@Francesmalin Yeah swaddling seems to work really well for some but not for us. Go for whatever is easiest for your sleep-deprived mind to be honest. Also, babies are fussy little buggers, so honestly I'd try to get as much second hand as possible - your guaranteed the expensive thing is the thing your baby is going to HATE on principle 😂
In terms of clothes - love the prints that Frugi do (expensive stuff, but massive second hand market on vinted and places like that). I also like the piccalilly stuff, blade and rose (they do really nice thick leggings that are great for winter, and their stuff is cloth nappy friendly) and because my DD is long and thin the Swedish DUNS stuff fits her well. In some ways you need to wait and see what build your baby has, as brands vary massively in sizing / fit. For example, DD had chunky thighs as a baby, even though the rest of her was long and slim, and could not wear anything from Next with poppers on the legs as they just exploded 😂
Sling - love our Ergobaby 360. Just got that second hand
Pram - Originally got an Uppababy Vista. Its a beast of a pram with a massive undercarriage, but wanted something sturdy as we live rural. Would have gone for something totally different if in a city. It can also be adapted to 2 kids which is one of the reasons we got it as we were hoping for a sibling, so it means it'll be possible to 2 toddler and baby out with the 1 pram (without being side-by-side and too wide!) if we want to until DD gets better at walking longer distances. We also later got a Cosatto Woosh Pushchair for travelling with as it folds up and in 1 part rather than a travel system, and I think you can use it from birth if you get a separate carrycot bit for it. I find the seat too reclined though, but its good now DD is older as we have the straps super loose so she can lean right forward. The Doona was one I didn't know about with DD but seen them lots and they look amazing for travelling with, and handy for the short trips we're going to need to do nipping in and out the car at nursery and things when having to pull out an entire travel system is stupid, or when it would be quicker to not have to remove from car seat to put in a carrier. And honestly, the baby car seats (like the MaxiCosi CabrioFix we had with DD which fitted onto the uppabbay travel system) get heavily REALLY FAST, so unless you have arms of steel I wouldn't be counting on carrying baby often / for any great distance just using an infant car seat. Doona wont last long, but I think it might be worth it depending on your lifestyle
Carseat - Most expensive thing we bought (well, actually my parents bought!). We got a Silvercross Motion All Size 360 as our main car seat. We gave up with the MaxiCosi infant one pretty fast as DD woke up when the car stopped moving anyway, so was no advantage to being able to lift a carseat out of the car, and it didn't feel nearly as safe as the Silvercross one. Love the Silvercross one - only car seat we could find at the time that rotated and lasted up to age 12. The rotation function is actually really handy and makes loading / unloading a lot easier. SUPER heavy so not something you'd want to be moving to different cars often. Also, if your child DOES stay asleep once a car has stopped moving, you might want something you can actually remove from the car (hence why I'm looking at the Doona this time around). But this car seat has been fab - it stays rear facing up to 18.5kg which was important for us to keep DD facing rear for as long as possible. Also really didn't want to be buying a million different car seats over the lifespan.
Honestly though, there is so much on the marketplace and just need to try to decipher what might work best for your situation / lifestyle etc as everything has pros and cons. And as I said, babies are fussy buggers so I'd buy as little as possible to be honest - trying out things friends are finished with, getting things second hand etc honestly feels like the best way of doing it, because if baby hates it? well it doesn't matter