just curious.....whats the average "start-up cost" (!) for a newborn?

[IsawPussycatmommakissingsanta]

Thats it really, just pondering. Have been looking at a variety of sources from ebay to designer end......what do you really need?? how much would you say is essential? If you do stuff normally and not go completely OTT then what would you say cost is? i know will vary enourmously on what you choose etc but come on play along. we are ttc at moment, and these things crop up along the way! I know once youve got kids you never have any money according to the world and his wife, but what do our mumsnet experts have to say??? All comments welcome!

I actually was sad enough to calculate approximately how much I'd paid out for my first. Now I can't find the actual figure on my PC but it wasn't anywhere near the figure some folk would have you believe. I don't buy into that marketing stuff and got most stuff second hand from my SIL and gave her £200 to spend on her own two kids. If I hadn't done that I'd still have bought second hand on Ebay or in the classifieds and would have done the same for clothes.

I'm sure the marketeers play on your hormones and that's why some parents go mad with dosh.

Borrow as much as humanly possible. Babies don't wear out moses baskets, prams, car seats, clothes, muslins, baby gyms, mobiles etc in the short time they use each of these.

They don't care what colour the nursery walls are, or that the borders match the curtains.

No one needs a Bugaboo Frog. Or a bumbo.

I know loads of people expecting their first will spend hundreds and hundreds of pounds but I know when I was expecting my first we just couldn't afford it. My pram was 2nd hand for £40, the cot was someone's cast off and the respective grandparents chipped in to buy clothes and other equipment.

Fast forward 12 years to when I got married for the 2nd time and had to start to buy everything from scratch. This time around grandparents expected us to stand on our own 2 feet so didn't contribute much if anything.

I estimate I spent about £600 to buy everything new, that's equipment and clothes for a newborn. This time though I was in a position to afford it and buy better quality things.

ooooh thanks for speedy response you two! my dh just hangin over my shoulder, saying "you cant say that on a parenting site! they'll be all puritanical and say having babies doesnt come down to money!" obviously i laughed and told him mumsnet is firmly in the REAL WORLD!!!!! i think my sil worried him senseless , her dd is nearly 3 and the child has what equates to an Eu mountain of unworn clothing, equipment, beds, toys etc and unfortunatly sil is dumb enough to carry on. What a waste. Its the clothes thing that worries me....shallow i know, but IS is ok for your baby to wear the all in one type things day and night? before i met sil i thought twas very normal, but she had more outfits than the bloody Queen!

And all the stuff I bought 2nd time around is still in use or has been used by the next one. I knew I would have another so didn't mind spending a bit more knowing it would last.

We spent about £900 - buying everything including buggy, cot, moses basket etc from new. The one thing we didn't really shell out on was new nursery furniture - used furniture that we already had, and I never wanted to change DS at a height, so didn't bother with a changeing table.

the dd that is, though the sil wasnt far behind.

You can just put babies in white sleepsuits all the time, they don't care. You might get bored of it though .

Can you borrow all that stuff off your SIL? She's be glad to get it out of her loft I bet.

agree that you should beg/borrow/steal (ok maybe not quite steal!!) whatever you can, and have no compunction about accepting 2nd hand baby clothes. as for the babygro question - the babygro makes an excellent basic unit of clothing - shove a cardie and trousers on top of it for going out - simple

someone please tell me its not just my dh who worries about the cost of a baby?!! my mother keeps telling me if you wait till you can afford it youll never have one. me and dh both work ft at moment, have a mortgage on house but no other debt. obviously we have decided to go for it and cant wait to be parents , but just 10 mins on the net and you do think omg, theres just so much....STUFF out there! surely they dont need all of it to be contented little babes????

I think it's the loss of one salary/cost of childcare your mum is on about, more than the cost of babygros .

On the plus side, you won't be partying every weekend or jetting off on spontaneous mini-breaks, so some cash to be saved there .

i must sound really niaeve

don't be overly influenced by the websites/preggo magazines - remember that these companies are making money out of us mums, not advertising products merely with the health and happiness of our kids as motives! IMHO the big cost isn't the "start-up" cost of a newborn, or even the food/nappy costs - it's the loss of income whilst on mat leave/cost of childcare on return to work.

awwww! don't worry, just me being bitter .

