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Baby stuff: what do you love, what are you getting, what don't you need?

7K views 228 replies 25 participants last post by  FyerFly 
#1 ·
It seems so early to be thinking about this, but as we are slowly telling people we are pregnant, we are already getting offers of STUFF. We are starting from zero at the moment (save our little waffle onesie!), and we would like to stay as close to zero as possible.

The two things I really want to purchase/be gifted are cloth diapers and baby wearing apparati (wraps/carriers). I understand that we'll need a car seat, though it's not something I'm particularly excited about (just want something legal/safe). If possible, I'd like for that to be IT. Clothes mostly if not all hand-me-downs (DH would be happy if the LO was just in a diaper most of the summer, anyway...it gets hot here), maybe a baby thermometer?? I can't think of much else.

I'd like to avoid plastic stuff and swings/saucers/etc. as much as possible. will try to make this as clear as we can to people who offer (they've already been offering), and I'm guessing if we get gifted stuff, we can always just give it away...
 
#2 ·
I've been buying a few things every payday since we started TTC (July). I have 2 wraps (one stiffer foam backpack style, one sling) purchased used, 3 AIO newborn diapers, 6 one size fits all pockets, a toy H picked up, a nursing pillow and a nursing cover. Plus, a few other useful but random items.

I'm only buying things I know I'll need at or have a good resale value. Like I know cloth diapers vary widely so I don't want to lock into a brand before baby gets here. I'm just starting with 12 of newborn and 12 one size fits all diapers, the market is pretty solid around here to resale cloth you'll get 80% of the original price. If I like them I can go ahead and put in a bulk order after the baby is born.

All of my husband's cousins have babies that are only about 1-3 years old so I'm hoping we'll get offers of baby clothes. We have had 2 offers for bassinets but no one has come through yet.



My husband is not on board with buying any baby stuff until after our shower so for now baby stuff is coming out of my personal spending money but I keep telling him people get cute stuff like clothes and bottles and such at showers. (I know because I'm the one buying the safety kit or thermometer because no one else wants to buy it because it's not fun) It's not likely that anyone will buy us a crib or other large things (and I wouldn't expect them too!). I just would feel better not waiting until 2 months before baby when I'm huge to be rushing around gathering things. But I know I'm an overpreparer ;)
 
#3 ·
I know cloth diapers vary widely so I don't want to lock into a brand before baby gets here. I'm just starting with 12 of newborn and 12 one size fits all diapers, the market is pretty solid around here to resale cloth you'll get 80% of the original price. If I like them I can go ahead and put in a bulk order after the baby is born.
This is exactly what I've been thinking -- I'm tempted to get a few different diaper types to try out to see what we like/what works before buying a whole bunch of any one kind. How do you know about the market for diapers where you are?? I'm not sure where to look/how to find this out :)

Do you think you'll clean the dipes yourself or use a diaper service?
 
#4 ·
I have been looking at some local garage sale sites, specifically natural parenting groups. Charlie Banana and popular brands are selling for $10ish dollars a piece. In order to save money, I pretty much have to wash them myself.

Another reason I'm not stocking up, DH is not sold on cloth diapers AT ALL. My MIL always has a diaper raffle at baby showers she hosts so I'm going to accept the disposables and just see what works best in our house. My main reasons for cloth are sensitive skin runs in my family and it's better for the environment but if my sleep deprived self starts crying when it comes time to run the diapers through the washer, I'm flexible. HA!
 
#5 ·
I save all dd2s baby clothes and my SIL sent all of her beautiful baby clothing back from
Ireland with dh. I have lots of pref olds and fitted nappies.
Luckily i sew a lot so I've made diaper covers. I also have made a bunch of baby carriers and I already have some woven wraps. Those are my splurgey items though.
We will need a new car seat (and car, ha!). We co sleep so don't need a crib at least for a long time. That's honestly it.
Last time with dd2 the only things we bought were a crib to side car (don't have space to do that this time) and a car seat.
 
