Any advice on essentials?

[SLHRK]

So I'm due the start of October, and found out in Sunday we are expecting a girl which we are over the moon about

We would now like to begin our baby buying, so any suggestions atal about the essentials would be great! We have our pram/travel system and nursery furniture ordered, ready to be delivered when we want we have a Moses basket arranged from family members as don't want to pay for anything we don't need to!

-Nappies - best brand/quality?
-Clothing such as baby grows, what are the best quality to get, and just general clothing for the time of year! Should we go for more jumpers/cardigans or tshirts? Long/short sleeve?
-We are planning on doing some combination feeding, but will need a breast pump and obviously formula, bottles and steriliser etc. Again best quality?
-Bathing wash, shampoos, lotions, wipes - best brand?

Anything you can think of for an essential, please all advice welcome I'm keen to get started thanks! X

 

[naomi88]

Hi!

Congrats on having a little girl. My first is a little girl so I can recommend it haha!

Nappies I think depends on the shape of baby - I wouldn't mass by one brand as it might end up leaking. Some of my friends swear by lidl and aldi brands but I found those leaked with millie. In the early days I used pampers but then switched to asda little angels and have found those great, but again some of my friends haven't liked those brands. I bought a couple of packs of 5 different brands before millie arrived and worked out which ones worked for us

Breast pump I found medela electric the best

Toiletries I bought johnsons originally but they brought millie out in a rash and dome other parents I know found the same. Now I tend to use natural products, like aloe Vera based ones.

I moved millie onto formula from 6 months and she was very fussy with formula and bottles for a while. Eventually settled on the blue box formula (have momentarily blanked on the name!!) and tommee tippee bottles but again I would recommend getting two or three different brand bottles to try and work out which teat your baby prefers. Same with formula - try one, if it doesn't work try another. I found cow and gate gave millie and upset tummy and sma made her constipated but others swear by those brands.

Clothing wise last time I just brought fairly basic vests and sleep suits for the early days. You'll probably want a snow suit with it going into winter. I didn't get many nice outfits for the early days as they just got dirty so quickly so just had a few nice outfits and then the rest were basic ones. I brought some sleep suits which had mitts attached which were brill as millie never kept mittens on and kept cutting her face otherwise. She was a summer baby so tended to just do vests and sleepsuits rather than cardigans or jumpers but might get those too this time around.

Wipes wise I use pampers sensitive but in the early days just used cotton balls and water
Xxx

 

[Jojo84]

Nappies... honestly I find tesco or aldi really good quality for money and we have had very few explosions in 2 yea. We,also find tesco wipes very good.
Clothing- babies are in clothes 3 months so I find primary, tesco and Morrison's fine,and cheaper than. Some... intact were having g, a baby next week and I'm . Reusing a lot if the clothes as they look barely worn. Don't buy too much newborn either, I found it quite,wasteful. I'd buy things to you can layer, but 0-3 wArmer things. Our first boy was in outfits every day (our choice) because I feel like having them in sleep suits all day is . Like living in pyjamas and honestly it's not that much hassle (less hassle at times anyway). Up n to 1 month is a good size as 0-3 came drown them initially. For new baby I would get Longer sleeves and some lo n g sleeved vests. Snowsuit us a good idea as lo n g , as you don't use them in the car ( no thick coats in carseats either)

Breast pump n- I used a mothercare electric pump which worked,well but bear in mind that if you miss a feed and don't pump it bloody hurts! Also t g e more you feed the better, s supply you have. Bottles- we used MAM anticolic self sterilizing bottles which I can't recommend enough!
Toiletries- it's,supposed to be just,water for the furs t month or something but after a week we,were using tesco loves baby which are fab, also mum and me is lovely! We used huggies pure wipes after a week of cotton wool because it passed me off and baby was fine but this is really up v to you

 

[KeelyT90]

Nappies I got Huggies snug fit for months but you can only get them from costco as they're american. If I don't go to costco, Tesco loves baby are the next best!
Wipes, its cotton balls and luke warm water for early days - Then I moved to pampers new baby or sensitive. But Aldi wipes are basically the same. Hate huggies wipes, they always rip! Though if he has a sore bum I get water wipes.
I never breast fed so can't recommend anything sorry
I am a huge fan of MAM anti colic bottles
Clothes - I picked things up from TK Maxx, and if you live by a Mamas & Papas OUTLET, you can get a really good deal. I got a pack of 3 sleepsuits for £6 - They're £7.50 at Asda..... The actual Mamas & Papas store sell the same pack for like £18 & They have built in scratch mitts that fold over!
Being born in Oct i'd go for long sleeves & 2 snow suits, incase sicky on one lol. I had a Baby K one from Mothercare & a Primark one - Bargain!
Toiletries, I like either Infacare or Mum & Me products.
Metanium nappy rash ointment is also fab!!
With formula I researched Aptamil & Cow & Gate & SMA..... Aptamil & Cow & Gate have the EXACT same ingredients only C & G is cheaper. SMA has slightly different ingredients & same price & Aptamil so I used C&G seen as its cheaper - Every little helps
I also used a GRO-Bag for sleeping in, they're fab! x

 

[SLHRK]

Thankyou both for your replies so I think the nappies will be Aldi to begin with! I have had 3 people recommend them, and now both of you! will buy small packs of a couple brands and give them all a shot! Same with wipes, will go with the sensitive ones just as a general precaution I think! I will be looking into the rest later today, but as I said all advice is great so thanks ladies x

 

[Smileygirl]

We used Pampers nappies, Medela swing double electric pump and a Milton cold water steriliser (so much less faff than electric in my opinion). Toiletries we used burts bees oh and water wipes initially!

