What was the best baby purchase you made ?

[SaraKitty]

For those who have kids already , I’m wondering what is the one thing you bought for your baby that you couldn’t have lived without or something they really enjoyed . However big or small .

Next to me crib
Infantino carrier (£100 cheaper than ergo, basically the same) we've had no hip dysplasia at all, first born girl.
Swaddle sack with a zip to stop the moro reflex.
Tummy time water mat
A decent "expensive" changing mat with curved edges
A play mat that turns into a bag/sack to scoop up toys/protect carpet
Hakka pump
Several water bottles left around the house nit just one
Huckleberry app, paid for after free trial ran out
Snow suit
Foot covers (waterproof)
Perfect prep machine
Door jumper
Alexa to set timers, play nursery rhymes, ask what the weather will be like/ temperature so I know what layers are needed etc
Bath sling then seat

H&M wrap baby vests so they didn't need pulling up or down, you put the vest down, put baby in and then close the poppers over.

A tiny cheap clip on led light from ikea, it clipped to our bed and I could angle it so I had some light whilst breastfeeding whilst keeping the room quite dark.

Moby wrap sling

Nipple shields, lansinoh cream and a Philips avent breast pump. I would have given up breastfeeding quite early without those. Also breast pads.

A boppy breastfeeding pillow.

Car seat (besafe izi go) and pram (icandy peach) - we used the pram for 3 or 4 years.

The Aldi version of the Shnuggle baby bath, so much easier than trying to wrangle a wet slippery newborn
A fisher price bouncy chair that was higher than most (a see and soothe I think?) - bought second hand for £20 (rrp £70ish), our son loved (loves!) it and it keeps him off the ground away from the dogs wagging tail
Grobags (again Aldi version!) so much easier than baby kicking his blankets off repeatedly and waking himself
So. Many. Muslins. There’s never enough, never, neverrrrrrr!

Oh and the huckleberry app 👍🏻

@CoalCraft @ifellintoarabbithole I've been bought a doona pram from my mum as a gift but I'm worried about using it. How long can you walk around with baby in it? I've read that you're only supposed to keep baby in a car seat for 20/30 mins and the doona is effectively a car seat, even when being used as a pram. I don't want to be buying another pram on top though for longer walks, seems like a compete waste.

A mumby!!

UppA baby pram/pushchair

Ergo baby carrier

A gazillion safety gates

Reins

(I had a bolter)

A pink Fisher price bouncer chair that my friend recently as an accidental order, but argos didn't want it back so she gave it to me. Brilliant, even from birth. She absolutely love the little dangle butterfly when she was very young. Used to smile at it and chat to it. Slept in it wrapped in a blanket, and when she could hold her bottle of milk herself, that's where she sat to drink it.

I actually had a bouncer for my first too that he sat in all the time. Got a swing one for my second but he hated it, but then he just hated me putting him down.

Tons of muslins. Used for baby sick, then weaning, now she is a toddler they’re used for mouth/hand wiping, cleaning the sides in the kitchen, as dusters etc (they get a hot wash between jobs!).

A good quality, sturdy sling!!
All 3 of my DCs spent majority of their first year in a sling. I got a beautiful Didymos woven wrap and a standard size Tula which were used for all 3 of them from birth until well into toddlerhood.
I hardly ever used a pram!!

[quote TyrannosaurusRegina]**@CoalCraft* @ifellintoarabbithole* I've been bought a doona pram from my mum as a gift but I'm worried about using it. How long can you walk around with baby in it? I've read that you're only supposed to keep baby in a car seat for 20/30 mins and the doona is effectively a car seat, even when being used as a pram. I don't want to be buying another pram on top though for longer walks, seems like a compete waste.[/quote]

@TyrannosaurusRegina Yes that's right, newborn baby can only stay in it for 30 mins (when they get to so many months this time increases to 2 hours I think, but can't remember exactly) so you would definitely need a proper pushchair too. But it comes into its own for quick errands and going to places where baby will be taken out of it.

