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To my surprise, having discovered over the last few days that this place is a fount of knowlege of all things baby - and a great source or advice and support (especially when trying to justify keeping bikes! 😉 ) I thought I ask for some specific advice...
So, our 1st baby is on the way in 12 weeks - and with sooooo much baby stuff out there, I was wondering what are the items that we actually need??
So, what have you found to be worth its weight in gold, really useful or just properly essential?
So far we have:
Moses basket
Pram/pushchair (bargain off here)
Car seat (p/x for some panniers!)
and a few blankets and clothes (we're having a little girl but my brother has boys)
A very nice guy off here has also offered us a front carrier, Bumbo seat, baby bath and some neutral clothes and grow bags - all for free, which is ace! (Thank you!)
So other than those things, what do you reckon we 'need'?
Thanks in advance!
Juliet
pro plus
[url= http://www.boots.com/en/4little1-Baby-Nose-Clear-Nasal-Aspirator_118420/?CAWELAID=334504111&cm_mmc=Shopping%20Engines-_-Google%20Base-_---_-4little1%20Baby%20Nose%20Clear%20Nasal%20Aspirator ]Nasal Aspirator[/url]
Loads of muslin squares
Baby bath or bath support
Steriliser & bottles(?)
Breast pump
Ear plugs
a microwave...
1. for heating milk quick in the middle of the night (just give the bottle a really good shake so no hot spots).
2. for sterilizing bottles (graco i think do a really good m/w sterilizing kit)
and most importantly; the midwife does not necessarily know best esp when it comes to feeding!
Baby Bjorn carrier so you can get around without the huge burden that you'll find is the pram! Dad carries junior, and so Mum gets to be free, which I am told by my missus, is a nice break.
Somewhere for the nanny to sleep,so you can go to work and continue to ride bikes.
- Sterilizer and bottles (when you get onto bottles)
- Travel cot (depending on how long the moses basket lasts for but you will need it sooner or later)
- A 'baby bag' for carrying all the crap (sometimes literally) around in - ideally something uni-sex! and a portable changing mat (usually included)
- Microwave - really makes things a lot easier though it's not technically necessary
- The ability to ignore well intentioned advice on what you 'should' do. Do what's right for you.
- A million muslins
Not a lot more that you really 'need'.
Changing mat.
Bottles and steriliser if you can't or don't want to breastfeed.
Monitor (ok, you don't need it, but it makes life easier).
Cot.
An ear thermometer is handy for reassurance when they get their first colds and infections.
But most importantly, coffee. Lots and lots of coffee.
And make sure you've got the house sorted well before it turns up. We had 12 weeks to go and that's when our lad arrived 😉
Baby monitor.
Baby bouncer - those door hanging things.
A decenct sized shed for the other half.
A nanny, or a job that keeps you in a hotel at least 3 times a week! 😉
Get yourself a yahoo mail account and with it you can join your local Free-cycle group. We have got so much baby kit for nothing that it amazes me.
a bucket with a lid. every now and again you'll have something that'll have to be soaked out of the fabric that it's in. a bucket with a lid was a great thing that very few people think of, saved us a packet when we soaked the clothes instead of binning them.
I'll second the baby bjorn. We bought ours off ebay and its been great to use. Will probably stick it back on the bay soon as our little one is getting a bit heavy!
Don't buy too big a cot. We bought a cot bed but its so big, we can't get it through the door of our nursery bedroom to put it in with us! It took so much time to put together and I didn't want to takwe it apart, so we ended buying another cot for our bedroom.
Look for BPA free bottles and dummys. Don't contain any nasty chemicals
And lots of patience 😀
oh and we've found morrisons own brand nappies to be the best
and if you have a newish car with isofix points, get an isofix base. So much easier than dealing with safety belts. Depends if your car seat will work with one but I bet you can pick up an isofix base cheapish on ebay.
Infracol - by the bucket.
Apart from the Bumbo, the Playnest was probably the most effective infant containment device we used.
