NOW CLOSED Tell Amazon.co.uk your top 5 'must-have' products for when you have a baby - you could win a £100 Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate

[KatieBMumsnet]

You may have seen another thread recently on MN telling you about the new Amazon Family programme. Here's what Amazon.co.uk say about the service:
"We know that the amount of information available on what to buy when you have a baby can be overwhelming, and that making the right choice is not always easy," said Samantha Nash, Family Manager at Amazon.co.uk Ltd and mother of two young children. "We have launched Amazon Family to help our customers find the right products at the right price, along with hundreds of product reviews to help guide them in their decision. With special offers available to Family members across a wide range of products from nappies, children's shoes, toys and beauty products, it helps parents save precious time and money, with orders delivered direct to your door."

Amazon.co.uk would like to know which products you really need when you have a baby. What was your absolutely essential bit of kit? Was there anything you bought maybe when pregnant or at home with a newborn that you later found out you didn't really need or never used?

Please share your top 5 'must have' and top 5 'not so necessary' baby products with Amazon.co.uk. Your advice may be used to help them create a list of top tips on what you do and don't need when you have a baby. Your comments may also be used in an email MNHQ will be sending out soon.

Everyone who adds their comments to this thread will be entered into a prize draw to win a £100 Amazon.co.uk Gift Certificate. Ts&Cs can be found here

If you've not already signed up to the free three month trial of Amazon Family there's still time. By signing up you can gain access to discounts on a wide range of family products, three months free subscription to Amazon Prime giving unlimited One-Day Delivery on millions of eligible items, £10 off your first order over £50 in the Baby Store, and up to £50 worth of exclusive offers every month. Find out more here.

Thanks and good luck.

MNHQ

[pushitreallgood]

needed-
baby grows (lots of)
nappies (stock up)
blankets (for swaddling great for getting little one settled)
grobags (great for getting bigger babies settled)
microwave steam steriliser (fab)

not so needed-
baby bath (just pointless, either get a seat for your bath or take them in with you)
baby shoes (always fall off get lost, waste of money)
expensive any thing, clothes, blankets, buggys.
change bags (waste of money, use a normal bag)
change mat (it is always up stairs when you are down stairs or visa versa. baby gets plonked on floor of sofa or bed. just pointless and ends up collecting dust in a corner).

[worldgonecrazy]

1. Car seat - Amazon can do something really amazing here and help promote ERF seats. I know all newborn seats are rear facing, but there is an opportunity to save children's lives and prevent horrific injuries, by letting parents know about the benefits of keeping a child rear facing as long as possible when they're buying their first car seat. I will get off my soapbox now.
   

1. Lansinoh
   

1. Chocolate cake. Actually scratch that - just any calorific food that can get from plate to stomach in less than a second.
   

1. Books with recipes for nutritious meals that can be cooked in less than 30 minutes.
   

1. Slings - can we bring the sling into the mainstream please, instead of it being seen as something only hippy mothers use? It does make life so much easier for both mum and baby.
   

Things I didn't use:

1. Top and tail bowl.
   
2. Bath support
   
3. Steriliser (bf and found out didn't need to sterilise bottles for bfing)

[heymammy]

Top 5 haves:

1. Car seat
   
2. Rocker chair (not bouncy chair), baby ds slept in this for about the first 6 weeks then I slowly transferred him to the Moses basket. I think he liked it because it wasn't completely flat and seemed to snuggle his body more than a flat mattress in the Moses.
   
3. Muslin cloths...great for mopping up spit up, covering your boobs a bit when trying to get a teeny ban to latch on esp. good if you feel awkward feeding in front of the many visitors!
   
4. Lansinoh nipple cream...a bloody godsend!
   
5. Feeding pillow of some sort to rest your aching arms on when you've been feeding for 2 hours straight
   

Top 5 have nots:

1. Baby bath, utterly pointless, just top and tail at first then, providing you're fit and healthy, just lean over the big bath.
   
