How much has it got to to prepare for arrival?

[TokenGinger]

DP and I have only just found out we're expecting, and of course anything could happen so we're not planning on buying anything just yet, but I'm trying to compose a list of essentials and costs so we can figure out how much to put in to our baby savings each month to cover it.

Things like pram, Moses basket, steriliser etc.

Would be interested to hear what you have all got and how much it's cost you ❤️

Title should say cost!

I can't remember exactly how much everything cost now as my son is 2.5yo however your bigger purchases with most likely be;
Pram (I think ours was around £800?)
Cot
Wardrobe (obviously not necessarily needed)
Bottle maker - around £100
Steriliser around £40

We didn't start buying until after 30 weeks or so but did it bit by bit so didn't seem as expensive. You'll probably buy as you go.

Xx

I think a lot of it depends on your lifestyle etc. For example i am pregnant with my third and I’ve never bought a bottle maker or a steriliser, or a wardrobe!
The biggest things for us were:

Cot
Decent cot mattress
Pram
Moses basket
Sling
Baby monitor

Can’t think of any other ‘big’ purchases. We only bought vests and sleepsuits to start with, clothing wise. We bought lots of muslins!

Doesn't have to cost a lot at all! The Moses basket was a waste for us and DC wouldn't sleep in it, so we bedshared (safely! You can look this up on google) from birth up until the age of 1 when they went in a toddler bed. Breastfed, they never had a bottle so saved on that aspect. Only had to buy breastpads, and in the end I ended up buying reusable ones anyway.
Nappies you can get cheaply from Aldi and Lidl and for us, they were just as good as Pampers.
I think our biggest expense was the pram and car seat (about 500 altogether)
I bought a few bits each week from various shops. You will also find as it's your first, people are likely keen to buy gifts for you. We ended up with a lot of clothes after both were born. They get more expensive the older they get, but the first year really doesn't have to cost a lot!

I'm on my second pregnancy so a member of local FB baby bay sites, managed to get some bargains

Tommee tippee prep £20
Cosatto star pram £10
Cot bed £35

Oh yes I forgot the car seat.

Yeah forgot a few of these things too. Sorry if I implied you needed a bottle maker - obviously please yourself.

You can spend as much or little as you want xx

I'd look around for deals. Babies are only as expensive as you want them to be.

I've got:

iCandy peach2 pram (2nd hand but good quality): £150
Quinny Zapp Xtra2 pram (2nd hand, like new): £85
*needed a lighter one for other activities- both work as a travel system with the Maxi-cosi carseat

Tommie Tippy breastfeeding bottle kit (with all the bits included): £60

clothes: £150-£200 (I can't walk passed baby clothes...have also started collecting 3-6 mnth)

car seat: £350 [Maxi-cosi pebble plus with the base to make it in line with new EU "i-size" regulations]

moses basket: £40

bedroom furniture: probably around £200 (our budget has pretty much been spent)

I would also like a bouncer and a play mat, having looked around iI'd probably look at spending £40 on a bouncer and £20 on a play mat.

Another item which I'm set on getting is one of those baby monitors that monitor movement and sounds an alarm after 20 seconds of no movement (breathing). These are quite expensive at around £150 so I'm looking to buy second hand.

I also have a few toys and pram/carseat accessories (cosytoes/raincover) that I've bought.

I'm not sure what else a baby needs as I'm a 1st time mum so any other suggestions would be great :)

Thank you all. This is really helpful for my list.

A friend of mine said a bottle maker was an absolute life saver for her, so I think we will definitely invest in that.

I haven't even heard of those monitors for breathing detection. I'll look in to those, too.

It's such a minefield!

Just in terms of when you intend to purchase... look out for good deals you will see quite a few in January but there are always sales here there and everywhere but big things like your travel system it's worth keeping an eye on. We saved £200 and got a free base with ours.

We also intended to wait til 30 weeks to buy things but got a little carried away at 20 weeks, which turned out to be quite fortunate as DD caused all manner of issues meaning I was in hospital at 30 weeks and she was born at 34! Just something to bear in mind 😊

Moses basket with a rocking stand was £45
Bugaboo pram was the most expensive at £300, got it second hand
Car seat was £100
Clothes I dread to think how much we’ve spent ... probably £250ish .
Reusable nappies about £150 for the stash
Breastfeeding cushion £15
NIPPLE CREAM £8 (god send stuff)
Burt Bees Baby bath set £10
Shnuggle baby bath £20
Boxes of Aldi baby wipes £4 each or something for 12 packs
Blankets £30
Towels/Muslin squares £15ish- got them all from Aldi
Changing mat- £10
MIL bought us a dresser with changing table on the top which will be a godsend post c-section

I think that’s it. It doesn’t have to cost so much, I can just be a bit fussy..

