September 2024 - Thread 7! 🐣🧡💛❤️

[BeautyAndTheBump1]

As requested a new thread for us all! 🥰 can't believe its thread 7 already!

Then hopefully by thread 14 we'll all have our babies in our arms talking all things post partum!

@WinsandSam i had a mamas and papa pram last time and it was a good pram but like you say very heavy. I'm going for a bugaboo fox 5 this time despite the expense as its lighter and I always wished I had one last time. however I'm saving money with a maxi cosi cabriofix car seat which is basic compared with the new models which 360 spin and lie flat. I rarely used my car seat on the pram (though it will go on the pram) and the 360 function for infant seats are a tad pointless as you would buckle them into the car seat in the house then carry them to the car and vice versa. However when you need to upgrade car seats the spin seats for toddlers are sooo much easier! Something to bare in mind is that newborns can't stay in their car seat for longer than 30 mins and once bigger then it's max 2hrs. So not a lot of time.

@SC126 thank you, that's really helpful!!
Also didn't think about the car seat thing with a newborn. You're right about putting them in before the car. So maybe a normal one will do in the first instance and switch it up later down the line.
I'd rather the best part of our budget goes on a good buggy and seat

@WinsandSam I had the Bugaboo Fox with my daughter and loved it, so great off road too! shes started walking now so I’m hoping we can reuse it and attach a buggy board for her🤞🏻

Also re furniture - I went all second hand last time and will do this time too. I’ve only spent £40 so far on a vintage pine chest of drawers for his clothes, and I’ll use the top to pop a changing mat on. I’m hoping to transition my daughter into a single bed soon, and then free up her IKEA Sniglar cot for the nursery.

I’m a big fan of shopping second hand. Whilst we have the money to buy new, you can save and buy next to new for the fraction of the price 🙏🏻

how much stuff one tiny human needs is overwhelming - I had forgotten as it’s been 8 years - but perhaps my fault for giving it away or letting it go.

I had an IVF fund which I know I am so blessed I didn’t need to use as luck struck just before! So perhaps I am going a tad bit OTT - I can sense friends with multiple kids are judging my splashing especially as I don’t really plan on more in the future 😅
but I doubt I’d be in the same position if we conceived 3 years ago as planned! I’ve no time to search for preloved furniture but I am doing extremely well with clothes on vinted i get a real kick from those bargains

I am tempted to find a second hand trip trapp now and making it my mission 😇 let me know if anyone spots one! 🤞🏻

@longingtobe23 if you’re on Facebook have a look at marketplace, it’s great for furniture! I love Vinted for clothes, I wish I had discovered it first time!

@HRP1990 im on Facebook nothing local yet but still a while to go 🤞🏻🫣
I just got brand new with tags bugaboo covers for apron and hood for £35 on vinted I did a little dance when she accepted - they’re perfect and I nearly paid full price £95 on the website !

We got our furniture on market place it's the mamas and papas Oxford range would be £1400 new we got it for £200 for the for bed, draws and wardrobe and it's immaculate could never tell it's been used. I love a bargain 😂

Baby will be in the spare room which has alcoves either side of the chimney breast. So we’re going to (attempt to!) do the IKEA PAX hack of wardrobes either side but making them look fitted. That’s the plan anyway, hopefully DH and FIL will be able to do them in the summer holidays. Then I we will have one of them and baby will have the other!

@rupertbear91 that's so amazing making me think I should invest time looking harder!! 😂

I’ve struggled to get anything second hand as I live in a rural location, so there isn’t much available locally. With the things I have bought, I’ve aimed for as long-lasting as possible. So the cot converts to a toddler bed suitable to age 5 and the wardrobes and drawers set are full size so can be used for much of his childhood.

Also went for the babybjorn bouncer (got for £124 at the baby show instead of £209 in John Lewis) because it’s 0-2 instead of 0-6 months.

I did see a chico next to me on our village FB group but they wanted £90 for it and by the time I’d bought a mattress for it and given it the clean it needed, I would have spent almost as much as the £160 I did spend on a maxi cosi (with mattress protector and sheets included) at the baby show.

I have bought clothes for baby (and me for maternity!) on Vinted though.

@longingtobe23 it was a small perk of being off sick with HG I spent a lot of time scrolling through market place 😂

My dad now thinks we are naming the baby Bjorn 😂 I told him we’d bought a babybjorn bouncer but he misheard this as we’d bought a bouncer for baby, Bjorn. He’s convinced it as a slip of the tongue and I’ve revealed the name?!

@RosiePH tell him you're calling it Bjorn Benny after the dudes in ABBA 😅 (and that you will insist on the baby calling you Mamma Mia)