Definitely the next to me crib!!! It's so lovely to be so close to my baba whilst her still sleeping safe. It makes the night feeds so easy as well, quick job and straight back to sleep!

Angel care soft touch bath support. Totally saved my back. So much better than anything else on the market. It fits perfectly in the basic ikea baby bath so don’t have to fill the whole bath up with water. My kids are 3 and 6 and still bath in the IKEA baby bath all the time now when just one of them needs a dip. Saves us a fortune on water if you are on a meter.

Baby bjorn sling! Getting either of my two to nap anywhere else in the first 6 months was / is nigh on impossible. And it gets me out of the house for fresh air and exercise which is essential, especially after a long night.

Venture all stars play pen.

It's £££ and massive. If you have room, it's worth every penny. I had mine from when DS was not even crawling but he still laid in it. Now he's 18m and it's a safe place for him when I'm cooking and I have peace/piece? of mind he's not diving off the couch onto the coffee table

@SpongebobsPants

For further down the line, the IKEA Antilop high chair. Cheap as chips, easy to clean and fits perfectly at the table when the tray is removed, so the child feels part of everything. We only discovered how good they were when we took DS1 to IKEA and, for the first time ever, he sat happily in the high chair without shouting at us and trying to escape🤣 We bought one and took it home and the fancy one I'd spent hours choosing on t'internet, went down to my mum's as a spare!!

I second this. Alot of cafes have these. We bought a really expensive cosatto and it was a nightmare to clean. We bought the IKEA one for £10 and it's brilliant.

Ergo baby stretchy sling
Sleepyhead
Bundlers (baby nighties)
Baby bjorn high chair
Gro bags and gro swaddle
Love to dream bags
Angel care bath seat
Joie 360 car seat
Dummies

Tripp Trapp! You can find it second hand in really good condition!

Sleeping bags (Grobags)
Ikea high chair (from Ebay so even cheaper!)

I felt all nostalgic seeing this in 'trending now' This question was how I stumbled across Mumsnet in 2004.

Every parent finds one thing that they could not do without and often it's different for siblings.
Don't be afraid to borrow! Or try at a friend's.

One of mine was a seagrass Moses basket.
We didn't have much room or money.
Placed on top of two picnic hampers it was bed height, close to me. I could easily reach baby or get out of bed without waking her.

It was easy to move around, even outdoors during the hot summer.
As my kids sat up it supported them.
Eventually became a toy basket, then finally retired as a dog bed.

A nappy bucket with lid keeps all the smells out and doesnt need refills, cheap as chips!
Primark extra large muslin cloths
Baby bouncer
Nuby UV dummy sterliser (game changer)

For the baby: the Uppababy Cruz 2 pushchair and carrycot. The pushchair/frame itself is really sturdy, everything attaches and fits together really easily and it feels really nice to use. Also, the carrycot is approved for overnight sleeping and so far it's all he'll sleep in (he's now 9 weeks old) - he seems to hate his proper crib! Close runners up would be three times as many muslins as I thought we needed, a bath with a built in bath support to stop him slipping (makes it easier to hold him up) and some Tena wash cream (to use instead of water/wipes when doing his nappy - he was premature and has really sensitive skin, and the nurses in the neonatal unit put us onto it).

For me: a Haakaa breast pump - so much easier to use and sterilise than my other manual breast pump and great for building a stash of milk with little/no effort. Close runners up would be some REALLY comfy pyjamas and a Frida Momwasher (I ended up having an episiotomy and this was great for keeping my stitches clean).

Haaka breast pump
Baby bjorn bouncer
Bonds wondersuits

Babyzen yoyo - used it on lots of holidays, no one questioned it going on the plane popped over your shoulder with the carry straps

Close caboo sling and then the Ergo baby carrier - made school runs a doddle

Babybay bedside crib

Sleepyhead

Mam bottles

Silver healing cup things when I first started breastfeeding

Hospital grade lansinoh double pump for my eldest who couldn’t latch

Google for white noise in their bedrooms when they were small