Stuff for babies. So confused. Please help.

[minitoot]

1. What is a scratch mitt? Should I get some?

2. What is the difference between pushchairs and strollers? I have looked at the Mumsnet 'guide to' but am not much clearer about it. Looks like the pushchairs are more solid-looking and more expensive and suitable from birth because they lie flat. And the strollers are light-weight and cheaper. But lots of the strollers I've seen in catalogues say 'suitable from birth' too, even though they don't seem to lie flat. Is there something about how long it's safe for the baby to be in them?

3. What would you buy second-hand and what should really be bought new? For example, I hear that buying a car seat second hand isn't such a good idea because it might have been in an accident. What about pushchairs? If you buy them off e-bay how sure can you be that they aren't missing a crucial screw somewhere?

Cannot believe how complicated it is to buy stuff for babies...

scratch mits are likkle cotton mittens to stop them scratching their face cos there nails are sharp, get three pairs

Get a few scratch mitts or some of those babygrows with the mitts that fold over.
I'd buy most equipment second hand apart from cot mattress and car seat.

Yes you need scratchmits - I got mine from primark 10p a pair.

Pushchairs are bigger, heavier and usually more versitile than strollers. often you can attach the car seat to them or a carrycot to turn them into a pram.

Strollers are light weigh, and basic, some lie flat others don't. IMO you can't put a brand new baby in a stroller, although you can probably get some that you can attach the car seat to.

You can buy most things second hand.

Cot/moses basket you will need to buy a new mattress but the rest is fine.

Pushchairs are fine second hand, they won't work if anything vital is missing.

Buy new bottles if you are going to use them.

I would buy a new car seat but if someone you know is selling one then I wouldn't be affraid to buy it.

Clothes etc fine second hand.

It is lovely to buy new things if you can afford them but absolutley not needed!

And babies grow so fast things are hardly used.

My pram/pushchair was used a handfull of times before it was sold!

I have two children, have never used a pair of scratch mits. Well, one from a present on DD1 for about 10 minutes. Even as newborns they hated them. Get some babygros with fold over sleeves (most brands do them), then you haven't wasted any money.

There is no technical stroller/pushchair difference in every day life (though there may be officially for all I know). One is American and the other British.

HTH.

WRT pushchairs, I would buy a second hand one, mine was a silvercross 3d, that was a pram/pushchair. It cost £330 from mothercare. I sold it for £35. There was not a mark on it!

I did buy another expensive one after because we had specific needs - a lot of off roading etc that I hadn't considered when buying the first, but had we not then I would have progressed to a stroller. i have the chico citylite about £140 new, I bought it 3rd hand for £30, again nothing wrong with it

Poor you, you sound so stressed! Baby shopping is complicated but can be fun too so hopefully this will help:

1. Scratch mitts are like little gloves for newborns so that they don't scratch their faces because often they're born with long nails!! I never used them for my two DSs because hubby is great at clipping tiny hand nails but most people i know do use them.
2. In theory a stroller is like you say, a lighter pram for 6+ months I.e. when they can sit up ok. In practice a lot of strollers are similar to pushchairs and the difference can be a bit fuzzy. Look for travel systems if this is your first: they have a chassis and other bits that slot into it (carry cot, car seat,etc) so they're very practical and you can use the best attachment to suit the age of your baby. In terms of brands, there're so many that it is difficult to advise you other than say to look at the them in the shops rather than go with online reviews. A couple of products I was going to buy looked great online but when I tried them in the shop I found I couldn't get on with the folding mechanism or they were more flimsy than expected.
3. I wouldn't buy a cot and mattress used on Ebay for hygiene reasons and because you can't be sure that it comes from a smoke free environment. If you have a newish car, try to get a car seat with an isofix base. It's so much safer than the seat belt fit especially for rear facing car seats.

I don't know if I would buy car seat and pushchair used on EBay. I did buy a used mamas and papas chest + changing top and paid quite a lot for it only to find that one drawer was cracked and the whole thing was not great structurally. So if you do buy used, try to insist on "cash on collection" and inspect everything thoroughly before paying!! Hope this helps a bit!

Never used scratch mitts on my DDs.

Everything apart from cot mattress and 2nd stage car seat we got second hand. Saved us a fortune.

1st car seat we were given 2nd hand my DH's sister with the pram it went with, so we knew it was safe.

The cot we found in the loft of a house we moved into which was a repossession. Just a wash with bleach and we were good it go.

minitoot - i was given a massive bunch of scratch mitts and we've never used them.
If you want them, PM me with your address and i'll send them.
(no charge!)

Scratch mitts are a waste of time and money.

The only thing I wouldn't get second hand are a car seat and a cot mattress - no issue at all with the cot itself (unless it's a family heirloom and is quite possibly lead painted. You can get a new cot from Ikea for £35.00.

