New parent seeks advice

groomek

Ok so I've become a parent for the first time on Saturday.

I'm looking for any tips on stuff I need to buy and where I could pick them up(best price/value for money)
I have a pram,mosses basket,sterilizer,changing unit and a cot.I think I have the essentials but it's just the little things I need.

What supermarkets are cheaper and should I be buying in bulk(nappies,wipes,food)and the best brands.

Moonbeam

Congrats:)
A lot of it is choice:)
Boots newborn nappies are brilliant and pretty reasonable.
If you live near the border Sainsburys is great for everything.
Tesco has nearly everything down here and are great for baby clothes.
Guineys is great for cellular blankets.

Morag

Don't buy in bulk until you know and are happy with things.
I know someone who bought 20 packets of wipes and the baby turned out to be allegic to them and they had to go with another brand.

groomek

Sharrow wrote: »

Don't buy in bulk until you know and are happy with things.
I know someone who bought 20 packets of wipes and the baby turned out to be allegic to them and they had to go with another brand.

Thanks for the replies.
Is there really a big difference in brands?.I popped into Tesco and bought Pampers newborn nappies.One of the girls working there said Lidl have good quality nappies and are cheaper

Moonbeam

Lidl and Aldi have great nappies, my baby can't wear either though my 2 year old never had a problem.
I bought a few boxes of pampers baby wipes and yes she is allergic to them too,but we use them for more then bums!
Boots own brand baby toiletries are good,especially the bed time bubble bath:)
There is no definitive brands to buy as different ones suit different people and babies.

How Strange

I've found that the supermarkets all charge the same for nappies except when they have promotions on which is fairly regularly.

For newborns I found pampers the best nappies. I love Huggies wipes in the cream packet. Slightly more expensive but great quality so you use far less each time.

I really wouldn't recommend bulk buying. As others said it's trial and error with most products until you fingd the ones you like. Don't buy too many newborn size nappies as they grow put of them so quickly. In fact don't buy too many packs of nappies at once. One large box will last ages.

Congratulations btw!

sillysocks

I find Lidl nappies great, my little one was always leaking in the Pampers but hasn't leaked once in Lidl. But I think they only start from size 3, and you're probably only one size 1 or 2 at the moment. I found Tesco almost always had great offers on Pampers that made them almost the same price as own brand.

I found bibs that closed at the side great at the start-much easier to take off if the baby falls asleep in your arms and youre putting them down in the cot.

As someone said Tesco do lots of baby stuff, and their vests and clothes wash great.

Lola92

+1 on the huggies pure wipes, these are the best I have found and are often on offer 4 packs for €4/5.

Tesco baby clothes are great value and wash really well compared to dunned or pennies stuff I found.

Nappies can be hit and miss. I found Huggies best for newborn because pampers leaked a lot I found, but I find the opposite now in the bigger sizes. I mostly buy whatever is on special. As another poster said don't buy too much of one size.

A big tub of Vaseline is essential too.

Queen of Sheebs

Tommee tippee bibs with the roll around the neck are brilliant for new borns. vaseline is great too. As other said don't buy too much of anything because they grow so quickly. Our little one is 4 weeks and is now in a cot...moses basket is too small!! A pair of new born socks....you'll need them for heel prick test. A good fitting hat..(not the ones that come with little outfits). Top and tail bowl with two soft sponges. It's also handy to have a soother on hand even if u don't intend on using them!!!!
Also for the mammy, arnica tablets and natracare sanitary towels in various sizes.

deisemum

Congratulations.

I'm a childminder so I've changed a lot of nappies over the last 16 years
The one thing I've noticed is that the discounter and supermarket nappies need to be changed more frequently than the well known brands such as Huggies and Pampers so not as economical in the long run.

Your baby will grow out fairly quickly and move through the smaller sizes over the next few months then will stick to the one size for longer periods before moving on to the next size so bulk buying might not be a good idea.

