First Baby and don't know what best things to buy

[BabyAcorn]

Hello fellow Mummies. I am finding everything quite overwhelming, with how many of every product there is to choose from. It reminds me of when I got married.
Today I received an Avent bottle, as I went on their web site, and it's got me thinking. I am 25 weeks, what should I be looking at buying now or soonish?
I would really appreciate some thoughts on this, I would like to breast feed, but know that I would also like Hubba to feed to, so bottles would be good too and maybe an electric pump? But do I do bottle or plastic bag bottles? And how many bottles do we think?
I suddenly feel as I am the only person out of my friends who is pregnant [ I'm 27] I cant really ask any one close.
Would really appreciate anything any-one has found really good, and don't get me started on prams!I just cant decide!Is it really that bad to be wanting everything lovely, perfect for this thing that keeps me awake already all night!?!?!

I would second not buying too much until you see what your baby is like.

For example, my dd wouldn't take a bottle. It took me a while to get bf sorted, so we didn't use a bottle with her until she was about 3.5 months. And by then, she wouldn't accept it. We ended up trying about 4 different styles until we fund one she would use (Nuke, with a latex teat, which we later swapped for plastic). So stocking up on avent was a waste of money!

Swaddling - she hated it. Even in hospital when a midwife tried to do it to help me get her into a good feeding position, she lost her temper and we had to abandon feeding for 20 minutes to calm her down. So I never used the swaddling blanket I was given. Once she had space to wave her arms around, it seems she did not wish to return to being confined!

One of my best buys was a bath cushion www.childsplaysussex.co.uk/babytec-baby-bath-float-bather-11463-0.html?___store=default
She floated in it leaving me hands free to wash her, and as she got bigger, we used it as a cushion to sit on to stop her slipping. Not for everyone, but I loved mine and will be buying another one for baby no2.

Our DD came at 29 weeks so we werent very organised but the things that i reckon are must haves ( she is now 20 weeks)

Multiple sizes of sleep suits ( they grow so fast) ..... wash and wear just a few at a time
Cardigans
Swaddle blanket ( only way DD would sleep for weeks)
Muslins - lots of
Nappies and cotton wool
Good change bag....worth spending money on as you will no longer carry a handbag. We have a pacopod which is great.
Pram and car seat ( we have babystyle oyster pram/pushchair, maxicosi car seat) Use the pram part downstairs for LO to sleep in.
We never bothered with a moses basket, has slept in cot with divider since day 1
Baby sponge and bath thermometer, Johnsons head to toe wash. We never used the bath support ( the only thing that we wasted money on) despite her only being 4lb coming home.
Milk bags if you are going to express and electric pump ( got mine from ebay)
Clear a freezer drawer now.....it soon fills up.
Nursing cover if you feel you will need one to BF in public
Magazines and books for you.....BF is boring and takes up a lot of time.

Everything else we get as we feel baby develops and needs........a carrier, a playmat, books etc
You will get loads of gifts as its your first, lots of lovely clothes so just buy the basics.

The things that we found invaluable were:

SwaddlePod it just zips up rather than being fiddly - wish I'd known about them with my first

GroEgg a total luxury but with my first I was terrified of her being too hot or too cold at night time and this made it easy - you won't need it if you're not a total worry-wart like me though

Chicco Soft Relax Chair though I think they have now replaced it with the Chicco Mia , it was amazing for soothing a colicy baby 1st time around and for my 2nd to sleep in at an angle because she had reflux. We bought it for £50, I would have happily spent £200 on it because I don't know what we would have done without it.

