New Baby Must-Haves
Written By: Guest Blogger
When you’re pregnant, it seems that everyone wants to bombard you with information about what you should buy, and some of the lists are extensive to say the least. Babies grow quickly and it seems pointless to shell out on things you’ll never use, but on the other hand, shopping for forgotten essentials with a newborn in tow is nobody’s idea of fun. The range of products available for babies is growing every year and includes organic baby clothing, toys, feeding accessories and safety equipment. So what do you really need and what is a luxury?
Clothing
Magazines and antenatal classes will tell you that you need at least a dozen babygros, dozen vests, dozen pairs of socks and so on, but really how much you need will be determined by how often you have time to do the washing. 6 of everything is a good starting point, but bear in mind that you will probably be given lots of outfits in sizes to fit a new baby and that if you splash out on lots of organic baby clothes too, the baby will never have a chance to wear everything. Basic baby clothing can be picked up in all of the major supermarkets along with the weekly shop, so even if you do run out of clean babygros you can easily buy more.
Bedding
Again, there is no need to buy several changes of bedding for your baby’s cot; two or three should be sufficient. If you have a cot bed which will be your child’s bed for many years then by all means invest in more expensive bedding, but if planning on using a moses basket be prepared for the fact that the baby will have grown out of it in a few months, leaving all of that lovely Egyptian cotton bedding redundant.
Feeding
If you’re breastfeeding, all you’ll need to buy is a couple of packets of breast pads and you’re ready to go. All other purchases like bottles for expressed milk can be left for a good few weeks. For mums who are bottle feeding the shopping list is a bit more extensive, and you’ll need bottles, teats, formula milk and some way of sterilizing the equipment such as a microwave steam sterilizer. Choose bottles and teats which are compatible with the different sizes as your baby moves onto bigger bottles and larger quantities of milk.
Toys
It’s tempting to go out and buy loads of colourful plastic toys which sit so appealingly alongside the organic children’s clothing in the department stores. The truth is though that babies under the age of about 3 months are not going to play with toys and they are more for the parents’ benefit than the child’s. By all means buy a colourful rattle or toy to attach to your baby’s pushchair, but don’t expect them to actually play with them. Again, many people give new babies toys as gifts, so wait to see what you are given before buying the entire stock in the shop.
Olive Loves Alfie offer a great range of organic baby clothing for parents who want to give their baby the very best start in life.
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