What could you absolutely not do without when having a baby?

[QueenOfIce]

Being childless myself I have no clue about the needs of babies! When you had your baby looking back what would you tell a first time mum she absolutely needs?

So far we've got,

Ewan the dream sleep
A sling
A baby formula machine thingy wotsit (she will be unable to breast feed)

She has a good support network but no partner so anything that will make life easier when she's on her own with baby especially at nighttime.

Thank you!

🙄 title should read what could you absolutely NOT do without. I've asked MNHQ to edit the title.

Bottle warmer. Use a jug of boiling water!

Muslins (someone will be a long to say they never used them but wehad about 15 that got washed daily when DS was tiny!).

Monitor?

If she's nervous, you can get the kind that goes underneath the cot mattress and will tell you if the baby stops breathing (or, erm, if they've rolled off it, but they don't roll for quite a while!). Personally I found it intensely annoying but my DP found it hugely reassuring.

A Netflix/Amazon Prime subscription is good too as you can get very bored with a tiny baby who wants to feed all the time, especially at night. So lots of good boxsets, especially lovely snuggly comfort-watching in case she's feeling a bit fragile.

If you can, telling someone with a newborn you'll take your phone to bed and they can call you might be appreciated? When my friend had a baby as a single mum, we did this and ended up having a few 3am text conversations, which she tells me helped. And obviously I'd like to think if anything awful happened she'd have rung me.

Chicco next2me crib
Lots of extra bedding
Grosnug x 2
Muslins (20 ish)
Hooded towels
Cellular blankets to layer up with when out and about
Aldi's own water wipes to save messing around with cotton wool. We used these from when dd was born.
A travel mug so you can have hot drinks
Cake. All the cake.

Ewan the dream sheep is not an essential unless she finds it necessary!

I second Muslins and if she has a car a car seat that will fit onto buggy.

Dummies not essential but a cheap thing to have on standby.
Wipes
Cotton wool
Counter top steriliser (microwave ones seem to blow up microwaves after a while!)

Sorry that was a list before I posted!

Definitely a bouncy chair

A changing mat so you can change the baby on floor or bed

Online shopping for food and amazon prime
A cleaner
Bouncy chair in the bathroom

Aldi has there own water wipes?!

Nappies
Wipes
Muslins
Lots and lots of babygros and vests
Baby sleeping bag - multiple ones
Baby bjorn sling; was brilliant
Car seat
Pram
Bottle steriliser
People to make you food and tea

Good luck xx

I definitely did NOT need a baby bath. Although it made a brilliant ice / beer holder during summer BBQs...

Bouncy chair
Muslins, although not too many - we went through tons with my first but hardly any with my second!
For me a Moses basket ended up being a necessity when mine were tiny as it made them feel secure. Also loved the Next To Me crib as was so much easier to resettle baby in the night.
Perfect Prep machine
I've also used little pots that I pre filled with the amount of scoops needed to make up a bottle, rather than trying to count the scoops in the middle of the night when you're half asleep.
White noise machine was also a blessing for us, I did use my mobile phone occasionally but not ideal when you want to be able to use your phone and it's sat playing white noise at the baby.

Hi, first time mum here, I have a 6 week old baby.
Some gifts were absolutely useless, and some were definitely useful.
The most useless gift I got was a night light that glowed different colours depending on the temperature, yellow being the ideal temperature range. Except it seems to be set to UK ideal temps rather than australian ones... 23 degrees is apparently "too hot" when most Aussies find that the perfect temperature to sleep in.

As for useful gifts:

• A good thermos, so she won't have to microwave forgotten cups of tea
• Muslin Wraps. They are useful for everything from nursing covers to burp cloths to actual swaddling blankets.
• Little Tupperware containers. Great for snacks on the go or while feeding in the middle of the night.
• Clothes in various sizes. Don't bother getting the newborn size, get a few in bigger sizes so that she'll have some ahead of time.
• A nappy bag, or a bag big enough to hold spare nappies, portable change mat, change of clothes, and other baby paraphernalia.
• Portable change mat clutch
• Cooked meals are always appreciated when you have a newborn. Also, offering to help her with the dishes, or the washing, or to look after the baby for a bit so she can have a nap... Those acts of kindness are also very good gifts, especially after the first 2 weeks when the fuss is over and people aren't so excited about the new baby.