Tommee Tippee Manual Breast Pump was excellent, I used it everyday to express milk for the hospital and it was (for me) better than my medela electric

We're trying to figure it out as well, and a good friend who is a mother of a three year old and a six month old sent me this list:
As a minimum i think anyone with a newborn baby will need:

• Car seat
• pram
• 10 full length baby grows of the correct size - up to 7lb for New baby or 0-3months for bigger babies (like yours maybe :-) )
• 10 short baby grows
• 2 or 3 warm hats- you will probably lose at least 1 (charity shops are perfect for these)
• 2 pairs of mittens - only needed if your baby grows don't fold over the hands
• 12 muslins - at least 12!
• at least 12 bibs
• Nappies
• Cotton wool or baby wipes - they say cotton wool and water to wipe them for the first few weeks. You will need tons of cotton wool then you will get fed up and use baby wipes.
• 1 Hooded towel
• Changing mat - a changing table will save your back too
• Crib -although it could just sleep in your pram base until you are ready to move it to a larger cot
• Sheets for the cot or crib
• Baby sleeping bags- 2.5 tog for cooler weather
• Warm snow suit
• A few blankets - at least 1 should be a snugly warm one
• Baby bouncer
• A few bottles - just in case
• sterilizer
• baby monitor depending on the set up of your house. Some houses make them mandatory or you'll never hear the baby, other houses you'll hear the baby turn over without any help at all!

Really useful things you could live without if you really had to:

• Comfy chair that supports your back for feeding (especially in the middle of the night). I used an Ikea Poang
• Baby bath - we used the sink for the 1st few weeks as you know
• Bath seat/cradle for when they out grow the baby bath - allows you to have both hands free
• Baby gym to lie them under
• Electric breast pump for expressing -I tried a manual pump for 2 days and gave up. It's MUCH easier with an electric one!
• Nappy bag - I just use a cheap tote bag. I find actual nappy bags too bulky but each to their own
• Baby sling/papoose/carrier

In addition to this list, I've added a couple of other things that you may not need the second they come home, but are good to have on hand.

• Digital Thermometer
• Socks/booties if your onsies don't have feet on them.

In terms of cost, etc, I completely recommend the NCT nearly new sale. For example, Grobags are about £20 each new. I picked up five of them at the NNS for £20, and they all seem to be in perfect nick. It also let me fill in the gaps of things between what people had given us and what we had picked up here and there. ebay is also fabulous - we've picked up really good bargains. The safety rules seem pretty firm that car seats need to be new (because if it has been in a crash, you might not be able to see the damage, but it wouldnt' be up to the task if you were in another one), and crib mattresses (and Moses basket mattresses, etc) need to be knew to lower cot death risks. We got a Moses basket at the NNS for £20 including stand, and have to get a new mattress (NCT won't permit them to be sold with mattresses for the above reason) but a quick net search shows them to be available at Mothercare, etc for £8 and up. Generally, though I don't think things need to be new clothing, etc wise, as a) they grow out of them very quickly, and b) pee, poo, vomit, drool. They're going to go through the wash quickly and repeatedly even if they are new!

First time Mummy here, DD is 5 months now.

The only new thing we brought were - Pram, car seat, baby carrier and a cot.

Don't bother buying a moses basket..DD was out of it within a number of weeks. See if you can borrower one from a friend.

Without a doubt the best thing you can buy is a BabyBjörn Babysitter Balance Bouncer, they aren't cheap but amazing. I got mine on ebay for 10 quid. If you buy new don't go for the cheap one's they are imo rubbish.

I've been very lucky that friends and family have given us loads of 2nd hand clothes for DD...I've also been into all the 2nd hand shops to see what I can find!

2nd the Lansinoh nipple cream Arnica tablets.

