become more alert they take a while to figure out how to move. They don’t really need much. Offering to take some home-cooked dinner round to your friends will probably be very much appreciated however!

I’ve got a 1yr old and can confirm this is very good advise.

http://www.punkrockbaby.com/punkrockbabycd.html

Baby sleeping bags, or stuff for the parents. Babies don’t need presents and parents get fed up of other people choosing what clothes and stuff their baby is going to use. It all barely gets used anyway.

Another vote for the “don’t get anything for the baby”. Particularly any kind of stuffed toy. If you really, really have to get something, go for clothing – something for 3mths+ as simon_g says.

Depends a bit on the budget, but I’d be looking at either some kind of hamper with treats, or a nice bottle of wine.

First books,they will get plenty of baby stuff.

Oh,and you could take them some frozen meals to stick in the freezer,they will thank you in the first weeks
🙂

One of these. It’s a wind up music box and the 2 ships spin round on magnets. We sell them and if a little one comes in crying we put one of these in view . 95% of the time the baby will stop crying and just watch the spinning.

Cook for them, buy ready meals, freeze stuff. Food. Stuff the baby.

Stuff the baby.

And then roast at 180c for 20 mins per 1/2 kilo + 20 mins?

And then roast at 180c for 20 mins per 1/2 kilo + 20 mins?

apple in it’s mouth?

Nappies. Nipple protectors. Breast pump.

+1 to the cook food idea. Maybe help to us when we had ours.

You can never have too many bibs – the TommeeTippee ones are the best. Burts bees stuff is nice too and it goes a long way (nappie rash cream etc). A good sling would be good one for when the baby is a few months old.

Also agree with the food thing but doesn’t seem like a gift to me – just something that a friend should do.

For a gift that’ different but useful

ninfan – Member
Digital Ear thermometer, nothing like it for calming down a worried first time mum!

spot on and one of these

http://www.boots.com/en/NUK-Nasal-Decongester_25636/

for sucking snot out or if you ride road a lot get two and keep one in your rapha pocket much less antisocial

Having just had a baby we’ve been inundated with presents. The most useful to mum has to be the lanolin nipple cream and for me a Moby baby wrap.

We’ve a three year old and 4 month old so all in the recent past.

The most helpful present we got was a load of different J&J stuff. Shampoo, bubble bath etc. We hadn’t even thought of buying it.

As you never know what the parents have bought themselves, the Tesco idea sounds great. Avoid anything that breast-feeding mothers can’t eat or drink (booze, spicy food).

If you want to get something for the baby that will amaze the parent too I’d recomend this http://www.socialbaby.com/babyshapes-books-and-mobile.html

Baby see high contrast images very well and will be captivated by the images in this. I’ve bought several as gifts after getting one for our first. They are always appreciated.

A book to help get their head round some of the basics. ‘Safe baby handling tips’ has some good pictures too.

+1,000,000 for babysitting voucher. We’re expecting #3 at the mo so have all the kit but still love the idea of someone just having the kids for an hour for a snooze/bite to eat/work on #4/etc…

Stacking cups.

The best baby toy ever. Fact.

Ours still get used now by our 7 year old. His Star Wars figures hide in them.

Pack of muslins & a “just eat” takeaway gift voucher.

New parents get enough shit, we take our friends a steak pie from the local butcher and a good bottle of red. Sometimes a cheeseboard of all the stuff mum wouldn’t have had during pregnancy- blue, soft cheese etc.

Scalextric.

Everyone says buy clothes for 3 months and older. I had to go out and buy things to fit my newborns, so don’t ignore that sizing!

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0cCUJgOwYM[/video]

Ewan the Dream Sheep. Light and sound to mimic being in the womb. We’ve been relying on him to send mini Aazlad to dreamworld for the past 15 months. Great bit of kit!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Sweet-Dreamers-Ltd-EWAN01-Dream/dp/B0040JSN7Y