Essentials for Baby

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Polly

Registered User
I'm 25 weeks pregnant with my first child and very much a novice in this new realm. I'm starting to think about starting to shop to collect everything I need. Does anyone know where I could view an essentials shopping list for baby, and for me, of everything I should have???:thanks
 
beware of "essentials" lists. in reality, newborn babies, especially breastfed ones need very little. i believe that bumps to babes have an essentials list on their website. i've never had a look at it, but i've heard that their essentials are not exactly "essential" and that if most people bought everything on the list, they'd not have anything left in their bank account!

you will need:
nappies of some kind
some one pieces
some bedding for the baby, blankets, sheets or grobags
depending on when your baby is due, maybe some warmer clothes


the rest will depend on you. with my first, i bought a change table. with my second, i've thrown that out and will change her on the bed

i have a cot for the baby to sleep in. with my first i had a bassinet, then a cot.

i have bought a baby monitor this time round, didn't have one the first time. i bought i this time because with the baby in the cot, i'm afraid we won't hear her crying if we are in the garden. with my first sleeping in a bassinet, we could wheel him around to where ever we were.

we bought a pram that is suitable for new borns. with my first we also had a front sling to carry him, but i found that when i wore it, i felt like i was pregnant again and it caused back pain. so that's gone with the second one.

i bought a cheap brest pump for the first, but i'm buying a better quality one for my second and have thrown the first two that i bought out.


that's all i can think of right now...pregnancy brain is on the rampage today!

good luck and congratulations!
 
After nappies and clothes (but not many clothes if it’s a summer baby) the thing I found most useful was a baby carrier. I don’t think it matters which sort you use, although I liked the Mayawrap one best. But in Hong Kong with its crowds, traffic and hundreds of steps it is nice to have the baby up high and close. And if you don’t carry the baby you’ll end up carrying both baby and pushchair most of the time.

I bought a cot for my first child but within three weeks she was sleeping with us. None of my others used a cot but with the last one I had a sidecar arrangement (like a cot attached to the double bed) so the baby could sleep in her bit of the bed/cot and my husband and I slept in the rest of the bed.

Congratulations and best wishes,
Barb
 
I would say the following-

-Cot
-Moses basket/bassinet (our newborn refused to sleep in his cot until he was five weeks old, we didn't have a moses basket but fortunetly he was quite happy to sleep in the carrycot part of his bugaboo)
-Changing mat (can put it anywhere)
-Sheets for cot (fitted)
- Grobags (very essential, we started off with blankets but our son kept kicking them off), you need at least two to use at one time, in case one gets wet/dirty
- Recieving blankets ( v handy for afternoon naps and naps in the pushchair on chill days)
- Room thermometer ( we have the grobag egg, allows you to know exact temp. so you know exactly what baby should be wearing to bed)
- Pushchair
- Car seat ( I refuse to get in a taxi without one)
- Baby carrier (tried the ellaroo, but baby hated it, switched to baby bjorn)
- Baby bath and seat
- Baby bath towels
- Baby toiletries
- Muslin squares (you will need lots!)
- Bag for out and about, to hold nappies, spare clothes etc.
- Breast pump
- Milk storage cups
- One or two bottles for expressed milk
- Bibs
- Clothes etc. includ. sleepsuits, short sleeved body suits (dbled as vests), socks etc. We found that we got given so many clothes as presents (my mum went a little crazy!) and didn't need to buy much before baby was born.
- Thermometer for testing baby's temp.
- Cot mobile
- Play mat
- Books! ( Just me, I can't resist children's books!)
- Vibrating chair

Happy shopping!
 
see, beky...i'd say that baby towels are NOT essential, why not use a regular towel? our baby didn't know the difference.

a play mat? they're nice to have, but not essential. a baby would be as happy playing with a plastic lid for a food storage container as anything else.

this is what i mean by, what is essential to one person is not to another.
(ps. beky, i'm not picking on you just using those two as examples!)

to me, essential means, what would the baby die without...clothes and nappies are the "essential" (even then baby won't die without nappies, but mummy might! LOL)

if you are breast feeding you need even less. if you are formula feeding, then the list of essentials increases dramatically
 
essential for me:

lots of really large recieving blankets to swaddle baby.
a few clothes in small sizes. I wouldn't buy too many because you don't know how big your baby will be and how fast you'll move through different sizes, or in my case whether I had a boy or a girl.
playpen to have in my room the first month and for travelling
crib in baby room after the first month
Sheets for playpen and crib, light blanket for swaddling or crib
changing table. I love mine and used it until baby was 20 months. I have the ikea one that is also a dresser and the change table converts to a shelving unit, so once it is converted you can't even tell it was a change table.
car seat and stroller.
baby bath tub and small washclothes.
grobag for when baby was older (after I stopped swaddling)
diapers
diaper pail. I just used a garbage can with lid for breastfed stools, until baby started solid foods, then I got one designed for diapers. The smell gets a lot worse!! If you are formula feeding you will probably want one for diapers right from the start!

nice to have but not essential:

breast pump, I had a manual medela. both my babies refused to ever take a bottle, so I used it very little. I wouldn't buy it ahead of time. If you only want to pump occasionally, then a manual will do. If you pump all the time for work, or for supply issues you will likely want a hospital grade pump. Not all brands are good. I like Medela, they have all different types of pumps for different pumping needs and are very good quality. I bought mine in Canada, not sure if availble locally.