Hope this helps.

I definitely did NOT need a baby bath

Seconded! Washing them in the sink is much easier on your back, and then you want a bouncy chair if you can possibly fit one on the bathroom floor, so you can get a shower while you watch them.

Except it seems to be set to UK ideal temps rather than australian ones... 23 degrees is apparently "too hot" when most Aussies find that the perfect temperature to sleep in.

It's better to let a baby be slightly too cold than slightly too hot, because if they are cold they'll be likely to cry and draw your attention, but if they overheat it's more serious and linked to cot death. It's not about what's comfortable for adults.

The bloody judge Gro Egg thermometer.

Glowy little wanker.

My feelings about it too TSSDNCOP.

What I really hated was that fucking Sophie the Giraffe with her smug smile. But they do seem to be good for teething.

As a single parent I could not have managed without my Perfect Prep for night feeds and a Snuza Hero.

I didn't have a PP first time round (not even sure if they were invented then) but ex was around then so I had help with night feeds. Theres just no way I could have got up during the night with a tiny baby and faffing around with a kettle making up a fresh bottle. Well I suppose I could have but it would have made life a lot more difficult.

Snuza, well I had terrible antenatal and post natal anxiety and without this I wouldn't have slept. It really did give me peace of my mind and help me sleep a bit better.

Have plenty of supplies in the bedroom for during the night so she doesn't have to go downstairs at all.

2 changing mats - one for upstairs and one down (obviously only if she has two floors!). But even one for the bedroom and one for living room is super handy.

Lots of muslins and packets of wipes and babygroes.

Lots of food in the freezer.

Hand cream (hands went really dry after childbirth).

Someone to encourage me to get out and about.

The things I have definitely needed /have made my life easier

A cold water steriliser tub and tablets- had a microwaveable one at first but this is so simple and handy
A nappy/wipe/changing clutch
A cheap bouncy chair
A changing mat
hooded towels
Muslins
Tommee tippee perfect prep
A next to me (but actually a cot in our room would have been totally fine in hindsight)

I was on a private Facebook group with mums from my antenatal classes, no partners, so we had a properly private space to ask what was 'normal' in our group experience (both about babies and about whatever was going on with our own bodies!) and it was invaluable at 2/3/4am when someone was bored, lonely, panicked, stressed, needed advice - and occasionally for 'look what I just bought online!' which everyone else then went and bought because, well, 3am so I'd suggest she gets something like that set up...

Actual things:
Decent leakproof sports cap water bottle so she can drink lying down (Camelbak Podium was great)
One of those aids for reaching things, for when she's stuck on the sofa and can't quite reach something and can't bear to move and wake the baby again
Extra-long charging cable for phone
Many lip balms (and hand creams etc) so you don't worry about where you left them
Cabbage for sore boobs
Men's black boxer shorts for extra comfort/security re pads/bleeding
More than one dressing gown

@Jackshouse basically yes, they're about 70p a packet. They claim to be the same as using cotton wool and water. Not identical ingredients to water wipes but close enough. They're in a pale blue packet with a darker blue lid.

Thank you! Meals I can provide, I'll make up some in boxes she can reheat. I think her bottle machine dispenses formula also but if not the small pots with formula in them is a good idea. I'll absolutely tell her she can call me anytime day or night.

Where's the best place to buy muslins? She really likes her sleep and so anything that makes her life easier. I imagine it could be quite lonely doing night feeds alone. I'll be helping out and I think her parents are staying with her for the first few weeks.

We never warmed bottles.
But we did love our Perfect Prep.