Items to buy for 2nd baby- what did you buy new and what did you recycle?

[deliwoman1]

Hi everyone,

I'm very newly pregnancy with no.2, and I have a history of losses. As a way to stay positive, I thought I'd ask a hopeful question! What did you all keep and reuse from your first baby, and what did you buy new and why?😀

We've kept almost everything because we knew we wanted a second fairly soon after. But I'm already thinking baby 2 should have the odd thing that's all their own!

The only thing I have bought new so far is a new mattress for moses basket (recommended to reduce sids risk) and some newborn size sleepsuits (couldn't find the ones from last time). Otherwise I'm going to enjoy not having to buy lots of stuff! Baby will get lots of presents so that will be plenty of new things for them. Congratulations!

We've bought a few new clothes as we didn't keep everything, a swing (just had a basic bouncer before but figure this baby will be put down more) and a better baby carrier for the same reason.

Literally nothing. Baby won't know! They did get some new things gifted.

Actually quite a lot of clothes. My first was a girl born in summer during a heatwave whilst my second was a boy born in winter when it was sub freezing and snowing! So between the obviously girlie clothes and stuff like sleeping bags being the wrong weights for the weather, DD mostly wearing short sleeved vests and DS needing long sleeved there wasn’t that much that could be reused. In addition DS was bigger at birth at never fit the newborn stuff.

I also bought a newborn pod for the tripp trapp highchair- with DD we didn’t think about a highchair until weaning but with DS it was great having a spot to put him high up and away from the toddler! New mattress for the moses basket and new teats for the bottles. Whole new big cot because ours didn’t survive shipping when we moved back from abroad. Needed a new UK car seat too. That probably won’t apply to you though! Got a new fabric pack for the pram (YoYo) because why not. Bought a sling because everyone said it was invaluable with a second to have your hands free, used it once and hated it! Buggy board for the eldest.

Think that was is…

@Skyla01 oh yes, I've got a new crib mattress and a new bassinet mattress (which we'll hopefully use as a daytime crib downstairs) on the list. I was so petrified of SIDS, I still think about it now and DD is almost 2 😂

@Peonies12 this is so true! My impulse is the beginning of wanting everything to be 'fair,' I'm sure. So daft!

@InTheRainOnATrain it's all so dependent on the baby isn't it? I have one summer-born, and will have a winter-born this time hopefully, so new sleeping bags are a must. You've just reminded me to put a new star blanket on there too!

I bought few new clothes for coming out of hospital and a small snow suit / hat etc. (had April baby then a November baby).

A moses basket for downstairs as I had a nest the first time and was worried toddler would be able to get to baby.

New towels and dummy's.

A Haakaa breast pump as didn't know about them the first time and I did find it good.

Buggy board but my daughter was too old (3) so give it to me neighbours who had similar age baby but younger toddler (2) Xmas they find it useful. Bought it second hand though.

Reused so many if the clothes as had 2 DDs x

Summer born and winter born here too so bought a lot more stuff than I expected when I put everything away. DD2 was early and very small at 37 weeks so needed some tiny baby clothes but a neighbour very kindly provided those as her DC2 was about a month old by then.
Babygros you can usually use, it's nice to buy some nice cardigans to go over which you rarely need with a newborn. I was given a few hoody type tops which were tricky to take on and off when you're worried they are overheating when you come indoors so a "nice cardi" was great to have. DH found a cashmere one [of all things] on sale in John Lewis over the summer. I think DD2 wore it until she was about 3. It just seemed to grow with her and was so soft. Ridiculous thing to buy but as a second child I think it was nice that she had a few special bits which I have put away for her when she is older too.

Other than clothing, it was bits and bobs like a bouncer which we didn't use with DD1 but was a handy safe space to pop her in for 5-10 mins as she was super active and doing dinner with a toddler also pottering around was a bit hectic.

Any toys you buy him/her will be immediately appropriated by DC1 so I wouldn't be too precious. Remember to buy one as a present from DC2 when you get home from hospital.

My advice is to play it by ear. Save your money, use it on things that will make your life easier rather than feeling you have to be "equitable". Plenty of time for that as they get older.

Best of luck with your pregnancy, I hope it goes well.

We had to replace sleepsuits and vests up to 9 months due to severe reflux and cmpa first child. Everything else was reused - god knows she gets enough new things now at 2 as she's obsessed with dresses and dressing up!

That’s exactly what I bought, plus some new toys as he’s now approaching the age of being interested in toys - but more out of guilt that absolutely everything he has is a hand me down!

Our bouncer was more of a rocker (life-saver with DD), so I'll be dusting that off for sure. @TreadSoftlyOnMyDreams a 'nice cardi' sounds lovely. Granny is a knitter, so she'll hopefully provide!

Hadn't thought of ways to keep baby out of reach of toddler... 😬I guess we'll see how much self-control/interest DD has, but she'll only be 2.5 if/when baby gets here and is currently obsessed with baby dolls...

I got some clothes (DS was born in December, DD is due in July), especially short-sleeved ones. Also got some new sheets for the cot bed and will get a new mattress for our bedside cot (it's been used for three other children since we got it for DS nearly 8 years ago) and a new hooded towel. We did get a "new" second-hand pushchair to use at home. We live in quite a hilly and rural area so need something for that. Our old spare pushchair is now 20+ years old and I figured we could replace it. We'll reuse our normal pushchair, the one that the car seat goes onto. I did buy DD a pushchair toy, the same DS used to have.

