3 purchases you couldn't have managed without

[Sarge17]

I'm 22+2 and wondered what your top 3 purchases were for your baby? Thanks in advance 🙂

Actually, on reflection, I'd swap out Lansinoh for the pregnancy yoga classes I took - really useful for the birth, and allowed me to make wonderful friends at the same stage of life/pregnancy.

The close caboo wrap sling.
The perfect prep- this was a life saver.
Dummies- I have a toddler and sometimes I needed to sort out two melt downs at the same time so a dummy was invaluable.

@Grumpos you've never had a sicky baby then! 😂

Perfect prep, muslins and a sleeper/napper from fisher price was brilliant and baby slept so well in it

I think the muslin thing definitely depends on the baby. I bought loads in advance of DC1 but didn’t really go through them that much and wondered how my friends were going through 5 or 6 a day. Then I witnessed a post feed sick up and understood. Luckily my baby was just not very sicky. Now I mostly use them as snot rags for my toddlers (what seems like constant) snotty nose!

Sling
I use a woven wrap but there’s so many styles to choose from, I used it exclusively for the first year because DS hated the buggy, now at 16 months I still use it more than the buggy

Washable wipes
Cheeky Wipes are overpriced and overrated but there are loads of cheaper, better brands out there. I’m also including muslins in this because they’re also squares of cloth used for cleaning babies!

V-shaped pillow great for pregnancy, supporting the baby whilst feeding, putting behind baby when they’re learning to sit...

Lanisoh cream
Tutti bambini bedside crib
Swaddle blankets
H&M nursing vests - really comfy to wear round the house or under a hoodie to go out but easier to feed in than a nursing bra.

Chicco next to me crib
Shnuggle baby bath
Morrck car seat hoody blanket

Bottles. I was planning on breast feeding but baby just couldn't latch (and 3 weeks on still can't). Having bottles and a couple of cartons of formula already was a god send at 11pm on a Sunday night with a screaming hungry baby. We also stopped in Mothercare on the way home from being discharged to get a breast pump.

Chocolate.

Newborn photography session (totally unnecessary but we were very pleased with ours. They usually needs to be booked well in advance too)

Oh and clothes in the next size up. My baby literally went from first size/newborn to 0-3 months overnight at about 10 days old.

Enough maternity bras so that you can chuck a few in the wash and have enough left until they're washed and dried. They get milky and sour and ergh.
A next to me crib (I don't have one and would get one if I started over).
Breastfeeding tops or normal tops that double up as breastfeeding. I'm surprised at how many tight high neck I tops I have and rotate between about 5 tops currently.
Maternity sanitary towels. I didn't have these and regretted it massively.

Oh and DryNites Bed Mats!
They're the mats that people use under bed sheets when potty training their children but I find them really useful to lie DD down on without a nappy, so she can kick her legs and the air helps get rid of nappy rash, and no worries if she wees.

1. Sling (I have a k'tan wrap which was great for newborn, and a babybjorn for older)
2. Baby sleeping bags are soooo much better than blankets
3. V pillow for breastfeeding (and general comfiness!)

• Strongly agree with whoever said not to bother getting any outfits that aren't vests/ sleepsuits.
• I used muslins loads with my first but have hardly used them at all with my second - well, I have, but not for their intended purpose. Our old muslins are now serving as brilliant dusters/ teatowels/ emergency changing matts/ cloth nappy boosters.
• Reusable everything - nappies, cloth wipes, breast pads. It's so much easier at 10pm to say "oh no I'm out of nappies, I'll go stick some in the wash" than to say "oh no I'll have to go out first thing and buy more".
• Definitely a Moses basket/ cosleeper type cot. We did battle with our cot for 2 months before it finally became a very large expensive laundry basket.
• Get travel versions of anything you can - the smaller and easier it folds away, the easier your life will be.
• hooded towels. They were heavily mocked on a recent thread as being stupid and PFB but I love them. The bamboo ones are so snugly!
• don't bother with a fancy changing bag. A giant rucksack is just as good and half the price. Sports Direct do some great ones if you go during a sale.

Unsolicited advice alert: Look up the rules on safe cosleeping in advance. You may never end up doing it, but the time to read up on how is not at 3am when your desperate and exhausted. Cosleeping is absolutely amazing but it should always be planned and deliberate. The more informed you are in advance, the safer you'll be.

