First time mum (pregnant) with some questions about numbers

[birthofawoman]

How many nappies, on average, does a newborn get though a day?
If I plan to exclusively breastfeed, roughly how many bottles would I need to buy (as 'just in case')?
How many bibs, on average, should a newborn need?
How many muslin cloths, on average, should a newborn need?
How many blankets, on average, should a newborn need?

I'm carrying the assumption that numbers decrease as baby gets older for things like nappy changes - am I correct in assuming this? Also, in which areas are numbers likely to increase with age - and increase to what number?

I know these are a lot of questions, and thank you in advance!

I think my DS was a bit unusual in that at one point he was getting through 10 nappies a day.

Don’t buy anything, just in case. Just buy things as you need them. It’s much cheaper

I’d just buy 7 bibs and 7 muslins.

As for the blankets, do you mean for bedding, Moses basket or going out? Some people swear by the Baby Hoodie Car Seat Blanket? They’re supposed to be much easier than coats.

If you have a dribbly baby like my second you’ll need three bibs a day. My first was not dribbly and I remember thinking they were a massive con. My first had terrible reflux so had masses of baby grows. My second hardly needed any. As others have said, see what happens.

RE bottles I have loads of every single kind as my LB was a bottle refused so I tried faster teats, slower teats and tommee tippee, dr browns, a glass kind, lansinoh, avent, so again best to wait and see. Amazon is your friend.

You’ll be totally fine. Buy 7 of each thing and take it easy. I would say though even with this mentality I over did the first three sizes of nappy. They are in size 4/5 much longer xx

10-12 nappies a day for a new born. I would suggest that you always have one packet of the next size nappies in the house as they grow quickly and then you can check to see if the next size will fit.

We had 4 blankets for a reflux baby and lots of Muslims. I recommend Aldi special buys for blankets and muslins.

I never used bibs when breast feeding.

I would not buy any bottles just in case. If you do end up formula feeding you may have to find you have to try several bottles to find a bottle your baby likes.

How many nappies, on average, does a newborn get though a day? 7-10? Depends on how many they poo in before you even get the clothes on from the last change

If I plan to exclusively breastfeed, roughly how many bottles would I need to buy (as 'just in case')? None. This is why there are 24 hour Tesco stores

How many bibs, on average, should a newborn need?* None if you're breastfeeding, or if you have muslins.*

How many muslin cloths, on average, should a newborn need?
10?

How many blankets, on average, should a newborn need?
*
3-4. But not if you use a sleeping bag.*

I planned to breastfeed but it didn't work out. We had a pack of ready made, pre sterilised bottles in the house as a back up and then moved onto powder formula as its much cheaper.
2 120ml bottles - Used these for the first 3 weeks when baby only had small feeds.
3 240ml bottles - washed twice a day as baby has 6 feeds a day. I would prefer to have less as it forces me to do the wading promptly and we never accidentally end up without any bottles clean
I bought about 12 new muslins, you'll probably get given a few packs as 'gifts' too and this help as you can never have too many muslins!
Bibs - same as above, 1st baby didn't have any and the 2nd is going through 4 or 5 a day!
When you get a dribbling teether it can sonetimes be better a fold a muslin in half so it's a big triangle shape and then tie it round the baby's neck like a large banana 2- much better at catching dribble and doesn't need to be changed as often as a bib!
We also went through about 10 nappies a day to start. Buy 2 or 3 bumper newborm packs, and take 1 whole pack into hospital with you just so you know you won't run out! Good luck xx

I would say around 10 nappies a day

I've never really used bibs until now when my little girl is weaning or when she drools slightly when teething

I used Muslin squares a lot, I use them on my changing mat etc. The Aldi ones are really good and they have a baby event starting this week

As for blankets I had loads made for me but I've only really used one as it's massive and brilliant for breast feeding in public. I've never used any at bed time as my baby hates having her legs covered.

I got some bottles with my steriliser so had those just in case i couldn't breast feed. I agree you don't need to buy any as there is easy access at supermarkets etc if need be.

Hope that helps!

Nappies - I really can’t remember, the newborn days are a blur of sleep deprived feeds and changes. But the number has gone down as DD has got older - she doesn’t need changed at all through the night now as she never poos at night.

Bottles - I breastfed and didn’t buy any ‘just in case’ on advice of a few friends. Unless you’re really lucky it’s usually pretty hard at first and if I’d had bottles and formula close to hand I would have given up on night 3 (obviously there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that if that’s better for you, but I desperately wanted breastfeeding to work and for me personally it would have hindered us, not helped. I don’t think tongue-tied DD would ever have latched on again once she’d had the ease of a bottle). Formula and bottle are available in all supermarkets and had we really needed any DH could have been off to the 24hr Asda at any time. I did buy a pack of 6 at about 6 weeks when I started expressing though they were hardly used as I found it too much of a faff. Now DD is one and has formula for nursery we tend to just need one or two per day max and I’m starting to wean her into cows milk in a cup anyway.

Bibs - we had a drawer full which I never used. DD wasn’t a sicky baby at all and after a few days I realised I just didn’t need one, I just cleaned any dribbles off her face with a muslin. I did invest in some big ones when we started weaning at 6 months though.