We are back from the Baby show and to be honest I am knackered. We spent nearly all day there, to be honest I’ve got no clue how would we ever chosen a pushchair without this expo. We spent the majority of the day browsing pushchairs. We were looking at Venicci Upline, Silver Cross Reef, Silver cross Tide, Iglesina Aptica and TFK Combi. My partner wrote off Silver cross pretty much instantly, he did not like anything from them at all. We went through all of them, iCandy, MaxiCosi, UppaBaby, Cybex and others that I don’t even recall. I was pretty much set on buying Iglesina until in the end I went to the track and pushed the ones we were considering. We were considering mainly the Inglesina, TFK and Venicci. Inglesina even though it was the most expensive and had all the sophisticated ventilations and the mattress looked extremely good quality it was honestly the worst on the track. I couldn’t get it past any of the bumps without lifting the front and applying pressure. The best takeaway was TFK combi which we purchased, it went onto any bumps and on rocky terrains without any effort. What also helped choose was that the carrier on that Is 2 in 1. The bassinet transforms into a chair for when the baby is past 6 months. It has a manual brake(like on a bicycle, a handbrake, air wheels, light at the front ans at the back. The rear light is red, the front is white for illumination. It fits the car chair on and the base for their car seat is suitable for bigger car seats when the baby outgrows this. Meaning, we will not have to buy another base for the bigger chair. Essentially today we bought:
-TFK Combi puschair,
-TFK Pixel pro 2 car seat. (It’s also extremely light, just 2,5 kilos, the lightest car seat on the market)
-ISO base for the car seat, this was also interesting, it displays red if the seat hasn’t been properly fitted/is not locked on the base.
We bought a bundle offer that was with a 20% event discount and we paid £1260.00 or something along those lines.
-Snuzpod bundle (snuzpod with mattress and sheets for £215.00)
-Bjornbaby bouncer for £124.00
-A diaper bin for £50.00
-Mam bottles (new baby kit with the extra slow flow), I don’t recall the cost, maybe £36.00?
-Some cute clothing

All in all…I feel like we bought the most big bits. I don’t need any additional furniture cos we are going to be rearranging some chests of drawers that we have and one is going to be in the baby’s room. Now it’s just small bits left like more clothes, a baby bath, nail cutters, nose cleaners, muslins. Stuff like that. But I’ll buy that online when it’s closer.

@WinsandSam I would save the money for the next stage car seat. We went to an extended rear facing seat at 9 months as although she still fit it she was happier in the car being able to see out the window etc and we weren’t taking the car seat in and out anymore as it got too heavy. We had the cybex cloud z with the swivel base so yes although it’s nice to have they really don’t use the first car seat for all that long and the next stage ones can be quite expensive.

@malimoon that is brilliant! I shall definitely continue the wind up by starting to refer to myself as ‘Mamma Mia’!

@Xur the test track was brilliant. We found one of the iCandy prams needed lifting up to get over one of the bumps on the track, whereas all the others just went over it fine. Really useful for that sort of thing! I was surprised the Ocarro wasn’t on the track, despite Mamas and Papas having a huge stand and a few different Ocarros with them. That was partly why we chose the Oyster over it in the end, as we could take that one round the track.

I second this. We also went to next stage car seat around 8 months old. Because they were unhappy in baby seat and too heavy to lift in and out anyway. We got a joie I-spin following that and used it until he was 4.5 years old. Hes now in a high back booster but I've kept the I-spin for when this one eventually goes into it!

Another tip for those first time parents on here. Check out your car insurance small print and ensure that in case of an accident your provider will pay out for your car seats. Any small bump writes them off and as we know the car seats can be expensive buys!
I had a bump the other year and as long as I showed proof of purchase which I had they paid me £300 for my car seat literally the next day and I just purchased a new one.

@RosiePH yeah and the thing is, you rarely ever get like clear pavement in UK, especially if you live in the suburbs. We literally have new concrete, old concrete, new cobblestone, old cobblestone in the town, the park/promenade area has rocky pavements what is the point in buying a baby carriage that will constantly require effort to move about. I would have been so disappointed if I would have bought the Iglesina and not be able to move it freely.

Another thing that I found really annoying are the adapters that are required for most brands to fit their own branded car seat onto the chassis.
Some design elements are funny, for example the iCandy, this guy was showing us the frame, he was showing us it has the carrying strap for it and said “but don’t use it because that way the frame appears heavier than lifting it with both hands.”
I thought to myself “you wot” why put the strap on as a such if it’s not practical and makes it seem heavier”.
many of the carriages are ridiculously heavy and the bassinets or the cover materials are making them even heavier.

@SC126 dis it affect your no claims bonus for the next few years? I’d be worried I’d be paying higher premiums for the next few years so may be cheaper to absorb the cost of the car seat myself instead?

@HRP1990 that's helpful!! I've seen one locally for £400 second hand so may go for it. Also looking at getting a cheap set of drawers and painting them. I'd rather save the money for a holiday next year or something. Glad to know I'm not alone.

I've got loads of clothes new off Vinted which is great

@SC126 @Cat2022 I honestly hadn't considered getting a car seat upgrade. Just guessed you got one and had it up to 4! So that's helpful as a lot come with car seats and they're box standard but guess it's the way forward. Means a bit longer to save for a good one too

Don't buy maternity leggings from Boohoo, it leaves nothing to the imagination 😂I'd have more cover from my windows.

@FuppinNora ahahahah I lolled at that! 😂
I’ll pass you the links for the ones I bought from Shein and they are really, really good! They are soft, sturdy, not transparent at all.

So since Shein doesn’t have links I’ll upload screens that have the full name on so that you could find them.
The ones for £12.49 are very cosy, these are my daily ones. They are made from the same material like we had leggings in the childhood. Soft, sleek no visibility at all. They have no sewn edges at the bottom, the hem just ends with I really enjoy. They are high and the back has a different, a ribbed like pattern that sits well on the curve of the back.
The ones for £11.49 are like cigarette trousers, they are from a chino type/cigarette type material. They are good for the office, they’re elegant. The waist is adjustable.
The ones for £21.49 are soft like fleece but absolutely stretchy and not transparent. Neither of the ones I linked are. I wear these for the gym.

Im absolutely picky with leggings, my expectation is mega high since leggings are not my preferred type of bottom wear. But these leggings I can vouch for while being pregnant so far. 💯 points for Griffindor.

Forgot the pics didn’t I …