Moses basket - we ended up with two because we/the baby loved it so much. We had one downstairs and one upstairs. Then moved him into the next to me when he got too big for it. They’re great because you can lift them while the baby is asleep in it. Quite often he’d fall asleep at 9/10pm in the early days and my husband would lift it upstairs without waking him. Genius!
Bedside crib -we got a next to me second hand. Ended up using the moses baskets so we didn’t get much use out of it. Maybe 1 or 2 months before we moved him to his cot in his own room at 6 months.
Baby swing seats - Honestly can be the biggest waste of money. A relative bought us one for about £80 and he HATED it. What did he love? A third hand vibrating bouncy seat that I got for £5 on marketplace. However a friend’s baby absolutely loved their fancy electronic one! I’d recommend trying to get something second hand or see if you can try baby in a friend’s. When you find one they like though, they’re magic! You can get 10-15 mins for a cup of tea! (Also when baby is older -usually about 6 months I think, need to have good head support -a Jumperoo! You’ll get one on marketplace easily and they’re amazing for keeping baby in one place and entertained for a while).
Travel system - Pros and cons. We did go for one but in hindsight maybe a waste of money. Baby had horrendous acid reflux so wouldn’t lie flat in the bassinet without screaming from about 6 weeks old. We ended up moving him to the stroller part at about 3 months old and he was a new baby! Turned out it reclined almost completely flat anyway, although you could also purchase a newborn insert for it. We also hated the car seat that came with it -hood made a horrible sound when you pulled it up or down, was tricky to fit onto the chassis of the pram and felt like baby outgrew it by about 8 months. (He’s very long to be fair and it would have felt like that probably in any first size car seat). Looking back we would’ve been better just buying the stroller, a different car seat and the car seat adapters. That said, we LOVE our pram. Not sure if you have to purchase rain covers, sun shades etc separate. So it might be worth you pricing everything on its own.
sleepyhead - friend gave us theirs as their baby never used it… and neither did ours! They should never be left to sleep in them unattended but neither baby would ever chill in them on the sofa with a parent. Not really sure what the point of them is.
Oh and with the pram bassinet: they can nap in them but apart from the new Silver Cross Reef, I don’t think any are 100% approved for overnight sleeping due to air flow. So you couldn’t use the bassinet the way you could a moses basket if baby fell asleep in it late at night.
My biggest take away as a first time parent has been: consider buying secondhand as everything has a shelf life of about 3-6 months and then they outgrow it! Longer lasting items like pram, cotbed, nursery furniture are worth investing in if you can afford it, but most other stuff I’d shop around for.
Oh and whatever sleep item you go for, get a couple of mattress protectors! Between spit up, leaky nappies, spilled milk… you’ll appreciate only having to change a sheet and not the mattress in the middle of the night!