To think it's not really true when people say you don't need much for a baby?

Pram, car seat, cot. Nappies, clothes, wipes.I think I had one blanket which was a gift for when baby was in the pram. I had a changing mat bag thing. Muslins yes. No steriliser. No moses basket. No changing table. I did have a Bouncy chair.
Stuff for mum yes but that’s not bought all at once. And other stuff too - but remember you may well be gifted half the items. Toys you don’t need right away. I think the first thing we got was a playmat with some textured bits and an arch with hanging toys. I don’t think that’s slot. Oh I also had a baby bath. And a baby Bjørn.

Things like changing table, yes you can use your bed - or the floor or whatever, but they are also so useful to store all the nappies and everything.

That's why parents buy a lot of things, you use them but storage is important too

Ds definitely creates more clutter now at 5 years then he ever did as a newborn. A newborn baby just stays where you put them and doesn’t make a mess

I currently have a car track covering floor, ‘art work’ of a million bits of paper he brought back from kindergarten today, and a semi flooded bathroom after he filled the sink for toy fish…

No pram anymore, but a large bike, scooter, chalk, badminton rackets, football, rain gear, now take its space.

Baby's don't need much, you definitely don't need a changing table, take that from someone with a chronic back injury 😄

People buy things because they want to, think they should, people tell tel, they're guilted into it but 80% of it just isn't required.

I think it can be a mistake buying a lot if stuff in advance because until the baby arrives you're not sure what you need and you can buy things later. For my first we did literally just buy a car seat, a sling and some white baby grows. We were given some cloth nappies.
We co-slept and I breastfed so we didn't buy a cot or bottles.

Once we were home from hospital we decided a moses basket would be useful for daytime sleeping so we got a second hand one. We bought/were given a lot more stuff as time went on but only as we found we actually needed it.

Quite, pram, buggy, carrycoat

whatever the name is just the same thing. You need one! or you never walk anywhere with your baby and that's weird.

Ignore most people.

I had that with baby monitor, with nappy bin.
YOU might not need a nappy bin Irma, in your big house with a metal rubbish bin left just outside, in front of your utility room door

ME living in a top floor flat and not in the mood for stocking stinky nappies or go 4 flights of stairs to dispose of nappies one at a time.. nappy bins was an excellent purchase.

All I really used for my first was a sling and baby clothes/ nappies.
There was one vibrating baby seat that my colleagues got me for £40 that she really liked when she was tiny.

I tried a sling, hated it, never used it.

That's the problem, you need loads of stuff, but until you experiment with every baby (because they're all different) you don't really know what you need.

I bought LOADS of things, only thing I didn't use was the sling. And the swaddling blankets 😂

I had one of these and was brilliant. You don't need a changing table. I'd just stick this in my handbag or you can use it on a bed
https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/1707754242/rainbow-changing-mat-with-pockets-nappy?ref=shop_home_feat_4&frs=1&logging_key=d748b2f3fa0428ad30f1e715c2ebb1cc46bbea45%3A1707754242

I think people mean you don't need the baby bath, the bath thermometer, the perfect prep kit, the white noise machines, endless teddies....

Actually the one thing I wish I had got which I didn't was a proper nursing chair. My back has never been the same!

yes that!

I spent an absolute fortune on a travel system, best money I've ever spent. I missed it so much 😂, you could just chuck everything and not carry any bag.

Chosing the right one for my lifestyle was painful, there are so many, but so worth it.

I borrowed a cheap one from a friend to go on holiday once. A cheap crap buggy was horrendous, decent ones are fabulous.

It’s more that you don’t need to spend a lot of money. The charity shop near me always has good quality prams and high chairs in stock. People will give you baby grow and vests. Yes they’ll be second hand but perfectly wearable.
a lot of stuff available you don’t need they are just nice to have.

When people tell you not to buy too much because you don’t need it, they’re talking about changing stations, nursery furniture that is too small to hang their clothes after a couple of years, breastfeeding chair, nappy stackers, breathing monitors, crazy expensive travel systems that cost as much as a second hand car, or all manner of ridiculously costly items that are marketed at first time mums.

You’ll also get people telling you that they swore by their £300 breast pump or the stuff listed above, but you’ll also manage perfectly well without it.

