have you bought anything that was a waste of money

[pud1]

i am now 23 weeks and am having to start to think of all the things i will need and the cost. has any one got any tips on things they thought they would need but didnt. i feelt hat there are so many things that you could be fooled into buying.

Get familiar with ebay NOW - we bought loads of stuff and then sold it on if it didn't work for us or as lo outgrew it.

Our essentials were
carrycot
bouncy chair with aquarium thing attached (lo spent ages in it)
formula dispensers
avent pots £5 for 10, still in use daily after 12 months(freezing breastmilk then used for food stuffs later on)
sheet for swaddling
dreambag (cheaper than grobag)
baby monitor (don't live in mansion, just don't wake up without it )
sleepsuits and vests
bibs
cosy toes for pushchair
tommee tippee closer to nature bottles
baby wipes
boots sensitive top to toe wash

We hated
Bumbo
door bouncer
standard bouncy chair
baby gym
avent bottles
cotton wool
anything smelly by johnsons

Congrats and enjoy it!

Loves:
Our baby bath though we also manage v well without one
Muslins for newborn stage
Good books as DD fed for hours as a newborn espec. in the evenings

Hates:
Our baby hated her pram/ now pushchair and is carried everywhere - do any babies love theirs as I really think babies love being carried? We have an Ergo sling and still don't even feel the weight at 9 months.

Also haven't used our cot - I thought we would but when our baby arrived it just didn't feel natural to me.

actually, we did use a bottle warmer because it is a very effective way of defrosting frozen breast milk. If you put frozen breastmilk containers into warm water, it just makes the water cold! Didn't like to use a saucepan either.

Wow sooooo much to take in. I'm only 16 wks and already have pages of stuff to think about looking forward to it though.

Any suggestions on a travel system? was planning on getting one and using the carry cot as a moses basket??

we used the bebe confort Loola with carrycot and car seat, expensive but worth the money. It was great while dd was little, although now she's 1+ we use a buggy. The carrycot was brill as a moses basket, everything clips easily on and off the Loola frame too, so baby is easy to transfer without waking.
We bought it on ebay, and have recently sold it on there too!

Infacol is a must if you have a colicy baby (which mine were, I will be buying it in advance 'just in case' this time). Bit of that before each feed really helps them to bring thier wind up more effectively. I also found it was easier for baby to latch on and stay latched if he was less windy.

I never used a top/tail bowl (used the sink and did baby's face first) or baby bath (again, used bathroom sink) with mine.

My big buggy was a must-have as I walked everywhere, I never bothered with a stroller as big buggy so much more comfy to push (and for LO I imagine). Also came with a carrycot which was useful for sleeping baby in downstairs. Put baby straight in the cot at night, it was right next to my bed so baby nice and close.

I loved my baby monitor esp when baby in it's own room - I like to keep the door shut in case the cats do go in there so it is nice to know I will hear baby straight away if they wake.

Never used; moses basket -DS wouldnt sleep in it, monitor -until in own room, which was at 9 months, scratch mitts - apart from when DH was forst dressing DS and put him in a short sleeved vest and scratch mitts on his feet!, bibs - until they are eating real food.

Loved; Baby bath - DS too big to fit in sink and using big bath i thought was a waste of water, muslim cloths - you can never have too many, bouncy chair that vibrates - how i would have survived without this i do not know, it was the only place DS would nap other than my lap or breast!

Good luck, it is very daunting but when they are sooo tiny they really dont ned much stuff at all! Oh yeah and if you are breast feeding then a pile of good books!

so how many of the basics should a newbie get? how many sheets/blankets/vests/baby grows/cloth nappies? I have:

