Items for new baby

[Lhdale]

Completely new to this and clueless! Would be interested to hear from you all your ‘list of essentials’ to be bought before baby arrives.

obviously things like pram but beyond that I don’t know! I’m assuming you don’t need a big cot at first and can get away with more of a crib / basket like thing? We have a tiny room! What about smaller items?

I'd recommend a next to me style crib that bolts on to your bed, you can pick these up second hand on fb marketplace and then just need to buy a new mattress.
Then nothing else is really essential in the first weeks apart from clothes and nappies. You'll need a baby bath once they are a week old, but even then you can wash them in the kitchen sink for the first 2 months if needs be!

Oh and a soft sling is great for letting them snooze on you whilst you can then have your hands free to do other things. See if your local area has a sling library and someone there to show you how it works.

Next to me style cribs are amazing, highly recommend. Don’t bother with a baby bath, get a bath seat instead, make sure it’s a newborn one. Much better than baby bath. Otherwise clothes, nappies, wipes and bits for however you choose to feed. If breastfeeding a good nipple cream, if bottle feeding then bottles and steriliser. You’ll also need lots of maternity pads and breast pads.

for baby:

Lots of babygrows and vests. Maybe 15 of each per size. Vinted is your friend if you’re not rich!
A couple of cardigans - hand knitted ones are better than the stiff cotton knits, they have some stretch so easier to get little arms in
A proper pramsuit if due in winter, if due in spring/autumn maybe one of the lighter fleecy zip-up ones
Loads and loads of muslins. Used for vomit, as light blankets, as emergency breast pads 😉
Moses basket and blankets
Changing mat and caddy to keep nappies, wipes and creams in
Baby bath. Don’t understand why people use kitchen sinks, aren’t they really grubby?!
A little flannel for topping and tailing
Sling, bouncer, little play mat
Pram

For you

Reusable sanitary pads. I found the soft fleece material so much nicer against my stitches than disposable plastic.
Breast pads
Loads of pyjamas because you won’t change out of them for a while 😬
A thermos flask and water bottle to keep by the bed for the night time feeds
Chamomile teabags and lavender oil - add a tea bag and a few drops of the oil to a bath to heal stitches. It works an absolute charm, the relief is pretty instant.

Good luck!

You won't need much "newborn" stuff as they'll only be in it for a short time. 0-3 months is best to buy. M&S baby and kids stuff is the best imo, so two packs of 10 plain vests and then maybe 12 sleepy suits? Also depends how many people will gift you clothes for the baby!

We didn't buy anything at all that wasn't "essential" for the first few days. We live near 24 hour supermarkets, there's always Amazon and most shops do next day delivery!

Useful things have been a wrap - I got the Boba one and would recommend.

A got a shnuggle bath as it's good for quick washes rather than filling a bath for a bath seat set up.

A changing Matt. You go through a lot of nappies in the first few days! I'd say buy a pack to take to the hospital and another pack for at home.

The snuzpod is great!

Possibly somewhere to put the baby when you're downstairs but this isn't "essential" as such. Ie a rocker or extra crib

had my first baby 11 weeks ago and looking back I wasted sooo much money!

a nursery/room ready that he hasn’t even been in yet (don’t stress about getting this done before baby is here)

clothes… they grow so quick! I have found marks and Spencer’s and next to be the best quality. Tesco range of clothes seem to run on the small side for me. also as baby can’t wear big coats/pramsuits in the car seat get more cardigans and layer up. I have about 10 pramsuits not used as it’s a performance putting baby in one when you have reached destination. Hats are annoying… try get those stretchy ones not the tight fitted ones with no give as they are hard to put on baby’s head!

nappy caddy bags, I bought cheap on Amazon and have one upstairs and one downstairs same with a changing mat.

a swing/rocker somewhere to put baby if they will be put down. I bought cheap off marketplace

next to me crib which attaches to the bed.

my baby loves the love to dream swaddles but I think it depends on how your baby sleeps. Mine sleeps with arms up so works well for him.

prep machine has been very useful too. As I bottle feed now, I use the ready made bottles overnight which is easier and quieter than the prep machine and saves me going downstairs!

good luck!

All so so helpful thank you! I never would have known half of this!

It really depends on your baby. I have loads of muslins and at nearly 5 months old, haven't used any of them so far because he isn't a sicky baby at all yet I love our baby bath.

We also both hated the baby carrier.

moses basket
baby bjorn bouncer
mam bottles
perfect prep
love to dream swaddles

• I second bath seat for bub!
• a bouncy seat to plonk them in
• lots of maternity pads for you
• stock up on biscuits/quick snacks for you
• even if you are planning to breast feed I’d recommend having a tin of formula, a couple of bottles and a microwave steriliser in the cupboard just incase you decide it’s really not for you
• not essential but a special nappy bin is a god send in our house
• they poo so much at the start do lots of nappies and wipes - we have an Amazon subscription and get some eco ones delivered in bulk to save money

A peri bottle if you are planning a vaginal birth. Absolute game changer for making going for a wee comfortable/keeping clean afterwards.