#6 ·
I ordered a box of newborn girl clothes off ebay as soon as I knew I was pregnant. :)

I do have a list, but we don't need much, not even a carseat. We mostly need things to make my postpartum time smoother. As far as cloth goes, I've been cd'ing for almost 9 years, and I've tried everything except microfiber: wool, flats, os, longies, aio's, pockets, prefolds, wraps, pull-ons. My favorite? Prefolds and wrap covers. They are just so, so easy, and they take a beating. I need some newborn sized dipes and covers.

My list:

3 dozen newborn prefolds
9 newborn covers
woven wrap
postpartum yoni steam kit
4 nursing bras
9 pairs of postpartum panties

That's it!

On my wishlist is a happy hangup and a large sheepskin rug, but that's dreaming big!

I do plan on sewing and knitting baby clothes and also making a quilt. Oh, and I would loooove to felt a king size puddle pad for our bed, I've already started collecting sweaters. :)
 
#170 ·
I ordered a box of newborn girl clothes off ebay as soon as I knew I was pregnant.


I do have a list, but we don't need much, not even a carseat. We mostly need things to make my postpartum time smoother. As far as cloth goes, I've been cd'ing for almost 9 years, and I've tried everything except microfiber: wool, flats, os, longies, aio's, pockets, prefolds, wraps, pull-ons. My favorite? Prefolds and wrap covers. They are just so, so easy, and they take a beating. I need some newborn sized dipes and covers.

My list:

3 dozen newborn prefolds
9 newborn covers
woven wrap
postpartum yoni steam kit
4 nursing bras
9 pairs of postpartum panties

That's it!

On my wishlist is a happy hangup and a large sheepskin rug, but that's dreaming big!

I do plan on sewing and knitting baby clothes and also making a quilt. Oh, and I would loooove to felt a king size puddle pad for our bed, I've already started collecting sweaters.
Ko

What's a puddle pad?
 
#7 ·
My family will throw me a shower and Ill probably get most of what we register for. Plus my brothers wife and my cousin just had babies in the past year and I threw their showers so I know they'll want to help with my shower. My family takes showers very seriously LOL.

My biggest concern is that I wont have enough stuff that I want for the amount of people that will be at the shower. Im pretty minimalist when it comes to things like that, plus since I know I can get items super cheap second hand its hard to ask people to pay full price at Babies R Us, even tho I know they'll want to.

Im sure my dad will want to get us something we really need so Ill probably ask him to get the car seat since it will be the most expensive of all the things we'll need.
 
#8 ·
My family takes showers very seriously LOL.
That's so sweet!

As far as cloth goes, I've been cd'ing for almost 9 years, and I've tried everything except microfiber: wool, flats, os, longies, aio's, pockets, prefolds, wraps, pull-ons. My favorite? Prefolds and wrap covers. They are just so, so easy, and they take a beating. I need some newborn sized dipes and covers.

My list:

3 dozen newborn prefolds
9 newborn covers
woven wrap
postpartum yoni steam kit
4 nursing bras
9 pairs of postpartum panties

That's it!
CorianderBells, I have a few questions I hope you don't mind me asking...for CD'ing, what kind of techniques do you use for cleaning the dipes (soak them? wash once/day? dry in dryer/hang on line??) Also, did you find diaper types like AIO's/pockets/pull-ons more difficult to wash/care for at all? I'm imagining prefolds must be among the simplest to wash/care for?

What is the steam kit for?

Any particular types of nursing bra you like?

And (maybe too personal?) -- do you buy special panties for postpartum because you want them a certain size, because you know they will be temporary, or for another reason???