24 muslins (bought 12 then was given 12)
12 terry squares
4x crib fitted sheets
4x crib flat sheets
2x crib cellular blankets
6x cot fitted sheets
6x cot flat sheets
3x cot cellular blankets
1x coverlet (like a sheet and fleece fastened together)
2x sleeping bags
variety of blankets, jumpers, hats etc being knitted by friend but don't know how many or what size
13 baby grows (some with sewn in mittens - matalan)
2 nighties
15 vests (over head and poppers in crotch)
1 cardigan
1 snow suit (december baby)
some cotton hats
some mittens, probably 6 pairs
1 crocheted shawl (gift)
getting bamboozles birth to potty pack with 20 nappies in
2 packs newborn disposable nappies for early days (til the meconium has gone)or until fat enough for cloth ones
baby bath box to store all clean cloth nappies and stuff in
cot
swinging crib
changing mat on top of existing chest of drawers (then floor when baby more wriggly)

other stuff (given 2nd hand)
baby monitor
vibrating bouncy chair
bouncy thing to hang from door
play gym with arch
steriliser
bottle warmer
breast pump (avent manual)
load of avent bottles
baby bath
top & tail bowl (why do you need 2 sides? surely only clean cotton wool goes in the water and the dirty goes somewhere else? and you do face first)
plastic bath support

also
2 big packs cotton wool (1 pleat 1 balls)
4 packs maternity/sanitary pads
1 box tesco breast pads
2 packs baby wipes (don't know why, i hate them, bad for skin)

too much? not enough? i have no idea!

Liz79 - wow that's a lot of stuff!! For bedding, I would suggest you need either cot sheets and blankets, or sleeping bags, you won't use both! Personally I survived with 2 good swaddling blankets when DD was tiny then sleeping bags all the way since, with one good blanket for the buggy. Vests and sleepsuits - I got 7 of each, you end up washing so often that you don't need many more as they grow out of them amazingly quickly. Even now I still manage fine with minimal amounts and wash every other day. Hat - essential for tiny winter baby, as is warm outer clothing, but I just got a really snuggly cardigan type thing and wrapped her in buggy blanket too when going out. No other clothes essential, tiny clothes just a PITA until they are bigger I think.
I totally underestimated how many maternity pads and breast pads I would need, stock up on these!

Just get as many things as possible donated or loaned from others. Only new thing we bought with DS was the car seat (Britax rock a tot so doubled as a swing for when we were in the house).
As others have said, wait until your baby's born to see what sort of pushchair he/she prefers. Borrowed a carrycot from my SIL and was horrified how awkward it was to get in and out of car so DS went into a bog standard folding buggy as soon as he was 3 months.
By the time DD came along, previous buggy was by then trashed so we bought a Mothercare 'suitable from birth' buggy (reclines flat for sleeping) in their sale for about £40.
Bf both so didn't need many bottles or associated feeding gubbins.
Once you have bf established, you will need loads of breast pads or alternatively you can use breast shells to collect milk which you can refrigerate or freeze to build up your 'expressed' stock.
HTH and good luck.

I found top and tail bowl really hand for putting cloth nappies in as they come of the baby. Then as I used washable wipes they used to go in the other side. Never used them for their intended purpose. try washable breast pads they save a lot of money as you can just hurl them in the large number of washloads you will be doing.

Oh and you are missing a sling, a decent pouch or wrap sling is worth buying.

Wow Liz you?ve got loadsa stuff!

that's so much liz! please tell me you're about to pop any day now, 'cause i feel v unprepared.... 20wks and every weekend me and DH make noises about sorting stuff out in preparation, but never do

so far i have 2 tops and one pair trousers, all too big for a newborn!

but my mum left a message on my phone last night to say she's picked up a travel system for fifteen quids from a charity shop! little does she know DH spent most of the evening comparing the bugaloo with the mclaren etc

bit of a turnaround in my house. usually i'm the big spender, but i feel like going for bare minimum at the moment and seeing what we need. DH usually tight - wants to buy everythoing in advance!

Gosh thats a lot of stuff!

IMHO you need:

Enough bedding to have one set on and one set in the wash (assuming you have a tumble drier)

A baby monitor

Car seat and buggy

Somewhere to put a baby down that isn't their bed/buggy - so a playmat or newborn-bouncy chair or nice blanket or rug on the floor

Steriliser if using bottles

Bottles (if using bottles!)

