Are any of these must haves?

[Flyingchimps]

Hi all,

We have started getting ourselves ready for baby’s arrival and have made most of our significant purchases. We’ve tried to steer clear of gizmos but want to gauge opinion as to wether we have missed the boat on some of them:
*sleepyhead (I don’t really understand what this is for!)
*Next to me (we have a Moses basket and baby box so unsure why we would need this)
*perfect prep/breast pump- I intend to breastfeed so we figured we would just see if that works out first then purchase one or other of these
*ewan/my hummy mummy- again I don’t really understand why we would need one
*video monitor- we figured baby will be in our room to begin with then we can pick up a sound monitor when it goes into its own room.

Would anyone suggest we have really missed the point and should have purchased some of these items. We keep seeing them everywhere! Just looking for opinions I guess!

So I have everything on the list except the Ewan/my hummy , DS is 4 weeks old and I've personally found:

Sleepyhead: best thing we bought , DS settles perfectly in this and sleeps through (not implying it's due to this but he doesn't settle for a long sleep/nap unless in it) I will admit I bought it because of the "hype" but we love it!

Next2me: handy as it goes next to the bed but we have ended up putting ours at the end of our bed so we can both be equally close, however we put DS in sleepyhead in it , so probably won't know how good this is until he's too big for sleepyhead ,it's a great size and easy to height adjust but not a real stand out "must have"

Perfect prep: would be on my newborn must have , very quick and easy to make bottles with especially at night time. Bottles aren't made hot enough that baby will become custom to only wanting warm bottles , DS is fine with bottles made when out and about. Downside lowest setting is 4 ounces but DS was born the size of a 3month old () so it really wasn't long. Very handy when baby decides he needs feeding that very second and easy to operate one handed.

Video monitor: hasn't been plugged in once , OH ordered this as "forgot" we had already got a sound only one. Can totally live without this , total waste for us.

Hi congratulations on forthcoming baby!
We didn’t get anything on the list apart from a Moses basket and a Motorola video monitor. We did NCT and half of our friends swore by perfect prep machine. We didn’t bother and it was fine for us.

I bf initially but had probs with the latch and a baby who just didn’t want to feed. I had a manual breast pump. You can hire electric breast pumps and other baby stuff, which friends did.

The most useful thing we bought was the gro egg room thermometer.

The thing I wish I had bought sooner was a baby sleeping bag. DS1 slept so much better when we finally bought one.

For bottles - Actually I think perfect prep introduces more possible bacteria than just making your bottles in advance and refrigerating.

What you can do, is boil water, cool and store, then make the bottle with flask water (70 degree) or boiling and mix with cool boiled water so ready to drink.

My baby is 2 months. I don't have any of that stuff. Just a moses basket that's easy to move and a cheap bouncy chair.

Still have our old sound monitor for when she goes into cot.

I also had none of the above. Just a Moses basket. Depends how you do stuff, what your baby is like and how your home is set up. Because it is all so expensive I waited to see what I wanted to buy as I needed it and figured out how I was going to approach things (e.g. how breastfeeding worked out for me, whether I wanted a video monitor or not). As well as spreading costs, I think this was a sensible approach in terms of avoiding hassle of returns/non returnable items plus not ending up with loads of stuff to find a way of getting rid of later (either binning, with associated wastefulness of resources, or selling/moving on, with associated hassle). Honestly babies generate so much stuff.

Both of mine have a Ewan. I used it from birth and they both still use them to settle themselves in the night. Had a cheap hand breast pump but not from birth.

Sleepyhead - no. Safest for baby is alone on its back flat sleeping surface in own empty cot.

Breast pump. This is the only thing that if you need it, you might need it right now. If funds are not incredibly tight, I'd buy a cheap/manual one as a just in case. I speak as someone whose babies initially latched well and then both times, on my first night at home, refused to latch and my engorged breasts were desperate to see a pump for relief and to maintain supply until we could get BF help the next day. If you need a pump at 9pm and all the shops are closed, it's a long wait until the next morning.

