I'm curious - when did you start buying things for your baby?

[pandechocolate]

I'm just curious as to what the majority of people do - not judging anyone's decisions.

I'm 19 weeks and we have quite a lot of baby things, for several reasons.
We are open to having 2nd hand items (other than the cot and car seat, I just want them new for safety reasons/knowing their history) if I know they're coming from a good home - so generally if friends are having clear outs, or I know of the people selling items. So we have got things like the next to me style crib, pram (got a steal on the pram and it's ideal for our dog walking).
Friends that already have children have offered us bundles of clothes for free, so we have accepted those.
January sales have just been so we picked up some good deals there, as and when we saw them.

We do know what sex we are having already as we had to have a Harmony test.

I know people that have bought as much as we have bought/acquired days after their 12 week scan, others insist on waiting until they are 7 months pregnant and have recommended we do the same. Personally, I don't think I could wait that far in, as I'm struggling with SPD already and don't want to imagine going round the shops buying everything further in. Mum has asked that we keep anything we have already at her house until 20 weeks because of superstition, so most of it is there.

Obviously there is still lots stuff to buy, including nursery furniture etc! I'm hoping that we can put the nursery together before baby arrives, otherwise I have visions that we will never do it due to tiredness, which is one of the reasons I don't want to wait until the 3rd trimester to start thinking about it.

What have you done?

I dont think there is a 'right time' to but baby stuff, it all depends on you as an individual. We started shopping when I was just over 20 weeks but that was mainly because I knew exactly which pram I wanted so decided to wait until the January sales and and I got the the whole travel set for under £500.
I got most of my stuff from mothercare and as we dont know the sex, I just got 2 packs of each in white so sleep suits vest ext all in sizes 'up to 1 month' I've basically bought just enough for the first few days,once bubba arrives, hubby ill go and pick up a few more bits

its our first baby and as per our family tradition, faily give a lot of things to your first baby so I've tried not to get too many clothes. My siblings have offered to get the baby cot which I've only just found and asked them to order. SIL has said she wants to get us the bouncer so I've sent her a picture of the one I like. I didnt want to get the bigger thing to early simply due to space in the house (I've recently had a huge clear out) hubby is in the process of redecorating our room and re arranging stuff so I wanted to wait until that is done.

tbh I wasn't superstisious, I was more just scared. after trying for 18 months, I still even now at 27 weeks cant believe I'm having a baby and was so scared that if I bought anything early and god forbid something went wrong, seeing the baby stuff would crush me even more but I've now learnt to just take each day as it comes and think positive.

I guess everyone is different and everyone financial situation is also different

*family

I started as soon as I've found out. Love baby shopping

I have literally just started this weekend (am now 28 weeks) prior to this my mum did get a couple of things that were selling for free on fb, to keep at hers, but I hadn't brought anything until now. I have several of the big things that I kept from having my son like the moses basket and cot which can be reused, even some clothes, but as I am having a girl this time obviously I want to buy a few pink things :) Got a new carseat and pushchair at the weekend and spotted a lovely second hand baby wardrobe and set of drawer on fb so I snapped them up and picked them up over the weekend too. Going to save a shopping spree for the rest of the clothes and other small things I need (breastpump, breastfeeding pillow etc) for probably somewhere between 32-35 weeks. My son was born at 37 weeks so want to make sure everything is ready for then just incase! I've wanted to start doing things much much earlier but the only reason I haven't is because I didn't want to have it all done early and have nothing to do for the next 20 weeks lol. 9 months usually flies by but when you are excited to meet your little one it feels like a lifetime :)

Ours we started buying stuff after the 20 week scan :) picked up some great promotions over Christmas etc so couldn’t resist!

I'm 24 weeks and haven't even started yet. Don't know where to start to be honest haha. Getting the nursery plastered at the mo then it needs painting and carpeting then will go from there I suppose! X

I bought some long sleeved and legged body suit things at about week 13 - just for kicks. We bought a load of big stuff - pram, cot bassinet thing, carrier and more clothes at 15-16 but we were overseas then and our shop selection where we live is a bit rubbish. So we shopped when we were somewhere that had good stuffs. Will get proper cot and other bits at week 33+. Ordering some bits on line now too.

I'm 28 weeks and have brought very little but I have kept everything from DS so actually don't need much.
I know with DS we didn't buy anything before 12 weeks (first pregnancy ended in MC so didn't want to jinx it - just my preference). I think we brought bits and bobs between 12 and 20 weeks and then after 20 weeks got the big stuff. Again, that's just me, my mum suffered from a number of stillbirths, so I'm a bit funny about it, but can totally understand people being excited and wanting to prepare.
I should point out that despite knowing I have most stuff for this baby I am itching to get it all sorted, but I want the baby's room ready before I get it all out to sort (as I have no where else to put it). So I am currently spending any spare minute (when I'm not knackered or chasing my toddler!) trying to sort the nursery.

I'm only 9 weeks but I'm so anxious about jinxing anything that I have a feeling we'll end up Amazon Prime-ing pretty much everything from the hospital!

I bought a few things after my 12 weeks scan with DC1, then went all out when we found out she was a girl at 20 weeks.
With DC2, I didn’t buy anything except a few clothes when we found out he was a boy at 20 weeks. Everything was last minute! I got my car seat a couple of days before he was born at 36 weeks
Pregnant with DC3 at the moment, and I don’t need to buy anything except some newborn nappies and clothes if it’s a girl. I’ve kept everything from when DS was a baby, including all of his clothes from newborn to now - so if it’s another boy I’m sorted!