baby monitor. I never did use it in the house, I could hear the baby cry anyways. but I did use it when outside and the baby was sleeping.

baby carrier. I didn't use one much with my first as I just held him all the time, but with more than one child this is a must have item. I have a bjorn, a moby wrap and an ellaroo meitai. The mai tai style is my favorite. Moby wrap is good for smaller babies(it is stretchy) and bjorn is not good at all if you have back problems, or once your baby is heavier.

play mat.

baby bath towels
 
re: muslin sq - it's supposed to be cloth diaper (square pc of very thin cotton, usually sold in 10s or 12s in mothercare/b2b), but i think nowadays we only use it as burp cloths, putting on our shoulder when we're carrying an infant, covering baby up when napping.... cleaning out spit up milk.... etc. i bought 6 packs for the use around baby's room, she was spitting up EVERY time i nursed her in gross amt, so it was very handy. now i use them to wipe her bottles.
 
is gentle cloth detergent essential for washing baby's cloths?
if you're might express milk & feed in a bottle, is a sterilser essential? or you can always just boil the bottles in a big pot of water. & sth to wash the bottles with.... most of the things that come to my mind are nice to have.

essentials:
- clothings (sleepsuits of the smallest size -0 mths & some 0-3 mths, under shirts, some warmer sleepsuits or overvests if it gets colder), swaddling blankets or grobag.
- somewhere for the baby to sleep. i prefer a baby cot, so there was no need to transit from basket to crib. cos some babies are fussy & dont like there sleeping environment changed. fitted bedsheet, water proof mattress protector
- nappies :disposables or cloth (if cloth, then sth to wash them & dry them)
- breastmilk (breastpump - electric or manual? i suggest for the 1st month, you rent the medela electric. i doubt if a 1st time mom will be able to use a manual pump. i was freaking out when i start pumping my breast by hand with a manual pump cos i never thought my nipples could be pull out like that....) or formula (if formula, bottles & sth to clean them - brush? bottle cleaner? steriliser?)
- if breastfeeding - lansinoh cream to protect your nipples (this is an essential for me)
- car seat (i'm all for car seats, i've never held my baby in a car)

nice to have:
- baby bath towels (cos adult towels are sometimes too big & too thick to grab baby firmly after bath), face towels, bath tub, bath rack/sponge to keep baby's head out of the water, bath sponge, baby bath gel, baby body cream & face cream.
- heater for the bathroom if weather is cold
- change mat & change table that can be converted into a drawer/dresser
- stroller
- baby sling/carrier
- muslin cloth to cover the shoulders of the people who'll be visiting you & want to hold your child & as burp cloths
- cotton buds/balls to clean baby's tongue & ears & nose
- cotton pads or baby wipes to wipe baby's bottom at nappy change
- massage oil for baby's massage
- nail file or clippers to cut baby's nails
- mitten to prevent baby from scratching their face.
- socks to keep their little feet warm
- side sleeper to keep baby's sleep position
- snuggle nest if u wanna let your baby nap in your bed during the daytime.
- nursing pillow
- room thermometer
- nice soothing music for you to listen to while you nurse
- a nice warm shawl for your shoulders when you get up for night feeds
- nice warm socks for you
- some absorbent pads for your bed for the 1st week after giving birth to keep your beddings clean
- extra absorbent & comfortable sanitary napkins for you
- gentle clothing detergents for washing baby's clothings
- air purifier in baby's room.
- a refrigerator to store bm
- a thermos to keep hot water to a)warm up breastmilk (or you can buy a bottle warmer) b) mix formula
- a bottle steriliser
- a bottle cleaner (brush?)
... and the list goes on.......
 
Wow! That's great everybody, thank you so much for helping with that. Carang, thanks for your tip about the changing mat/table. Think I'll just get the mat and use it where I like. And, Capital, again, thanks for the tip about the need/or lack of for a baby monitor. I'll hang back on that one until after baby's born to see if it's really necessary.

I've got a list together now and at the moment it's fitting on one page of A4, so I think I'm doing well!

Thanks again everybody, Polly
 
good luck! i hope that you have enough $ left over afterwards for a mani/pedi for yourself!

have fun!
 
Baby Monitor

Just another take on baby monitors . ..

For us, we made sure we had it from day one - we were afraid of SIDS. A friend of ours had their daughter about 13 years ago. One night, the dad just happened to look into his sleeping daughter (in a bassinet by their bedside, it was a little past midnight) and he noticed she had stopped breathing. He picked her up and she coughed a bit and was fine after that. It gave them a scare.

The monitor we have has a sensor pad kept under the baby's mattress. If she should stop breathing/ moving for more than 20 seconds, an alarm goes off. I was secure and could sleep soundly knowing that i would be alerted by this should anything cause her to stop breathing. Gave us a lot of peace of mind and still does (she's 13 months now - not worried about SIDS anymore, just to hear her when she's in her own room).
 
actually, angelcare was not available in B2B when i needed it. We got the Tomee Tippe Suresound one. But I believe Angelcare is a better one. They had one model that came with rechargeable batteries - that's better. It also has much less static than Tomee i think.
 
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