Getting Ready for the Baby – what to buy

Are you the mother to be who walked around Mothercare or Bumps to Babes with every intention of buying bathtubs and nappies, blankets and bibs for your newborn, but as aisle after aisles was filled with things you ‘need’, a slow panic started to set in and overwhelmed you left empty handed ??? Well that was me! Or are you the mother to be who is cool calm and collected not a worry or a panic in sight? Either way there is a lot out there you are told you need, and trust me you don't need it all (coming from someone who bought it all). There is also a lot out there you don't think you will need but you will.

So I have put together a list of everything I think you really do need and a few that are nice to have. (let me know if you would like to see it - I'm still working out how to load it to my blog). The back of the Mothercare catalogue has a similar list, and Bumps to Babes can provide you with one too as can many similar stores. In addition Eugene on Queen Road has a huge variety of products to choose from too.

I found that most store lists contained lots of things you will never use but sound
essential. As an example I thought I would tell you about a few of my best buys and a few I'd rather not mention within earshot of hubbie

Worst buys:

Bottle warmer: around $500 and again something you would think of as A MUST. In
reality it always took too long to use and the milk was either too hot or too cold which meant we had to then run it under the cold tap or sit it in boiling water anyway. A much faster way is to always have cooled boiled water stored in your spare milk bottles in the fridge and then to add freshly boiled water from the kettle in the right proportion to make it warm.

Eg: if you are making 5 ounces of milk you use 3 ounces of your cooled boiled water from the fridge and add 2 ounces from your kettle to get the perfect temperature (make sure you always check the milk on your wrist before you use it and remember never boil water more than once, so empty your kettle after each use)

Baby hip seat: Around $500 and it looks like one of the most useful things you could have when you see it; the reality is that you don't use it around the house and you certainly wouldn't walk around town with it on (you'd have a proper babybjorn style carrier to free up your arms or a stroller). I'd sometimes force myself to use it at home just so that I could say I was using it!?


Best Buys:

Stand up bath unit: around $800 but means you are not crouching over onto the floor. The tub sits on top of a storage unit (you can keep shampoos, towels and creams in the unit). It allows you to wash a new born whilst standing and when you close the lid it doubles up as a changing table. The only thing to note is that you probably won’t get more than 3 to 4 mths use out of it and as your baby grows you will need to buy a bath support to place in your bathtub.

Sensor Pad Baby Monitor (Angelcare): This is not just any baby monitor. It comes with a sensor pad that detects the slightest movement down to a breath taken or a heartbeat, and god forbid anything stops it sets off an alarm. I know it's for those more paranoid of us, but before I bought one I would find myself creeping into Isabelle's room almost hourly and quietly place my hand on her chest to check she was still breathing. Very silly I know, but I couldn't help myself. Buying the sensor pad just gave me peace of mind, it allowed me to have an evening to myself and be able to sleep through the night.