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!

Best
Muslin cloths
Sleeping bags
Bumbo seat
Ikea high chair
Bouncy chair for door
Big Tupperware tub for sterilising bottles
Monitor

Didn't bother with
Changing table
Baby sized furniture
Nappy bin
Perfect prep
Massive buggy with lots of attachments

Nobody mentioned Milton sterilising liquid. I still keep a bottle under the sink for certain jobs

White noise machine

Sling. Hoovering, cutting the grass, any hands free jobs. Babies loved it.

My McLaren buggy

Useless - baby bath, moses basket

Oh Napisan!! Saved many a vest from the bin, I had a projectile poo-er. If it didn’t go up her back then it shot out the legs.

Rather problematically my first had very different tastes to my second.

first used a hideously patterned bouncer bought from Argos for £13 as an emergency purchase. She loved it. Second I engaged in literally months of complex buying behaviour getting the bjorn for the right price - she was in it twice and wailed the whole time.

first wouldn’t tolerate BFing so we were all about the bottles and the formula devices. Second latched like you see on that film so it was nipple cream (lansinoh all the way!!), slings.

the things they had in common were:

muslins. All of them. In all the sizes. I used them for EVERYTHING. I treated myself to beautiful rainbow coloured ones for number two as I knew how handy they were. Get all the Muslins

swaddleme wrap. I know other babies hate being swaddled but mine LOVED it. Both of them would visibly relax when I did the last Velcro. It might be worth borrowing one if you fancy trying it. We used cellular blankets (again - get a few) for swaddling until they were big enough for the wrap so that helped.

Both of mine liked white noise. We have a Euan the sheep who is essentially like a member of the family now.

ikea bath, ikea high chair, ikea face cloths . . .

breast fed baby - the next to me was a revelation. Brilliant. Loved it. It would have been fine for my other wee one as well I think.

metanium
perfect prep
loads of muslins
ergobaby 360
ewan the dream sheep
next to me crib

Best:

• giant muslins (1m square) for privacy when breastfeeding or as a spare light blanket/cover/sunshade for the baby
• Baby carrier for walks *Carry infant car seat that can clip into pushchair wheels (I'm glad DH persuaded me to get that rather than one where it's fixed in the car)
• Excellent support network (I had some mild post-partum depression and it's amazing what it does to your mind. I cannot explain why now, but I thought I was doing everything wrong despite all evidence to the contrary)

Most useless:

• Baby how-to books go out the window!

baby sling , never got used to it.too much faff

I used mine every day for the fourth trimester, use it most days now DD is 20 months

I think you just have to find the style that's right for you!

A baby nail file machine. Such a clever idea. Has a wee light on the end so you can file babies nails down at night when they are sleeping. No risk of cutting off too much/nipping skin.

Water bottle with a straw in so you can drink lying down at night. Plenty of snacks beside the bed for nighttime munchies!

Sock-ons. To keep socks on feet when babies keep losing them!

Also zip-up babygros

Youl find a massive difference of opinion between parents to be honest! Even me! What I loved for first baby I haven't really used 2nd time around. I will say however prep machine! Loved it with both babies! Xx

A lamp I can control brightness from my phone so it can go very low at night when feeding

Would never buy: Do your research on perfect prep machines. I just wouldn't.

Definitely get: an adjustable bassinet saved us. So much better for your back, can sit flush with your bed. Great for tall people or if you are recovering from a C-section

I've only EBF, can someone explain what's wrong with perfect prep machines. They seem like an amazing gadget

Handiest things:

-Newborn swaddles with Velcro - helps them go to sleep
-sleeping bags - for after the swaddles

• downstairs bassinet on wheels - to keep baby near you in the early days, wheel about from room to room for feeding and resettling

-bedside bassinet - lift in and out for nighttime feeds -Big pack of terry nappies - useful for so many things! From lining the nappy changing mat to mopping up vomit (not ever used as actual nappies) More absorbent than muslins for these jobs. Still using them now to clean up potty training accidents! -black out papers - stick in windows to babies room and leave until they sleep through the night. Stops them waking at crack of dawn and helps with day naps too -capsule car seat - if they fall asleep in the car (winning!) you just lift the seat out and keep them asleep, carry them with you

Least useful;
-sling -both kids hated it, never got used

• fancy pram - too heavy for my postnatal undercarriage ! Get the lightest one possible
• nipple pads - mumsnet assured me I'd need boxes of the things - I wasn't a leaker and never needed a single one.

