Buying things for baby?

[S1eepflower]

Hello all!

I'm currently 15 weeks pregnant. I've had scans at 11 and 12 weeks and all was well, and I saw the midwife yesterday and we got to hear the heartbeat for the first time :).

I wanted to start shopping for baby things... only little things at first, clothes, accessories...etc Is it too soon?

All I keep reading about is people waiting until after 20weeks...etc I'm on a very low income and want to spread purchases out over the year. I don't have anything yet and nobody has given me anything.

What's people's thoughts? :)

Before I buy anything I'm going to need to clear out the spare room so I have somewhere to put it! As my nephew is nearly 1 I'll be getting stuff from my brother and most of our friends already have children so have talked about digging stuff out for me too! We have a few good charity shops with baby sections so planning to use them for some stuff.

I didn't buy a thing until the 20 week scan and haven't bought much since.

Some of it was because of previous mcs but also I don't see the rush - baby only needs a few things when she arrives and then people will always buy you gifts (I have a huge family and know from previous family births just what to expect).

I'll be buying the essentials and will pick up the rest later - I don't really have a major motivation to go out shopping for baby clothes right now!

I didn't think I'd get given or bought anything until maybe after the baby arrived, but I have, and by people I hardly know! For example partners parents neighbours have offered me stuff, and friends of friends have offered me things either free or very cheap.
I'm not keen on the concepts of baby showers in terms of 'come and buy my unborn baby gifts'. I do get the social aspect though as it's nice to get people together before social life take a back burner for a few months. I didn't think I knew anyone who'd organise one for me, but was shocked when I was given a surprise one! They all put together and got me bits for my hospital bag and a few other useful bits as a joint gift which was really sweet.

Aww thats nice, I won't have any of that, literally the last person I did anything social with was months ago, and the last person I spoke to that wasn't my partner or work or health professional was also months :D Even half of work still don't know/care I'm pregnant and there's only 25 of us. I don't talk to people much haha :D

We started buying one thing a month from about 20 weeks just to spread the cost. Helped a lot and just kept monitoring things on amazon, mothercare etc to wait till they were good prices. Small things like bottles etc we popped in the trolley when doing the weekly shop along with nappies when the were on offer.

I am 16+2 and me and my mum are going to put the deposit down on the pram tomorrow (her and my dad have very kindly offered to buy it for me and my husband) and whilst I am there I am going to buy the bedding, curtains etc for the nursery as the theme I want is coming to end of stock so I wanna make sure I get it! We have also been very lucky in the fact that another family member has offered to buy the furniture for the nursery but I am going to hang on with that - purely because we need to decorate the room first! Apart from that I have only got a couple of baby grows and will wait to get the rest, not because I'm superstitious but because of money lol! Enjoy buying your bits and bobs xx

The whole wait till the end of pregnancy thing came from the days when babies frequently died in childbirth. I think people have been slow to move away from that idea, even though, thankfully, medical advancements mean that once your 12 weeks theres a 99.7 or 99.9% chance (cant remember which), that you'll go on to have a live baby.

With DS i bought a few little neutral items after the 12week scan, then a couple of boy outfits after 20week scan but had to leave most things until last minute, as we sold our house in one area before 20weeks, moved into dh's new works staff accomodation as a temporary measure and didnt move into our new house until 37weeks pregnant, so didnt have storage for anything (was glad my mamas and papas pram didnt have to be picked up until a date of my choosing after id bought it)

Im racking my brains for something to go and buy for this one before knowing gender at 20weeks.

I would actually wait a few weeks, but only so you don't rush and buy unnessecary things

Spend the next month making list of essentials and comparing prices online to see where's best to go and what will have the best deals for what you want.

I have already bought plenty and see it as a sign of good planning when others do.

As a money saving tip, if you shop at a tesco's with the hand scanners always scan loads of things in the baby aisle (you can take them off again easily) a lot of the time you will find several bargains at much less than the shelf price.

I got my pregnancy/feeding pillows, cot mobile, travel cot, breast pump, baby monitor and a few lamaze toys for less than half the shelf price by doing this.

I like the Tesco tip mada!

I am 14+2 and I bought a baby gym, grow bag and multipack of wipes I got on offer. I'm going to start buying a few things each payday too from now on.

you mentioned you went to the trafford centre, if your in the area head to kiddicare in aintree they are closing down 7th sept and everything in store is reduced if your looking for neutral you could grab a bargain on everything! (Online still full price)

I wanted to buy things as soon as I found out I was pregnant! Lol I was so excited and eager. I was also anxious about losing my baby, too, as my sister had a stillbirth a few years before. But we waited to get to 12 weeks and also waited to find out if we were having a girl or boy to buy some things.

We didn't have family/friends etc to throw us a baby shower or buy us things and all the available hand me downs from family had already gone down to other people! (I'm the 7th of 12 kids!)

We cleared out a cupboard and stocked up on lots of essentials. I would go look in that cupboard periodically and feel happy and that I was prepared.

We bought a lot of things brand new. Once my son was born, I figured he's going to need new clothes every now and then as he grows, so I started buying bundles of clothes off ebay! I had no shame in buying clothes he was only going to be in for a few months second hand!

I have bought stuff early on in both of my pregnancies - had most things by 20 - 25 weeks. I like to be organised early with everything so I don't see what's wrong with doing the same for having a new baby. I have had a few raised eyebrows from people who seem to think its wantonly reckless to shop for anything before you have a healthy baby home from hospital - personally I always felt very strongly that if it all went wrong at a relatively late stage, then the baby stuff would be the least of my worries!
If you are on a budget then getting stuff slowly will enable you to spread the cost and also buy things when they are on sale/offer etc. We have friends who had a full term stillbirth - they saved all of the stuff they had bought (they were fully equipped by the time the baby arrived) and used it all for their second child who was born the next year. They liked the idea of that connection between their two children. They are well off so could easily have given it all away to charity and not bought anything till the second baby arrived safely, but they always said that the presence of absence of a bit of baby equipment in their house didn't really make any difference to the terrible trauma of losing a baby at full term. Its not like if it all went wrong you would be able to just forget you were ever pregnant by not having any baby equipment in your house. I think it would be an experience that would stay with you forever regardless. I think that is a long winded way of saying to do whatever you like - if you want to get shopping early then go for it.

I should have added that there were one or two things we hadn't bought and therefore had to go to mothercare with 5 day old DC whilst recovering from 3 day labour ending in ELCS - not a pleasant experience! another reason to buy in advance......