Like weddings, babies are one of those life events where our society today tries to sell you a bunch of junk that you don’t really need (this also happens annually at Christmas, Easter, Valentine’s Day & Halloween).
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not a cheapskate. I don’t mind paying good money for something I genuinely think I need or will get plenty of use out of. What I object to, is spending money on loads of crap that’s totally unnecessary (like table favours at a wedding – seriously, are my guests going to frown upon me if they don’t receive two sugared almonds in a poncy box? No. They’re not.)
Huxley is 4 months old now and has only really just started taking an interest in things. Nick and I were both adamant that we weren’t going to be those parents that had toys coming out of their ears just for the sake of it, and in general, we’ve stuck to that. We’ve only just started buying toys because now we can take him round the shops and work out what he looks interested in. For the most part, he’s got no interest in toys unless we’re there playing with him, because that’s all babies really need, attention.
So, here’s a list of the most useful things I’ve bought for Huxley in his first 4 months:
1. Changing mat – Tesco – £2
We change Huxley on a mat on the floor in the corner of his room. We didn’t go for one of those fancy changing tables because we didn’t think we’d get the longevity out of it. I cannot begin to explain how happy this changing may makes Huxley. He can be in the lounge grumpy as hell but as soon as you stick him on this mat, he’s all smiles. Now I’m not saying the mat is the cause of this, it’s probably due to the undivided attention he gets when we change his nappy, but still, it’s been worth every penny.
2. Dutailier rocking chair – eBay – £170
My mother-in-law has a Dutailier rocking chair in her kitchen. It is the best seat in the house. I had always wanted one and buying one for the nursery seemed like the perfect excuse. I’d sat in loads of replica chairs in Mothercare and John Lewis etc but none of them were anywhere near as good as the Dutailier one. They all seemed to have really short backs on them.
Unfortunately Dutailier aren’t stocked in the UK anymore but you can snap them up on eBay. Brand new, they’re worth £500 so don’t expect to pick one up cheap (unless you get really lucky on Gumtree!). It took us several weeks to find the perfect one and several hours of nail-biting, edge-of-our-seat bidding in the last few seconds of eBay auctions to finally get the chair of our dreams.
Nick assured me that he knew where Peterborough was, except he didn’t. It was much, much further away than he thought it was. It took him a 6-hour round-trip to go and collect it. But it was totally worth it. The chair cost us about £120 and the petrol was about £50 so you’re looking at around £170 (but obviously I’d suggest buying one a bit closer to home!). When we picked the chair up it was literally brand new. It was so new that the cushions squeaked when you sat on it. This is the chair that I sit in to feed Huxley in the middle of the night in the nursery so that I don’t wake Nick up in our bedroom. I have used it every single day since we bought it and we’ll be keeping the chair for years and years.
3. Maxi-Cosi FamilyFix base – Mothercare – £112
This is something that I always knew I wanted. We all saw how quick and easy it was for Prince William to stick baby George in the back of his Range Rover when they left hospital. It’s worth every penny. Especially when you’re on your own, with an armful of Tesco shopping bags and it’s pouring down with rain. The last thing you want to be doing is messing about with a seatbelt.
If you consider one of these, there are two Maxi-Cosi models to choose from. The cheaper EasyFix (about £70) and the more expensive FamilyFix (about £120). My main advice to you would be to try them both. The main difference is that the FamilyFix has an electronic LED system so that the base lights up green and beeps once the car seat is correctly attached whereas the EasyFix just has a switch which changes to green. Also, the EasyFix only works with the first stage Maxi-Cosi CabrioFix car seat (from 0 – 13kg – about a year old) and the Family Fix can be used with the first stage car seats (CabrioFix or Pebble) and the follow-on car seat, the Pearl (from 9-18kg – about 9 months to 4 years old). Although, don’t base your decision too heavily on that because it’s only when they are tiny that you would take the whole car seat out of the car, once they get too big/heavy you’ll probably just take them out and leave the car seat in the car the whole time.
We started off with the EasyFix because it was cheaper but I just couldn’t work it at all. I found the car seat release lever really stiff and difficult to do and I really struggled to get the car seat on and off the base even without a baby in it. As soon as I tried the FamilyFix I was sold. The release lever was a million times easier and it’s definitely been worth the extra money for me. (If you have stronger arms/hands/fingers then you might be fine with the EasyFix which is why I suggest you try them out for yourself first).
4. Play mat – Mothercare – £35 in the sale (£70 normally)
We bought our playmat from Mothercare in the sale. It was £35 down from £70. As much as Huxley loves his playmat, I would never have paid £70 for it so I strongly recommend waiting until the one you want is cheap! We did no research at all into playmats, we just walked into Mothercare, saw this one was half price, it had sea animals on which was cool so we got it. The best thing about this mat is that it’s so versatile. You can move all the hanging bits about or take them all off and the musical box thing detaches so you can velcro it to the side of his cot or put it in the car. You can remove the arches too and use it as a flat playmat.
When we first bought Huxley home from the hospital we tried to put him down on this mat but he hated it. The space was too big and wide and he kept throwing his arms out in a panic. It wasn’t until he was about 2 months old that we could put him down and he’d happily stay there. But to be honest, he’d just lay there and stare into the little mirror at first – he might throw his arms about and accidentally grab one of the hanging things but that was about it. It’s only really since he’s been 3 months old that he’s purposefully grabbed the hanging items, and even now I think it’s still occasionally an accident. But he does bloody love that octopus.