Can't add anything else to the sensible suggestions above.
Maybe try to go to Makro or Costco for nappies, I'm told they are significantly cheaper.
Plenty of wine (or drink of choice) to get you through the evenings when baby is awake and just will not settle.
+3 for Baby Bjorn.
If into walking, one of those back pack things when they get a little older - kid is nice and high up and love seeing more!
A decent bottle of malt to lay down for 18 years. Also consider announcing the birth in the times. Something to keep. Newspaper of day top single / album. make up a little treasure chest.
My son hated both bumbos and any playnests so my advice there would be try and borrow someone else's first or buy cheap ones!
Good point about the isofix - note that some cars (eg Ford) don't come with them but you can easily add them (£16 for the part for our Focus)
A scalextric set.
We need to get rid of loads of baby related items from when our boys were small(er) feel free to email me with stuff you need and I will see if we have it! (for free of course!)
Lots of all in one/baby grow things as they do tend to make a mess of themselves and need regular changing.
A portable baby changing mat.
We got a wooden thing that sits on the rails of the cot and makes a high level platform for doing changes which was really useful as my good ladys back was pretty buggered and crouching / kneeling was a bit hard.
Shit loads of muslins.
A sleeping bag thing that fastens over the shoulders brilliant they are.
Like this http://direct.tesco.com/q/R.203-1148.aspx
Wow, thanks guys - lots of great advice. And not too scary in terms of the amount of stuff needed.
Quite a few things I hadn't thought of though, so that's cool. We already have a micro-wave so that's another one to cross off the list.
Mr. MM very much likes the idea of some kind of 'child containment device'!
It's nice to know that most of the stuff still needed doesn't seem too pricey as well.
Just brace yourselves for some slightly unusual wanted ads in the classifieds!
Thanks again for all the advice and please keep it coming! I think I'll be pasting this thread into some sort of spreadsheet before too long!
Oh and Clubber - I'm glad you mentioned about the Ford Focus isofix fitting, I'm hoping we can get them retro-fitted quite cheaply as the car seat I p/x with the panniers, came with an Isofix base and the guy said it was definitely worth it, so need to look into that.
Thanks tjr666 - will definitely take you up on that!
+4 for baby born.
Don't bother with a baby bath you will just not use it.
Agian the back carriers are good for weekends away when they are small.
we found a travel stair gate to be really usfull when visiting people who didn't have small kids and on holiday though that can wait till yours can crawl.
If you want to keep riding I recommend getting a bike kid's trailer. I took my three out in our Chariot after about the 8 week period with no problems in fact the bumping around used to send them off to sleep and I got to do some quality hill training while riding on the flat! 🙂
oh yeah...
- A sign telling all visitors (you will get millions) that it's nice of them to come but that they can stay for an hour tops and that they have to make their own cups of tea/coffee (and one for you whilst they're there) AND wash up the mugs afterwards! if they want food, they should bring that too!
Conversely - Thank you cards for the multitude of kind goodies that you will get. We spent the first 3 weeks answering the door to the postie who had at least 2 parcels for us each day!
an 'orange bike' in toddler small size.....
a high tog baby snuggling blanket for the deep freeze temperatures !!!!! infact i wud keep baby in mums tummy ( DO NOT LET OUT TILL SUMMER...too ****in freezin now.... brrrrrr... lol
oh you mite need a changing mat and 2 old towels..1 to put underneath and one to barricade yourself with, cos as soon as you take babys nappy off...they squirt right in your face ! lol
Chris King BB to match the headset?
IGMC...
owenfackrell - Member
Don't bother with a baby bath you will just not use it.
We use our baby bath every day. The normal bath is huge so takes too long to fill or regulate the temperature easily. A bath thermometer is a very useful buy.
Dam you elaine, beat me to it!