**feel free to answer/not answer any of these inquisitive questions ;)
 
#9 ·
Well, we will need to get a new infant car seat, as the one we use for DS and DD is now expired. And I need a new electric pump because my other one died a few months before DD weaned. (Thinking it was our last, I just hand expressed, and used a manual pump for the last little bit. I was only needing to pump rarely by that point.) We gave away our crib and bassinet a long time ago, but we never used those, really, anyway. Other than that, I think we are set. We have a Mei Tai, and a Moby wrap. We have plenty of girl and boy baby clothes. I could use a few more nursing-friendly tops, so I'll keep an eye out for that. Oh, and we will need to get new bottles so the baby can eat when I'm at work. It's looking like we'll able to swing it so that I can take off work until the baby is about 4 months old, which will be nice. And they are cool with me swinging by to feed the baby "from the tap" as often as I'm able to, which I plan to.
 
#10 ·
Oh, also, I will be getting stuff for immediately postpartum, since we are having a homebirth. I will have adult pull-ups in there, which I know sounds awful to most people, but it provides way more protection for the immediate postpartum time than any pad you can buy. And they are soft and stretchy against a tender, saggy, doughy postpartum belly. I will also have nursing pads, lanolin, preparation H, Earth Mama Angel Baby bottom balm, dermaplast spray, espom salts, and tucks pads. Those are all the things I wasn't prepared for with DS, that I was sure to get, and very glad to have, with DD. I will also make sure to have some cute comfy jammies that are easy to nurse in. I will live in those for the first few days after the birth.
 
#11 ·
Things I didn't need- wipes warmer, changing table, bassinet, mobile, pacifiers, clothes that were difficult to put on the baby, or newborn clothes with a waist band (does not work well with the umbilical cord.) I could not get enough onsies.
 
#15 ·
If you're going to breastfeed, make sure you have a few nursing tanks. I found that I only wore those or a button down shirt with no bra in the early postpartum days. Also, a few different kinds of nipple cream. I hated lansinoh because my already sore nipples hurt even more when trying to spread a super thick and sticky ointment on them.

Other than that, a few different size "sleep and plays" which are basically those one piece cotton sleeper type things, my son wore those day and night, but when he was born I didn't have any newborn size and the other sizes were huge! My MIL had to run out and buy a bunch.

I also want a wrap style carrier, and a new diaper bag.

I never used the crib mobile (since he slept in a co sleeper and then in our bed) other crib related items, or his baby swing, bouncer, etc., since he hated to be put down.
 
#16 ·
If you're going to breastfeed, make sure you have a few nursing tanks. I found that I only wore those or a button down shirt with no bra in the early postpartum days. Also, a few different kinds of nipple cream. I hated lansinoh because my already sore nipples hurt even more when trying to spread a super thick and sticky ointment on them.

Other than that, a few different size "sleep and plays" which are basically those one piece cotton sleeper type things, my son wore those day and night, but when he was born I didn't have any newborn size and the other sizes were huge! My MIL had to run out and buy a bunch.
I totally agree about the lansinoh. Coconut oil is very nice, and so is lavender eo for sore nipples.

Yes on the sleepers! And zippered ones save you an hour a day in buttoning and unbuttoning for diaper changes. :D
 
#19 ·
hmmm. I think we only need a carseat. I have a bunch of prefold diapers from Green Mountain that I love (check out their Diapering a Newborn pages) and a million Thirsties duo covers, a few wool soakers. I love the velcro swaddlers. Love the Earth Mama Angel Baby nipple butter. Love CJs BUTTer for diaper rash. That's about it. We have a mini cosleeper. I usually borrow a bouncy seat or swing. There is a group of friends that just passes that kind of thing around... I am minimum on gear but often need a safe place to put baby. I have WAY too many carriers and will likely sell a wrap or two and a mai tai, Oh and a K'tan. I have two sizes. TOO many. lol
 
#21 ·
It's useful to see and hear what everyone will be using! We haven't started to get anything and probably won't until after our 12 week scan...I don't want to jinx anything. There is a sling library nearby so I think I will go and try out a few different carriers before buying anything. I think I'd like a soft structured (like an Ergo) and a stretchy wrap, but I need to see how they feel in person first. We will CD but possibly not for the newborn period since that seems like a lot of things to get used to all at once! I'm not sure if we'll do aio's or prefolds and covers - need to do more research. We have a dryer right now, but it's super unusual in England to have a dryer. Our next house probably won't have one (or space for one) and stuff can take ages to air dry in the winter, so I need to see what people here do. We are not sure about sleeping arrangements yet so not sure what we will need on that front, and probably won't need a car seat right away as we don't drive.