2. Those nappy wrapper things.
   
3. Outfits for newborns are a bit silly really, dungarees...on a 1 week old!?
   
4. Changing bag, just stick a few nappies in your handbag!
   
5. Changing table...expensive piece of kit that you don't really need.

[The3Bears]

DS2 is 9 weeks so im discovering again whats useful and whats useless

Must Haves:
Giant muslin blankets: these have been great since day 1 and ds2 loves to hold them when sleeping.
Large cotton pads: as someone else said cotton balls etc are useless
Kindle: Currently Bf and it's keeping me entertained
Feeding pillow: I can eat while bf as I can use my hands
Sling: Im using the close baby carrier and it's great, it means I can get on with things while keeping baby happy

Have not's:
Outfits for newborns: learnt this time round that investing in good quality baby gros make much better sense rather than getting lots of useless outfits.
Baby bath: I have a mamas and papas baby bath that cost £30 :( and ds2 hasnt been in it once yet, he just gets in the bath with me.
Scratch mits: useless!
Bottles: have loads and not used one yet as bf
Pram parasols: as someone else said there rubbish dont keep sun of baby, I just put a muslin blanket over carrycot when sun was v bright

[aufaniae]

" Amazon can do something really amazing here and help promote ERF seats. I know all newborn seats are rear facing, but there is an opportunity to save children's lives and prevent horrific injuries, by letting parents know about the benefits of keeping a child rear facing as long as possible when they're buying their first car seat."

I would totally agree with that. It's really hard to find rear facing seats in the UK, which I just don't get, seeing as they're so much safer.

[lagoonhaze]

Vests
Sleepsuits
Laninisoh
The womanly art of breastfeeding
The baby Book by sears

[heymammy]

" Amazon can do something really amazing here and help promote ERF seats. I know all newborn seats are rear facing, but there is an opportunity to save children's lives and prevent horrific injuries, by letting parents know about the benefits of keeping a child rear facing as long as possible when they're buying their first car seat."

Also completely agree with this. We got our erf seat sent from Sweden as it worked out cheaper than buying in the uk, so Amazon...if you could promote and sell erf seats at a reasonable price you could be the 'go to' site for these products.

[bulletwithspookybatwings]

Must have:
Baby Wipes
Nappies
Muslins
Lasinoh Nipple cream
Breast pads

Not so useful:
Food warmer
Changing table
Millions of toys
Can't think of anything else!

[WhatWouldWitchesDo]

Another in support of Amazon promoting rear-facing car seats, absolutely.
www.rearfacing.co.uk/

[modernbear]

Needed:

1. Nappies and wipes
   
2. Vests and sleepsuits
   
3. Ipod/kindle/Ipad - take your pick (something is required when DC goes to sleep on you and you can't budge due to waking him/her.)
   
4. Flopeze Breast Feeding Pillow (Marvellous when DC had colic)
   
5. An interesting, remote controlled mobile, with non irritating music.
   

Not needed:

1. Sling (By the time I felt confident enough to try it out, he was too heavy for my back).
   
2. Snow suit (I've still kept it though. Keep thinking I could make it into a teddy bear.)
   
3. Baby bath. (Gave up with this after a few shots. Resorted to going into the big bath with DC.)
   
4. High chair
   
5. Bouncer chair (DC didn't like it. Made this obviously clear.)

[TwelveLeggedWalk]

Must have:
Car seat
Muslins
Sling
Bedside cot
Buggy

Useful:
Buggy cosytoes
Moses basket
Bath support
Electric steriliser
Kettle with thermostat

[toomuchteaching]

Necessary

1. Breast pads
   
2. Some kind of sling
   
3. Sleeping bags
   
4. Washing machine
   
5. Muslins - lots, ours are still the only bibs we use!
   

Not necessary

1. Outfits under 6 months - keep them in sleepsuits as long as you can!
   
2. Moses basket - rustly when you put them in, what a stupid idea!
   
3. Top n tail bowl
   
4. Lots of bottles etc. - breastfeeding might be surprisingly easy
   
5. Special newborn toys, wrist rattles etc. - pointless

[ChasedByBees]

Must haves:

• Nursing bra and breast pads
  
• Moses basket
  
• Muslins - useful for almost everything!
  