If you can’t move in your entire flat from a crib, a car seat, a folded down pram and a few clothes and small bits, you might want to think about moving. You’ll have to find space for the toy boxes, Little Tikes cosy coupe, the balance bike, play kitchen and trampette in a couple of years, then you’ll understand the concept of clutter! 😂

My mum allegedly slept in a drawer. Sometimes they even opened it

Only nobodies saying that are they?they are just saying that lots of things people buy that they think will.be essential often arnt.

Carseat, clothes, a blanket and nappies are the only real essentials I found. It all depends on how you want to do it. I breastfed, coslept and used a stretchy wrap from birth with my second, so we didn't need bottles, cribs/moses baskets or a pram. My mum insisted on getting us one of the cosleeper sidecar beds but it got used maybe twice.

I bought way too much for my eldest only to find we stopped using the pram as soon as I discovered baby wearing, used the cot once and decided that outfits like jeans looked cute but where totally impractical and uncomfortable compared to romper suits/vets & leggings. The second time around I bought less but nicer/softer and more practical clothing, and completely refused to buy a pram.

Until they're a few months old you really can get away with buying barely anything if that's how you want to do it.

I don't imagine it's much different to a moses,basket really with padding and blankets etc.

It’s absolutely not bonkers to want some kind of pram for your newborn. I used a sling more than the pram with my firstborn, (no lift in our flat at the time) but having had my second child two weeks and with the hot weather we’ve been having, the pram is essential. This time I have to leave the house to do school runs, and maybe I’m just older or maybe it’s because my husband took less paternity leave this time, but I needed to be able to walk a mile with my baby and primary school aged child every morning from 10 days after the birth. My abs and pelvic floor are very happy I have a pram and a lift up to our flat. I’m sure the sling will get more use again soon but right now that pram is an essential, not a nice-to-have or an unnecessary luxury.

Me! I did. Youngest of ten though and the main reason was that there was no room for a cot in a bedroom already shared by 3 teenaged and older girls. We were poor too and I was a late "surprise" so the cots would have long gone from our house. I was in the drawer till I was considered big enough to sleep in a big bed next to my sister - probably around 6 months.

YANBU - tbf we bought almost everything and we’ve needed most of it now DC is 6 months old. We didn’t use the bassinet part of travel system, the next to me or moses basket much (reflux baby hated lying down). No steriliser - used a silicone pouch in microwave and/or milton. All these people saying they coped with a cardboard box and some old rags surprise me.

and not everyone gets handmedowns given to them either!

Sorry - I know I quoted you but I meant the milton comment as a generic one.

I hardly sterilised anything, I breastfed and didn't use dummies. I did sterilise my pump and the odd bottle on the very rare occasion I pumped enough for a Nan to have him for the night. I think maybe twice in his first year.

£129 is mad for some weird steam cupboard thing.

@comeandhaveteawithme
My Ds is now 5 years! We have no need for any kind of sterilisation. The sauce pan was adequate. He started licking the floor from crawling about 4 months old, so I wasn’t too worried
saved £129 it seems

You'll get what they mean when baby arrives. Some of those "essentials" you've bought in preparation won't see the light of day. I can also guarantee that your DH will need to run out for something that you would never have thought of.
We've got 24hour supermarkets and next day delivery these days. If you've got a little flat I'd operate an in and out as needed system or you'll end up overflowing with baby stuff. You really don't need to prep for 6 months up front.

People have raised an eyebrow when I've said my flat is overflowing with baby stuff, but it's just stuff I'm going to need

Nahhh, it's not. Not if your flat is 'overflowing' with stuff. It's stuff that you've bought because marketing has told you you need special muslins and special blankets and a special surface to change them on and sit them on etc etc. Lots of it won't be essential though.

You probably won't use some of it. You won't realise until you get there though. And you'll be telling people the same in 5 years time.

If you don't want comments, stop harping on to people about how full/crammed with baby stuff your flat is! People try to help and suggest remedies to problems and they'll keep doing that until you stop framing your baby stuff as a problem.

@Endofyear - we did use our pram a lot. But I also used sling a lot. Almost daily until Ds was about 2.5 years. He was 9lb born and I’m pretty small, but if you carry daily your body adapts I think as weight gradually increases not a sudden 2 year old.
We live abroad and a pram isn’t helpful often, ie even our doctors is on 2nd floor with no lift, so a pram with newborn or lugging a car seat is worse than sling. Also things like food delivery don’t exist and supermarkets have no baby seats so I used sling for every shop. We also have steps to our front door