How Much Did You Spend on Baby Essentials
How much did you spend on essentials for your first born?
(29 Posts)
Whysoserious Sun 15-Apr-12 00:12:00
I am only in my first trimester (still. It seems like I have been pregnant for 10 years though!) but am starting to think about what sort of money we are going to be needing to buy all the essentials.
We'll more than likely buy the majority of stuff new - mainly because I am crap at bargain hunting, and am a bit wary of buying stuff on eBay etc without actually having seen it. Hoping that they will see through 2 maybe 3 children...
If I start putting away each month we should have a good £2000+ to get all the essentials with. Is this enough?
What are the basics that we're going to need? I'm thinking pram (or travel system as they seem to be called?!), cot, car seat, nappies, clothes...erm is there anything else?
signet2012 Sun 15-Apr-12 00:25:16
By budget is less than half of that and I'm well on my way.
Once you tell people you may find people know someone who has just had... just done... etc I wouldn't blow out the idea of second hand completely. As long as I know where its been and who its from (so I know its clean and from a nice house) I'm happy. I got a full ultima 9 in 1 pram that was on my "wishlist but would never pay the money for" for 200 pounds and the car seat has been used once, the pram bit 5-6 times and the pushchair bit was still in the wrapper! I know exactly where it has come from and it is all safe and clean.
I too am starting my family but not thinking too much about child 2 + because I don't know what I want from equipment yet. Baby one is going to be the experiment child haha!
Car seat - decent one.
Cot and mattress
storage for clothes and stuff
travel system
steriliser
bouncer thingwee
breast pump
breast feeding cushion
thats on my list if thats any help!
SkipTheLightFanjango Sun 15-Apr-12 00:37:26
We had £500.
We got a second hand cot..new mattress.
Bottles..even if BF you may find you need them (expressing or top ups if needed), and steriliser.
Oh yes you need a bouncy chair..very handy.
Lots of bed linen.
AliceHurled Sun 15-Apr-12 08:29:46
Councils often do grants for cloth nappies.
Can't answer the rest. I'm same stage and you're scaring me 
MrsPaynie Sun 15-Apr-12 08:32:58
I spent a fortune on my first, and honestly didn't need half of the stuff I bought :-/ we got rid our everything after our second, thinking that was our family complete. Well here I am pregnant with our third!! So this time I've sat and written everything we NEED to buy down and it has come to about £700, I know I could do it a lot cheaper if we were in the UK, but I'm living in Germany at the moment and second hand stuff is hard to come by, and everything is more expensive over here xx
Bonsoir Sun 15-Apr-12 08:36:18
Very, very little and you would be completely mad to spend £2000.
Essentials are: Moses basket, car seat, sling, buggy, cot, feeding bowl and spoon, potty, little step, play pen, little wall for the side of your bed if you are going to co-sleep at all, plus clothes and nappies. But you would be crazy to buy all this stuff new.
WantAnOrange Sun 15-Apr-12 08:36:55
As you've got such a lovely budget you could consider Cloth nappies, they would save you money in the long run, if not buy a big box of newborn and big box of the next size to start you off, buying in bulk is cheaper.
Something to put the baby in while your downstairs (a moses basket/bouncer chair).
Clothes - Stick to vests, babygrows and cardigans. One coat, one soft pair of booties and a couple pairs of mittens. A few hats.
A few blankets, some muslin cloths. WET WIPES BY THE MILLION.
Are you bf or ff?
Kaloobear Sun 15-Apr-12 08:49:26
Don't forget lots of people will give you clothes when the baby's born-we got given enough outfits for the first 6 months of DD's life, and even now I occasionally find something I forgot about that she hasn't even had a chance to wear. Clothes-wise I would buy 6 short sleeved vests (the sort which popper under the bum I mean), 6 long sleeved, 6 sleep suits with integrated scratch mitts. Get those all in 0-3. Then buy 1 set of newborn stuff just in case you have a real littlie, though if you do don't rush out to buy masses more as the 0-3 stuff will last longer and there's nothing wrong with rolling up sleeves.
And don't forget the shops will be open in the weeks and months after your baby's born 
Jinsei Sun 15-Apr-12 08:55:04
Don't know, but way more than I needed to.
I bought loads of stuff I never even used. Don't be seduced into thinking you will "need" all the random clobber that they try to persuade you is essential.
Indith Sun 15-Apr-12 09:03:36
Nappies are the main ongoing expense unless you use cloth. Cloth is brilliant and you can get a good stash second hand.
Cot- cheap Ikea one is more than fine.
Pushchair or sling- I know people with bugaboos rave about them but think carefully about your needs (town or country, storage space etc).
Carseat- safety more important than it fitting your chosen pram. Probably one of the most expensive purchases.
Clothes- you only need vests and sleepsuits. Supermarkets are great and charity shops. Most of my stuff came from the 5 items for £1 bin at the Salvos, I'm on dc3 and it has done 2 or 3 other babies between mine so it is all perfectly good!