 

[Jojo84]

Oh formula wise I also used cow and hate and I agree about the gro-bags... Mother are brand
Are really good too! But they can't be used from birth (can't remember starting weight) so aomw nice cellular blankets aww a must early on... Also a really good top is that if you have a Moses basket use pillow cases instead of actual Moses basket sheets and tuck the corners

 

[KeelyT90]

After 8lb, so you can use from birth if they weigh more than that x

 

[Jojo84]

Is it 8lbs? I thought it was 9-10ish. Every day is a school day lol

 

[SLHRK]

Thankyou all for your help! Will come in handy when we start to do the baby shops x

 

[JD.Deedee]

After 8lb, so you can use from birth if they weigh more than that x

Yes and if they can not get their head through the gap which is a suffocation risk. It's the same with chairs and car seats. It's a guidance not a rule of thumb.

 

[MrsB2105]

Congrats on a girl

Nappies I prefer pampers and tend to stick with them, however morrisons are good too - I wasn't a fan of asda ones.

Formula I went with cow and gate, it's the cheapest (not by much) but they all have the same ingredients, it falls down to tolerance but you won't know until she has tried it.

Being October I would stick with warmer clothes so long sleeves etc

It could be worth getting a pram suit for when you are out and about in the car later at night

Toiletries ... Go with what you think, I think they are all good, for nappy creams though I prefer the squeeze tubes(like a toothpaste tube) just because I hate stuff up my nails lol

Have a few cardigans too even for over a grow, I also prefer grows where you can turn the sleeves into scratch mittens as you don't lose them and they fit nicer next are good for those.

Baby wipes ... Get the shops own brand they are good enough and miles cheaper ... I don't recommend Huggins wipes as I found they tore apart in my fingers.

Microwave bottle sterilisers are cheaper than electric and are fab

Blackout blinds/curtains for the nursery

I didn't breastfeed so I can't help with breastpumps, but hope the other stuff is helpful x

 

[Jojo84]

oh on blackouts.. we got a groblind... they have suction cups that go onto the windows and blacks out the room which was useful when baby was in with us as we don't have blackout curtains.

 

[MrsB2105]

Ooh I heard they were good , even for holidays etc

 

[Phoenix85]

Like Keeley I prefer Mam bottles (well the teats). Also the Mam ones are self sterilising if you have a microwave, you can juststerilise them in the microwave without needing to buy a steriliser. Their dummies also come with a case that you put them in with some water and they sterilise in the microwave too without needing a steriliser, so might be worth buying that brand (if you get any) and then you wouldn't need a steriliser as well.

I use cloth nappies and wipes but I've just bought waterwipes for my aunt's foster baby. If I were using disposable wipes I'd use waterwipes.

Nappies, when I used disposables I used Huggies or Moltex but that was 9yrs ago when they still did UK Huggies. Now it's harder to get them as you can only get the US ones from places like Costco I think. I use cloth for the environmental factor (well, that's one of the reasons lol), otherwise I'd probably go for a more 'eco' type like Moltex, or Naty or something. I heard Asda's are good though, but never tried them.

Toiletries I don't use anything with Parabens or SLS in. This time round I'm trying Little Violets castile soap (it's in a squeezey bottle) and I bought some little violets shampoo and baby bath for my aunt's baby.
I don't tend to use much like that anyway though, just the tiniest amount in their bath water now and then, or in warm water in the "top and tail bowl" to wet the cloth wipes when changing a dirty nappy lol.

I've never been one for black out blinds. I know one school of thought is to get babies sleeping in a dark quiet room, but I always felt that the great thing about babies is they'll sleep absolutely anywhere lol. My DD would fall asleep in a noisy well lit room even as a toddler, I never wanted to encourage the need for total darkness (or total silence) in order to fall asleep. I felt it was better that she could fall asleep in any situation rather than needing it to be really dark. But see what works for you.
As you're due in October it should be dark a lot of the time anyway. I think black out curtains are more useful in the summer when it's light from 4am to 10pm (and with older babies or toddlers who are more likely to wake because it's light, younger babies tend to have the same wake and sleep patterns regardless of how light it is).

 

[Jojo84]

Phoenix you must be bloody lucky my son woke up as soon as a hint of sun appeared through the curtains when he was a newborn,.. Which is fine in winter but a pain in the arise in summer. Once it got to winter we room is down... Mind you I had it in my room when I was working because I was on nightshift and it was utter bliss.

 

[MrsB2105]

My son falls asleep anywhere but in the morning any sunlight and he is up so we put blackouts up in his room and will in the nursery as the sun rises at the back of the house, plus they help keep the room temperature controlled x

 

[Phoenix85]

Maybe my daughter was just a sleepyhead lol. She literally just ate and slept the first 6 months lol and would sleep anywhere.

Will have to see what this one is like.... I like my sleep though so hoping they are the same LOL x

 

[Lander]

I have one plush pramsuit but I'm hoping to get some fleece onsies to use as outerwear in the car as there's less fabric to compress in the event of an accident. Either that or just keeping fleece/celluar blankets for in the car.

Please do read up on this if you've not already seen warnings about how puffy coats and pramsuits are not safe in this situation with regard to loose seat belts and compression of padded clothing.

Lxx

 

[MrsB2105]

We had fleece suits for our little boy. Will get more this time luckily I don't have too much to buy as I have lots of stuff from my little boy, we just need to double up on bouncers and swings and have more clothes x