With my own children I prefered Huggies for the first few months then Pampers. You should be able to get plenty of samples of baby stuff including nappies and money off coupons including etc if you sign up to the different nappy brands such as Pampers, Huggies and if you sign up to the different loyalty cards for the likes of Tesco and I think Boots, SuperValu (I think this is through eumom but not certain) etc do the same.

Moonbeam

The huggies pure wipes are brilliant,the green or beige packet.

Shellygoose

Congrats on your new addition!!

On the subject of bibs - i dont know if anyone else does this....my friend does n i will definatly be doing so if i have another baby.....she uses a cloth nappy (bought in Guineys I think) and tucks it under babies chin when feeding. If baby falls asleep there's no fiddling with strings or pop fasteners of a bib and you can just lay baby straight back down. I think its a great tip!!

I agree with not buying in bulk, but if you do find products that work for you and someone asks to get the child a gift, maybe ask them to put together a little hamper of products....this can sometimes last longer then clothes as babies grow so fast.

I used the nappies from Lidl when was daughter was more active (crawling...wobbling..and eventually walking!) as I found that they didnt leak as much. I probably would have used them earlier but there wasnt a Lidl in my area until she was at that stage.

In regards to equipment, my daughter LOVED her bouncer chair, something like these ---> http://www.toys.ie/Baby-Rockers--Bouncers-!WCAT66-cat.aspx

Kildrought

re bibs - I'd second the cloth.

I got a bumper packs of cheap facecloths from Pennys and used them pretty much for everything baby related. Dark colours were used for the tail end and light colours for the head/face.

I was never a fan of the commercial baby wipes, water does the trick just as well. But then b/fed nappies are not at all icky or smelly.

Nanazolie

Sharrow wrote: »

Don't buy in bulk until you know and are happy with things.
I know someone who bought 20 packets of wipes and the baby turned out to be allegic to them and they had to go with another brand.

I second that. I bought 6 packs of Hipps organic milk. Turned out my daughter was lactose intolerant, I had to give them to a friend.

Congratulations on your new baby. For the first few months, it's a lot of trial and error, so buy little and see if it suits. I found that my two used the size 4 (maxi) nappies the longest. They go from 7kg to 18kg. You might want to give cloth nappies a go, they are cheaper in the long run but I would advise to wait until you've passed the "explosive poos" stage (you can also buy just one or two to see if you like them).
I use Nature Babycare nappies and buy them from UK sites in bulk. Same for the wipes. They don't contain any chemical so there is less risk of allergies and eczema

My must buys:

• a massive amount of burp clothes (the white muslin squares). Tesco sells them by 5 or 6 for cheap. I used them for absolutely everything: burping, feeding (I breastfed so it acted as a screen), as makeshift sun hat, to cover the buggy when the sun is too bright,... I now use them as tea towels and napkins for the kiddies
• Weleda nappy cream: the only brand I found that didn't contain chemical and also worked. Great on eczema too
• A bouncer: sometimes it's nice to put the baby down, but you still want them by your side and if they are awake they won't like staying in their cot. The one that vibrates was great to calm a very colicky baby
• If you are bottle feeding, the milk powder dispensers really help. You won't struggle to remember how many spoons you put in the bottle in the middle of the night, you can also use them while out and about
• nasal drops and nasal aspirator. There is nothing worse than a baby with a stuffy nose, they can't breathe, sleep or feed properly
• A good baby carrier. I would avoid the cheap ones from supermarket, and the ones that squeeze the baby legs. The one I had and still use (baba is now 18 months) is the Ergo Baby. No dearer than the Babybjorn but so much more comfortable for both baby and parent. Also, you can use it for ages because it goes from front to hip or back. When my two had colics or couldn't sleep or were sick, I used to carry them around the house while doing chores. Great to keep both hands free
• A baby bath: babies don't feel comfortable in a large tub, so it's best to use a small one. I used a large washing bowl for my son until he was 2 months because he was tiny. Then a baby bath for about 6 months. The bath is now used as a sand pit or sleigh depending of the season
• loads and loads of baby vests and PJs. You can never have enough! The first few weeks, your baby will have very liquid poos that then to leak whatever the nappy brand, so you can change them 5 times or more a day. Tesco and Penney's do very cheap packs of 5 or 7 vests.
• Baby blankets and fleeces. Nice to have when the baby is not in the cot or mose basket, to lie them on when going to the park, to double up as changing mat, and of course to keep them warm outside...