Other stuff you can see as you go along, if you have a velcro baby who hates to be put down then a bouncy chair or playmat is fairly useless. breast pumps etc, again don't bother unless you know you will use it. Hand expressing is fine anyway. I got a pump for dc1, he refused bottles so I gave it all away. When I had to leave dc2 I got a single bottle and hand expressed. Monitor depends on your house, most houses you can hear perfectly well without.
Anyway, the joy of internet shopping means if there is stuff you decide you need once baby is here you can get it withou leaving the house.
WantAnOrange Sun 15-Apr-12 09:05:00
Here's my list. Keep in mind I am using real nappies so if you're using disposables you can cross off some things.
Got:
Moses basket and stand
Bouncer
Travel system with Car seat
Nappy bin
Bumbo Nappies
Lil Joey nappies
Travel cot
Breast pump
Resuable wipes
Reusable Breast pads
Muslin cloths
Milk storage pots
Vests
Booties
Coat
Hats
Cot and under cot drawers
Cot top changer
To buy:
Ergo Sling
Ergo insert
Breast cream
Sudocream
Baby grows
1 pack vests, short sleeve
Cardigans
Socks
Bibs
Blankets
Mittens
1 pack newborn nappies
wet wipes
nappy sacks
Change bag
Nappy liners
For Mummy:
Pants
Black PJ bottoms
PJ tops
Nighties
Maternity pads
Hair bands
Head bands
Bed socks
Bottled water
Healthy snacks
Nursing Bras
Disposable Breast pads
Hospital bag
susiegrapevine Sun 15-Apr-12 09:09:41
kaloobear I would have been lost without lots of new born stuff as my lo stayed in it till he was at least 3 months!! My mum had to run out and buy tiny baby cos he was so little newborn swamped him! So I would prob buy more than 1 set of newborn although people bought us loads of newborn after the birth so I think three sets would be ok as you do have to wash everything before baby wears it. I hardly bought anything for my ds as he was the 1st grandad child on both sides so had everything bought for us!
cherrypieplum Sun 15-Apr-12 09:15:11
Ive got
Lots of clothes- new and from friends and tons of cardies- my husband can't resist!
Scratch mits
Booties
Hangers
Beginning to get nappies and wipes
Breast pads
A borrowed Moses basket and stand (new mattress)
A new Moses basket for upstairs in cot until she's bigger
A new cot bed
Bedding- not the overpriced but gorgeous bumper packs but sheets, cellular blankets and grobags.
A second hand pram- immaculate and barely used. It was the one we wanted in the shop and half the price.
We've spent a few hundred so far. Beginning to think maybe not enough?? But then my mum always said babies don't have to be expensive.
bettybat Sun 15-Apr-12 11:20:44
2000 seems like such a lot 
Friends of ours gave birth in December and got a baby hammock rather than a cot. Reading up on it and having seen it in practice, it seems awesome. That's about £180. We're also being given a cot for when he/she grows out of the hammock.
We're being given a moses basket that was never used by friends, and TONS of baby clothes.
We're going to use reusable nappies and a birth to potty starter kit is about £150.
I plan on BF so maybe a few bottles and an expressing pump.
Maybe £80 or so on a couple of slings.
We're not bothering to get a lot of the regular stuff as we both feel like a lot of it is fear-based targeting to new parents. Plus we both read the Continuum Concept, really got into the idea of Attachment Parenting as it reflects our own childhoods, personalities and ideals, and that whole approach really negates the need for so much stuff. Including a baby bath!
So maybe some new clothes, a grobag, muslins, a bouncer possibly and anything else we find that we don't have - we'll just buy on an experimental need-to basis! Total around £500 or so.
ThunderboltKid Sun 15-Apr-12 11:32:02
Definitely consider eBay - I just bought a barely used John Lewis cot for £3.50; all I need to do now is buy a new mattress.
I luckily don't really need to scrimp, but baby stuff is used for such a small period of time, there is no point spending a fortune on it.
Imagine your child turning 18 and you handing them £2k; they'd be over the moon. Now imagine telling them they could have had £2k but you spent it on stuff that only lasted them a few months or years...which do you think they'd prefer?
Daisybell1 Sun 15-Apr-12 11:48:44
I agree, you can do it cheaply :-)
Ikea stuff is great and cheap. Philips will send you a free little bottle if you sign up to their club, and there are plenty of other places doing free samples.
As other people have said, spend the money on a good car seat. I would also say get your first pram on eBay. It is SO hard to work out exactly what you need until baby's here and you're using it in real life. If you've bought 2nd hand then you can re-sell it at very little loss and try something else.
hidinginthecupboard Sun 15-Apr-12 11:57:35
Not an essential but one of my best purchases was a nursing/rocking chair.It made night feeds so much more bearable and we still use it for bedtime stories every night 5 years on. I think it cost about £120 or something like that. Plus I had a section with my first and it was much easier and less uncomfortable to get up from than the sofa!
CointreauVersial Sun 15-Apr-12 12:05:48
Get down to your nearest NCT Sale. Lots of stuff, most of it barely used. They are awash with 50p baby baths that people have bought new for ££ and used twice (often described as the most pointless piece of baby equipment).
