First baby how much does it all cost????

[dyzzidi]

I am getting quite stressed with DP at the moment about how much we will need to spend on Baby things. My stressing is not about the cost more about the fact my idiot DP has no idea of what we will need and when I tell him i get met with a blank expression.

I took him to mothercare this weekend pointed at many things we will need and estimated at about £1000.

I got met with remarks like cot/mosesbasket/pram blankets and sheets don't we have enough sheets already. I replied Yes dear of course we do for our king size bed do you suggest getting the scissors out???

The man is completely bizarre he complains at sheet but then comes home with trainers for the unborn child.

Is anybody else experiencing this or is it only me marrying an idiot!!

dyzzidi - am I correct in thinking that you are in Mcr? I have tons of baby stuff that I need to offload if you are interested.

Tons of clothes, moses, baby gym, walker, door bouncer.

I think oooooooooh £1000 would cover the lot .

I agree with the poster who said you spend what you want to spend!

The only things I bought new was a car seat and a mattress. Mothercare is a total rip-off and at this time of year you can get everything you need at car boot sales. Prams are the biggest rip off - just buy an old-style carrycot thing and dispense with the moses basket idea as well.

I've heard so many people bragging that their baby was 'sooo big' that he didn't fit into the moses basket! Why buy one?!

If you want to spend £200, you can buy all you need with that, if you want to spend £2,000, you can spend that too!

Has anyone bought an isofix car seat? We have - but only because we found it online (new, not used, obviously) much cheaper than the RRP. At which price I thought the design justified the greater cost than the next best non-isofix car seat. I appreciate that Britax still has it under patent and presumably has to recoup R&D costs - but I still don't really understand how it can cost £190 full price. It's not even like you only have to buy the isofix base once and upgrade the seat as the child grows, if you're thinking of having more than one...

our car is 10 years old, so no

someone said get 3-6mth or 6-9mth clothes at birth. This isn't actually so great in practice - some people did this for us when ds was born late last Autumn and the result is ds has a bunch of clothes that fit now but are far too warm for the summer weather.

We had the same problem, Carolinemoon, as DD1 was so tiny, none of the 3-6 stuff fitted ubtil she was almost a year!

I think I'm missing the point - all I meant was yes, babygyms are deeply fabulous because your average inferior mother can feel faintly competent as their baby lies under it looking absolutely amazed at how new, how bright, how mobile everything looks. DD1 did loll under it for most of a year. I have many lovely photos to prove it.

I have lovely pic of dd1 practising pre-crawling too, looking up at seahorse or some other mobile creature. fabulous thing, but colours did run a bit when we sponge-cleaned it.

Thanks. I was just clarifying. Now I just need to figure out how to keep the dog from chewing it.

Thats where the travelcot/playpen comes in handy. We put dd and gym in a playpen away from the pets. We picked it up second hand and was one of the best things i bought at the time. Need to get a new one this time as we lent it out and it has disappeared

Oliveoil yes I am in Mcr. I would be interested in any stuff you are trying to offload. The only thing is we are going away to get married in three weeks so it would be middle September before we are going to be buying anything.

If you still have your stuff then please contact me then I would be really grateful. I am feeling a bit superticious (sp?) about having things in the house until I am past 25 weeks.

I'm 34 weeks - and although I've managed to bring myself to buy things - I haven't taken any of them out of the wrappers. Tempting fate or something...

Have seen lots of people have mentioned NCT sales (which are fab) but can I just say e-bay e-bay e-bay!!!! There are so many things there - so many of them unused and you can get some real bargains.

Kiddicare.com is also cheaper than a lot of shops.

You honestly don't need that much to begin with. I also found I regretted getting some things and replaced others (prams prams and more prams). I'm a bit of a consumer monkey!

As someone else said, the biggest drop is lost income.

My DH bought DS1 a Scalextric set before he was born!

lol Demented!

Kiddicare is sometimes so good on prices, you have to be careful you don't end up overbidding on Ebay.

I also stick a vote in for car boots - I bought a brand new Galt Playring for £1.50 just recently.

Dyzzidi - I have lots of ickle tiny cute baby vests and babygros, most of them worn once as both my girls were whoppers (9lb 10 and 9lb 5) so I will sort them out. No rush on having them, they are stored in a cupboard so not in the way.

I have been v broody lately and need to come to my senses and get rid of all this stuff. I keep getting things out and going aaaaaahhhhhhhhhh.

Are you south or north?

xx

Hi Oliveoil

I live in Agecroft (swinton/salford border) and I work on Salford Quays.

I can't wait to buy tiny stuff but will get my wedding out of the way first. My scan is on the 25 August and we fly out on 31 August so i am hoping to find out the sex before we go away so I can buy a couple of things in the states.

Where abouts in Mcr are you??

I work near the Town Hall in the city centre, but live in Oldham.

I totally sympathise with the dp/dh problem. Mine showed no interest at all and then came home one day with a cot, mattress, bedding, pram, carseat and carrycot for what he said was a bargain. £850 is not what i call a bargain! wanted to punch his face in! Then he brought a new car, its not actually a car its one of those big 4x4 things, not cheap and not a bargain. baby stuff can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be but we found that people are so generous when the baby is born some of the stuff we brought was a complete waste. Enjoy it though its great fun and very exciting and cos your income drops its one of the last times you can shop til you drop!

I would agree with the idea of buying essentials only (plus maybe allow yourself a few small treats like a new toy or outfit you just love.

I got:
-Steam steriliser on ebay for about £15 (inc p+p)
-Baby Bjorn carrier - ebay - £15 (inc p+p)
-Moses basket from neighbour then the crib my Dad made for me 36 years ago then Cot from neighbour - £50
-Birth to potty cloth nappy kit - I think it was a fair bit but using it now on 2nd child

• Travel System - £200 but my parents bought it -CLothes - mic of given & bought in sales

Point is, I really think you can make it expensive if you want but looking around at ebay, NCT sales, freinds, family, colleagues - you should be able to get loads 2nd hand v. v. cheap

Mind you - I'm not suggesting you dp is right - it does sound like he needs a wake up call on the basic fact that you need these things