Similarly, I always say it is responsible parenting to have a )small) quantity of formula, some bottles and the means to sterilise them in your house, even if intending to breastfeed. Anything could happen that could prevent breastfeeding taking place in the early days (I got readmitted urgently to an acute hospital in the early days and it wasn't safe for my baby to accompany me on the ward) so you will be utterly thankful for knowing your baby has a safe alternative right to hand if needed. People will tell you the mere presence of formula will prevent you breastfeeding - I believe that is nonsense and it is responsible to e sure your baby has an alternative food source for unforeseen events.

perfect Prep is not I believe proven safe. Please don't though use the method described above either. Fill exactly the instructions on the formula can. For normal formula, you can then flash-cool it really quickly and store in the back of the fridge for up to 24 hours. This is approved by the WHO and is a safe method.

Ewan, don't bother inventing sleep crutches unless you need them. You might be lucky and have a baby who will sleep. If not, then experiment with Ewan or whatever.

next to me, don't bother if you already have a basket.

Video monitor - virtually useless for a small baby. Initially they should always be in the room with you when sleeping. When slightly older, a sound monitor is probably enough as a baby laying on its back doesn't do much to see. A video might come in handy with a much older baby/toddler if you want to check what mischief they are getting up to I guess, if you leave them to self-settle or whatever. But I've never used a video as I find it would be very invasive to think of someone videoing me while I slept, so I would not like to do it to my baby either without strong reason. I know that argument probably sounds crazy but for some reason, it matters to me. Also, if you check it and see a baby lying still, then you're likely to still want to go stand next to him to check he's still breathing before you go to sleep yourself so the monitor itself is a bit redundant.

Best wishes.

I am due in a few weeks. From that list I have a sleepyhead and a snuzpod (instead of the next to me). I don’t have a Moses basket - those two things take its place, and none of the babies I know have been at all happy in Moses baskets. Obviously some must be and if we feel we need one too they are cheap and easy to get hold of round here. I would try a white noise app before investing in a Ewan thing. I don’t have anything for feeding or video monitoring as will assess whether we need them after baby arrives. I have a small house so need to be sensible about not buying too much stuff “just in case”

I said the same as you. After 1 week of baby ownership we ended up buying every single thing on that list.

DS would not be put down, until we got the sleepyhead, which a. Didn’t fit in a Moses basket and b. He hated the Moses basket. Ewan worked a treat at just helping him to settle after the transfer to crib and you can get cheaper white noise makers or apps on the phone but I HATE white noise so the big sell for me was it switches itself off after 20 mins.

Not for now, but later - all sound monitors do is tell you they aren’t making a noise. They don’t let you know that the little bugger has woken up and is subsequently trying to climb out of the cot, quietly......

The only thing I had from your list was a breast pump.
But we did have a sound monitor for when dc were asleep upstairs and we were downstairs.

DC1 is 12 weeks. From your list I have a next to me crib (though we don't have a Moses basket etc as well). Its useful to have a sleeping place on each floor of your house, we use the pram carrycot downstairs. I also have a breast pump but only because I was given it. Can't really get the hang of it. We are combi feeding but using ready to feed formula not powder. I'd read on MN that the perfect prep is dodgy.

We've never needed a sleepyhead as no issues with sleeping in the next to me. For white noise you can get free phone apps.

My twins are 10 months and the only thing we have is Ewan.. we love him!
Used Moses baskets/plus they were together in their cot from one week old
Sound monitor from 6 months in own room
Used kettle for ff
Did borrow a breast pump for the first few months actually

I used none of those listed except for the perfect prep and the Moses basket. If you decide to move on to bottles or mix feed the PP is brilliant but if you hope to EBF definitely don’t buy before baby arrives. And the Moses basket was instead of a next to me, you definitely don’t need both! You’ll probably want a baby monitor (we have audio only) but you won’t need it for the first few months so no rush to buy one.

My advice would be either get the breast pump or be ready to maybe need to get hold of it fast. My son was premature/tiny and so pumping after every feed and supplementing w bottle was hands-down essential. I paid for a BF “lesson” to figure out what to do (i’m in US) and the lady basically taught me a routine . Told me to forget all the advice about not using bottle early on etc. not sure how specific to the premie situation that was but i formed a view that the pump is your friend while establishing BFing. Pregnant again now and need to dig out pump again bc think of it as an essential. But you may be different if baby gets hang quickly and/or you are also using formula.