sillysocks

If you have a Guineys near you they do some great bargains on basic supplies like towels, sheets etc. Instead of muslin squares we used Guineys moses basket sheets, they're lovely and cheap and big enough to cover baby, Mum/Dad and a small bit of the surrounding area if you have a baby that spits up a lot. Our little one did and we still use the sheets at every feed 8 months on, has saved our clothes and the couch a lot of times!

At the start we used Water Wipes - you can get them in Boots and some chemists - they only have water and fruit juice in them so they're as mild as cotton wool and water but they're much handier. We've moved onto 'normal' wipes now though and find the Huggies Pure great.

groomek

sillysocks wrote: »

If you have a Guineys near you they do some great bargains on basic supplies like towels, sheets etc. Instead of muslin squares we used Guineys moses basket sheets, they're lovely and cheap and big enough to cover baby, Mum/Dad and a small bit of the surrounding area if you have a baby that spits up a lot. Our little one did and we still use the sheets at every feed 8 months on, has saved our clothes and the couch a lot of times!

At the start we used Water Wipes - you can get them in Boots and some chemists - they only have water and fruit juice in them so they're as mild as cotton wool and water but they're much handier. We've moved onto 'normal' wipes now though and find the Huggies Pure great.

Some great tips and advice there.Bought a bath and a prince lionheart bear yesterday which seems to put her asleep very quickly.
A previous poster suggested a trip to sainsburys.Is there really much savings to be made?

BostonB

groomek wrote: »

Ok so I've become a parent for the first time on Saturday.

I'm looking for any tips on stuff I need to buy and where I could pick them up(best price/value for money)...

Congrats. Sky+ box

sillysocks

groomek wrote: »

Some great tips and advice there.Bought a bath and a prince lionheart bear yesterday which seems to put her asleep very quickly.

We had the Slumber Bear as well and it worked great for even an extra 20 mins of sleep when she'd first wake in the night/morning. If I'd hear her starting to sitr I'd set it off and she'd snooze again for another while. I found the teddy a bit big for the moses basket so just used to take the middle insert out of the bear and use that on its own. Because it works when you touch off it/shake it I used to keep a ruler beside my bed so I could reach into the moses basket and tip off it and then I wouldn't have to get out of bed

gaz wac

Myself and Mrs Wac were only talking about this, last week. we both agreed, between the tons of stuff we bought, these three came out on top

http://www.littlewoodsireland.ie/summer-infant-secure-sleep-colour-video-monitor/636110497.prd;jsessionid=6F263EA158A88E16CE9684F31449298A.fts036:-9?browseToken=%2fb%2f2734%2c4294958381

with you everytime they sleep and it give me sooooo much peace to be able to see her! naps, all night....use it everyday ! even if im cutting the grass, she is attached to me

http://www.toys.ie/Backyard-Bounce-About-!104600-prd.aspx

still use this 10 months on. very handy if you want to take a shower, cos at ten months, they want to jump off the bed !!

and

http://www.littlewoodsireland.ie/fisher-price-soothe-and-glow-seahorse---blue/600266802.prd

she loves it !! she knows when it goes on, she has to go asleep so closes her eyes! bring it anywhere she needs to sleep, even the creche !!

Good luck

p.s i know we went for two months, changing her on a mat on the ground, which was a killer, then we got a changing table for the top of the travel cot....should have done it from day one !! ( cot set up in sitting room )

Cheers

implausible

The most useful items I bought aside from the biggies were:

1. Muslin squares - for burping over your shoulder, cleaning up messes, a sunshade on the buggy, breastfeeding cover, bringing everywhere and just as I was about to put them away, they're being used as tie-on bibs because he pulls off the velcro ones!