The only things I think you need to buy new are cot mattresses and car seats.
One bit of advice is just to purchase what you will need for the first couple of months, so forget highchairs, posh outfits and so on; after all, you will need something to go shopping for once the baby arrives.
claireinmodena Sun 15-Apr-12 12:11:39
The only things you really need are
Car seat
Pram/pushchair
Some clothes
Nappies+ wipes
Somewhere for baby to sleep in and bedding: cot or moses basket (some people feel mb are a waste, I used them lots with dc2,3&4 but hardly with 1)
Do not bother with steriliser/bottles/breastpump unless sure you are going to need them. you can always buy them later IF you find you need them.
Muslims serve a multitude of purposes!
Anything else can wait really!
Best of luck and enjoy your pregnancy
SarryB Sun 15-Apr-12 12:16:16
We've been lucky - I've been given two bags worth of clothes, which should mean that I don't need to buy any clothes until around 6 months!! But I probably will 
Also got very lucky with our travel system - a Jane Solo, with infant car-seat and pram attachment. Should've been £500, got it barely used from Gumtree for £60!! The pram attachment also means that I don't need a Moses basket.
I'd say that we've probably spent about £700 altogether. And that includes blackout curtains, a cotbed, mattress, cot top changer, bath set etc - I still need to buy some more bedding.
I'll be BF, so I've just bought a couple of bottles, and I'll also be using cloth nappies, which will cost some more too.
£2000 seems like more then enough.
agendabender Sun 15-Apr-12 12:22:37
A friend gave me a list of everything she needed with costings, which was really helpful, but she worked it out at £1,100 and I felt very smug every time I decided that I didn't need it. big examples are: a top and tail bowl (completely unnecessary if you have a sink or any sort of bowl already in your house); a baby bath (you can wash a baby in your own bath from the start, and even get in with them which is great for breastfeeding). basically anything you already have in your house but is disguised by not being plastic or covered in teddies. And if you manage not to get sucked in, your house will still look the way you wanted it to look before the baby took over.
I spent around £100 including Ultima with practically unused carseat for £50, cloth nappies up to 6 months size for £6, a moses basket, stand and mattress new for £30. People will give you lots of outfits so you need vests and soft babygrows for night time. I made myself all baby knits, blankets, sling etc. for around £30 for the first 6 months. People gave me tons of stuff for free, so ask around anyone with older children who is moving and suddenly discovers that they have all their buggies, high chairs, stairgates, playpens etc. still in the attic!
Whysoserious Sun 15-Apr-12 20:07:34
Thanks for all your replies! I wrote this late last night when I couldn't sleep and then completely forgot about it until now 
Good to know £2000 is way too much - literally had no idea how much to budget and I'm glad I went way over. I was a bit worried people would say it wasn't enough!
Great to get ideas off people of what really gets used and what doesn't and from the sounds of it it sounds like a car seat should be the most considered buy.
I am planning in bf so that should save a bit of money too. Although I realise that doesn't always go to plan buy shall give it a go.
Thanks again everyone!
bettybat Mon 16-Apr-12 07:12:43
Our friends came round yesterday with their 4 month old, and masses of stuff for us. I cried my eyes out at their generosity
A big box of bottles, teats, dummies, other things to do with bottles that I have no idea about, at least 150 breast pads (in boxes), one manual hand breast pump, one double electric breast pump - all brand new, boxed and never used because she didn't produce enough to breast feed.
A brand new Moses basket including mattress, all accessories and stand - never used because their baby preferred the hammock.
They mentioned lots of other things to give closer to the time - things I'm not to sure of their purpose but apparently needed
Another friend has decided she's not having another baby and is giving us their cot, all accessories, tons of clothes and various things.
These things alone will save us so much money, allowing us to spend on the hammock and car seat. I can't get over people's generosity but I think there's a real "pass it on" feel for new parents, which just bows me away. I very much intend to be a part of that and pass on whatever I can to a new parent when the time comes.
MammaBrussels Mon 16-Apr-12 07:24:09
Join the NCT and go to their Nearly New Sale - you can pick up clothes, cots and pushchairs second hand. Please don't even consider buying second hand car seats. You don't know how they've been stored or whether they've been in an accident even the tiniest prang can cause invisible damage and reduce the seat's ability to protect your PFB.
PeelingmyselfofftheCeiling Mon 16-Apr-12 07:48:32
We've prob spent close to 2k but we have twins, so 2 car seats, double breast pump when they came home from NICU (borrowed a hospital one whilst they were in) etc, but that does include a co-sleeper cot which will become travel cot/playpen this summer, a cot bed which will last one until toddler years etc
We too have been given so much - clothes, playmats, walkers etc
Don't forget you will need things like high chair/bumbo etc in your first year, if not as a newborn, so hold some budget back. Also contingency for things like slings to find the right one for you/your baby. You'll need a forward facing car seat eventually too weeps at thought of two.
You will spend more than you thought possible on nappies.
If you want to express or ever feed formula you'll end up needing pump/bottles/steriliser which adds up.
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How Much Did You Spend on Baby Essentials
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