Baby Equipment Part 1: The Bare Essentials and Sleeping

When we were expecting Boo my husband and I were both utterly clueless about what babies need, we relied on advice from our parents, the limited friends we had with babies, and a lt of internet research and as a result ended up with a lot of stuff we didn't need, and having to rush out and buy a lot of things we suddenly considered to be essential.

Initially There are a few things you'll be pretty scuppered without:

• Nappies (lots)

• newborn clothes (enough but not a huge amount as they grow quickly)

• A blanket (knitted style, not fleece as fleece can cause overheating)

• a carseat (if you're leaving the hospital by car you can't leave without a car seat)

• somewhere for baby to sleep

The rest you can work out as you go, but it's nice to have it in advance. Here follows the list of things we have kept or bought new for or upcoming baby, and just as importantly the things we haven't!

Sleeping

Furniture

Crib. My husband and I are in discussion about whether this needs a new mattress, I will probably win, even if we just buy a cheep one)

Cot. Boo is still using the cotbed, we will decide closer to the time whether to upgrade Boo to a toddler bed or to get a new cotbed)

We don't have a moses basket for Boo, I didn't really see the benefit to it personally, and now I can't help but feel that a moses basket might prove as too much of a temptation for Boo and would rather avoid the whole situation, so we won't be investing in one this time around.

We also didn't invest in a proper nursery furniture set with matching wardrobe and chest of drawers, everyone told us they weren't really worth it but it's something I deeply regret, especially as when we were expecting Boo we had little in the way of outgoings (once we'd payed for the wedding and covered all he general costs they entail) whereas it's something we can't really afford now, and don't have the justification of it serving two children.

I also really wish that I'd got a nursing chair, everyone said that we didn't need one when I tried to get one whilst expecting Boo, and we had a living room chair in Boo's room once she was in her own room, I'm keeping an eye on Gumtree though, and they come up every so often for about £50, so I might get trigger finger if one comes up with the offer of delivery closer to Bel's due date...

We made do fine without a changing unit or cot top changer but it's something that would have been nice to have.

Bedding

blankets x ∞ We bought a few blankets for Boo and friends and family bought us a substantial number of pink and purple blankets, my Mother in Law also made us a blanket that was a perfect smaller size for using in the pram.

crib sheet x 4. We have a couple of pink sheets (obviously) and a couple of white sheets to go with our Olive and Henri crib set, these are all still in perfect condition.

crib coverlet x 1 From the aforementioned Olive and Henri crib set, though to be honest we mostly swaddled Boo (with extra large muslins) or used sleep bags when she was a bit bigger.

crib bumper x 1 We've got one, but Boo started to pull it off and cuddle it fairly earl on so it was swiftly removed, we'll keep an eye with Bel.

cot sheets x ∞ Boo started off with a few sets and they've seemingly grown exponentially, we can add to them for Bel but we have enough to be getting started when she goes up to a cot.

cot duvets / coverlets x 2 We'll almost definitely need more but Boo spent ages in sleep bags, so we've got a while yet.

Cot bumper x 2 Again, these saw very little use, and if we need bumpers for Bel I expect we'll go for (or make) some that wrap around a couple of bars with spaces in between like for instance these by Bumpsters

Sleep bags

0-6 x lots

6-12 x lots

12-8 x lots

When I say lots I probably mean closer to 6 in a variety of 1 and 2 tog. We found sleep bags to be quite cheap, they're generally about £12 but as supermarkets also tend to sell them they're frequently on sale, we got most of ours from Sainsbury's in their 50% off sales, or 25% off when we were particularly desperate for the next size up. What we've got will comfortably see Bel through

Other Nursery Accessories

Baby Monitor. This was useful for keeping an ear out for Boo with the doors all closed so as to not disturb her, we got an all singing all dancing BT Baby Monitor and Pacifier but the temperature sensor wasn't particularly clever (even in the conservatory in the depths of winter it thought it was perfectly warm enough for a baby) and the parent unit has no battery reserve at all any more, so we ended up with it in the cradle all the time. It was however fab because we could soothe Boo back to sleep without going in by singing (oh the horror) down the monitor, and we could control star shows on the ceiling and set music which was quite good for when Ewan fell out of favour.

Ewan the Dream Sheep. This little chap was a life saver, and it's something we've bought for expectant parents since because we were so impressed. We'd had night upon night of bad sleep where we couldn't get her to settle at all, and were all going bit stir crazy from sleep deprivation. I'd tried all manner of classical music and swaying and rocking to no avail when I came across a recording of Ewan on YouTube. Within minutes she was asleep, and had the best nights sleep that she'd had since coming home, we rushed out the next day to find a shop, any shop with Ewan in stock and he was a firm favourite until she was almost a year old.

Mobile. We bought a mobile with jungle animals on that was pretty good for keeping Boo distracted for short periods of time when she was little, generally just long enough to jump through the shower and come back to her to dry off and change.

#BabyEquipment #NurseryEquipment #Babies