Essentials for a new baby

Well where do you start with essentials for a new baby, if you are about to have your first baby, who knows what is essential.  Some might say that a car seat is essential, but if you have no car, is it?  If you are coming back from the hospital in a taxi then yes!

I think essentials for a new baby is largely dictated by your lifestyle, budget, style and maybe other factors.  I think the important thing is research, you can talk to people about what they found useful, most people need some form or buggy, pram but you may need to decide what kind.  You can buy very robust large prams with big wheels that are fantastic for offroading and keen walkers.  But you may find that if you are using a lot of public transport that you want something very thin and lightweight so you can get on and off trains and buses.  You may even need to fold it up and carry it, so this has to be taken into account.

I think the absolute essentials for a new baby are clothing, nappies, whether they are disposable or fabric and somewhere for the baby to sleep, such as Moses basket or cot, most of the other equipment is then a choice.  You may like to wait until you have had the baby until you decide what else you will need, but it is worth bearing in mind that you may not have much time.  So it is worth having a look around at the things that you think you will need, then noting stockists and prices.

You may find that some of the essentials for a new baby come from friends and family after you have had the baby, you might ask them to get things that you need or they might just happen to buy them.  It might be worth waiting so that you don’t buy something that you are given, this way you can spend your money on things that are missing.

A couple of things that I never really used were a baby carrier, as I found I got too hot and the baby was too heavy for my back.  The other thing was a baby bath, I found it was easier to just run a small amount of water in a normal bath and lay the baby in the bath.  Luckily, I never actually bought theses items; I was lent them by friends so I didn’t waste any money on them.  It might be worth asking friends who have older children if you can borrow some of the things that they considered essentials for a new baby and see how you get on with them.  If you find them useful could ask if you could borrow it long term or buy your own.  Either way you won’t be wasting money on things you don’t need.