• cotton wool, lots of it - ditto
  
• ready made cakes to offer guests and scoff myself
  
  Very obvious must haves include car seat, nappies etc but I've left them out.
  
  Not so useful
  
• bottles, dummies etc. I have a drawful of expensive and unused items.
  
• proper clothes and shoes. I just couldn't wrestle my DD into these!
  
• baby soaps and bath products. We use water (and now oats soaked into bath water. Anything else sets off terrible ezcema.
  
• change table. I have a change mat on the floor and she's way too wriggly to use anything higher.
  
• sling. I so wanted to be able to use a sling but I think I would have needed to pay more attention in guides to get the hang of the knots required.

[MsMoastyToasty]

Must-haves:
-nappies and wipes
-babygros
-Moby wrap
-baby sleeping bag
-concentrated hand cream (washing hands after every nappy change really hurts after a while)


Not so necessary:
-soft toys
-dummy
-changing bag
-baby bottles and assorted paraphernalia
-massive pushchair travel system

[MySecretSelf]

Must haves:

1. A king sized bed. Wriggly babies take up a lot if space as do poorly 4 year olds
2. Car seat with a click in base - my lower back was shot to pieces after DS was born and it would have been agony for me to lean over and fit an infant car seat every time
3. A changing table. Lots of people don't rate them, but see above re: back. No bells and whistles though, the basic ikea one did the job
4. An iPod touch/iPhone etc to keep you sane when trapped on the sofa with the baby
5. Something you can put the baby in so you can go to the bathroom/make a cup of tea/go to the other end of the house and scream - for me a bouncy chair first, then a learn and groove station thingy with a seat in the middle

Quite a few other things - grobags, poppered vests, sleepsuits, squillions of muslins etc

Not so necessary

1. A baby bath - real faff to fill and empty
2. Nursery furniture e.g. Expensive drawers with a built in changing table
3. Massive travel system or adapters to fit your car seat onto the pram
4. How to raise your baby type books - that's what mumsnet is for
5. Special swaddling blankets - a regular blanket does the same thing

[NonnoMum]

Must haves...

maternity pads...
a few more maternity pads...
clothes that fit (maternity too big, non-maternity too small, oh, and need boob access too)
nappies
hand me down sleep suits, because they grow out of them in a day

[lisalisa]

5 most useful -

Moses basket and rocking stand
swaddling cloths or blankets
dummies
steriliser
bottles

And the above are from a breastfeeding mum who couldn't take the cracked nipples and needed just a small break with an occasional bottle. I was so pleased when that steriliser and bottle walked through the door that I cried. And still breastfed a few months later too

5 most useless

soft toys
lullabies music type thingys
pram ( for me anyway as I had such massive problems post dd4 that by the time I could properly go out she wanted to be more upright so had to ditch the lie flat only pram that cost a fortune!)
snowsuit ( even for a winter baby for the same reason )
Expensive designer dresses in newborn size - why would people buy these when newborns ( and us as the dressers of newborns) are so much happier in babygros .

[ShouldIWorryAbout]

Top 5

Breast feeding pillow - no more sore arms, an left a hand free when feeding
Gro-bag - no blanket worries for a wriggly baby that hated being swaddled
Muslins - used for everything
Bath support - no one tells you how hard it is to hold a wet and soapy new born
Anti-scratch gloves/mittens - dd looked like she'd been fighting with cats until we got these

Never used
Moses basket - dd hated not being able to see me
Baby sling - dd and I both hated it
Outfits for new borns - really what is the point?
Shoes for new borns - even more useless than the outfits
Baby oil... Why would you want an even more slippery wet child?