You've got loads of comments here so i won't do a list, but IMO:

A baby sling is ESSENTIAL- your newborn loves being close to you and its the only way i could ever get anything done. My little girl went straight into her Baby bjorn active and I can't recommend that enough (going in a sling i mean)-gives lots of contact with you and you've got your hands free. Great for doing stuff in house, or nipping round a shop if you've driven there. they can go in from 3.something kg or 8 lb (not 5kg as i saw on here somewhere!) we borrowed one first, then bought it a week later from ebay- godsend. Although i now use an ErgoBaby- and carry DD on my back- she's 11 months tmw, and you can get an infant insert with that. The Ergo is far far more comfortable for you to wear, and DD sleeps better in it than in the baby bjorn, but they can't be turned round to face out. (they can be on your front when little- or bigger if you choose of course)

You DO NOT need a really fancy pram- most people i know swapped their enormous heavy 'travel system' thing for a lightweight stroller from 6 months or so. I borrowed a travel system type pram, hated it and never used one. At 9 months i bought the Baby Jogger City Mini- as light as a MacClaren stroller, genuinely one-hand fold and suitable from birth- wish i'd just had this straight away... Having the car seat clip onto your pram really isn't that helpful- a baby can only be in a carseat for an hour and a half at a time- there are risks of vertabral wedge fractures (crumpling bottom spine bones from the pressure on them) and plagiocephaly (getting a flat bit on head) strnogly linked to too much time in a car seat. I ALWAYS took my DD straight out of her car seat.

If you're going to BF get some Lansihoh- marvellous!!!

We only bought a new moses basket mattress for our DD. They don't need fancy things, just loving caring parents. Hand me downs are great!

Hi

I would say that the best thing we bought was this sleeping bag

www.bambinomerino.com/Bambino-Merino-Baby-Sleeping-Bag/c-16/p-29/?zenid=3fkab75hdo9l1berlrl89081n2

It might seem pricey but it's the ONLY one you'll need until your child is 2. It's like a Grobag but can be used all year round (no need to buy 2 different togs) and comes in just one size - 3 to 24 months. Bought one from the Baby Show for our PFB and as soon as I learnt I was pregnant again with twins, we bought another 2. The only problem is what to do when you want to wash it! You could buy 2 or just get it washed and dried the same day. bags

There's checklists available on various websites and also John Lewis and Boots.

www.babycentre.co.uk is a good website.

Otherwise most of the choices will be your own personal choices.

Happy shopping!

Things that I bought but wish I hadn't bothered have been: too many blankets (we used gro-bags in the end) and sheets, bumbo seat. I'm sure there's more. Don't get sucked in by too many gadgets, not until you have your baby anyway.

Oh, and buy more of these than you think you could use in a life time for after the birth , then your DH won't have to go shopping for them for you like mine did when I ran out on about day 4!

If you join the nct they hire out electric breast pumps. We went for manual, Avent isis are great. Also had a tommee tippee a boots own and a Tesco one none of which I would bother with as none get as much milk out as the Avent and there are generally some on offer on freegle so you can try for nowt.

Combining breast and bottle really worked for us with dd1, dd2 not a hope stuck to meike a limpet. Every child is different and pumps can wait til baby is home.
Also don't buy breast milk bags until you have the.baby as you may not find it that easy to express.
Unless you only have a shower you can do without a baby bath and just get a baby bath rest. Ours is a wire frame with a towelling cover.

If your baby is a kicker blankets can be anightmare, grobags are great for this, also contain poo explosions when through being dog tired you fail to put the 3am nappy on quite right.

Another vote for slings we have a kari me.

Also second muslins. Try car boots or nct you will need more than you'd think. Baby's make a lot of mess and so will you (leaking boobs, difficulty doing things with one hand full of child).

Hi, I spent hardly anything when I had my first. I went to second hand shops and car boot sales but the one thing I wish I had treated myself to was a really nice changing bag. You will be carrying it around with you for years and years (depending on how many you have!)

BabyAcorn I think pretty much every mum out there overbuys for her first baby. Then when you come to the second and third babies you decide you didn't really need most of what you thought you did or were told you did with the first.

To make everything "perfect" your baby wants to be as close to you as she (or he) can, as often as she can. Don't be fooled into thinking that by buying baby a £500 pram you're doing her a huge favour when actually a £50 sling would give you much more cuddliness.