One of these:
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One thing we did with both of ours was for the 9mths leading up to the birth we kept an eye out for bargains in asda & tesco. The ones where wipes were 2 for 1 and baby lotions etc. They tend to go in cycles and you save on some and pay through the nose on others. BUT if you buy them over a long period you can stock up at the cheapest price. You think i am joking but this saves a massive amount of money and it is so convenient to have a store of baby stuff in your house with all the essentials. Even disposable nappies of different sizes. Buy them when they are on offer and you save stacks.
Oh and trekster off here bought my little girl a comforter which was like a little soft toy with mini blanket included. It has been a godsend and stopped us having to go through the process of taking away my older sons big blanket.
A bit off tack from all the above!...
...get some life insurance if you haven't got it already.
- A sign telling all visitors (you will get millions) that it's nice of them to come but that they can stay for an hour tops
thats really good advice, and i would add that you should also be prepared to tell 'family' to go/stay away at times.
One of these:
Or not as the case may be - I'm not getting into a debate on here about the merits or not of dummies, but neither of ours has ever used one.
BTW didn't realise you knew it was a girl - you probably won't want some of the clothes we have in that case.
for colic:
infacol
for teething:
ashtons & parsons powders
general stuff:
ear theomometer
theomometer for your room or wherever you are proposing to put the baby
Just get friendly with parts of E Bay you never knew existed! I've got a (brand new unwanted gift) cot, Bumbo, TummyTub, thermometer, bottles, car seat mount and other stuff well below half price.
I've got a set of these:
[url= http://www.cheekywipes.com/ ]http://www.cheekywipes.com/[/url]
They look a good idea rather than disposable wipes all the time. Good luck.
Try and look at the NCT site as they do nearly new sales and you can save loads of money. We bought a sterilser, baby sling, rucksack, travel cot and a high chair for knock down prices and the stuff they sell is good quality. They also sell loads of baby clothes. Entry is £1 and it is recommended to get there at least 30 mins early as parking can be a problem and all the best stuff gets snapped up quick. It was worth it for us as we saved loads of money.
Good luck with the impending arrival and remember you don't need alot of stuff some people go mad and buy things that they will only use a couple of times.
1) electric steam sterilizer - convenient and pfaff free
2) baby bjorn - invaluable in the first months
3) sudocrem for nappy rash
This was the best thing we bought as it was the only thing which guaranteed both of our kids would go to sleep when they were tiny
Some good advice so far.
Can I add a decent nappy bin if using disposables.
Regarding dummies - have an open mind. We have twins and one has never had one, the other wants one most of the time but at 7 months is now able to find it if she loses it in her cot at night. It just comes down to the baby, not the parents IMO.
Not used our Baby Bjorns much at all - maybe because we can only use them when we are both around.
But most important of all, listen to advice but listen to your own instinct. So many issues we solved have been through doing 'our thing' rather than what some expert says is correct. For example, we struggled with getting them to sleep in the first few months and I noticed that both girls would easily fall asleep if holding my finger so we bought them a little grabber blanket (about 6 inches square with a knot in each corner) each and now they fall asleep as soon as they have them in their hands. And that came from a moment's inspiration one tired night.
Have fun though - I have almost cried on more than one occasion just hearing them laugh, seeing them smile or watching them roll.
🙂
Ohh, and a top tip (as given to us by an off-duty nursery nurse in the car park at Malham with two screaming hungry babies). To get formula milk at the right temperature in a flash - store cleaned bottles approx 50% full with cold water and then add the other 50% freshly boiled (or from a flask if out and about) and the powder. I can make up two bottles in about 1 minute now, start to finish.
🙂
A sledge instead of a buggy! May not be snowing in a few months time, however I saw a fairly tiny baby being pulled along, complete with soft mattress thingy underneath, blankets, pillow and fast asleep.
On a serious note, make a will.
Calbrofen
Blackout blind
Teething powders
A remote themometer - keeping the room they sleep in at 18 means you get a lot more sleep than letting it fluctuate I found
Door bouncer
Don't get dummies