Preparing for baby

Before getting pregnant I didn't know much about the world of babies. I had no idea what types of things I might need.I had no idea what types of things I might need. Whether that be maternity clothes, baby clothes, prams, car seats, beds, toys, bathing stuff or house items. I found that if you want to buy everything new it’s typically easier than if you want to buy some clothes second hand. I have always been thrifty and liked recycling clothes and gear. I started out on Ebay and quickly noticed that baby clothes were far more complicated than I ever expected.

Baby clothes

To start with a baby grow and sleep suit are two words for the same item. Then there are vests which are the same as baby grows but they have no arms or legs. Although some vests do seem to have arms.

So, there are:

- Baby grows/sleep suits

- Vests (short and long sleeve)

- Rompers (these are baby grows with no hands and feet, more summer type wear)

- Hats

- Socks

- Mittens

- Pram suits/fleece suits (varying thickness according to season and use)

- Sleeping bags (for swaddling babies, these vary according to tog thickness)

- Swimming gear

Then there is the question of sizes and how many clothes you buy. There are newborn sizes, 0-3 months and sizes increasing every 3 months onwards. Quantity wise, this seems to vary according to how much washing you can do.

Bedding

Next the options for bedding range from moses baskets to co-sleeping cots to cots. If you buy either of these options second hand you must buy a new mattress. We choose a moses basket and hope it will last about 3 months and also sourced a cot. We bought both second hand and found John Lewis sell good mattresses and sheets. Another option we didn’t realise was that if you plan to go away you will need a travel cot for the baby to sleep in.

Travel

Next was how would you travel the baby around. Again, there are tonnes of options. I loved the idea of slings and carriers over a pram. I adored Molly lying on me for comfort as a small puppy. Feeling her heartbeat and soothing her felt so natural. I am thinking I will love the same feeling with a baby, plus skin to skin has been shown to have significant calming effects on the baby. We got the Ergobaby carrier and Solly baby sling.

Pram wise we didn’t think we would use one that much but it would be useful nevertheless. We didn’t do much research around this, expect turning up to our local shopping centre and buying one.

Car travel: There are options varying from getting a newborn only travel seat to a newborn to toddler seat. We initially thought we would get a newborn to toddler seat but after getting a pram we changed this and got a newborn only seat that connects to our pram. Isofix vs seatbelt is also question. We thought again we would opt for isofix but our pram came with seatbelt only option. It turns out the only difference is that seatbelt option is easier to get wrong and so less safe if you don’t take care strapping it in. But looking at our car seat the seatbelt system seems very simple.

Wipes and Nappies

Wipes was probably a topic that I made harder for environmental, sustainability and cost reasons. Tom’s colleague had told us that they had managed to do reusable wipes as a new parent from day 1. They recommended cheeky wipes and told us that it was very doable. I was intrigued and since hearing this wanted to give it ago. I had heard that reusable nappies were more doable with a slightly older baby from around 3 months +. It felt that reusable wipes could be good practice and an experiment for reusable nappies. We bought 40 cheeky wipes and a few wet bags with mesh liners. We have a few disposable ones that we will take to the hospital.

Feeding

Breast or bottle is an ongoing conversation. I worry about whether breastfeeding could be painful as so many people write or talk about this. I plan to breastfeed and hope I can. But I have still bought two bottles from Tommee Tippee (a well known brand). I got a Haaka too, this is a hand pump that you can put on one breast as you feed with the other and it collects excess milk from the breast that is not in use. I plan to get an electronic breast pump but I will wait until I have managed breastfeeding first as they are more expensive. I also bought some Lanolin nipple cream to soothe soreness when breastfeeding.

Medical

Medical wise we found that we needed a digital thermometer for the baby, one that measures the temperature from under arm. And, a digital room thermometer to work out which sleeping bag we would need.

Apparently, dummies should only be used from one month old. Dummies are sold without leads so you need a lead to attach to baby too.

Babies need teethers from 3 months old.

Calpol is good to keep in stock for use from 2 months old.

General

Then there is the sun shade and mirror for the car, the stair gate, and bathing baby soaps and shampoos.

Play

For play we were given the baby Bjorn bouncer, found a play mat and baby mobile in Lidl. We were also given lots of little soft baby toys and baby books.

Items for mother

Lastly, maternity clothes were something I went light on. I work from home so didn’t need many smart clothes and throughout my first and second trimester I could wear leggings. By my third trimester I bought maternity leggings. In total I bought one pair of under bump leggings, one pair of over bump jeans, and a stretch maternity jumper. The jumper stretched as my bump grew. I found the over bump jeans more comfy than under bump. I also had one long midi dress that doubled up as a good maternity dress. I bought four nursing bras and wore them throughout my pregnancy, my normal bras didn’t fit for long. And towards the end I bought 5 nursing strap tops as they were longer than my other t-shirts and so fitted over my bump better.

I bought a TENS machine in preparation for labour, I am hoping to manage as much of labour at home so thought this would help keep me out of hospital for longer.

Overall

I wonder if all of this is obvious or how people find out all of this. It took me months of reading to figure this all out. I thought the midwifes would teach new parents but it didn’t come up. I did the NHS antenatal class and the topic of what to buy didn’t come up either. It feels like knowledge that is passed down through generations or something new parents are expected to research.