A kettle & microwave

A couple of soft toys/balls

About 3 sleepsuits and 5 button down vests

Cotton wool

Bowl for water (or sink!) for topping and tailing etc

Blankets/sheets for swaddling if you're going to do that

Grobags are great - but then you need less blankets and other things

Cot or crib or moses basket.

Lansenol if you're going to breast feed.

Sudocreme for baby's bottom

Everything else you can buy as you need it once the baby arrives...you really don't need tons of stuff in the house in advance. And don't bother with baby clothes...I don't think I got DS dressed more than 3 times before he got to about 3 months old!!

Ooh, and muslins. Altho I took the 'you can never have too many muslins' advice from a friend too literally and bought 2 packs (12 in a pack!), never needed 24 at any point, no matter how much we used them!!

Hi pud1, Congrats on the pregnancy, three children later and I NEVER used that swing thing that hangs off the doorframe, always afraid they would bang their head or worse - FALL OFF.

I have a BOX of unused baby shoes - all gifts and look cute but totally useless.

Baby raincoats - like you are really going to bring your three month out in the rain where they would need a raincoat - again falls into the cute but useless category

Overcomplicated heavy pram system- you need something that you can fold up with one hand and toss into the boot of the car with baby in the other arm.

Loved and used all the time
Baby Bjorn, just be careful trying to get things off bottom of shopping trolley with baby in Bjorn-practically impossible!

Baby bath with plughole in the end, saves you having to tip the whole thing over to empty it

Footmuff, fleecy thing for the buggy

Hand blender stick thing for when you are doing all that pureeing

my worse buy: electric breast pump - hurt like hell to use and it was easier to hand express once i got hte hang of it

Best buy: Video Baby Monitor - my little one would get himself into arkward positions in the cot, i could see his every movement on the video screen which made sitting a watching tv after he went down much more relaxing (i got one for £50 on ebay so they arent too expensive, imo it was well worth it)

velcro edged swaddling blanket. You can swaddle with any sheet or light blanket and the velcro on this all purpose one was too rough when DS wriggled out and got it near his wee little face!

i have lansinoh and a baby bjorn thing that i got cheap. mum bought us a motheracre travel system with car seat and carry cot. think it will sit in carry cot/bouncy chair/floor on play mat most of the day.

I think the problem was that i didn't like to assume we would be given lots of stuff so I went and got what i thought i needed! But then we have been given lots (i also have HEAPS of clothes upto 24 months, especially good if its a boy but will do a girl if we get a couple of pink t shirts or cardigans)

I am 33 weeks and due 2nd dec. I wanted to get it done whilst i felt ok so I didn't have to go round all the shops when they are busy with xmas shoppers. i thought the same about people's xmas presents and have been buying bits and pieces as i saw them and thought so and so will like that. think just need FIL's present now. 3 weeks left til mat leave so i will do card writing, present wrapping then and make lots of healthy food for freezer. and clean up i guess think i will get bored waitiing for baby to come!

My absolute must is one of those plactic tubs with three sections to put powered milk in. My baby had cold milk as this is what she was given in hospital. So you just make the bottle up with water you dont need to put it in the fridge and add the powder as you give them their feed. If you mix milk and water you need to keep it in the fridge so you would then need to warm it. By adding the milk when you feed means you dont need to warm bottles up so night feeds are a dream as you take a bottle of water to bed with the powdered milk in the tub and make it when baby wakes.

I did this with my last pregnancy (3rd) and she was my only one that didnt suffer from colic. I dont know that it was definately due to the milk not being made up in advance and warming it up, but Im now pregnant with my 4th and am hoping it will work agian!

liz79 are you having quads?

oh no shiner! was REALLY looking forward to putting LO in a bouncy door thing!

Both my ds's went in a door bouncer. My ds2 loves it (7 months old) he bounces away laughing and grinning to himself. Neiher of them have ever banged their heads or fallen out. Probably not relevent, just thought i'd mention it!