The second gets all the second hand stuff, but they also get more confident, chilled out parents and the love of a sibling (probably!) they don't need a lot new, but definitely think about how to keep them out of toddler reach. My son used to say, 'i just going to brush baby's teeth', 'i just going to put baby in the bath' etc 🫠 she spent a lot of time in the sling!

@Busyhedgehog sheets! That's one for the list, thanks! Same with the pram toy. Ours are probably a bit grotty.

@MrsS11 good point. Also your son sounds like he was very sweet! Toddlers 'helping' is both cute and scary! Mine is already quite rough with her 'assistance.' 😂

I'm not getting anything else new other than the necessities of a mattress, I'm sure no 2 will receive gifts. Will spend the dosh on healthy delivered meals for when they arrive instead, telling myself lower stress levels for parents =happier baby!

@SouthwestSis oh god, the meals are a lifesaver. Good idea! Do you know which ones you'll get? We got some meal kits from Lina Stores last time and I remember it was so good it made me cry.

I'm lucky to have family and friends who generally ask what's needed for kid gifts, so little low cost replacements will be sorted.

I had suggested to DH that I could batch cook and freeze some meals before DD arrives. He was quite offended and the suggestion that he can't cook. 😳😂 I hadn't meant it like that at all.
He'll be home with me for a few months, though, so the cooking should be sorted. Can't imagine how he'd react if I suggested getting meals delivered...

We re-used pretty much everything we had but still had to buy some new stuff:

• Some clothes, because some stuff had been wrecked and binned, and also DC1 was a summer baby and DC2 was an autumn baby, so we needed more layers, cardigans etc in the smallest sizes.
• New mattress for the pram carrycot.
• Our bedside crib from DC1 had been rented and returned, so we bought one for DC2 (secondhand) and bought a mattress for that too, as well as some cheap straps off Amazon to attach it to the bed as owner had lost theirs.
• We bought a buggy board for DC1.
• New lightweight buggy for DC1 as our one was rubbish and falling apart and needed binning.
• Handsfree electric breast pump as only had a manual with DC1 which was crap and we'd lost one of the parts too.
• Bottles and teats - the brand we used for DC1 didn't seem to be widely available anymore so we binned the bottles and bought all new.
• Dummies.
• Music player that attaches to the bed as DC1 still used hers.
• Eventually new cotbed and mattress as DC1 was still in hers (but this was a handmedown from a friend who had literally never used theirs).
• Some suitable toiletries like sun cream, bath stuff etc.

Only thing I brought was clothes as first was a boy, although it was a surprise so most of first 6 months was unisex anyway but also most of his clothes went into a memory blanket and bear anyway. As we knew this one was a girl we brought a few clothes, but also got alot as gifts. I also brought more bottles so didn't have to clean and sterilise so many times in the day, had 8 bottles total this time so only need to do a big clean once a day really.

New mattress for Moses basket then cot.

New teats for bottles and dummies if you use them.

Anything that you wished you had for the first born that you didn't but you can now afford

Anything that has fallen apart since your first used it, but was useful

Anything that you need to get a different version of for 2 (e.g. double toddler/newborn buggy, instead of single pram.)

We reused most things bar clothes as this one is completely the opposite season to their older brother. I had to buy bottle teats new and a new nappy bag as my pre-schooler uses his old one for childcare.

We also got a lot of things from my brother and SIL as their baby was born last summer so we're borrowing their barely used newborn crib, Doona car seat and Perfect Prep machine etc.

And then I sold some of our old things and bought some second hand ones.

Sorry about your losses by the way. We had three on the way to this baby (now 37+4) so I remember the anxiety of the early days. Fingers crossed this is the one!

We got rid of our prep machine and steriliser when number 1 stopped using it as didn’t want to use it for number 2 after it had been stored for a few years, so we had to buy those new again. We
got a new bouncer chair as the one we had for number 1 broke as he outgrew it. Other than that I just bought a few new clothing items, new bottles, dummies and that was about it.

We have 2 boys so pretty much all number 2s clothing are hand me downs, I got him a couple of new items in each size but that’s about it. Even toys are handed down, we obviously got him a few new bits for Xmas/1st birthday but mostly just put money in his saving account instead as he really didn’t need anything new as we have so much already!

I’m sure as they get older and number 2 if more aware we will end up buying him new stuff rather than him just having hand me downs but he’s 14 months now, has no idea and its saved us a fortune!

New mattresses for moses basket, next2me and pram bassinet.

New sling as i never liked my original one.

Buggy board

Some extra layers in tiny sizes (DD1 was born late June and DD2 was born 3 weeks ago so needed cardigans and a coat)

New bottles and hakaa pump as the old ones looked in really poor condition when i got them out.

Some new soft toys so that DD2 has some of her own for when she gets old enough to be interested (including one that DD1 chose to give to her as a present).

A couple of new outfits so that DD2 has at least a few bits that aren't hand me downs.

A bfing pillow - last time I just used bed pillows propped up around me and its amazing how much easier I've found having a proper feeding pillow this time.

I have 2 daughters, both born in same month, similar birth weight.
I bought a new pram as I hated the first one I had as was on such a ridiculous budget when I bought it and it was horrible to push. I think that was it!

Pram and cot mattresses - although she didn’t sleep on either. There were a few extras I got changing table, a few slings and perhaps a few other things.

We didn’t find out the genders, but themed the rooms. So theme things.