-dream sheep m, white noise and any sleepy device - just didn't fucking work

We were given an adaptor that you put onto your normal lamp. Let me see if I can find a link as I'm struggling to describe it. Grolight I think it was! Genius definitely and I'd totally forgotten about it.

Muslins etc aside there were two things that I found useful.

1. Some premixed baby formula and a bottle. Even if you are intending to EBF, there comes a time at 3am when you've been trying to feed for hours, your nipples are cracked and bleeding, baby is crying, you're crying. At those times the ability to get something into the tiny stomach is a priority. Nipple shields are also useful for this.
2. The best big item I bought was a body length feeding pillow. It was useful for those last months of pregnancy where getting any sleep was difficult, it propped up the bump. then I used it to lie the bubs on when breastfeeding (extra useful if you end up wit a C section or twins) or to support me if I was sitting up in bed feeding. Finally it would wrap around and support the small thing when she was learning to sit on her own

Stretchy sling and later ergo baby omni carrier
Cheeky wipes - detest disposable wipes awful to use and expensive
Muslins
White noise machine
We are a cloth nappy family so big fan of those

Chilli water bottle so you stay hydrated

Yes silver cups are incredible!

Mine hated slings and only one friend got in well with them. Mind you my babies were big and long so that might have something to do with it. Perhaps consider a sling library so you can try before you buy.

Lots of good baby suggestions. I am going rouge, pick up a couple of comfort outfits you like, some tinted moisturizer, lip balms etc whatever is your tools to be you. I always felt more human looking a little more minded. Which encouraged me to get out and about which I found great for my well being.

Now I say that while fully acknowledging this didn't happen everyday but I believe it helped my well being and fresh air knocked my pair out.

Agree to feeling more ‘human’ making a difference to your day. Even with a really tiny one @Marblessolveeverything I actually put a little sandwich bag with a concealer, bronzer, powder and mascara - just cheapy ones from Superdrug - in the baby bag along with a mini hair brush and when I was rushing out or just wanted to go for a walk round the shopping center and looked knackered I could do a 1 minute bit of makeup, brush my hair and tie it up neatly or pop it in a plait and always feel slightly more human even if I was in leggings and a t shirt I’d slept in 🤣

Good quality mattress protectors. Sleeping bags for when they are old enough. Comfortable baby carrier. Small easily folding pushchair. Decent bibs. Metanium nappy rash cream. For me, I liked a long phone charger and a flask.

@Blueeyedgirl21 a woman after my own heart! I was lucky to have a few friends who were on maternity around the same time and that helped. One word of caution - throw in some extra sanitary protection into the baby bag - just in case!

A couple of essential first aid bits are handy to have in the car/baby bag - calpol sachet/plaster/etc.

Moses basket, although struggling to move him out of it at five months.

Next to me felt too big for him and he cried in it but might try it now.

Biggest waste if money was the tummy bucket, a bucket bath for colic. It's useful for soaking poo stained clothes in though

Medela breast pump was good for while.

Baby bundles from ebay.

Muslins, 157 baby grows that way you'll always have plenty of clean ones, if you're breastfeeding I recommend reusable breast pads over disposable. (Get 157 of them too) baby gym, foam tiles for the floor.

The biggest game changer between my first and second was a co-sleeping cot - one of those ones you attach to the bed. It might have just been that they were different babies but my second was so much more settled at night, not that my first was terrible but she did find it hard to settle in a Moses basket after a night feed and would be awake for ages. My second used to just look at me while he was in the cot and drift off to sleep!

Also, playmat thing and Jumperoo, although neither of those are 'essentials'.