[mummyofcutetwo]

5 must-have products:

• grobag sleeping bags for night time (so the baby doesn't wake up by getting cold after kicking off the covers)
  
• baby wrap carrier (great even though I have a bad back)
  
• "day" clothes for after the first few weeks (really helps the baby to work out when it's day and when it's night - my two have both slept through the night since 8 weeks)
  
• Lansinoh nipple ointment (a godsend for breastfeeding mums)
  
• Lansinoh or Tommee Tippee breast pads (I've tried them all and only these two didn't leak!)
  

5 not-so-essential products:

• baby talcum powder (I've been given bottles and bottles of the stuff and not used it even once with either child)
  
• baby bath support (tummy tub or a shallow filled bath is much better for the little one)
  
• shoes (completely unnecessary until the baby is on the verge of walking)
  
• expensive clothes (I've found that even mango stains and there are plenty of lovely and well made cheaper clothes around)
  
• bottle warmer (seeing as you should make bottles up as you need them surely this is now obsolescent?)

[RachelHRD]

5 must have's:
Wipes - now used for a multitude of things including housework!
Baby carseat - so practical for travelling and carrying a small baby and with a rocking facility which can be foot operated!
Pre-made formula in cartons - for those of us who couldn't breastfeed...
Steriliser and Closer to Nature bottles - see above ^^
Muslins - so many uses

5 not necessary -
Baby oil and talc - not needed on such delicate skin
Large and heavy travel system - just needed a good portable carseat and a decent lightweight pushchair - barely used my Quinny Buzz
Baby outfits - mine lived in baby gros and vests
Cotton wool - such a faff and mess compared to wipes.....

[RachelHRD]

oops and no5 -
snot suckers!!

[asuwere]

Must have:

1. boobs
   
2. nappies
   
3. pram
   
4. vests/sleepsuits
   
5. terries (much better and more useful than muslins in my experience)
   

Unnecessary:

1. baby outfits - such a faff
   
2. changing station
   
3. nursery furniture in general (other than cot)
   
4. baby/parenting books (babies haven't read them so don't know the rules!)
   
5. steriliser

[Belmo]

5 must haves:
Moby wrap sling
Sleeping bags - absolute life saver
Angelcare sensor monitor - a bit ridiculous I know but I was scared to go to sleep until we got it
Gro-egg thermometer
Isofix base thing for the carseat

Didn't need:
Bottles/breast pump/steriliser/dummies - we found breastfeeding pretty easy and she wouldn't take a bottles
Moses basket - literally never spent more than 5 minutes in it
About a thousand blankets, 2 would have done
Muslins, bought loads and never used them
Babygros with buttons in awkward places.

[PurpleCrazyHorse]

Ignoring nappies as they are definitely a requirement...

1. Lansinoh nipple cream (worth every penny if you're breast feeding)
   
2. Babygrows
   
3. Cheap bouncy chair - one that's so basic you can take it apart so it's flat and take it everywhere with you.
   
4. Laptop or other internet device to get MN while you're up in the night feeding. Kept me sane.
   
5. Insulated mug for keeping your tea warm
   

Don't bother with:

1. Cot mobile - DD just hated hers and it kept her awake rather than sending her off to sleep.
   
2. Tiny clothes for your newborn - DD was in babygrows until she was about 8mo old. Quick and easy to change, cheap to buy and no risk of breaking her while trying to get tiny cutsy jumpers/tights on.
   
3. Baby bath - I had one but only used it for a few months, would have been just as easy to use the washing up bowl
   
4. Educational toys - no point when they're this little, save your money for when they're older
   
5. Can't think of anything else, we didn't buy much for DD and she was just in a cot in our office for quite a while

[KatieBMumsnet]

Thanks for all your comments. The winner of the prize draw is DairyNips

Congratulations, I'll PM you to get your details.