I’m 19 weeks (first baby) and other than a handful of items bought at Lidl this week (they have a maternity/baby event on) we haven’t bought anything. Mainly due to space because what will be the nursery is currently my husbands junk/hobby room and it needs to be emptied, painted and get new carpet before it can become a nursery. Anything we buy in the mean time will be hanging around the house which will annoy me. Also I feel like both sets of grandparents will be really keen to buy things for us and I don’t want to duplicate. We are aiming to start buying around 7 months, which does make me a little anxious that baby could come early and we wouldn’t be prepared but that happened to my friend and it was all ok. Also after trying for 2 years and an ectopic pregnancy I am struggling to believe there is really a baby coming and the whole ‘nesting’ feeling hasn’t hit me.

Ordered pram at approx 18 weeks... since then collected things as we went along and finally bought clothes and toiletries last week at 32 weeks...
Bedroom getting finished next week (carpeted) then furniture can go up. Just need curtains/decorative bits after that really.

Looking forward to being able to empty all the bags so that I can see what I have/if there is anything I need...

Might do a bit of clothes shopping after pay day as I love that.

Older DS arrived at 35 weeks so plan to be all sorted and hospital bag packed by then

Sorry I've taken ages to come back to my own thread, busy day!

Interesting to see what people do.

didn't want to have it all done early and have nothing to do for the next 20 weeks

That's the thought I've had! Although I think the nursery will be what keeps me busy at the latter end of pregnancy. By month 9 I don't think I'll want to move though!

Also I feel like both sets of grandparents will be really keen to buy things for us and I don’t want to duplicate.

This is one think I'm conscious of. I don't want to wait and us not buy things we see/like at the risk of looking expectant, but I also don't want them to buy things later or ask about buying things, and us already have them. I know my Mum will probably want to buy as a monitor and a cot mobile so I'll hold fire with those in case. But I have no idea about MIL!

I was around 20 weeks when I started buying stuff for my dd but only because we went to the baby and toddler show and there was loads of stuff we wanted on sale.

I was about 22 weeks when we bought the cot and pram, 26 when we bought the bedside crib. We bought a lot of clothes in the Next summer sale in 0-3 and in-laws did the same in John Lewis when I was about 24 weeks which I have been really glad of now he's 12 weeks and has been wearing it all!

Before the 20 week scan we bought one babygrow and a rug from Ikea.

We accidentally bought a pushchair at 16 weeks and have been buying stuff since then. I'm almost 32 weeks now and we have most 'big' items now, just lacking on practical things like nappies!

Husband wanted to wait until Feb (I'm due in March) but I wanted to take advantage of Black Friday and the post Christmas sales so needed to get research done before then so I would have a shortlist of big ticket items like pushchairs etc to snap up if they came on offer. Which is exactly what happened, hence getting the pushchair at 16 weeks. We've not actually paid full price for anything and have got some really good discounts on stuff we were always going to buy by price watching and being organised, so I think it just depends on how you are as people. We love a spreadsheet and bargains so the whole 'planning/organising' thing has played right into our hands... Just unsure on the actual "we are having a baby in a couple of weeks" aspect. Feels more like we are planning for an event that will be over and done with rather than a lifestyle change.

I'm 22 weeks and bought all the furniture already, I was making the most of the sales this month. Also managed to get chicco next to me when it was half price in Black Friday sale, and I was only around 13 weeks then.

I'm only 14 weeks but seriously considering buying our travel system. It's cosatto so the car seat is normally extra, but if we buy now the car seat is included and one site has 10% off- so £360 instead of £580! I don't mind losing out on the 10% off but need the car seat free for it to be in our price range, and I don't know how often they do that offer. It seems so early though!

I didn't buy anything until after the 20 week scan but I've gone a bit crazy since then! Only 22 weeks and we've ordered the pram and car seat, baby carrier, nursery furniture and a few other bits and pieces. I think it will give me peace of mind knowing the expensive things are out of the way now ☺️

A month before my BFP. I'm not superstitious at all though.

Started really early with my first two. I'm now 33 weeks with my third and starting to think I'd better get moving and buy something
Being so busy means time has flown and I've not had time to think but maternity leave starts this weekend so after that, shops and prepare hospital bags!

So this week at 27weeks I have brought
a crib
à moses basket
asda sale clothes (basics)
a swaddle
changing mat
And a blanket.

I don't really know what to buy

I'd have to say don't waste your money buying too many new born things as they don't last long at all! My lo was 7lb5 and we bought 2 newborn sets (vest, babygrow etc) and the rest in 0-3 months. He did get bought a few newborn things as well, but he was out of the babygrows after about 3 weeks - sure he was a bit big in the 0-3 babygrows for a little while but it wasn't that bad. he's actually done very well in the same long sleeved mothercare vests from birth and they still fit at 13 weeks - they weren't actually that bad on him when he was tiny. My lo has also been in 3-6 month short sleeved vests since around 9 weeks old!

If you are going for newborn stuff, then tescos are a good size - the newborn stuff we were given for lo lasted a good 6-8 weeks. As a good in between newborn and 0-3 size, we found that newlook babygrows were good as they are shorter in the leg than any of the other ones.

At the end of the day, if you buy stuff thats too big it will get used sooner or later and its not gonna harm your lo if he spends a few days in clothes that are a bit big till you get round to buying some smaller things - or until you get the visitors arriving with presents! My lo lived in babygrows and vests until we'd got round to washing the clothes he got bought! You can never have too many vests btw..especially if you don't have a tumble dryer and its winter!!!

I’m 23 weeks and haven’t bought a thing yet. Waiting til 28 weeks.
I do have an 18 month old so have a lot of stuff already so it’s just a few bits and pieces I’ll need really, but want to wait a bit longer as scared of jinxing things (I had a mc at 12 weeks last year so may be being overly cautious)

Didnt buy anyting until 34 weeks - too superstitious!