15 short sleeve vests and 15 sleepsuit size 0-3
10 muslins
3 knitted cardigans
2 cellular blankets
2 hats
Tuppence and crumble star wrap
Changing station for upstairs and downstairs (mat, nappies, wipes)
Moses basket
Fleecy dressing gown for you
Jersey button down pyjamas
Breast pads
Cheap manual breast pump
Baby carrier or sling
Big packet of large post partum sanitary towels
Moses basket

That's pretty much all we needed in those early weeks!

We don't have a lot of room until we move in January and baby is due in May.

We skipped the bedside cribs and got a "petite cot" from Mamas & Papas instead.

Moses basket & swing chair for the living room 😊

Our must haves:

• angelcare bath seat (just put it in the main bath, don't bother with a baby bath)
• towel with hood (they will outgrown this in a few months or less but ours was amazing for when they were really small)
• love to dream swaddle
• breastfeed pillow (ours is a chicco)
• breast pads for leaks.

Our regrets:

• Nuna mixx next pushchair. We regret buying this pushchair so much. It's absolutely, shockingly awful. Please steer clear of Nuna.

Lots of great suggestions already, I’d add in the following:

• this first one isn’t strictly for when baby arrives, but a handheld usb fan will be a godsend if you’re giving birth in hospital where it’s invariably hotter than the sun!

• puppy pads, great for popping down under baby if like me you foolishly bought a pretty, yet impractical changing mat. Also great for keeping under yourself if you’re worried about postpartum leakages and cheaper than maternity ones by a mile!

• if breast feeding and pumping, check you have the right flanges for your breast size BEFORE baby arrives. One size does not fit all! Don’t do what I did and panic on day 3 as your boobs are like boulders, baby won’t latch and you have no way to express as everything is the wrong size 🙈

• Again if breastfeeding, I swear by the multi mam compresses for soothing ouchy nipples Honestly without them I think my breastfeeding journey would have ended long before now!

Things I wouldn’t bother with:

• spritz for bitz. Even after an episiotomy I didn’t find it overly soothing and the smell made me gag a bit.

@Lemonycakage out of interest what did you hate about the Nuna mixx? We bought the full travel system and absolutely love it, though we live fairly rurally so primarily bought the pram due to its ability to cope with rough terrain.

We found that we didn’t need to buy that many clothes because so many people brought us baby clothes once they had arrived!

I just bought bundles of vests and baby grows from eBay, it was a quick, cheap way of getting a decent amount of things.

We never had a baby bath or baby seat. They’re often bulky and take up lots of space, may consider getting a seat next time but that’s because there’ll be an older one to keep an eye on too!

DS had grown out of his Moses basket by 8 weeks and moved to the main cot in our room. The basket was useful for the early weeks when he was tiny. I think a next to me is bigger than a Moses basket so will last longer.

A stretchy wrap sling was essential for us.

Dont bother with a peri bottle, a jug of water works just fine and you probably already have a jug. Didn’t but any fancy spritz for bits stuff, just a shower head to keep clean.

A nursing pillow was something that we needed that we didn’t think we would, newborns are so tiny it really helped to position them.

I don’t think you should get a pump before baby arrives as you don’t know what your needs are. You may want to use one only very occasions to have a small about to introduce baby to the idea of a bottle or you might want a double electric hospital grade pump what you use exclusively or when you’re back at work. There’s obviously a lot of pumps inbetween but I’ve seen people waste money by getting one in advance that didn’t suit their need’s because they didn’t know what their needs were yet.

If you can practice hand expressing colostrum before baby arrives then that would be enough to give you the confidence that you can express some for a new born if that’s needed and having a back up supply in the freezer in case of complications at the birth is also super reassuring.

I don’t generally rate travel systems that come with a car seat. You often get a better, safer car seat for your money by buying it separate. If you want to be able to attach it to your pram then most come with adapters.

A bouncy chair was useful as a place to put baby!

Just to provide another perspective re getting a pump (agree on the whole with PP but for us it was different) - I struggled with breastfeeding at first and my milk didn't come in until day 7. On day 4 the lactation nurse suggested getting a cheap manual pump which I ordered then and there and it arrived the next day, basically it helped to get my nipple to stick out a bit better to make it easier for baby to latch if that makes sense! I'll never know if it was definitely that that helped, but it's useful to know that you could order one on Amazon (I got the Medella hand held one) cheaply when baby arrives should you need it. I now use it to pump one bottle per day for.my DH to.feed DS so it definitely came in handy!

I think my biggest piece of advice is to remember that Amazon do same day or next day delivery so its better to buy less than more as anything you find yourself needing you can get your hands on pretty quickly! Don't over-buy in the first place and not use.

Things I've found really useful:
white noise machine, prep machine (if formula feeding), schnuggle baby bath, tommee tippee sleeping bags, next2me, nappy caddy,

Things I brought and didn't use:
Baby bouncer, baby seat