5. Gro-egg digital room thermometer – Tesco – £15
This is one of those things that we bought due to our immense fear of cot death. It seems a little extravagant but it’s all so scary when you’re a new parent that anything that puts your mind at ease is worth it’s weight in gold. The optimum room temperature for a baby is between 16-20 degrees and this little egg glows different colours so you can see at a quick glance that your room is suitable. We bought this egg because we’ve always slept with the window open to let the breeze in and were worried that that would make the room too cold for Huxley. I’ve only ever seen the egg turn blue once (too cold) and have never seen it turn red (too hot). To my surprise, our room is usually between 17-19 degrees anyway at night which is perfect.
6. Grobag Sleep bag – Mothercare- £30
Our friends bought us a sleep bag when they first heard we were pregnant as their little girl loves hers and it’s like a magic bag – she literally falls asleep as soon as you put her in it! We didn’t use it at first as we were scared he’d fall down into it, but we needn’t have worried as it has little poppers under the arms to make the holes smaller to stop this and the 0-6 months one is suitable for babies 8lb 8oz and over and Huxley was 9lb 2oz when he was born so he was plenty big enough! We originally put Huxley to bed with a blanket over him but I prefer the grobag as it keeps his chest covered while still leaving him with his arms free.
It can seem a bit confusing with the different togs but we’ve got a 2.5 tog which is considered ‘year-round’ and the Gro website is amazingly helpful and has great advice on what layers you should put your child in for bed. As I said previously, our bedroom is usually 18 degrees and we put Huxley in a short-sleeved vest with a long-sleeved, full body baby grow in a 2.5 tog sleep bag and he always feels fine. In the summer we might drop it down to just putting him to sleep in a vest and the sleep bag but we’ll have to see how it goes.
If you have quite a sicky baby then I’d recommend buying two so that you’ve got a spare one while one is in the wash but we’ve been quite lucky with Huxley and he’s never really sick. They come in loads of different colours and patterns so there’s bound to be one you like!
(The one on the right isn’t a ‘Gro’ branded one – it’s from Sainsbury’s)
7. Baby bag – Pink Lining – £79
I’ve spoken on the blog before about how much I love my baby bag from Pink Lining. It’s absolutely perfect. It’s got all the right pockets and is the perfect size for fitting everything in. They release new patterns every season too so it’s unlikely that yours will be the same as everyone else’s. Follow them on Facebook to get an update on their latest releases and sales. I’ll do a ‘What’s in my baby bag’ post soon.
8. Mamas and Papas baby snug – Tesco – £34
This has been really helpful for us when Nick and I are trying to get stuff done in the kitchen but we couldn’t leave Huxley alone in the other room. We started off by borrowing a baby bouncer chair from Nick’s sister and I’m so glad we didn’t bother buying one for ourselves. While Huxley loved the bouncer and was quite happy in it for the first few weeks, as he got bigger and stronger, he just wanted to sit upright all the time and would get stressed out. Although he still couldn’t fully support his own head when we bought the baby snug, it’s so high at the back and so supportive that I never worried about putting him in it. Our friends had one of these for their little girl and it was great for when we went out for picnics and stuff as they could sit her in it and let her get on with eating her finger food by herself while they ate their lunch so I’m looking forward to using it for that in the summer.
You can also buy the baby snug with an attachment with toys on it but I thought that would be a waste of money as we could just give Huxley toys to play with on the basic tray it comes with. The coloured bit of the chair can also be removed so it can adapt to them growing but to be honest, by the time they are big enough for that they probably wouldn’t sit still long enough anyway.
9. Chest of drawers – Local oak furniture shop – £200
I know that the tiny little baby wardrobes are really cute and all the mini hangers are adorable but I honestly can’t think of a bigger waste of money. Can you imagine being super tired and stressed out and trying to hang all the teeny weeny clothes on those fiddly little hangers while trying to hold on to a screaming baby? What a nightmare.
Investing in a sensible, sturdy chest of drawers means that we can keep this piece of furniture for years to come. There’s plenty of space in it and his clothes get neatly folded away – and does it really matter if their clothes are creased anyway? They spend half their time rolling around on the floor.
10. Calpol vapour plug – £7 – Boots
Huxley has had two colds so far. On Christmas Day we all came down with a really bad cold that lasted all the way to New Years. Trust me, there is nothing worse than laying in bed listening to your baby struggling to breathe. At first, we bought what Nick and I lovingly call ‘The Snot Hoover’ which involves a tube that you use to suck the snot from their nose (don’t worry, there’s a valve that stops it from reaching your mouth). Then we tried the vapour plug and it was amazing. It doubles up as a night light too! It takes an hour or two for the vapour to fill the room so you could plug it in just before bedtime to allow it to start to work, but remember to keep the room ventilated as well. The vapour plug is great at unblocking your nose and letting you get a good night’s sleep but we did notice that we woke up with quite dry, sore throats so it’s not a perfect solution as you kind of have to weigh up which is better but personally I find it easier to sleep with a sore throat than a blocked nose so it’s a winner for me!
I hope any mums-to-be or new mums found this post useful. I’ll be writing a similar post to this next week about all the things I think you don’t need for a newborn baby.