I did wonder why to start buying things. I want to of course wait until after the scan but I don't want to leave it too late that we're rushed.

Aldi sounds like it's going to be a god send for nappies, wipes etc.

So far for the big ticket items

Pram: £450ish
Car seat: £320 (on special offer from £410 - we wanted a specific lie-flat inside and out one so paid a bit more)
Bedside crib: £200
Moses basket for downstairs: £60
Nursery furniture: £200 (some stuff won't be used for a while but we were doing an Ikea order for other stuff so figured we would buy now).

Still to buy are some clothes, bedding, initial supply of nappies, changing mat and accessories. We get a baby box as we are in Scotland so that will be helpful.

My children are 13 and 9 years old now and I am really shocked by how mad the world of baby goods marketing has gone and how many items which didn't even exist when my boys were born are now somehow essential.

I survived with:
Pram (we splashed out here as the first generation Bugaboo had just been released)
Car seat (also bought best one we could afford)
Changing mat - cheap one
Reusable nappies - saved a fortune on disposables over the years
Reusable wipes - as above
Muslins
Play mat
Baby nest
Blankets
Stretchy wrap sling
A few toys & lots of books
Highchair (at 6 months)

Quite a few babygros

Nursing bras
Breast pads
Simple monitor

Didn't bother with Moses basket, just used the pram. Gave them a bath in a washing up bowl to start then DH or I got in the bath with them until they were older.
Bought a cot but co-slept and never used it so total waste of money!

This is my second baby, but I don't know what I'm having so haven't gone overboard as I'll buy more stuff in the right colours when baby's here.

So basics really, sleepsuits/vests, muslins, steriliser, blanket, bottles, pram inc car seat...

But then I managed to get a sleepyhead off a facebook selling site with a cover for £60, and a perfect prep machine for £10 and we were gifted a next to me crib from DP's cousin.

Things like cot bedding/bouncer/toys/outfits etc we'll buy when baby is here and we know what flavour it is.

I didn't bother buying pump/ bottles/ sterilisers as I planned to breast feed. Just got a box of pre made bottle in to tide me over until I could get to the shop or get some delivered if need be. Glad I did else I could have wasted loads of money!

Facebook market place is good for bargains. You can also see if you have little pickles or NCT nearly new markets in your area. Also google factory shops or refurbs for the brand of pram you like.

I was gifted heaps of clothes, towels, toiletries so didn't really need to buy them. I found a lot of people asked me what I wanted but I had already bought stuff. Perhaps have a list of items that you could suggest to people if they ask and hold off buying yourself.

I like the quality of Sainsbury's and Morrison's baby grows.

Maternity clothes from primark or eBay. Dorothy Perkins also has a good choice and always seems to be an online discount code kicking around.

My biggest waste of money was buying water wipes (first baby...) awful, awful things and £2.70 a packet!!

We did it as cheap as possible really and will be reusing most things this time round.

Cot - my brother gave me their old one.
Mattress - my dad bought it as a gift, think it was about £75 ish?
Pram - MIL bought it as a gift, it was £99 Grace travel system and was great. Still in great condition to use again.
Moses basket - got it off Freecycle.
Moses mattress - about £10 off amazon.

Got given second hand bouncy chair, bumbo, bath seat.

Highchair at about 5 months. £40 in Mothercare sale.

I probably spent most on clothes - a mix of new, second hand etc. I bought way, way too much and loads never got used! Especially after we were given lots as gifts too.

Just to say you don't have to buy second hand - don't feel bad if you want to have new things and can afford them!

We've bought a Cosatto travel system including car seat for £450, isofix base £99, Ikea cot and mattress that goes up to toddler size £230, Tutti Bambini co-sleeper cot £165, clothes in supermarkets and Next sale about £100, Ewan the dream sheep for £30. We've used existing furniture in the nursery but still need a chair, as well as some kind of bouncer. Our changing bag was £35 on amazon. Feeding wise nothing yet, but I'll probably get a Perfect Prep machine for about £80 if I can't breastfeed.

We didn't buy anything until after my 20 week scan.

So far we've bought
Cosatto travel system £750 (gift from PIL)
Ergobaby carrier £135 - sale
Soft wrap carrier £40
Some wipes and nappies - not more than about £10 I don't want to stock up and then baby is allergic etc
Chico next to me with sheets £130
Clothes, babygrows, blankets, grobags - more than I should have probably at least £300
Baby blender - Aldi baby event £30 not needed for newborn but a good deal
Cotbed, chest of drawers with change top, bookcase, chair, rug and mobile -£700 (gift from parents)
Maternity clothes and bras - £250 (needed for work especially)
Nipple cream, breast pads, maternity pads £20
Books - unnecessary I know £25

Still need to get a monitor, and will wait to see if we need a breast pump or steriliser, is like to breast feed but don't want to spend loads of I can't for some reason,and then need bottles etc

Essentially you budget and then work within your budget, we're older and both in established careers, and our parents have been incredibly generous, my much younger cousin did it for a lot less.

