You need stuff for a baby. Baby stuff is lush, you need to spend lots of time sighing over cute baby catalogues and proudly marching your bump into baby boutiques to have a peruse.
If you are rich and have copious amounts of space, you can buy it all. I am not and I do not, so I have to limit to what I actually need/can afford/have space for.
No need to point out that we have to move house to make space for baby and that this isn't aided by me not working properly for a bit. All will come good.
So. First of all, as you won't be allowed to leave the hospital without it, a car seat is essential - unless you don't have a car of course. There's two types, an infant carrier that comes out of the car and allows you to, well, carry your infant. The other alternative is to get a car seat that stays in the car and usually turns round from rear facing to front facing to be the next stage of car seat. Babies need to be rear facing until they are 9 months or so, the recommendation is to leave them rear facing as long as possible, until they grow too tall for the first stage seat. The Swedish car manufacturers recommend that children should be rear facing for the entire time they have car seats (as opposed to booster seats) which would point towards the in-car seat as the most economical option. Most people opt for the infant carrier for the purpose of carrying the baby about until they are a few months old (less than six months unless you are particularly strong/determined) and can have the added option of being compatible with a travel system for ease of transition to buggy (lift out of car, clip seat on buggy). Seats can be fitted to the car by seatbelt (perfectly safe) or Isofix (safer still).
There are also carrycots available that are designed for the car and which attach with the seatbelt. This only works if you can allow two car seats as the carrycot goes sideways, so has never been a consideration for me. Supposedly better as baby gets to be completely flat.
Next you need a buggy/pram/transportation system. A travel system is great as you can clip your car seat on and you might get a carrycot in order to have a pram-like contraption for keeping baby flat.
What you do not need is an old fashioned pram that costs over £1200, weighs 3 times what a buggy does and which is unwieldy and enormous. Nor do you need the biggest all terrain buggy that money can buy. A baby is tiny and you need to move this thing about, in and out of house and cars/buses and it is really unlikely your path will involve particularly difficult terrain. Even if it does, you can get nice sturdy wheeled suspensioned buggies that don't take over the entire street. Big is not best when it comes to buggies.
Baby needs somewhere to sleep. A cot or cotbed is ideal, you may also want a moses basket for the first few months. For naps, there is a school of thought that all sleeping should be done in the dark in a proper cot, but I personally found naps easier in a bouncer or similar once they were past the stage of sleeping most of the time. The ones we had vibrated and this was a marvel in getting baby to sleep.
Exercise sense when purchasing baby beds. Cribs are a waste of money, unless you are given one in which case they're quite nice, as they last such a short time. Cots don't have to cost a lot of money and big cots are nonsense, babies are tiny.
Bouncers don't last that long so don't go mad, remember baby will be out of it by 6 months and won't be interested in toys or similar. They probably like music and lights and what not, and vibrating is the napping future.
Cot bumpers etc are dangerous, I don't know why people have them. They look nice, yeah, but as soon as baby can grab things, they're a risk. Baby should have sheets and blankets tightly tucked into the bottom of the cot, or better still, sleeping bags which are genius. Nothing else. The best baby sleeping bags are Grobags, or Mamas and Papas.
A changing unit is nice, it gives a nice place to keep all the nappies and nappy kit, and you can lay the baby on the top with a changing mat. These too range from the basic to the ridiculous, I guess you go according to budget/space/taste. A changing unit isn't necessary however, you can equally use a changing mat on the bed/sofa.
While on changing mats, a fold up mat/bag that holds a couple of nappies and becomes a flat mat is a godsend when out and about. They cost about £10 and fold up really dinky.
Boots give away a free changing bag when you join the parenting club. It's perfectly good if you don't feel the need to be unique and you don't mind umpteen confusions of identical bags at whatever baby event you go to (baby clinic, baby massage, mother and toddlers etc).
You need a baby bath or newborn bath support, I understand the tummy tub is amazing. The twins had moulded supports which were ace, also useful for feeding, which went in the regular bath. The main attraction of that was bathing two at once. This baby will be getting a tummy tub. Hurrah!
What else do babies need?
Clothes? No. Clothes arrive from all directions. Always welcome, people are very kind, but plentiful. I have already been promised two complete newborn wardrobes.
Toys? No. Babies do not play or show any interest in playing until they are about one year old. Flashy light musical things calm and amuse but playing? Nope.
A highchair is essential from six months. A bumbo or similar is brilliant from as soon as baby can support their head. Bouncer things and baby walkers are hideous, dangerous and oh my god, no. when baby becomes mobile then stairgates, playpens and toddler rockers with harnesses are a godsend.
I'll not go there with bottles because we'll pretend I won't need them.
(6 bottles at least, steriliser - got - bottle brush, formula).
So far I need to buy a buggy. Everything else is being donated, lent or returned as appropriate by other mums. People are so kind.
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