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

If you keep telling people your home is overflowing with baby stuff you’ve bought while pregnant then they’re probably going to assume you’ve overbought.

My kids have slept in drawers when away from home!

Everyone will have a different definition of need though so its very difficult to say. What i 'needed' for ours might be different, e.g. i knew after my first section i wouldn't be able to get on the floor to do nappies so for our second we got a raised changing table.

I would say even for anything you do need, you dont need to spend much on it (perhaps car seat aside). E.g. ours slept in a £20 travel cot for 6 months, then in a £60 cot from ikea that lasts until theyre 4ish (sides come off etc). You could go even cheaper/free and get these second hand - we got most of our gear that way, eg a cute moses basket with sheets etc from facebook marketplace and just bought the mattress new. Thing like playmats, moses baskets, toys etc are always being given away locally to us!

Also some babies like things others do not - our current loves the bouncer but our first wasnt fussed. Other babies hate slings etc.

Oh and theres things like sling libraries, and schemes where you 'rent' baby/kids clothes for a small fee that can save you a bunch of money and means you dont have stuff cluttering up the space as you return them when done!

Good luck!

The Baby Box in Scotland is designed so the baby can sleep in it.

You don't need all the stuff that is available. You dont need loads of each size. We ended up with twice as many muslins as we needed but other babies sick up more. You just dont know.

You need to be ruthless about clearing out the stuff your wee one has outgrown, otherwise it takes over.

I think you've bought pretty standard stuff.

When I had mine in the dim and distant past (80s) midwives seemed to be obsessed with saying newborns could sleep in a drawer from a chest of drawers (perhaps because it was a deprived area)! Didn't know anyone who actually did that...

A lot of babies don't even like prams, so they arguably aren't essential. My son just went everywhere in a sling

I breastfed so didn't need bottles, steriliser etc.

You surely only need nappies for a week or two at a time

A dinky pot of sudocrem saw us through the entire baby years.

Baby change bags aren't needed, any bag will do

I did find a change mat helpful though.

What I found was you don’t need vast quantities of the same thing. People said you need lots of vests in each size and lots of baby grows in each size but we didn’t need them (did receive lots as gifts).

How much have you realistically spent on nappies before your baby is even born? If resusables yes it’s a bigger initial outlay but many councils give a starter pack or voucher. If disposables newborn size are really cheap.

How many creams have you bought? I just had a nappy cream and baby lotion, plus an all in one baby wash so hardly took up space.

A changing bag is not really needed, any bag would do. A changing mat is handy but yes you can use a towel or blanket if needed. But a changing mat doesn’t take up much space and I would say get one. Or two!

I had a Moses basket and next to me crib, they were hardly used although useful to have somewhere to set the baby down but when they can’t move setting them on the floor on a blanket is fine.

I always planned to breastfeed but expressed/ used formula top ups the first few weeks so just used the microwave steriliser bags. After that I just breastfed direct so didn’t need bottles.

I did have a baby carrier which was useful for a while, I got it second hand.

Things I found useful were a decent thermometer and DC1 was mesmerised by the black and white picture books. I received lots of baby sleeping bags as gifts.

I definitely felt like I had more than I needed of everything. But I didn’t mind that as I’m not a minimalist!

Well you definitely need a pram, a cot and a carseat and these are the main expenses. I had my first baby at 19 and we didn't have much money - I borrowed a silver cross pram from my cousin, bought a second hand crib and a new mattress and bought a new carseat. Everything else we bought second hand or were gifted (my parents bought us a high chair that was used for all 5 children!)