What you really need is as little as humanly possible and sort the rest out as you go according to how you find your child to be. For example with DD1 she'd use any old highchair going, with DD2 I am currently on my 5th attempt to find anything we can live with. You just don't know what's going to suit you all yet so keep it minimal to get started.

Surprised how many people recommend a bath support as I found it much easier to have a basic baby bath which I then put inside the bath and filled with a jug. Uses much less water and as only the baby using fewer cleaning issues. Also makes a great first paddling pool or dolls swimming pool later on and all for about £5.

Things I found I needed were

-Muslins

• Hat, pramsuit as it was Jan otherwise cardi will be fine, 7x sleepsuits with mitts and vests ( I bought 3 of each pre birth as I didn't know I was having a girl and sent DH and Mum out for more as soon as she was born - note of caution ensure DH is aware of what sleepsuits and vests are prior to birth!)

-Moses basket or crib, 3x sheets, 2x blankets at most as DC may not like them and other people will buy you them - I own about 10 and use none! (my DD hates blankets and will not keep anything on so we use sleeping bags of which I needed 3 as believe it or not you can use them all in one night!) -Disposable nappies -Nappy cream

• Nappy bags

-Car seat -Pram - my advice would be to ensure car seat can go on pram as baby can get very heavy very quickly and it does make a big difference if you don't have to take them out of the car seat especially if they are asleep! -Thermometer for the room -Baby thermometer to take temperature -Changing mat -Baby bag - the lighter the better due to the amount of stuff you have to carry around in it!

Optional but really helped me!

• nappy bin - we lived in a flat so didn't want stinky nappies in our main bin or to be constantly traipsing down 2 flights of stairs to the outside bin!

-Bouncy chair that plays soft music (we have birds tweeting on ours and it sent her to sleep every time) - absolute godsend for us as DD is very nosey and liked to be able to look around - we purchased this in the 1st week after she was born.

• 2x Dr Browns bottles and microwave steriliser - wasn't sure if I was going to do breast or bottle so wanted to be prepared and I knew that I wanted the anti colic bottles from the beginning so that I didn't end up having to keep changing to find one that suited her and you can't get these everywhere!

Other items for later:

• Toy for car seat
• Mobile for cot
• the BEST thing I've ever bought and this is no exaggeration, all my friends with babies younger than my DD have tried ours and then bought one - a Fisher Price Jumperoo - from 4 months old. The single most life enabling purchase - I can put DD in here for 30 mins ( she'd be in it for hours if I let her!), know she's safe, and get some things done! Worth it's weight in gold! Expensive but you can get them second hand and they are really robust.

Hope this has helped a little :)

You've got plenty of good advice so far. Don't buy too much, get stuff secondhand when you can and let the relatives spoil you if they want to buy stuff from new. We bought much on eBay (very good quality stuff, often hardly used) and only bought moses baskets and cot mattresses, car seat from new beforehand.

We did find muslins invaluable - we had them scattered about the house so there was a goop rag to hand whever we were!

Re breastfeeding and expressing. If you are only going to express once in a while, then a hand pump is fine. I found the Avent hand pump was very easy to use I only switched to an electric dual pump when I was building up a stash before going back to work). Personally I wouldn't start epxressing and bottle feeding until you've got breastfeeding sorted - it's a skill and it can take time for you both to learn it and you don't want to through a spanner in the works. Wait until 6 weeks if you can as that means there's less chance of nipple confusion. In the meantime there's plenty dad can do - DH has always been the chief baby bather and putter to bed in our household (I think the garklet was almost 4 months before I first gave him a bath).

Definitely get some lasinhol in beforehand 'though, otherwise you might send hubby out for some at 3 days pp and find him comes back with cotton wool, lasinhol and a brand new PVR

I definately over bought with DS1 - rule of thumb, look at the baby lists in the back of catalogues for general stuff and half it. Look at nappies, wipes, big muslin squares, frozen ready meals, and sanitary towels / breast pads and double the amount you think you need.