You should deffo go for it though, don't worry about the stuff you need - it will become obvious and you can send your dh out to fetch it .

I can't remember how much we spent, but it wasn't that much - grandparents bought moses basket and pram, and car seat. Breast feeding is free, and babies grow out of clothes so quickly that I found it best to have 6-10sleepsuits (and 1 or 2 "proper outfits")and just wash'n'wear.

I am pregnant with no 3 and intend to borrow most things - tiny babies don't know or care. Iwill buy a new pram and everything else 2nd hand or borrowed. I will also buy new washable nappies, and a few outfits. Hoping to spend less than £300.

Older kids on the other hand cost more.......it never ends!

Right out of the things malory lists the following were not essential for me:
dummies
toiletries (apart from bar of soap & cotton wool and wipes)
bottles and steriliser

obviously snowsuit depends on time of year so yes for DS, no for DD.

Reckon we budgeted fairly tightly for DS but did not buy second hand and probably spent £600 before he was born. Now I would buy 2nd hand.

We bought:
cot
bedding - too much
travel system
sling
6 vests
6 bodysuits
snowsuit
3 hooded towels
change mat
1 pack nappies
cotton wool
wipes
baby soap
1 soft toy
monitor
bouncy chair

Thats all I can think of.

On the clothes front I would just buy plain white vests and body suits - you should be able to get 6 of each for about £10 in Asda. You will doubtless be inundated with proper outfits.

DD spent about £20.

New hooded towels
New changing mat
1 pack of vests
1 pack of babygros

£300? that sounds very appealing!!! thing is, i know i dont want to be materialistic and showy, in style of sil, but (ashamed to say it) i like stuff........i like all the matching stuff, the gorgeous cots, etc hell, i love it when Heat magazine does a celeb mum special!!!! Go on , shoot me, im shallow!

oh and also , whats with the "travel systems"????????? i know they have to get from a to b, but i saw a bugaboo thingy on john lewis website, £600 plus accessories!!!! i remember my first bloody car cost about 600 quid! (ok, it was only a fiesta, and i was only 17!!) am now old but sadly car has only been upgraded slightly

get the clothes off your sil if possible.
first babies also tend to get a lot of presents from friends family work colleagues etc.
baby needs somewhere to sleep. a cot tends to last for more of the babies life, but if you can afford it, get a crib, rather than a moses basket as is nice if baby next to your side of the bed initially.

baby bathtub
breastfeeding bra's for you. need to be very good supportive ones.
nappies, wipes cotton wool
i found a hand blender very usfull for pureeing small amounts. and of course a microwave forr steaming veg, but i imagine you problyt already have that!
a baby gym, something he can look up at.he wont care if it is brand new winnie the pooh[read expensive] or second or even third hand random coloured blobs.
a car seat
a pram/pushchair. the best you can get if you walk a lot. research the best option for you. this is the most important imo.

either a nappy bag, or any old bag that you can stick nappies, change of clothes, wallet, keys and phone into.
i think thats it.
oh, separate towel for babies own use.

hate to think how much we've spent, prob in the region of about £600 ish give or take. and my parent's got us the travel system from mothercare, moniters, changing mat, and cot mobile, crib's a fmaily one, cotbed/changer PIL paid for. we have brought brand new nappys thou (reusables) they we're £230 odd or something by the time I added the extra bit's on. have to get a bedding/curtain set and two matresses (mat's paid for all ready) apart form that everything's been MN or ebay we've assumed no one will give us anything for the baby. (prob completely wrong) but we were brought up as it's rude to expect/assume u'll get pressies.

think we'll cope without a bedding set unless we find one cheap/in the sale! lol.

you are all a helpful little lot arent you??? Thankyou so much for your answers, interesting.... Im just waiting for a millionaire mum to come on and tell me i cant possibly do it for under 10 grand

(wel when we were TTC I plannedit all out - would cost in the region of £2K, DH's wise words - not on ur bloody nelly! lol. we'll buy second hand what we can, we get a bit each month. (prob more £450-£500 actually not sure def not more than £600 - best not be or DH wil have a fit! lol)

any further advice on the travel system thingy? that sounds by far the biggest requirement.