The right stuff

The best thing to do is pick out everything you want then tell everyone something you need so they can buy you that rather then clothes you don't like or toys which won't be used for months! That's what we did and got our travel system, nursery furniture, mattress, baby monitor and bottle warmer bought for us which saved us over £1000. I bought everything brand new because we're keeping for the next babies, plus i don't like second hand, but it's up to you whether you want to buy new or not, although the mattress must be new. The biggest waste of money for me was muslins - you don't need them cos you just use the bib and my 2 best buys were a nappy wrapper - saves the hassle of going outside every time and a shaped sponge support for the baby bath - gives you 2 free hands and baby loves it.

for my son we bought an ikea cot for aruond £70 with the matress and painted the pine furniture in our spare room white to match. i fell in love with a nursery set from mamas & papas that was really expensive so just bought the matching border & cot mobile and then co ordinated plain dye sheets and blankets etc with colours from the border. the nursery looked beautiful & hardly cost a thing really. we didnt bother with cot bumpers or quilts as hubbys against them and just put a few cuddlies in instead. we also bought a tub chair from ikea for the nursery for night feeds ect which was much cheaper than a nursing chair.

we just used a changing mat on the floor rather than buying a changing table.

nappies went straight in the dustbin rather than one of these nappy wrapper things.

i bought a lovely baby bath costing £20, used it twice and hated it so just bathed baby in big bath! - will do this again this time round.

you dont need a bouncer & a swing, 1 will do fine but id recomend a bouncer as you can use these for weaning too. we had a bouncer,a gym & a few rattles but that was it. used the bouncer almost straight away - it was a godsend!

we used a jug of hot water to heat bottles rather than a bottle warmer and we had a microwave/cold water steriliser rather than an expensive steam steriliser. personally mostly used it as a cold water one, prefered the ease of it & the clean smell!

other than that a moses basket, car seat & pushchair!!

hope this helps xx

PS to help keep costs down i forgot to say, every week when we do our shopping i pick up a pack of nappies or if somethings on offers like wipes/sudocrem etc then i grab that too. I have a few size 1 nappies and loads of size 2's. You wont notice the extra £5 a week on your shopping bill, but you will notice it when you only have SMP to pay for it!xx

Hi hun, It is easy to get sucked into everything. We got our nursery furniture set from Argos which is a cotbed, wardrobe, dresser & cot-top changer for £300. The mattress for the cot was £50. I bought my friends nursing chair & stool off her for £50 (its a nice one that cost her over £250 a year ago). Sleepsuits and vests i pick up plain white ones from tesco/asda - how can you go wrong when its 5 for £1.75?! I have just a few newborn and more 0-3s. Got a few long sleeve, a few short and a few none sleeved. If youre breastfeeding dont worry about bottles or any of that yet, if youre not then you can pick up plenty of bargains on ebay etc. If its second hand, all you need to do is sterilise/clean/wash things and they're brand new again. I bought 2 large bin bags of boy clothes for £20 off gumtree.com and stuff in there is pretty brand new! I am selling the stuff i dont want as a job lot but for £20 i have a selection of jeans, tops, vests, suits, shirts etc some newborn, some 0-3 and most are 3-6. How can you complain at that! All i need to do is wash them and they're perfect. Its true about not buying too many clothes, some people do buy you a lot an then you wont even get a wear out of some outfits lol. Blankets to keep warm and bedding obviously. Pram/pushchair & car seat - i bought a pushchair that has the car seat attached brand new for £150 (it was redused from £350) and that will last years! I'd say thats pretty much it. Keep your eye out on things like ebay, gumtree and (i think) preloved.co.uk to pick up some lovely 2nd hand bargains!! :) xx

all a baby really needs are some clothes to keep her warm (if i were you i would just buy a pack of vests and a pack of sleepsuits you will get loads of clothes bought for you as friends and family don't know what else to buy) a place for her to sleep and some blankets (i am just getting a cot bed as it can be used from birth to 5 years no point wasting £50 on a moses basket as they will grow out of it in a matter of weeks) food ( if your breast feeding it's free but you may want to get some breastpads and a breast pump if you want to express) to be kept clean ( best off using the kitchen sink for the first few weeks and then the bath you don't need to buy a baby bath, obviously you are going to need nappies and cotten wool or wipes, a changing mat is useful but you could just use a towel, don't get a changing unit you are best of doing them on the floor)
muslins are very usefull and you need a mode of transport ie a car seat and a pushchair or sling. a bouncy chair is nice to settle them, everything else is designed to save time don't buy it for now see how you get on with the few bits listed above, you will be amazed at how much you don't need. have fun shopping. when are you due? :)

I found a v shaped pillow really useful. I used it when I was pregnant to prop myself up when I had heartburn and to put between my knees or to support my bump whilst sleeping. Also really useful to get comfortable when feeding baby. I didn't have one with my first and always had an aching back. I didn't have room for a nursing chair (or the money) and found it a great buy.

There are so few things you actually need, most are designed to make your life easier, or just for Mothercare to make money out of unsuspecting mothers to be. I'd give breastfeeding a go as it's so much cheaper. We didn't get a crib or moses basket, just a cot which will also become a bed when LO is older, can't see the point in getting a crib too. Then just basic clothes - no point in spending loads when they grow out of them so quick. Most things are worth waiting until LO is born then decide if you need it but I would deinitely get car seat and pram beforehand. Then muslins for sick ups, nappies (but not too many in little sizes in case baby grows out of them quick), cotton wool, changing mat and bedding. Wouldn't bother with anything else before you know what you want, except maybe a baby bath if you don't have a big bath (we just put baby in there!).

gosh i got loadsa stuff wen i had my son! thing is i didnt use half of it! lol so many clothes went 2 waste! i ended up givin away or sellin! things u'll def need steriliser n bottles if ur not breast feedin! puke cloths! bibs, baby grows n vests, scratch mitts, nappys, cotton wool pads, dummy if ur guna use 1! pram, car seat, parrasol 4 pram! moses basket or crib! id go 4 crib cuz they last longer! change mat, bath seat, blankets, thats off the top of my preg brain! remem ppl will buy u loads 2! xxxx