Tell me your most ‘can’t live without’ items for a new baby please!

[MilkAndFenty]

Hit me with the stuff you absolutely love- also interested to hear what was a massive waste of money in your opinions!

Dummies - was given a few at a baby shower, never thought I’d use them, but during one very long and sleepless night, I decided to give them a try. Bloody Brilliant!

Perfect Prep machine - why would you do it any other way???

Mattress protectors - for my bed and hers

disposable changing mats - act as an extra mattress protector on cot and pram and anywhere else

This!! We ruined a brand new mattress with baby weeing/ being sick

Worst:
Expensive high chair - pain in the arse to move/ clean/ store

Best:
Ikeas bog standard (£10?) plastic high chair - bombproof, portable and can be pressure washed. Design classic.

Soft portable chair with straps to hold child in that folded into a sort of zip up cushion that could be tied/ strapped Velcro'd in a variety of ways to restaurant/ picnic tables when eating or just at a time when they needed to be restrained safely for a minute while you did something!

Sling
Nuby rapid cool
Vibrating bouncer
Lots of research on car seats and extended rear facing (a good quality seat for after infant carrier)
Travel mug for me (preheated before drink added to maximise hot time)
A sofa or spare bed for DH so I could bedshare with DS

We got one as soon as we ordered our new bed for this reason!

This one from Dunelm has been good

www.dunelm.com/product/staydrynights-quilted-mattress-protector-1000001661?defaultSkuId=30489922

Zinc and castor oil cream for nappy rash! And metanium is really good too

Most used item was the bouncy seat. She sat in all the time (well not literally but you know what I mean). She liked to be sat at a slight angle so she could watch the world and it helped with reflux.
Never had any muslins and didn't miss the fact that I never had any.
Moses basket was a bit of a waste of time. Only used it for a few weeks. She was a teeny tiny baby yet still seemed to outgrow it really quickly.

Best:

• Puppy pads from Pets at home - we used these everywhere, for changes, to protect the cot mattress so we weren't constantly changing a protective undersheet... literally everywhere. You can get Pampers ones but Pets at Home were cheaper
• More sleepsuits than you think you need
• Agree with PP on Metanium, I've no idea what's in it but it's magic
• Sleep cloud for white noise
• Rechargeable light from Amazon that stuck anywhere and you tapped to turn on - life saver for night feeds
• A low down baby gym - kept her much more entertained at a young age than the full size ones
• Baby walker when older - it was the only place I could put her to get a minute's peace

Worst:

• Dresser changing table - just get more drawers and don't bother with the changing top
• Cloth hats - knitted will stay on much better
• 5oz bottles - you can make 5oz in a 9oz bottle and mine laughed at 5oz very early on

Not a baby thing but however many maternity pads you've bought, double them.

Babybjorn mini baby carrier.

I think my 4 month old has been in the buggy twice. She prefers the carrier

Cloth wipes

And a huge travel mug for the nights too. My DH bought us 500ml ones and they were one of the best things he got me. I use them most days now still

Oh and bamboo breast pads.

The reusable ones are awful.

Oh and a super long charging cable or portable battery pack for your phone for when you get nap trapped. I would love to be nap trapped now but my toddler is just far too busy to bother napping on me now!

Lansinoh cream - I rarely suffered from sore nips, as used this right from the start.

Bepanthen Nappy Cream - Dd never got nappy rash, used this from the start too, only need a small amount.

Baby carrier - I used this ALOT. I walked everywhere with dd and loved having my hands free instead of pushing a clunky pram everywhere. Dd napped in it and it was great for days out at the weekend. We went to London for a long weekend when dd was about 5 months old - didn’t bother taking the pram!

Lots of sleepsuits - dd was an Autumn baby, & pretty much lived in full length sleepsuits for the first 3 months or so.

Cloud white noise machine or the sheep one. They have little lights on them too, so good for night feeds. Amazon Echo/Alexa is good too.

Baby no.2 is due in a few weeks, all of these items are a must for me.

Best:
Perfect prep machine if you bottle feed- even two (one for upstairs next to your bed, one for downstairs).

Clevermama bath towel which clips round your neck.

Free app nightlight on my phone.

Room thermometer - I was given one and was sceptical whether it would be useful, but found I liked to make sure I wasn't over/underdressing little one for sleep.

Worst:
Coat/padded suit: too bulky to get into a car seat safely and fiddly to get tiny arms into - I used a fleece star suit instead which was brilliant and so much easier.

Bath seats - you can't get to the bits you need to wash, they get cold really quickly from being high out of the water. Instead I used a big, flat baby-shaped sponge from Boots to rest my baby flat.

Sling - loved the idea but my baby loathed it and very quickly became too big anyway.

Expensive travel system bought without considering the state of the pavements near me - silly tiny wheels were no good on rough ground. Gave it away in the end and bought an all terrain buggy.

Lots of cotton blankets for swaddling. Silver nipple covers for encouraging my meagre milk supply. Granny knickers post-C-Section.

Best were a sling/baby carrier
Also a cordless vacuum for when weaning 🤣
Snüzpod

Also do your research RE perfect prep - it was highly recommended to me before I had children and when I did my own research it was EYE OPENING 🤢 I can't believe they're still allowed to sell them

Best things looking back over the first year...

Best:

Totter & tumble playmat- don't bother with little playmats. They grow out of them so quickly. Totter & tumble will do you for literally years and years to come

Ergo baby 360 + "zip us in" coat extender panel

Muslins

Metanium cream and sudocrem

Ultra soft face cloths

Sterimar nasal spray

Baby Olbas oil

Two piece jammies- onesies are a pain. All those poppers to faff about with and the window when they fit in them is so short. My son has short legs and the feet always dangled for miles. He'd finally fit them for a fortnight and then he'd go up a size and the whole thing started all over again. I prefer whipping down a pair of cosy wee pyjama bottoms to change a nappy over fighting with poppers. Useless things.

Dribble bibs

Haakaas- I love these so much!!

Rocking chair- saved my back in the early days

Nursing pillow- see above!!!

Emergency foil blankets- endless entertainment for pre-crawling babies

IKEA antelop high chair

Worst:

Baby monitor- Never used it.

Steriliser- EBF so never needed it

Baby door frame bouncer- yeh it was alright but didn't really use it much. He was mobile really early so was only interested in being on the move by himself

Oh and pea pod mats. Never have to strip bedding again. Great for the dreaded vomiting bugs.

Every baby is different so don't go mad buying things you think you need before you get to know your baby a bit. My best buys for DD were a next 2 me, a purflo nest and an echo dot for white noise. But my DS didn't use any of those things.

The one thing I absolutely will recommend is a perfect prep if you're formula feeding.

Joie 360 spin car seat

Dont bother with:

Nappy bin
Moses basket

Oh and We got a fold out play mat. You can fold it up and use it on picnics and in the garden and I also used to take it with my to friends/family with wooden/laminate floors. It was about £16 from amazon and it's still going strong now two years in!

I never bothered with muslins. Pray system a total waste of money - just used a sling, was way better for me! (Found it supported my lower back and c-section incision, had a v tiny baby).
Moses basket was used for ages (tiny baby!).
Xheapo plastic high chair was much better than fancier wooden one.
Bouncy baby chair was fab - DD loved hanging out in it just watching everyone, was easy to move around etc.

Changing table - had a section so saved me bending down.
Muslins
Saline nasal drops
Paracetamol suppositories - they spat the Calpol out
Ergobaby 360 sling
Stokke Tripp Trapp - can use from newborn all the way to adult if you want!
Sip natural drinking cups for weaning.

And this car seat! I love it as does the baby.