If you want to breastfeed check out the Facebook group "Can I breastfeed in it? Uk" It's a collection of high street clothes you can easily BF in to avoid specialist BF friendly price tags.

Perfect prep machine

Baby nest - lots of people have mentioned the sleepyhead but aldi do their own version of it in the baby event for £20 that my baby loves! We have it on the coffee table in the living room and he sleeps in it for his daytime naps so peacefully!

Dummies - we never planned to use them but they really do help when baby is over tired and fighting sleep the dummy just soothes him and he falls asleep within minutes of it going into his mouth!

I’m another one who doesn’t really see the point in muslin cloths as my baby is rarely sick and when he is it’s just a little bit so a bib is fine to clean it up. However my nephew was very sicky and my sister in law always had a muslin to hand so it’s definitely worth buying some in just in case, if you never need them for sick they do come in handy for all sorts so they won’t go to waste

Thank you everyone! So much useful advice 🙂 I'm taking notes 📝♥️

Sleepyhead, perfect prep and Sophie giraffe.

We bought the sleepyhead at 3am 2 days after bringing my daughter home as she hated her crib. The sleepyhead worked wonders for us. I wasn’t expecting to formula feed but had to and the perfect prep saved my sanity. Sophie was my baby’s favourite teether. It went everywhere with her.

It really is different for everyone so you may find you need to trade an "essential" for something else but unfortunately you can't know until your baby is here which is the stinger.

DC1:
Moses basket - he liked his bed and the continuity of being able to move it up and downstairs. He was 54cm at birth but lasted until 4 months.

Fisher price baby - toddler rocker - He would spend ages sitting around just watching everyone in there and happily used it as a reading chair until 3 years old.

Lie flat pram/pushchair - I could walk for hours and he would nap or lie around being nosey with the hood pushed back. Never been keen on the bucket style seats where legs are always raised.

DC2:
V cushion - used for feeding, learning to sit and as a sleep prop because she didn't like being flat on her back.

Sling - meant I could get on with life without the constant screaming, also handy for feeding on the move.

Baby swing - literally the only place she would be put down for the first 6 months of her life!

The Mamas and Papas Ergonomic bath was a godsend for both as it meant I could bath them hands free.

A sling (I didn’t discover my connecta till 10 months and it was a bloody game changer). A feeding pillow. Next to me crib.

And a bouncer upstairs and a bouncer downstairs - no carting them up and down!

So many good suggestions here (I would second sleepyhead and amazon prime!!) but nobody has mentioned Nipple shields...
If you hope to breastfeed these are cheap and while you might not need them midwives won't generally recommend them (I don't understand why...) but thanks to my sister having some handy these absolutely saved my early breastfeeding journey - 3 days in i was in agony and DD wouldn't latch, I ended up using these and it was like magic -
no more pain, and she fed like a dream! I used them for months in the end and then was able to stop. Was just thinking last night I must get some in before DC2 arrives!

Hi OP. Think I'm due around the same time as you as I'm just over 27 weeks now.

It's second time around for me, but I'm still lurking as I have since forgot, so thanks all for the reminders everyone!

Things I would do differently this time - a next to me cot (4 year old still cosleeps after failing to go in his massive cot the first time). A sling you can breastfeed in. I felt so stuck to the sofa the first time round and hated not being able to move around while bf. My nursing cushion was used a lot too.

You will need a chair of some sort too. I have been given a rocking chair, but think it's too upright for the early stages. So will get a cheap bouncer one too.

A lot of people are recommending a perfect prep machine, but if you're hoping to breastfeed this would be a big waste of money at this point.

You can always get one later if you find you need it.

So far (DS is 7 weeks):

Tutti Bambini Cozee bedside crib. He has slept in it since he was a week old and goes 2-4 hours between night feeds. Added to this, Ewan the Sheep deluxe set to womb noise with sensor on.

Ikea baby sleeping bag. It's a thinner one, maybe 1.5 tog, and was £7. Solves worrying about blankets and suffocation and feet to foot.

Shnuggle baby bath. £20, fills in seconds, and he can sit up on his own while we play with him.

Special mentions to a feeding pillow, Sainsbury's muslins, Lansinoh, and the Fisher Price Kick and Play bouncer.

For a fourth and when DD was a bit older a bouncy/vibrating seat, I just got a cheap one. When looking at them my advice is to remember that babies often poo in them. Some of the fancy ones don't look easy to wash