Muslins - I’d been told you can never have too many, and I fully agree. I had a few in every room and her pram bag. They are fab for wiping up milk, sick and wee in the early days, and I also used them as a cover when latching DD on in public. Now they are mainly used for wiping DD’s permanently snotty nose, drying numerous spillages from her chucking her beaker about, and also dusting , and wiping the moisture off my wing mirrors in the morning. They don’t have to be posh. I got a pack of big ones from TK Maxx and lots of smaller ones from Aldi.

Blankets - we probably have too many as I’ve got a thing about them and got lots as presents. DD has been in a sleeping bag from being only a few weeks but it’s still good to have a few spare for the pram for when they get puked on.

The short answer is, no one can give you a rough number as every baby and every mum is different - we went through 4-5 muslins a day but my friend never used any!

My advice would be buy just a small amount of all of the above (except bottles, but again, that’s just what worked for me) and if you need more you can order online. Better to do that than waste your money.

Except nappies. But lots of them.

Probably 10 nappies a day for a newborn.

Bottles - just depends. I wouldnt bother and just buy them if you need them. Or get a formula starter pack with disposable bottles of ready made formula.

Bibs and muslins - my kids were both big spitter uppers so we went through a lot. Like 10 bibs a day a lot. Much easier to change a bib than their whole outfit. But it just depends on your baby.

Blankets - personally I didn’t use them for bedtime as they had sleeping bags. So it was more for in the pram or car seat and I could’ve managed with 2. One for using and one for washing when it got spit up on. We got gifted loads though so I have a nice variety

Nappies
My DS used to need roughly 10 changes a day for first month, every time I BF him he would poop (pretty usual for babies)

Bottles
Get yourself a starter kit of bottles maybe? We had 4 with view that our microwave steriliser could take 4 at a time. Now DS is FF we have 8 (4 sterilised and 4 dirty on rotation if that makes sense)

Muslins
I got through soooo many muslins with newborn DS, easily 4 a day. You really can not have enough of these. For me we needed these as my boobs would shoot milk out as soon as I pulled down my bra to BF and DS would either dribble out or sick up milk frequently whilst feeding too.

Bibs
Bibs, I didn't actually start using any until DS was about 3 months because he didn't start drooling until then but I'd say I got through about 4/5 in a day when his drooling was particularly bad. Now at nearly 11 months he still wears bibs occasionally. I find they get stained really easily though and as they are on top of DS's clothes I like to have a large selection of nice bibs.

Blankets
Okay, so I wasted a lot of money on blankets. It isn't recommended that babies sleep with blankets yet I bought loads thinking be handy in the pram or for wrapping DS up when holding him etc. Didn't use most of them for any of that. Now DS is attached to one particular blanket and I had to go out and buy a few multiples of the same one in fear that he will lose it. So my advice would be, buy all the same blankets haha, maybe tops 4 to have a decent laundry rotation on them?

We use reusable nappies and go through 10-12 in 24hours with a 7 week old, this is less with my 18mo old but they need more padding due to bigger wees.

Don't buy any bottles if you're planning to bf, invest instead in "the food of love"- book by Kate Evans. It's probably cheaper than a bottle, steriliser and a tin of formula anyway.

Muslins: we go through 1-4 a day.

We cosleep and use flat sheets to protect the blankets; we have 4, 1 for top and bottom which can be rotated. We have used towels when caught short.

You can genuinely never have too many muslins!! 🙈😂 if anyone asks what they can buy you... muslins please!

On the other hand - I had no muslins, never used them! I'm still not sure what I'd have done with them. We're all different.

Thank you, everyone, for your helpful responses! Sorry for taking so long to respond - just submitted my university dissertation, and the weeks leading up to it were a big, stressful blur!

I appreciate your in-depth responses!

DS had reflux - I used 3-4 muslin cloths at every feed So we had about 30 of them, which I was given for free second hand. Hopefully that won't be true case for you!

Muslins are amazing, they are so durable and can be used alot! Get plenty, and you don't need to buy expensive ones, our Asda ones are as good as our Aden & Anais ones. Some of the Aden & Anais ones were good for swaddling in the early days though.

Nappies we used 10-12 a day at first, but now not so many - it really depends on your baby and how often you change him/her. We tended to change at the very least at every feed (so every 3 hours) plus whenever it felt too wet or she had pooed.

I wouldn't buy bottles in advance, I did and ended up regretting it. Dd lost a lot of weight in the first 24 hours so we were admitted to paediatrics, between being cup fed making her a lazy feeder (badly i think - it basically got poured in), cup fed making her overfed (again - poured in her mouth) and DH wanting to know exactly how much she ate I think I got pushed away from breastfeeding - and having the bottles on hand just made it easy for DH to push them whilst I was feeling rubbish/in pain/exhaused after an emergency c-section and just wanting DD to gain weight so we could go home.

Bibs we used none when DD was a newborn. Muslins were the go to. We only started using bibs regularly when dribbling kicked in.

Blankets we had 4, but we only ever used 2. Until 3 months DD was swaddled and from then DD was in a sleeping bag (Sleeping bags are brilliant if Baby likes to wriggle in their sleep)

Bibs and muslins we've slowly gained more of, between them going missing (I'm sure one of the grandparents must collect them! - same with socks too), and keeping some in key locations we seem to need loads.

Finally, be prepared for everything you expect to go out the window! And congratulations and good luck :D

6 nappies
2 bottles
6 bibs
6 muslins
5 blankets

Yes, nappy changes decrease with age, which is why packs of disposables get smaller with bigger sizes.