The 'lefesaver' items you bought for your newborn?

[milkyman]

I will be a 2nd time mum next spring. Made lots of mistakes with buying stuff - pram is great but came to loathe the mosesbasket... thinking of a snuzpod, baby born chair, a co sleeper crib - any ideas? Also, are perfect prep machones worth getting and a gro swaddle?

An angelcare bath support. This has been brilliant for bathing our baby I'm the big bath with his big sister and keeping him safe.
I'm not into swaddling so can't help there.
That's the only additional item that I've bought this time

If you think you'll be doing any significant amount of formula feeding a Perfect Prep is a godsend.

Particularly if you are breastfeeding a co-sleeper crib is also a lifesaver.

A fabric wrap sling (particularly a lightweight one - I had one made of bamboo fabric) is brilliant, especially if you have another small child to deal with. You can tie it on at the start of the day then pop the baby in and out as you need to so you have hands free (and most small babies like being snuggled close)

2nd time round with dd2 hired a bednest / bedside crib. Best thing I ever got - meant when feeding her - I just scooped her out and onto boob. Got so so much more sleep than with dd1.

Im a first time mum but next time I'm definitely buying a co sleeper crib.

Marpac Dohm white noise machine

Swaddle Up swaddle suits

My moby wrap was a great investment, use it daily and can do supermarket shops etc with baby and toddler. Gro swaddle was a waste for us, ds hated them so we put him under cellular blankets and he's in gro bags now. Baby swing was a waste of time and took up too much space but he loves his bouncer (fisher price rainforest one that also vibrates). Ewan the dream sheep has worked a treat for both of mine to help them settle and realise it's sleep time. Oh and the ikea antilop high chair, best and cheapest one out there

Gro have recently launched the Gro Snug, a swaddle/sleeping bag hybrid. We bought one for DD2 (nearly 3 weeks) and it's working really well, although given the size of her she could have gone straight into a 0-6 sleeping bag!

Sleepyhead - fab purchase, great for taking as travel bed too when staying away

Close caboo sling

Bednest

Perfect prep - I mix feed and the prep machine takes the faff out of making bottles

Sleepyhead and fizzy chair. We moved on to the baby born chair at 6 months. My baby hated the fabric wrap - he loved the boba 4G

Bednest
Angelcare bath support
Grobags

Bednest has been great.

Also (I know not a product) but breastfeeding has been the biggest lifesaver for me. I bottle fed dd1 but am bfing dd2. It's honestly been so easy, she's much more settled, easier to pacify and I get so much more sleep!

Things we use the most:
Breastfeeding cushion
Stretchy wrap
Sleepyhead
Gro bags

Ds hated being swaddled, so the swaddle blankets were a waste.

Congratulations

Ergo carrier with newborn insert. Has been a life saver frankly when dealing with baby and 4 year old dd.

Also the angelcare bath support

Good luck!

Oh and dummies - I don't have the time I had when I only had one dd. seems to help get dd2 settled

We had the Snuzpod and have kept for any future DCs - would definitely recommend. DD felt strongly that swaddling wasn't for her so can't help there!

A cuski to use as a lovey, the Cuskiboo ones are used in NICUs. Has been a big help in getting mine to settle on her own

A sleepyhead was £100 very well spent. I initially scoffed at spending so much on a glorified pillow but it was an absolute lifesaver.

A decent sling!

I loved our Bright Starts baby swing. I got it from eBay for $50 (in Aus) and it was a lifesaver for the first couple of months as DS wouldn't have day naps anywhere else (not that it's a great habit to get into).

Cheap, plastic high chair. Nowhere for food scraps to get stuck. Ikea are great for this.

Lots (24!!) of white terry towelling square nappies to use as burping cloths, etc. DS had terrible reflux so I reckon we went through 6-8/day, easily.

I've just had DC2 and had the same thoughts! This time round I bought a co-sleeper crib, sleepyhead and connecta sling. Also bought a new sponge bath support and swaddle wraps (Velcro type). Brought some proper feeding nighties for in hospital. Got rid of Moses basket, baby swing, babybjorn carrier.

We're embarking on second time around too. My shopping list consists of:

A cosleeper cot (Moses basket barely got used last time)
A DECENT electric breastpump (I had a manual one, didn't use it because it was crap, ended up mixed feeding when I went out - which was fine but I want to try and do it all myself this time).
A good sling (had a stretchywrap and it's a PITA to put on and weighs a lot just because of the fabric involved).

We also need a new buggy which is a massive pain because they seem to have got more expensive in the past three years.

If you are planning on expressing milk (which I did for a year!!) then a decent double electric pump is an absolute necessity.

Read lots of reviews before buying. I had an Ameda Purely Yours, but new ones are made in China and nowhere near as good as the original Swiss-made versions.