2. Travel cot - apart from travelling, it got used for daytime naps, as a changing table, a playpen, ballpond, toy dump and for leaving baby in to answer the door etc.

3. Cotton wool - wiping after nappies and topping and tailing. However, don't go for the 'baby' stuff, buy the massive rolls of it you'll find in the supermarket. It's way cheaper and you can just cut big wodges of it as you need them.

groomek

So it's been a week since we had our little girl.We found it was all down to getting her into a routine.Change nappy,Feed,burp,feed,burp and then sleep.It's worked a treat so far.I've taken on a lot of tips and recomendations put forward(especially the sky+ tip)

We used the ready made formula(Aptimel).We are going on to Aptimel formula today(the one you add boiling hot water to).

Anyone got tips on how many I should make at one time or should I make each bottle only when I need it.

Morag

The advice on that changes all the time, used to be you could make up 4 bottles and just stick them in the fridge. These days you make up the bottle as you use them. You can how ever make up the bottles of the boiled water in the sterilised water and keep them in the fridge and then add the powder when a feed is due.

Top tip I ever had when I moved from breastfeeding to bottled feeding was getting the baby used to feeds at room temp, so that you don't have to warm each feed, esp in the middle of the night or when your out and about.

sillysocks

If you ask 20 people how to make up bottles you'd probably get 20 answers.
We've always boiled enough water for the day, filled the bottles with the water and left them on the counter until needed. Then add the formula just when we're going to give the bottle.

As the previous poster said having the baby used to room temperature bottles saves any hassles when you're out, or in the middle of the night.

We got the little formula dispenser tubs like these http://www.smythstoys.com/feeding-equipment-278sc/babysafe-milk-powder-container-107289itm.aspx

Then we'd fill them a few at a go so you only have to tip the forumla into the bottle and not worry about counting the scoops directly into the bottle (because you will loose count of the scoops many many times!)

Tayla

Another good thing about room temperature bottles is that you can always keep a bottled water handy for emergencies. It's handy for if the water goes off in your house or you've no electricity to boil a kettle or if you're going on holiday etc.

I think Evian is the one you're allowed to use because it has a particularly low sodium count.

Morag

Bottled water is really not reccemended due to all the minerals dissolved in it.

sillysocks

We just kept a few cartons of the ready made formula for emergencies.

Tayla

Sharrow wrote: »

Bottled water is really not reccemended due to all the minerals dissolved in it.

Yes but Evian is considered to be the best one due to the low sodium and is recommended by French maternity hospitals also.

In fact in 2007 all Irish maternity hospitals were told by voiceireland to recommend bottled water for babies as Irish tap water contained far too much fluoride and also the children's hospital in Crumlin recommends five bottled waters as suitable for making up formula for new-borns - Evian, Vittel, Spa, Font Vella and Isabelle, all of which are very low in fluoride.

sillysocks wrote: »

We just kept a few cartons of the ready made formula for emergencies.

I kept them too but last winter we were without water for a few days and our local shop didn't have any of our cartons left so it came in very handy then and also sometimes the baby needs a drink of water if they're a bit constipated or whatever.

Nanazolie

Sharrow wrote: »

Bottled water is really not reccemended due to all the minerals dissolved in it.

I'm French and all French mammies make their bottles with bottled water (usually Evian but you find several spring waters which are suitable). There is usually a sign on the sign of the bottle "suitable for baby bottles". I found it very hard to make bottles using boiled water because I always forgot to put the kettle on and then you have to wait 30mn for the boiling water to cool down, etc... Too troublesome, so I stuck to breastfeeding for number 2. And as someone said, you get so many advice regarding making bottles that I ended up completely confused.

Lidl used to have bottled water carrying the mention "suitable for baby bottles", but I don't think they have them anymore. Just a warning though, bottled water only keeps for 24 hours once opened, so avoid buying too big a bottle