Most expensive items for first time baby?

[Burmama]

This is a bit of a random request but can you please tell me what were the most expensive things you had to buy for a new baby? I'm based in Southeast Asia for work at the mo but will be coming home before the birth and it'd be great to be able to get some of the spendier items out here on the cheap if possible... Thanks for any tips!!!

Pram and car seat. Nothing else really needs to cost that much. If you have boobs and nappies and a safe sleeping place (moses) basket you are into a winner!

Pram, car seat, bedside crib, baby listener, breast pump, sling.

I agree with Marnie, pram and car seat are the main ones. Although we did spend a small fortune on the nursery furniture a few months in!

Pram, car seat and merino sleeping bags (expensive initial payment, but loads cheaper in the long run).

travel system (pushchair/bassinet/carseat+ base). cotbed + mattress. Nursing chair, changing table, cacoonababy, bjorn bouncer.

These were my big spends but yours may well vary, depends what you want. I found once I stating looking and researching products, there was always something I had to have!

Stroller and car seat are the large items. However I wouldn't buy a car seat in Asia if you are returning to the Uk permanently to use it. Whatever you buy in Asia won't be in line with EU guidelines and so won't be legal in the UK and would invalidate your insurance. We moved internationally recently and sold our car seat in the country we came from. We bought new when we got back.

pushchair wins hands down.

Got to be pushchair/travel system. Having said that mine cost nearly £900, but you can get them much cheaper, it is personal choice/circumstances!

Buggy definitely. To be honest, we managed to get most items second hand and only the car seat, mattress, steriliser and buggy were new. Nearly choked when I saw the price of the buggy!

For me, pram (or travel system) cost £620, then cot at £275 and then Babybjorn bouncer at £100. Car seat would have cost £100 but we're lucky that friends have one their baby has just grown out of (we know they've had no accidents) so we got that.

I've spent £143 on a buggy. Rest has been borrowed.

Thank you all, that really helps!! After a quick web browse I'm loving the cocoonababy, thanks for the tip heatherbell. And great suggestion not to buy car seat out here blueberry. So I guess I'm going pram, baby monitor and breast pump shopping in Bangkok! Thanks again!!

Whoops sorry cocoonababy tip came from whiteblossom, sorry!!

Personally I wouldn't bother with a breast pump. You might not need one anyway, they are all so different, you don't really know what you are going to need until the time.

Plus also caution with the cocoon baby. Is doesn't meet with health professionals 'safe sleep' advice.

Baby cot & matress, nursery furniture, pram (depends what you want but ours cost just over £1000 but ML bought one for about £600), car seat, if you are bottle feeding (bottles, steriliser-we bought electric, bottle warmer), sleeping bags (we went with the gro bag brand).

I have a cocoon baby and it was amazing. DD loved it. She slept for hours in it.

Opppps forgot, baby monitor with breathing monitor (we went angle care) and we also got a baby cam (we went Y-Cam) for the nursery.

Agree with buying car seat over here - but pushcahir, angelcare monitor were the two most expensive things. Moses baskets are about £40 if you use one, cots are reasonable too from John Lewis or Ikea. Mattresses can set you back a bit so you could look into that - I ended up buying loads of bedding I rarely used.

marnierose why does the cocoonababy not conform to safe sleeping recommendations? I thought it did?

marnierose I also thought it did confirm to safe sleeping recommendations too.

As with others our most expensive thing was the buggy, followed by nursery furniture. If you want a swank changing bag you might get one cheaper there- I think I paid £90 for a Pacapod here.

The cocoon baby doesn't seem to comply with recommendations to put your baby on a firm flat matresss in the feet to foot position. I think someone asked the lullaby trust and they agreed it didn't meet their SIDS recommendations. You wouldn't dream of letting your baby sleep on a pillow so this product does worry me a bit. Having said that I don't have my baby yet, so can't fully appreciate the effects of sleep deprivation!

Just worth thinking about I suppose.

marnierose I have this product and I have used it. There is no way your baby would could roll over or wriggle out. The baby is securely strap in. It's also excellent for helping baby with wind and colic.

I did a lot of research and found nothing that said this product was dangerous and not recommended.

And you can't compare it to a pillow. It's nothing like a pillow.

I'd add a sling to the list if you want one. Our moby wrap is great but it wasn't cheap.

We used a cocoonababy, it's not like a pillow. The strap stops the baby from moving around and I tucked the blanket under it so no chance of DD pulling covers over her head (which I believe is the reason for foot-to-end of cot). And it's actually quite firm - the cover stretches over the foam to make a kind of hammock so there is an air gap under the baby's head. So they would be able to breathe if they could roll over anyway, if the strap came undone somehow (and it's very strong velcro, no way a baby would undo it).

OP have you also considered an amby nest? DD loved hers. And I definitely second the merino sleeping bag suggestion, they're great (much less sweaty than the normal acrylic sleeping bags).