What will i need? Trying to plan ahead

[sweetchilli77]

We are coming to an end of stage 2 of the process. We are looking at a sibling group of 2. 0-4 yrs. Our sw has mentioned that she would be looking towards 0-2yrs for the youngest and up to 3-4 years old for eldest.
It may well be be we are linked to only 1 child to begin with.

Me and the hubby are finishing off the bedrooms for our potential babies and and like most,like to be prepared for practical things. Do we buy a cot that can be made into a cot bed? or do we buy a toddler bed?
I know most answers will be to wait and see,but if there is anyone out there who has forward planned and could give advice i would much appreciate it :)

I have bought a few towels, coat hangers etc which i know will and can be used. Any further ideas ?

[MrsH1989]

I wouldn't buy a bed until I knew what age category we would be going for 0-4 is a huge range. You could buy the rest of the furniture, drawers and wardrobe etc. i wouldn't buy any clothes or toys as children in care tend to come with alot of stuff.

[PootlewasthebestFlump]

We bought a cot bed as this fits children age 0-5. It helped to 'show off' the room and make it look like a bedroom for visiting SWs.

True to form, we have a 6 year old matched with us - so the cot bed has to go!

We bought it on Ebay and will sell it again - it was around £30 so no great loss.

However, with so much uncertainty over whether you will have 1 or 2 children, and what ages (quite a wide age range) I'd wait - beds take a few weeks to be delivered and it will take a good few weeks for any matching process to go through.

[tldr]

Seriously, wait and see. My 3yo was already in a big single when she came to us, so a cot bed/toddler bed would have been wrong.

Most stuff can be got within 24 or 48 hours if you need it to.

If you really can't sit on your hands do the biggest declutter you can manage. You wouldn't believe the amount of space children take up.

[sweetchilli77]

Thanks all for your feedback and good points, we will defo hang fire.
Its difficult trying to be prepared when you don't know what your preparing for.
Declutter is in progress :)

[MrsH1989]

It is very hard! I would love to go out buying things but I know after attending prep that even when matched to a child, we will have to wait until we see what they have before we can go buying things. Its hard to hold back because I love shopping! lol.

[mydutifullaunderette]

Yes, hold back - because you're going to want to try and get something as close as possible to what they're used to, and you won't know that until you're linked and can ask FCs! I thought the age LO I was linked to would be in a bed - but they were used to a cot still, so I borrowed a cot to try and make it a few less changes for LO.

It's hard to wait, but worth it - they might turn out to love a particular colour/ character, and then you could get bed linen or a bedroom rug etc to show you chose it specially for them.

If you want to buy stuff now, buy for you (spare undies, tops, socks etc) as it could be a good long while after placement before you get to think about stuff for you again!

[UnderTheNameOfSanders]

Ha! I see your 0-4 and raise you 0-7 Try preparing for that

We picked up little things in advance like books and jigsaws, but only started buying when linked and the only couple in it. We did buy then as for matching panel we wanted to able to hand over intro books with photos of rooms in.

What you can do is declutter, and have fun wandering around mothercare / ASDA / wherever admiring all the clothes.

(ps eventually placed with a nearly 8 and a tiny 2.5. Little one used her cot-bed until she was nearly 7)