First Time Mum Purchases

[GingerRH]

AIBU to ask

• 1 thing you brought a couldn't leave without for your newborn
• 1 thing you brought and new used/was a complete was of money

First time mum trying to get prepared on a budget. I posted her to get more replies 😁

[BiddyPop]

We had a proper electric steriliser which was useful. And has been used through many other DNieces and DNephews since. But took up space on the counter and needed time to organise and run.

We got some microwave sterilising bags from Mothercare (I think) which were great. Very handy when away from home (fitted either 2 or 3 bottles in there), but if you just needed one in a hurry at home it was also very useful.

Yup - agree on fancy outfits being a waste - DD only actually wore about half of the ones she was given. Babygrows, and lots and lots of them, are all you need early on. There are lovely colours and patterns, and its' useful to have plenty of spares for various explosions etc, so you don't need to be washing every single day.

Even when they get older and start to move more, basic tops, and tracksuits, are far better than lovely outfits for daily wear. Easier to pull on and off, allow plenty of movement, and you are less anxious about them getting dirty so happier to see them out in the mud or whatever.

A pair of wellies, as soon as they get on their feet, is invaluable!!

And the sleeping bags that they wear (Grobags?) - the covers stay on the baby so they don't get cold and wake up crying in the middle of the nap/night, cos they can't kick them off.

[Crazybunnylady123]

I used my Moses basket a lot, it worked well for us.
Waste of money for me was those expensive clothes that baby had a massive poo explosion in and they were totalled. Also my sling was never used as I had a c section in the end.

[Bipbipbipbip]

Best buys:
Perfect Prep
Electric Steriliser
Buggy with a big basket underneath
Video monitor for when he was a bit bigger

Worst buys:
Next2me (sorry, I know everyone loves them)
Moses basket (big baby)
Anything for weaning.

[LGY1]

Good - Jumperoo, he spent hours in it! Only place he would be put down

Bad - next to me crib. Bought in a sleep deprived panic, thought it would solve all our problems. £200 down the drain!

[JosefKeller]

you need to think about your own lifestyle

First babies, I had a nappy bin: must have in a flat, worth every penny.
Not so much need in a house when you can open the back door and throw the nappy in a bin specifically left there.

Travel system: spent a fortune on mines, worth every penny. They have been in woods, beach, snow, muddy track, couldn't have managed without.
Not so much need if you drive everywhere and stick to shopping centres with smooth floor!

Do you take the bus? Do you need folding ones?

Baby bath: saved my back, had one for each of my baby, love them.

SLING was a complete waste of money, hated them, never used them.
Swaddling things too.
Jumparoo, all my kids hated them.

[Washinglinewench29]

I got one of those travel seats from Aldi £10 it clips onto chairs when your out and about and they don't have highchairs..best buy ever even managed to clip it onto a camping seat in the summer! Just leave it in car now for visiting relatives etc...For older rather than newborn but fab buy all the same!

[alwaysthinkingofsleep]

I bought an expensive travel system (Stokke) which looked great but did not suit my requirements. Changed tia city jogger with bassinet & it was perfect! I walk a lot so it worked for us, definitely think about how you will use your pram!

Waste of money...nappy bin, why why why?

[Lazypuppy]

My travel system and isofix base for car seat best things.

Worst proper outfits, sleepsuits and tshirts and elggings are much easier

[shivbo2014]

Best buy is the tuppence and crumble star wrap I use it every day. Worst buy has been the mamas and papas snug seat as he doesn't like it.

[MelroseHigginbottom]

Breast pads galore! You can never have too many (I couldn't bf but I exclusively breast pumped the first 3 months)

Needn't have bought a bouncy chair, he hated it, never really came to any use.

[Fridaysgirl17]

Baby carrier was a life saver for us, even just around the house if he was fussy to get things done for me the waste was buying little things like muslin I know people swear by them but I never used them, I just used a towel, we got a swinging crib but he hated the swinging so a easier crib would have been better

[GiveHerHellFromUs]

Oh yes @MelroseHigginbottom is right. LOADS of breast pads.
I tried different disposables and reusables and in both cases found Lanisnoh was the best.

And if you're BFing definitely buy their nipple cream too.

[Laserbird16]

To be honest you don't need much beyond a carseat when they are first born and you can borrow, buy second hand, get handed down a lot of stuff.

Best to start with less and test out what works.

DD1 hated the pram so baby carrier all the way. Plus little swaddle sleep bags were great. When I got mastitis - and wished for death - a hand pump and these little gel breast pads I could put in the fridge were awesome.

I would recommend a lovely book you like reading to your baby. One I really like is 'Love you forever' by Robert Munsch. Your heart will break!

