Lockdown rant - FTM and feeling like I can't get anything for baby!

[Clizzie84]

Hi ladies, I'm 28 weeks today with my first baby and in such a stress!!

All we've managed to buy for the baby so far is clothes and a second hand car seat we got from a friend.

Ikea can't/won't deliver the nursery furniture. Nowhere is open to go and look at prams/car seats etc. They're a big investment for us and being a FTM I'm not sure what I'm really looking at without speaking to someone, I don't want to just order something online and have it turn up and not be right as that will only add to my stress if we have to return and rebuy when baby's due in 12 weeks (I have a feeling he may come early anyway though!)

Halfords are still advertised as open so went there this afternoon to try and at least look at these things in real life; however what they don't tell you is they aren't letting anyone in the store - you tell them what you want, someone goes and gets it for you and you pay at the door. We had to just come straight home, so disappointing.

I don't want to sound spoiled or entitled; I fully understand that this virus is an emergency and people are dying every day, but the world doesn't stop and babies are still going to be born. I really think pregnant women have been forgotten about in the midst of this lockdown and I'm terrified that my baby is going to be born and we won't be prepared for him!

Have any other FTMs been experiencing similar and how are you getting around it??

John Lewis are doing virtual nursery tours. I know you want to see these things in the 'flesh' but it's a good start for maybe some of the other small bits which you could still maybe order online.

It must be really crap time for FTM trying to prep. We brought most of our stuff on line as I found going into a shop overwhelming, my DH hated the process and they never seemed to have things I wanted to see! We took out a which? subscription to look at things like car seat & buggies, looked at Amazon a lot and used recommendation from friends and family. I think a lot of things like bed side cribs are fairly similar so we went for the one we liked the look of the most! Agree with a PP about looking to see what other parents are using and ask them questions, I was stopped about our sling a few times.

The baby clothes are almost all sold out everywhere. There are gorgeous things on next but all sold out and almost all sold out of marks and Spencer too. Personally I can’t justify spending 25 euro on one newborn sleep suit from jo jo maman that the baby may not even fit into when born. And my local Tesco is out of newborn and 0-3 month baby clothes .

Try supermarkets and Boots. H&M? Hopefully Next and M&S will have things back in stock soon 🤞 Otherwise try John Lewis, you can get multipacks of vests and sleepsuits that aren't toooo expensive.

I'm 29 weeks and bought a car seat based on safety and car comparability, didn't care what it looked like. Luckily we tried out prams around 20 weeks in John Lewis so did get that sorted. I've bought an ergo baby wrap from amazon which I really like, could that be a temporary solution?

Re IKEA, I got £1600 of furniture delivered last week. Are you after really specific items or open to changing? Some things are not available for delivery but a lot is. I got 2m pax wardrobes, a cot, two chests of drawers, a chair and a 3m parasol! If it makes you feel better our nursery needs electrics doing as it has one plug socket so close to the floor you can't get a plug in, has half the ceiling coming down which needs overboarding, the walls need plastering and the floor sanding and oiling. But lockdown means no work men are able to come and get cracking atm.

Also, I didn't realise but Argos do baby clothes. I looked on M&S and H&M earlier and both have more in stock that they did a few weeks ago.

In terms of car seat, we had a maxi cosi cabriofix, and bought an isofix base for each car so it was plug and play easily.

Re clothes: supermarket vests and onesies are great. You can get a pack of 5 vests for less than £5 and 3 onesies/sleepsuits/babygrows for under £10. Alternatively, check local FB marketplace for bundles - people near me are selling in a socially distanced way with contactless payment and collection/delivery. You could possibly also pick up a reasonably priced pram in the same way.

I'm 36 weeks and have bought loads of 0-3 stuff online in the last couple of weeks. George asda, sainsbury's, m&s and h&m have all been fab. Cot is from Amazon, they're all one and the same. Online4baby and precious little one for bedside crib and monitor and other bits. It's been a tad frustrating but I dont feel forgotten about, if anything I think the whole point of closing these places to keep pregnant women safe is the opposite of forgetting about us.

I've also managed to be fine with baby clothes, I have had to search a bit more than usual. Asda seems to restock quite often, and also Matalan.

I’m 28 weeks and bought loads of stuff online. I just did weeks of research into prams and travel systems, lots of the independent shops also will do telephone or video consultations, try pushchairexpert they were fab for me doing video call to show me different prams. Then ordered loads of bits from John Lewis, amazon etc.
Get on Instagram and Facebook too there’s so much for new mums, the baby and toddler show has just done an online show so bought loads discounted on there.
We’re currently in temporary accommodation as were inbetween trying to buy a house and had to leave our rental. So completely in limbo and I’ve had to let go of my nursery dreams for now, all very unsettling but you have to focus on what you can deal with and not on things beyond your control.

Know this is a week old so sorry, but anybody struggling to buy baby clothes, tesco has a 50% off sale on all the clothes in shop. I managed to get a few little bits yesterday while I was doing our weekly shop :-)