Can you recommend a couple of things please?

[Boomerwang]

My mother has gone on new baby overdrive and is pestering me to tell her what I want for the baby. I haven't got a CLUE about baby things but we have most things already. What is missing are:

Moses basket
Pushchair useable from birth
Petsafe playpen

I don't think price is an issue, Mum's told me to find the most suitable not the cheapest. We have an Alsatian and two cats. All three are nosey and likely to bother the baby in some way if she were to be left within reach, which is why I need some kind of safe playpen if it's possible.

I'm going to have a nosey at some shops online, but if anyone else can recommend any of these to me I'd be most appreciative. UK or Sweden, doesn't matter.

Thank you.

The stokke high chair - not essential til you are weaning, but you can get a newborn attachment like a cot which would be great for keeping baby up high.

And it's an ace high chair if price is not a consideration.

Car seat. Find out what's recommended for your vehicle
Sling
Nappies - disposable or cloth?
Bedding
Clothes

I think Moses baskets are all similar. We got a Mamas and Papas one and bought a wooden stand that could be either rocking or stationary.

Pushchairs are very variable; you might want to check out the pushchair topic and the review section on here. It depends how small you want it to fold, do you want it parent-facing when they're teeny, do you want to be able to attach your carseat to it etc? We have the iCandy cherry which folds up small although you have to remove the seat to fold it. It's light and manoeuvrable, takes maxi cost cars eats and is useable from birth if you buy the carrycot. Not cheap, but we've been happy with it.

We used this Lindam playpen but we don't have dogs so I'm not 100% sure on that one. Had no problems with it though. Also used it as a room divider once DD was older.

Sorry, should be maxi cosi carseats.

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I hadn't even thought about a high chair yet :s

I've had a look at Moses baskets and yes they're all one and the same really, aren't they? I've told mum to pick whichever she likes.

Pushchairs I've had a gander and decided we need a travel system, perhaps a two in one pram and pushchair and it must be a three wheeler with one single wheel in front rather than a double wheel, as the roads and pavements here are horribly bumpy dirt roads. I'd like it to be collapsible and have a reasonable amount of storage space, which is asking a lot from a two in one, I know.

Play pens... I haven't found a single one that I liked yet. It cannot be mesh as the dog/cats will slash through that very quickly. It must be clear of the floor as we have a draughty house. It'd be nice if it could be folded away/used as a room divider.

I'm also interested in the travel cot / play pen two in one for when we visit my boyfriend's parents, but I haven't found any that aren't meshed yet. When we visit them the dog comes along and stays in our room with us.

OP, do you live in Sweden? If so, and if you're living in a snowy area (unless you're in an inner city) I would recommend getting a Swedish pram/pushchair. Brio or Crescent are reasonably priced, suitable from birth and cope well in the climate year around.

We lived in the UK for DS's first year and as it was a snowy one, I was pleased with my Brio - then again, my beloved Baby Jogger (awesome in every other respect) is useless for quite a few months of the year now that we're back in scandi-land.

This playpen doesn't fold away to be fair, but as a dog owner mysrlf it may be worth a look. Like a cot, it has two base heights, one as shown in the picture just off the floor, but it also raises half way up so new baby can lie comfortably in it without you having to bend right over IYSWIM? DD would sleep really well in hers and dogs couldn't get near her.

Have just looked properly at the price mind It definately didn't cost nearly as much two years ago!

Thanks for the tips. Poultry I was thinking of a cot just like that one where you can raise the base for different stages of growth and that one looks okay. I noticed that the BabyDan hexagonal playpen can also accommodate a tent top which would be good for keeping cats out, but the playpen itself is right on the floor in the draught.

To be honest, I don't know for sure if any of the animals would bother to go near the baby. I'll never know til I get one I guess.

Yes, I live in Sweden and I will look up those brands you mentioned Broodzilla thank you :)

Pushchair-wise you might want to check out the Britax ones. We had a Vigour 3 (3 wheels, good storage, car seat compatible, can be forward or parent facing) it was ace and we only swapped it when I needed a double. Not sure if they still make them but there's bound to be an equivalent...

We ordered an iCandy peach jogger today as we have a dog and will be walking on rough terrain with uneven and dirt paths. It has a good size basket, forward and rear facing with single wheel at front. I was very impressed by how easy it was to manoeuvre yet how stable it was. Fits maxi cosi carseats with an adapter to create a travel system.

For what it's worth, our DS had grown out of our moses basket by 10 weeks, so a cot is also pretty useful early on. I also found a travel cot essential for staying with friends/family/on holidays - we had a light-weight one which would have been expensive if bought new (we got it secondhand) and we used in until he was about 2.

Other 'big' things we used were a baby bouncer - ours was on the floor, but I think you can get ones that are on a stand - a change table, a change bag, a sling and high chair (actually we bought the Ikea Antilop v cheaply first, but switched to a TrippTrapp when he got a bit bigger).

thanks for the info guys, I'll check out that buggy sharon it sounds ideal, although I wanted to ask if anyone had had anything from the 'Graco' brand as my Dad just pointed out a car seat for us made by them that he thinks we should get as they are available here.

Babies grow out of a moses basket THAT fast? We're going to get a cot from the start anyway, planned to put the basket in the cot rather than use a stand as I'm not sure how stable a stand would be if a dog knocked it.

I need to get a changing table and high chair, but I didn't think it mattered much which brand you had so I didn't ask about them.

Again, thanks very much guys. I'm all at sea here, never had to think about this stuff before o0

Again, thanks for your suggestions.

We've had a look and decided since these things are going to be gifted to us we ought to keep the costs down. We've chosen the Graco Logico S car seat with the base and it fits onto a Graco pushchair. All for about £200 in total if we get it from the UK, and over £300 if we get it in Sweden. Bloody Swedes.

Still buggered for the playpen though. Can't find a single one I like.

One thing to consider with some travel systems especially is fitting them in the back of the car. I borrowed a friend's Graco Quattro Tour, but it doesn't fit in the boot of a Fiesta unless you take the parcel shelf out. Lovely pushchair, but not good for small cars. We had the Graco Mosaic in the end as it was an umbrella fold type. Good all-rounder, but the wheels do wear down (walked DD for miles in it). Think there may be more choice around now (DD is 4.5)

Hi, for the playpen, how about thinking about it another way? Instead of keeping baby in, why not keep pets out?

I have 5 cats and got these baby gates:

retractable babygate

I put the babygates slightly higher than ground level so that cats could go under it but baby can't. It gives the cats an escape route so they don't feel cornered (now he is crawling pretty fast and is obsessed with them!).

As well as the top and bottom of the stairs I have one on the kitchen so my cats can hide from my 13m old. When retracted you can hardly see them, so look much nicer than traditional baby gates. You could have baby in lounge sometimes and dogs in lounge when baby is asleep or whatever. Unless you've got loads of room I think a playpen may end up doing your head in!

I got mine on Ebay for about £65 each.

Good luck!