[Amanduh]

Everyone will tell you different things! For me best was: baby swing, moses basket, perfect prep. Pointless were: sling, baby bjorn bouncer, baby bath

[PandoraJack]

100% couldn't live without my sling. Makes getting out an about/navigating public transport so much easier. Also great for when I need to get stuff done around the house but DS wants holding. I was a bit unsure about it at first (post-natal anxiety made everything seem terrifying) but I love it and DS loves it too.

If we were to do it all again, I wouldn't have bothered with a moses basket and would have opted for a next to me crib instead. And I definitely wouldn't have bothered with any clothes other than vests and sleepsuits for the early days.

[Mypathtriedtokillme]

Best: Carrier/wrap/sling both girls literally lived in them for the 1st few months (longer for the 2nd as I had a 3 year old to chase)
Brolly sheet used it for my leaky milk boobs, middle of the night nappies leaks and bed wetting (there is also one under my 3 year old seat when she eats and knocks over her drink what feels like everyday)


Worst: any outfit that wasn’t a sleepsuit

[BlackRoses49]

Snuza breathing monitor! I found myself obsessed with checking if dd was still breathing and I could barely sleep because of it, this has put me at ease so much.

I can’t think of anything I didn’t use.

[Mypathtriedtokillme]

Best: long (120cm!) stretchy jersey wraps.
Houdini babies could get out of the muslins in a flash (plus one was 4.3kg and no monkey Muslin is going to contain that!)

Worst: silvercross wayfairer pram. It was a piece of complete shit with terrible awful service
(I have a Bob revolution and it’s brillant for walking, running (carting running bikes and her older sister on the front) but heavy)

[Pilot12]

My Ergobaby 360 carrier was a life saver as my baby wanted to be held 24/7 and would not be put down. It's also handy for going out when they are very small, saves the hassle of getting the pram out.

Sleeping bags were also a life saver, I felt safer putting baby to sleep in one.

My Moses basket was a complete waste of money, neither baby would sleep in it.

Also a waste of money was all the sheets and baby blankets I bought, you don't need them if you use sleeping bags.

[GoodCow]

For formula feeding, we got a mini fridge for the nursery. Used ready made formula, put it in the bottles, bottles in mini fridge before bed. Then all we had to do was warm them in the bottle warmer when needed. Saved time and dealing with stairs when half asleep!

[Neverender]

Maam microwave to sterilise bottles - brilliant
Baby bjorn bouncer
Perfect prep

Bought FAR too many clothes and always right before DD moved into a different size as I panicked she didn't have enough.

I'd also try to limit where you buy baby clothes - if you stick to 1-2 places then you can be sure when they've grown out of stuff. Didn't have a clue baby clothes varied in size depending on the brand/manufacturer...

[BackseatKnitter]

Best: Tommee Tippee machine, Moses basket, Boba stretchy sling

Worst: Proper buckled sling as she wouldn’t go in them after 4 months and I wasted £125 on one, any kind of teething toy as she wasn’t interested

[Hugsandpastries]

Best: Ergo sling, buggy, Velcro hooks that attach to buggy to carry bags.

Worst: Dummy (present, never used), breast pump (couldn’t get on with it), buggy parasol (got in the way), soft toys.

[CmdrCressidaDuck]

You will get a huge huge variety of answers here because people have different lifestyles and different babies.

I, for instance, couldn't have lived without a sling and swaddle wraps because I had highly strung Velcro babies that needed a lot of help sleeping. But some babies hate those things. I also literally never put the car seat on the buggy frame but some people find that super useful.

My very very best advice: before the birth, buy just the things that you definitely need (basic clothing of vests and sleepsuits, starter nappies, a soft carrycot or similar you can put baby down in and carry around, bottles if you don't plan to BF). Babies need very little: milk, clean clothes and clean bum, somewhere to sleep (next to/on mum is a favourite), and love. Everything else you can acquire secondhand or via Amazon Prime once you actually meet your baby and start to figure out how they fit into your particular life.

A sling and/or buggy before the birth is a good call but I advise that you buy both secondhand. If you find out what you've got doesn't really suit you, you can then sell it for more or less what you paid. Join your local parenting or buy and sell Facebook group: people are giving away or selling cheap everything imaginable for babies, partly because many/most people buy a lot of shit they end up never using.

[tinysnickersaremyfavourite]

Best: slings (had a selection birth to toddler) and Uppababy vista.

Pointless - bumbo seat, moses basket, outfits of 'proper clothes' in tiny sizes. When they are tiny sleepsuits all day are ao so much easier.