What is worth buying with a voucher of £200 before baby gets here?

[ziggymarl]

Hi guys!

Sorry to post in the parenting section but I think people who have become parents already would have the best advice on this.

At 5 months pregnant, I obviously haven't started to buy anything baby related yet. I assume it is too early to start junking up the house as I feel quite wobbly most days. However having received a gift voucher I wanted to know what kind of things would you recommend on buying without being wasteful. I imagine lots of little helpful things as opposed to using it towards a huge purchase like furniture or buggy?

First baby for us and we want to make sure we spend money wisely!

Thank you in advance guys!!

A co-sleeper crib if you’re breastfeeding. I loved mine.

Or a really good baby carrier - I have the Ergobaby and it is totally fab. Plus goes from newborn to toddler so is a good investment!

Where's the voucher for?

I'd strongly recommend going to a sling library becfore buying a sling. I HATE the Ergobaby - all £135 of it are staring at me from the corner of the living room while 12 week old DD is in a second-hand BabyBjorn we picked up for £12... Doesn't mean teddy is wrong, it's just a personal thing that requires trying before buying.

Personally (if it's for somewhere like JL or Toys'r'Us) I'd buy the basics of clothing (10x vests and sleepsuits for newborn,0-3,3-6,6-9), a baby bath, a sleeping bag, a thermometer, a car seat, muslins... boring but necessary.

For baby number 3 we were given a £50 voucher for Boots from DH's work.

As she was baby number 3 we already had so much equipment and plenty clothes but really didn't want to wasted the very generous gift.

So we used it to replace our old thermometer with a fantastic new one, similar to the ones GPs and hospitals use. It cost the full amount of the voucher but is quite possibly the most used 'baby' item in terms of longevity.

Chicco lullago, big enough to last the 6 months that baby is in with you. Had one instead of a Moses basket and it’s fab it also folds into a bag so you can take it on holiday.

Tinylove rocker or another seat that swings/vibrates. I like the tinylove because it reclines flat and therefore I used it as a Moses basket in the living room and if ds fell asleep sitting up I could recline it.

See, I wouldn't buy clothes. You'll get LOADS given you if this is a first baby.
I'd make sure you have car seat, and pram and hold on to other cash / vouchers until your little one is hear and you see what you need then.
As you'll see by the few replies already, we all get on / don't get on with different things. I never got on with any sling, but some on here rave about them. Some will say they never used a pram, but mine was invaluable (also converted into a pushchair), etc.

from my experience I wouldn't but clothing, Muslins etc. we had so many clothes bought for us as a first baby we really didn't need any more. as previous poster said pram/sling is a personal choice and may change when baby actually gets here. my sling is worth it's weight in gold but I barely use the pram. I agree about a sling library before buying one though.

I would suggest somewhere for baby to sleep whether this be a moses basket, cot or bedside crib and the bedding for it too. I had parents wanting to buy the cot and was given a second hand crib and moses basket but actually it's the mattresses and bedding that I had to buy myself and that can all add up. you will want plenty of spare sheets!!!

my other suggestion would be a rocking type bouncer or chair for baby to sit in during the day. if you can get a self rocking one then go for that. baby loves movement and it helps me have five minutes to eat some lunch.

another suggestion is a bit of a luxury item in that it's not a necessity but I love the shnuggle baby bath we have. its not hugely expensive although you can get far cheaper baths but it's really supportive and easy to use as it holds baby up even from newborn

If I could do things over again I would get the bare minimum beforehand and I would get most of it second hand, on eBay, gumtree, preloved markets, or charity shops, including cribs and prams.

The new things I would get would be a car seat and mattress (+ sheets). For the hospital bag I would get a small number of lovely baby gros and sleepsuits (0-3 month in case baby is bigger than expected) plus a hat, as it's nice to have new things that you choose yourself for the new baby for all the pictures you'll take. You'll probably be given quite a lot of clothes and partner can always nip to a superstore if you run out. Maybe get a new changing mat and I would recommend a box of Cheeky Wipes for their bums because they are pricey but will save money in the long term and are much less wasteful.

During the boredom of maternity leave I bought a lot of stuff that I thought would be good to have, but could probably have waited until I needed it, especially with Amazon prime delivery and a husband happy to drive to the shops at a moment's notice. I also had a few people ask me late in pregnancy and after birth if there was anything I needed, and I couldn't think of anything because I bought pretty much everything ahead of time, so we were just given more baby gros when we had tons already.

So I would use the voucher for a carseat (or a pram if you want a new one), maybe a luxury item for fun that you can't resist or save it for when the baby's here.

Congrats and all the best!

Just to add, it's worth checking out any mum2mum markets or NCT sales now before you buy anything to see the kind of bargains you can expect. There's so much nice stuff out there for a few pounds and pennies, and you end up using it for only a few weeks or months. I really do recommend using vouchers for long lasting purchases, like a car seat or cot (not a Moses basket or crib).

I would get

• a Tiny Love 3 in 1 Napper. 80 quid
• a 4pk of Aden and Anais giant swaddling cloths. 30 quid
• a couple of 6-12 month grobags (we swaddled with the muslins til about 6mo). 25 quid
• a really nice pram blanket. 30 quid (blanket obsessed)
• sleepsuits with the rest.

Hi guys!

Thanks so much for your responses already! The gift voucher is for John Lewis/Waitrose. So not bad. We're thinking of using it for baby stuff as opposed to personal use.

We were given £200 for John Lewis. I bought a cot mattress (we had a cot bed), Angel sensor monitor, a cot mobile and a tiny cardigan.

The only things you need new are car seat, monitor (ideally) and mattress, so apart from perhaps a special going home outfit, I'd stick to these and see what you can pick up from nct sales and get as gifts.

I'd book a John Lewis appointment to look at baby stuff and car seats in that case. There is no obligation to buy and you get a free coffee and cake voucher 😉

I never got cake at my John Lewis appointment. I am still disappointed nearly two year later.

Check out ALdi baby events fir blankets and muslins.

We got a £100 voucher for an expensive shop, sold it for £95 on facebook and bought several hundreds worth of things from a mix if second hand and much cheaper regular shops. If you are on a budget I'd do that instead.

Pram, Car seat and mattress.
Prams are personal what suits one mum might not suit another. Car seat and mattress are recommended to be new. I'm another who'd look on the 2nd hand market for other stuff babies rarely wear stuff out.

I would use it for a big purchase - pushchair, cot, mattress, car seat, etc. You don't need loads of little things usually and I wouldn't go mad until you know what actually works for your baby or what you'll actually use, but big purchases can be expensive, so I'd get one of those out of the way now.

Thanks to everyone replying with suggestions!

Really helpful.

Would anyone say that a baby monitor is classed as a "big purchase"? There are so many out there !!!

We've not bought a monitor at all, just no need for it. If I was to buy, I'd buy second-hand.

Whatever you get I would suggest waiting for the January sales. I saved soooo much money buying the majority of my stuff in the January sales.

Video/sensor mat baby monitor. I think ours was around £90 and it's been used for 2 children and been used twice daily for 3.5 years now (nap time and bed time). So £90 for something used 2500+ times isn't bad in my book!
Would highly highly recommend.
Also Ewan the dream sheep and a sleepyhead were life savers for us.

I wouldn't say a monitor is necessary either. Although a bit of that depends on your house. In our last house we couldn't hear baby crying, current house we rarely switch the monitor on.

I have a basic sound monitor don't see the need for video camera or mat. I have a friend who uses a £4 app, with iPod touch in the room linked to her phone.