What baby essential would you spend £60 on?

[ToffeeAddict]

I have a two week old baby boy - our first DC - and we have been given £60 from my work with which I want to buy something worthwhile - could be something practical, fun, educational, whatever.

For inspiration, I'd really like to see if anyone can recommend something that, looking back, they found indispensable for their newborn that I could buy for about this sum - could be absolutely anything...

Any ideas? TIA

I loved the electric swing- gave me a break from endless shuggying of pram, but was definately a non essential luxury.
You can get grobags type things in tkmax or vertbaudet sale very cheap.

Fab suggestion Tocca

OP - www.cookfood.net/order

I vote for a sling. Far and away the best thing we bought for DD. We got a kari-me.
Congratulations, by the way!

The jumperoo was fantastic we have one and it was much loved and used by dd and friends.

But you could put it towards a nice piccie for his room? Something long lasting rather than something for now, or go for a trike, my dd loves hers!

Thorntons chocloates.

Our Playmat outlasted it by about 2 years, and it's still going, so practically it's a better buy, but personally I got way more satisfaction out of the chocolate smothered toffee.

quite like our handysitt.

inflatable play ring - indispensable during the learning to sit phase. Saves DC from face planting onto the floor at the side of the not-so-strategically-placed cushions!

most baby stuff is utter over-priced tat. Put the cash into a savings account; it'll still be there when she's 18.

I wouldnt bother with trip-trap type hairchair. We had fancy one for DS1 then ebayed it & bought £10 jobby in ikea which is fab. You can take the tray off & push the hairchair under the table to DC can sit at the table with you. I have two which I keep stacked up when not in use.

Some things are very easy to buy 2nd hand in near perfect condition at nearly new sales/car boots/charity shops things like play gyms, inflatable play rings, most popular toys so although I would of been lost without mine I would say not to buy brand new...

I would go for this sort of thing... We have a Graco one. They are great when baby is crawling & into everything and you need to leave the room.

Or save it for next size car seat

If you are thinking of a sling, I have a napsack wrap around sling which has been great for carrying around my lardy DS(10 pound at birth)

Agree about the trip-traps. We have 2 Obaby ones which are virtually the same but cost only £35 new - my 6 year old particularly loves it and the little one thinks he's sitting on the same as his sister despite having the bar still attached.

A Kari-Me or an Ergo

A pop-up travel cot. SO useful!

A wrap sling gets a vote from me - you cannot have a baby without one imho

another sling vote though I didn't use mine till DD was 3 months or so. When she was smaller I used baby bjorn front pack which was great too (see just seemed to twist up in the sling when tiny).

We also loved the play next - you can get one for under £30 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Galt-A1110H-Farm-Playnest/dp/B000296KW6 here they are totally portable, great for baby at beach, in park, in garden, in living room, when visiting friends & family etc etc.

play NEST

Fisher Price rain forest baby gym. Was absolutely my best purchase, even though expensive.

Something like this. You can save a bit by looking for a local used one on ebay (the design in that pic is brand new, but the previous design was great too). We have the previous design which has done 2 of our children, a friend's child, and will be used for our third too.

wrap sling and grobag

Definitely a sling

Wrap sling for me too.

Our best purchase has been a Babybjorn active carrier. They're £60 - see here - I have a dodgy back after pregnancy and found wrap slings uncomfy... this is really supportive and great for Dads too. The baby faces you until 4 months or so and can then face outwards sometimes - which my DS loves. I use mine around the house and on walks. He's loved it from around 2 weeks and is still in it lots (he's 6 months now). Highly recommended! Also found a play mat, bouncy chair and breastfeeding pillow v helpful. Congrats on your new arrival

Sling - a wrap sling, ring sling or soft structured carrier e.g. Ergo, depending what you think you would like (wrap is lovely and snuggly and extremely comfy for you, ring sling easy to put on, can breastfeed in it, but can be less comfy as they get bigger, Ergo is easy to use but pricier and hard to breastfeed in)

Babybjorns are fine when they are tiny but they are uncomfortable past about 7 or 8 months. And they don't hold the baby in as good a position as other slings do.

some one bought me a fisher price baby swing and its the thing i most use!

If i didnt have that my dishes & washing basket would be piled to the ceiling !! also a breast feeding pillow .x.

Thanks so much for all the replies - plenty of inspiration here!

I had been thinking about getting a sling/carrier anyway, so think I will definitely get one of those out of my own money - just have to have to decide which one now!

I'm going to get the Fisher Price Rainforest Gym - I wanted a gym and thanks to the recommendations above I've decided on this one.

I liked the food and alcohol suggestions too and also really useful to know that Ikea do a similar chair to the Tripp Trapp as I liked the idea of the Tripp Trapp but didn't want to spend so much on it.

Grobags were a popular suggestion too, but already have one of these (from TK Maxx) but haven't used it yet as I'm happy with blankets for now - our house is really warm and I'm worried about how hot he might get in the Grobag.

Thanks again, really appreciate your suggestions.