I had none of those things.

I’d recommend the sleepyhead. It was great to use in different locations around the house and take on holiday. We would have bought the next size up once our son outgrew it but by that time my maternity pay had run out and we couldn’t justify the cost!

None of them.

I don't even know what half of them are.

You don't need a breast pump to breast feed. All women should learn how to hand express for emergencies.

IMO None of that is essential. You may want some in a hurry depending on your baby but won’t know which until he or she is here, so my recommendation is to get Amazon Prime so you can get whatever you need delivered fast.

With DC1 the only thing from your list that we turned out to need was the breast pump when we struggled with the latch. If find you need one and need to pump regularly I would get a double electric pump and a pumping bra - faster and hands free. The rest of that list would have been totally wasted with DC1.

With DC2 we have needed the pump again and this time a pur flo breathable nest, which is quite like the sleepyhead but about a third of the price. This has been really useful to settle DC2 in his crib as he otherwise would only sleep if being held. But again you won’t know that until baby is here.

On the monitor I never wanted a video one but found the angel care ones with a motion sensor pad invaluable - they have an alarm that goes off if no motion is sensed for 15 seconds so you know that baby is breathing. I had major anxiety about that and until we got one I sat up for hours and hours just checking DC1 was breathing - that monitor allowed me to sleep and therefore really helped my sanity, as we are still using DC1’s for DC1 we bought a second for DC2.

Neither of mine slept on their own (breastfeeding/co-sleeping) so we only had a Next2Me, Moses basket was redundant.

Only scanned the replies so might be X-posting, but please consider getting a sling. I had various Moby Wraps/Ergos/Manducas and they were lifesavers.

DC2 is nearly 4 weeks. From your list I only have a Moses basket - no need or wish for the others. Same was true with DC1 (only he flatly refused the Moses basket...). I agree with starface, wait and see, the shops will still be there after baby is born and most stuff Amazon etc can get to you within 24 hours.

Re: the point about having formula available for just in case - I didn't, either time. But I'm within really easy reach of 24-hr supermarkets. I think this is probably good advice where that isn't the case.

We’ve had all of those at various points, but only because we found we needed them. None are essentials at the beginning.

Sleepyhead worked well for us but that may have been my fault for always pandering to her!!
Brought a perfect prep, gave it away I didn't use it once. Ewan use everyday dd is 18 months old.

We had Ewan, it really helped DS to sleep. He couldn't settle when it was silent as he was used to all the noises in the womb. After about 12 weeks we stopped using it & it didn't bother him it not being on. We've used it again with DD & she's not that fussed with way.

For me a video monitor is a must have once they're on their own in the crib etc whether this is for day time naps or you start putting them down for bed earlier than you. It can be handy to check before you go in to see if they are quite happy & just chatting to themselves or have lost their dummy or need resettling without risking disturbing them by going in. It's even more useful when they're older & in their own bed, you can check what every noise / movement is, normally toys being launched onto the floor in DS' case. We had an angelcare monitor & May for DS so bought a BT video monitor for him when DD was born.

A sling is great and proved a lifesaver for DD who didn't want to be put down however DS hated it. I would use a sling library before you buy anything to see how you both get on with a sling before you commit to buying one.

Both of mine have loved a mobile over their crib / cot and it has really helped them get to sleep. Make sure you get one with batteries that lasts at least 10 minutes if you do get one.

I had some of them. None are essential so I would wait to see what you need.

My first slept fine in a Moses basket but I ordered a next2me during the night when my second was a few days old and it was the best money I’ve spent. A video monitor is really useful but only once they’re properly moving. Also you might get given some as presents eg a Ewan.

I am not judging anyone for their choices but it's worth knowing that they sleepyhead doesn't meet Lullaby Trust recommendations for Safe sleeping guidelines before you make your decision.

www.lullabytrust.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/The-Lullaby-Trust-Product-Guide.pdf