I bought my pushchair secondhand off ebay, it was in fab condition and less than half the price of a new one. When picking one think about your lifestyle. I can't drive and we don't gave a car. As I walk everywhere, I wanted a manoeuvrable, light pushchair that had a proper lie flat carrycot attachment and was easy to get on and off buses. I also wanted a big shopping basket. When I picked out some options I went to John Lewis to push them about. When I liked the feel of it I watched ebay and pounced!

Car seat wise I picked one that fixed onto the buggy chassis but that also rated highly for safety when belted into cars as it gets used in a lot of different cars!

When DS starts toddling I'll probably get a cheaper, light folding stroller type pushchair.

Oh and our cot is from a charity shop in fab condition. Bought the mattress new.

Don't worry too much about the 'additional extras', you might find you don't need things like scratch mits, and if you do, send someone to the shops! We bought a few bits like sling that we never used, although I know some swear by them.

Just get the basics - pushchair, car seat, cot, clothes and nappies, oh and bottles & steriliser if needed, then get other bits as you go along. I agree pushchairs are a nightmare to choose from though!

I have never used scratch mitts, just invest in a nail file for sharp little nails.

I would say a pushchair is sturdier and a stroller or buggy is more of your umbrella type thing.
You can get both suitable from newborn. You need to make sure it will lie completely flat.
The most important thing if you go for a travel system is that the car seat will fit your car. It isn't recommended a newborn travels in a carseat for long periods of time so if you have an hours round trip to town, then plan on spending a few hours shopping at a time then it maybe best to go for a carrycot or other lie flat pram.
Isofix and other bases make using the seat easier but not neccessarily safer.
I think if you buy from Ebay you obviously risk your pushchair being incomplete. Maybe stick to pick up only so you can give it a good once over first, and have a look at a new version of the same model to compare.

Same as others mattresses, and car seats second hand are not such a good idea, unless you know who they have come from.
For instance I was happy to use the crib mattress our friends DD had just finished using, the cover was washable and it hadn't been stored, likewise their infant car seat, had only been used for three months before they swapped cars and I know they hadn't crashed or dropped it.

Never used scratch mitts either. DD wouldn't keep them on and its easy to trim their nails or else buy babygros with fold over sleeves if you are that bothered. Several friends dumped a load of scratch mitts on me that their babies hadn't used either!

DS just used to pull his mitts off but he was a nightmare for scratching himself... we discovered long sleeved bodysuits with fold over cuffs (which therefore became little mitts but attached to the bodysuit). This sort of thing

This one's pretty expensive - it was just the first link on google when I searched long sleeved bodysuit mitts.

I found the travel system a godsend but need to drive pretty much every time we go out... didn't get a stroller until much later, it was convenient but a bugger to push compared to DS's pushchair. You need to get to a shop and have a play, really. My definition is that the strollers fold down to umbrella size... but actually never really thought about it! Could be completely wrong.

Like others have said, I'd avoid buying car seats or mattresses second hand.

You can buy babygros with scratch mitts attached in all the supermarkets so don't have to cost a fortune.

I am assuming that when my baby is first born, he will be wearing babygros pretty much 24/7. These have feet in. So does that mean I don't need to take baby socks to the hospital? Will he need anything else on his feet at first?

You are right KitAndKat, baby will be in babygros most of the time or vests if hot weather. Babysocks are a waste of time/money as well - as are baby shoes.

Thanks, that's one less thing to worry about buying then. It is such a nightmare to know what you need and how much of it you need to buy! This child will end up with more clothes than me if I am not careful.

Never used scratch mitts .

Everything I had was passed on to me from friends (one of the benefits of having a baby a lot later than your friends ) - including car seat/cot/mattress and pram. We were also given a travel system but that was a nightmare to put up/down.

Bear in mind that marketing to new parents is a huge business.

You always end up with far too much stuff so make sure you don't buy too much yourself as family and friends always go overboard with clothes. We just bought a few basic vests and babygros for DD1 and when she was born we received enough clothes from everyone to see her through the first 3 months.

I would buy one pair of baby socks, the thickest you can find.
Two out of my three babies have had to have blood taken to test for jaundice. As babies veins are too small they pin prick their heel and squeeze out the blood, this causes them to cry lots and it can take ages to fill up the tube, it can be distressing to watch.
The blood comes out quicker if the foot is warm so I put two socks on one of their feet to warm it up.

Yes, babygrows are the normal clothes, but we were given (both as new and used) quite a lot of outfits that were trousers, and they don't have feet ( for little babies having trousers without feet.)
We're finding socks very useful for those. We didn't buy any, though, we had so many given to us!
Oh, and I've discovered that 2 pairs of socks stay on, 1 pair falls straight off.
Bootees are useful for keeping on socks as well.
And she does look sooooo cute in the little denim dungarees!

Wow, thanks so much for all this help! I've not read through all the posts yet but will do so now. Yes, I am a bit stressed :) - well, not exactly stressed, just totally overwhelmed with all the different stuff out there. I also have loads of work stuff on at the moment and we've just moved house and are living with no kitchen, so it's not even as if I have lots of spare time to research everything. Thanks again.