Keep clothing simple, white with scratch mitts on baby grows and a couple of cardigans.
Would recommend buying a couple of bottles, teats and a steam sterilizer. You will probably need the sterlizer later on for weaning anyway. I used the avent manual pump for expressing one bottle a day and found it fine for this level of usage. If you were thinking of doing more expressed feeds, an electric pump would be useful, but otherwise don't bother.

jumperoo, expensive, but saved my life. Honestly the best thing in the world, and the re sale value is high as well. win win.

and lots of mat towels, think i must have used about 100, easily

I wish I had known:

Go to toys r us rather than mother care for prams, cots and carseats. The one near Chatham in Kent have been super helpful. Also ikea especially cots and high chairs.

Buy stuff at NCT or mother & baby group sales especally if you're kitting out grandparents houses to save lugging stuff about.

Never by a groegg unless yo want to be a slave to an egg. If you walk into a room and its warm remove layers and vice versa. Everyone I know says that they lost all sense of reason on temperature as soon as they brought the baby home. Lost hours i'll never get back due that bloody egg, use the £20 for a pedicure!

I wish I had known:

Go to toys r us rather than mother care for prams, cots and carseats. The one near Chatham in Kent have been super helpful. Also ikea especially cots and high chairs.

Buy stuff at NCT or mother & baby group sales especally if you're kitting out grandparents houses to save lugging stuff about.

Never by a groegg unless yo want to be a slave to an egg. If you walk into a room and its warm remove layers and vice versa. Everyone I know says that they lost all sense of reason on temperature as soon as they brought the baby home. Lost hours i'll never get back due that bloody egg, use the £20 for a pedicure!

Sorry posted twice and still littered with typos!

The bits I enthused about the most were:
sleeping bags
metanium bum cream
baby sling
Absolutely necessary in my book:
digital thermometer pref. an ear thermometer.

Hi Baby Acorn,

I am also 25 weeks today and a first timer. You are ahead if you already have a bottle! Saying that I have loads of babygrows (bought on holiday in France as such great value) but nothing else. We aren't going to go overboard as I'm the last of my friends to have a baby and have had loads of advice. Most of it telling us not to buy anything and when you do, especially clothes, make them white so they can all be chucked into the same wash! We are getting a changing table from my best friend - you need one of those just to make nappychanging easier (one that you approach the baby from front on, apparently much easier than sideways), and probably a Stokke pram (with carrycot as you can use the carrycot as a moses basket too for the baby to sleep in at home when it is newborn). The Stokke is very expensive and quite bulky but I love it, it has great reviews and I am willing to sacrifice any niggles for the sake of having the extremely high seating position which means baby much closer to people rather than the floor and I hope will help with development. One frivolity for us has been a cosleeping cot, we don't need it as we plan to have the carrycot form the pram. Its a cot that attaches to the side of our bed for 1st few months sleeping. For the first time in my life I am not working and I am going to breastfeed or at least do my very best to try as I feel it's by far and away the best or baby and for mum and being our first we are excited to have him/her sleep close by for the 1st few months (don't quote me on that come December!) so for breastfeeding having baby at arms length should be easier especially during he night. I am writing a blog about the toils and troubles of my pregnancy with all this sort of stuff in it so please feel free to follow me. Hopefully I can be of some support! My blog is www.pregnantcitygirl.com
nb my best advice is don't panic! From what I hear and read you really need very little to begin with. As for any 'nursery', we have a spare room but have done nothing so far. Again, we plan to have baby with us for the 1st 6mnths so what's the hurry? In terms of products, Mumsnet reviews are definitely worth looking at. Also I dont know where you live but John lewis do a Baby Service where you book an appointment and go along and they give you loads of advice (no obligation) as does Kiddicare ( on the internet too) who apparently is fantastic and has huge choice. I have done a bit of research on prams so if I can help I am happy to.

Good luck!

