prepping for baby

[Gabberella]

I'm not sure where to post this?
I am due Sept. 23rd with our first baby and was wondering when is "too soon" to start getting things ready for the baby. Thankfully, hubby and I have gotten tons of adorable hand-me-downs from friends. I figured it was okay to wash the cloths now, I'm keeping them in a plastic storage tub until we are ready to use them. Then there are things like bottles, pacifiers, teething toys etc that need to be sterilized. Even the pacifiers that are not opened yet say to boil them before using. So when should I boil/sterilize these type of things? Should I wait until about a month or so before baby is due? Or should I just go ahead and boil everything now and keep them in plastic zip lock baggies or something? Thanks so much!
Sarah

[Lovumms333238]

I got everything ready in my 4th month! I had tons of energy & why not do it early? I couldn't find one reason. It was calming in the last trimester to see everything setup & know when she is ready so am I! I also enjoyed telling her about her nursery & everything along with it. It was great to bond with her so early. So my vote is yes, do it now while you have the time, energy & motivation even though you may find yourself re-organizing it like a mad woman in the last months!
Congrats & Goodluck!!!

[Quinalla]

I think getting most things ready early, assuming you have space for them in their opened/cleaned state, is the way to go. That's what I did and I didn't regret it at all. You have much, much more time for that before the baby than afterward, especially in the early weeks. As soon as we got each piece of nursery furniture, I would get things set up. Just wait to open things like diaper cream until maybe 1 month before or so, you can get them out of their boxes, just don't take the protector things off until the very end.

And sure, there will be some clothes you never use and whatnot, but it's better to have it all out and ready and then things you don't use, most of it you can take to a consignment shop and get a good chunk of your $$ back.

Oh, and since you are getting ready, can I just recommend getting some side snap shirts? That was my absolute favorite clothing item for a newborn. Side snap shirt + diaper + swaddled in a blanket or 2 makes for easy diaper changes and dealing with the cord until it falls off. And the plain white gerber ones are super cheap, it is worth it to pick up a few and in the newborn size. I never thought I would have a small baby, so I was glad DH talked me into some newborn clothes since she wore them for quite awhile.

[Knitting Mama]

I did *so* much prep early! I started nesting around 3-4 months and it didn't let up until about a week before I delivered, when I was so tired I couldn't function anymore. I don't see any reason why you shouldn't get going now!

If you're going to be cloth diapering, I'd suggest getting a few different types to try out. The same variety can be great for one baby and not so great for another. I tried 6 or 7 different brands and different styles-- AIOs, fitteds, etc-- as well as a base of prefolds and covers, so that I could find what worked best. For us, it's prefolds and fitteds.

[staceychev]

Originally Posted by Gabberella

I'm keeping them in a plastic storage tub until we are ready to use them.

If you're like me, you'll hate the way baby clothes that have sat in a plastic storage tub smell. Ick! I wash them before use, even if they were clean when they went in.

As far as sterilizing things, just wait until the baby is here and do it as needed. You're not going to need teething toys until next spring!

[birthangeldoula]

I prepped early for my daughter by getting everything ready by the 7th month, and am currently due in early August and haven't done one thing to prepare. I guess I found out after DD came into the world that they don't really do much in the first couple of months besides eat, sleep and poop, so all of that "prep" could have been done after she was here, in theory.

[expat-mama]

Due July 1st with our first here.
We started gathering baby stuff early in the second trimester and because we just moved to a new country didn't have people around to give us hand-me-downs. We saved a ton of money buying stuff slowly over months and months. I think everything we bought was on sale...literally everything! I waited until last month to really start putting it all together in a nursery and I just finished washing and prepping clothes and diapers- good thing too because I'm exhausted! I have this month to just putter around getting small things done and I'm sooo glad I did all the big stuff and shopping early on.

Good luck!

[Gabberella]

Thank you all for your responses! I am so excited to get everything ready. I will definitely check into those side snap shirts. Also, my cousin who is throwing me a baby shower said that they are going to have all the girls bring diapers. I am using cloth diapers so that should be a good opportunity to get all kinds of different cloth diapers to see which ones work the best for us! Thanks again everyone!
Oh, and congrats to all you other mamas who are expecting in the next couple months!

[texmati]

never to early! Enjoy it! I agree with pp, we bought very slowly over a long time-- mostly used.

[Kmama2]

Originally Posted by texmati

never to early! Enjoy it! I agree with pp, we bought very slowly over a long time-- mostly used.

Never to early. I had the nursery set up and clothes washed and in the dressor by 25 weeks for both my kids! I get really restless and bad nesting while pregnant so I can't wait ... plus I am a crazy planner get everything done beforehand kind of person. We knew our second was a boy at 18 weeks gestation so I yard saled and bought clothes up to size 2T even before he was born.