Totalling all over ours up me and DH would say it cost is around £1500 for everything, most of that went on silvercross pram set and car seat etc. The rest we shopped around found great bargains and bought all our tommy tippee bottles sterlizers etc in the sale. We got pot luck with our stuff so very pleased. Good luck 🤞🏻

I think if you look second hand for most bits then you’ll be surprised at how much you’ll save! Obviously some people sell better quality stuff than others but you’ll have plenty of time to look around and buy what you think you’ll need. I was very tempted to get carried away with getting brand new everything and then realised how much money I’d have been wasting and how most baby things all come apart so can be washed easily! We’ve also decided to get a second hand chest of drawers and just put a changing mat on the top rather than getting a changing table as well. We will buy a brand new car seat and have bought a new mattress for the cot and new Moses basket.

If i was to do it all again i would buy it all at the asda baby event.

As PPs said, you can get a lot of stuff second hand if you shop around. Check to see if you have a local facebook group for buying and selling baby stuff.

Prams/travel systems are particularly good value second hand as everyone seems to want the latest fashionable brands and most people buy new. We got our Graco travel system including the car seat for £150 and it’s in almost new condition. The new one we were looking at would have cost around £500!

I think we’ve probably spent about £1000 so far and bought travel system, bedside crib, cot bed plus mattress, bedding for crib and cot, vests/babygros and a sling. Will probably spend another couple of hundred before the baby arrives on things like a changing mat, monitor and a few more clothes.

I spent a lot of money when I was pregnant with DD! I bought a tonne of stuff I didn't really need and towards the end really panicked that I didn't have everything when I had more than enough.

If it's your first baby, just keep in mind that perhaps yours and your OH's family will probably want get a little something for the new baby. I was very lucky, my dad got the cot, OH's family got the Moses basket, my mum got the pram, actually my mum seemed to never stop buying! Every time I saw her she'd have a little something for the baby, she just couldn't help herself, lol.

Now I'm pregnant with my second DC I know that I won't necessarily use all the bits and bobs I bought last time, so I'm reigning it in a little. Plus I appreciate I won't get all the lovely gifts I got last time as this is my second.

This time I will be buying ...

• A few packs of sleep suits and vests. Not bothering with too many actual outfits because as cute as they are they never actually get to wear too many of them.
• Tonnes of bibs! (I underestimated how many I needed last time)
• a pram, will be buying a good quality second hand one this time. The pram i had with my first was £800 and was filthy in no time, so I figure what's the use in buying new this time?
• a snuzpod, or similar, much better than Moses baket in my opinion, more spacious so baby will be in it longer, plus my DD like many babies had trouble settling in Moses basket so hoping snuzpod will be better.
• bedding for snuzpod
• a bouncer chair (brilliant! Used the one I had with DD loads!)
• a bath support (not bothering with actual baby bath, more trouble than they're worth, filling them up emptying them)
• a baby sling (gonna buy a cheaper one of amazon)
• some MAM bottles, best for colic in my opinion, not buying too many though as I plan to breastfeed and will really only use them for expressed milk hopefully.
• a microwave steriliser, as they're small, should be enough to sterilise a few bottles/dummy's etc, as like I said I plan to breastfeed
• a car seat
• nappies, toiletries etc

I still have DD's old cot so will use that when baby's too big for snuzpod. MIL is going to knit us some baby cardigans/hats/blankets etc, so that's sorted. Not going to buy breast pump straight away in case breastfeeding doesn't work out, I might rent one from the hospital for the first month and see how I get on first.

I think that's everything?

If there's anything you haven't got that you feel you really need once baby is here, don't worry about it, you can always buy after baby's born, you don't even necessarily need a cot or pram straight away, as long as you have a sling, car seat, and Moses basket you'll be okay for a while.

A midwife actually said to me when I was stressing that I wasn't quite ready with my first, not to worry, as long as baby has somewhere to sleep, something to wear and something to eat everything else could be sorted later.

Oh and we spent £100 and odd pound on a monitor, we never used it. DD was always wherever we were for the first 6 months, I'd have her in her pram/bouncer in the same room as me throughout the day, or in my arms as she constantly wanted to be held, then sleeping in our room at night. When she started sleeping in her own room at 6 months a monitor really wasn't necessary, our house isn't huge so we could hear her cry wherever we were in the house. If it reassures you to have a monitor then go for it, but for us it was a waste of money, we recently sold ours on at gumtree and only got 20 quid for it. Also only got £200 on gumtree for our £800 pram, spent hours and hours cleaning it up, not worth the hassle, hence the reason im buying a second hand pram this time.