Someone said to "stock up" on a type of nappy cream - don't stock up, one tube will last for the entire duration of your child's nappy wearing days, and most likely all subsequent children! Wouldn't bother with a GroEgg as most baby monitors have the temp on it, although I agree with the poster about trusting your own judgement re: temperature.

DS is 9 weeks today & was born by EMCS due to pre-eclampsia weighing 5lb 8oz. He is EBF.

Nappies - Huggies do size 1 nappies with a cut out to dry the cord which is helpful but they leak eventually so I'd recommend one pack or enough to last until the cord falls off then Pampers if you're going to use disposables.
Wipes - cotton wool is okay but not ideal for out & about, we have found Huggies Pure wipes to be great, especially for messy poos!
Changing Table & Mat - We sent PILs out to pick one up for us when DS was 3 days old & we'd just got back from hospital. It made things so much easier after my EMCS (not wishing this on you obviously but 1 in 5 are caesareans now!) It is just generally easier on the back too!
Muslins - you will need tons of these, we use these way more than bibs. Get all white ones so they can be washed together & bleached if needs be.
Breastpumps / Bottles / Steriliser - I have the manual Avent pump which is great for occasional use, I usually get about 4-5oz in a go which is pretty good going, the Avent bottles all fit the pump & the Via cups (for breastmilk storage) do too so you can express straight into these. The Avent sterilisers are good too, ours was the £20 electric one - 8 minute cycle, idiotprooffoolproof & fits loads in. Second what everyone else has said about Lansinoh - great for sore nipples (it doesn't last forever I promise!)
Vests / Sleepsuits - We got some tiny baby (just in case, luckily) as well as some Newborn & some 0-3m, you don't know how big your baby will be so I would say get at least one Newborn size pack, we knew there was a risk of pre-eclampsia so we got 1 pack Tiny Baby, 2 packs Newborn. Sleepsuits with the mittens in are good but DS doesn't appreciate them so baby nail files are good...
Hats - get a couple of different sizes, DS had a tiny head when he was born & no hats would fit him properly until MIL went to Mothercare & got some Early Baby size
Blankets / Sleeping Bags - most sleeping bags have a minimum weight DS was way off but now he fits them they're great, you'll need about 3 as they take forever to dry, as you're due in November (if I've worked that out right?) you'll need 2.5tog unless your house is v.warm, general consensus is 24-27 degrees - less than 1 tog, 21-24 degrees - 1-2tog, 10-20 degrees 2-3.5tog. You will need blankets for the pram / carseat.
Prams / Car seats .etc - we got a Graco travel system which was about £170 from Amazon & is fantastic, the car seat clips onto the top of a normal stroller for newborns & the stroller is suitable til 3yrs iirc. Matching changing bags / raincovers .etc all available too. A car seat base is available which means you literally just click the car seat into it & away you go, helpful if your car is quite small & you would struggle to mess with seatbelts constantly!
Baths / Toiletries / Towels .etc - DS did love his WashPod until he bathed with me & realised he can't kick his legs in there, besides - bath time with nearby boobies is so much more fun Johnson's stuff has given DS a rash & the HV has said all they need for the first few months is warm water so I wouldn't worry too much about toiletries. Cuddle robes are brilliant for a newly bathed baby, easy to quickly wrap DC up & dry.
Toys / Bouncers / Slings - DS loves the Lamaze high contrast stuff now but wasn't interested at all until last week, he also now likes his cot mobile (although it doesn't send him to sleep, it makes him smile, gurgle & kick his legs!) He likes his Obaby B is for Bear bouncer from Tesco Direct - it vibrates & sends him to sleep like a shot. He hates his sling though - not all babies like them so I'd recommend waiting until your LO arrives so you can try them in one & go from there. They also have minimum weight limits.
Moses Baskets / Cots - DS has one of each, a moses basket that stays in our room & a cot in his Nursery for daytime naps. He has not outgrown his moses basket yet but he was small to start with. He sleeps fine in his cot too because we put him down in it pretty much from day 1.

HTH!