I really want to have a shower, but I have never heard of anyone here in the UK having a baby shower or really even giving each other gifts when babies arrive. I am sure it wouldn't occur to any of my friends here to host one. My mom and sister totally would but they live too far away (back in the US) to host a party for me!
 
#22 ·
CorianderBells loved your novel!!! I pored over it last night but was too tired to write a reply :)

I'm loving all the tips, and especially liked your comment about the postpartum period - will be so nice to at least be a little bit prepared, even though I'm sure it will be different than I'm expecting.

Kahleesi - what is special about a nursing tank? And is there a difference between a "onesie" and a "sleeper"? (pardon my ignorance :))

Your comment about the diaper bag made me think of another question-- what do you like to do with cloth diapers when you're "on the go"? I think I've read somewhere about some type of bag you can carry a dirty dipe in until you get back home to wash it?

Perkier I'm envious that you won't need a car seat because you don't drive at the moment :) at a different time, that would have been us, too!
 
#25 ·
I love this thread :)
I didn't think I needed anything till I read the other responses and realized I've forgotten what was necessary last time and what I wished I'd had.

The big thing is I need a mattress. A king sized organic mattress, which I can't even kind of afford. :( I have a cheap organic cotton queen futon I sleep on now, but it's too soft/lumpy for baby, and since my dd ends up in bed with us most nights, it just won't be big enough. I wish good mattresses weren't so damn pricey.

I need more diapers, I still have my dd's, but none in nb size. I realized that about a week before she was born and went mad sewing covers, and they ended up being too big for her skinny butt too, so I did disposables for the first four weeks. Maybe now that I know what to expect, and I'm piss poor, I'll take some time and try my hand at making some nice newborn pocket dipes.
 
#26 ·
Fyerfly-a sleeper is long sleeved with footsie pants, all one piece. A onesie is just a shirt that snaps between the legs.
The nursing tanks can be opened at the top and only expose one boob at a time, while a regular tank has to be lifted up and then your whole belly is exposed. I just prefer a nursing tank because my husband likes the temperature of our house to be freezing, so having my belly and back exposed is not comfortable for me!
 
#27 ·
With a bunch of littles already underfoot, when baby sleeps I have to get things done. So I do put baby down to sleep in a pack and play, swing, or bouncy seat during the day. I wish I could just snuggle, and I miss those days, but with five that will need my attention, practicality won out. I can't survive without my moby wrap and mei tai. I don't let my babies CIO, so when they are awake, they're usually nursing or wrapped on me until they fall asleep. We co-sleep for at least six months, and then baby will be put down in a crib about two feet from our bed. In order to make the nighttimes a dream all of my kids have loved being swaddled. I am horrible at swaddling, so the SwaddleMe blankets are an absolute necessity in my house. We had made a short move to Hawaii for school two years ago and stayed there for about a year and then came back to Washington. In the purging process before we moved I convinced DH it would be a long time before we considered having more babies. We sold everything that wasn't majorly sentimental. So we'll be replacing a lot of the clothes, diaper stash, etc.
 
#28 ·
Now I'm getting curious about sleeping arrangements - what do you prefer - bed-sharing? A co-sleeper thingy? A crib? I'm thinking we'll do some combination of bed-sharing and co-sleeper thingy for the first year or two - would love suggestions of cosleeper things you like (or if you don't like them and think bedsharing is the way to go....)
 
#29 ·
#31 ·
Yes, but hard to find second hand. Most families in our area are mainstream, and wouldn't even know what a co-sleeper is, and those who are more crunchy seem to have like 7 kids, so their stuff is trashed by the time they're done passing through all of their own kids. I keep looking, though. Maybe I'll luck out.
 
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