This is Jack at just 2 hours old. Amazing is the beauty of a new born baby and the love you feel for this miracle of life. But then reality kicks in; sleepless nights, crying and nappies. That being said you’ll always have this amazing baby that will make all the harder days easier. Alas having a baby can be expensive and according to Axa £5k is needed to buy all the new baby things. I’m not sure I agree though; I’ve had 3 babies, all boys granted so a bit easier when needing new things but I definitely had not spent £5k on my first child at birth. So here is my essential list to having a baby.
Things you need & things you don’t.
Here is a list of everything you need for your first born and my top tips to help you save money.. an essential list! I show average prices with a few recommendations plus savings with ideas on how to cut costs. And if you are buying online, always go through a cash back site such as topcashback.
I make it around £1,565 for all the new baby stuff at average price and £941 at the saver price. What could really increase costs is big purchases like a car (we needed a 7 seater when no 3 came along) or bigger washing machine/tumble dryer. But these are not on the essential list 🙂
The figures.
Things you Need |
Average Cost |
Budget Cost |
Notes |
| Pram/Pushchair | 300 | 200 | You could get a pram/pushchair system..costs anything from £300 up to £1500 |
| Of course you could go to Ebay, or do as I did. | |||
| McClaren do brilliant sturdy but light pushchairs that lie flat. | |||
| Car Seat | 100 | 100 | Do not scrimp on this, maxi cosi is good |
| Isofix | 120 | 120 | Brilliant for quick fixing in car. Cant be used in car with under feet storage. |
| Moses Basket & Stand | 70 | 0 | I wouldn’t bother, it only lasts for 2 months max. Use your travel cot. |
| Travel Cot | 50 | 50 | I bought mine from an nct sale, but have bought my own comfy thick mattress |
| Cotbed | 200 | 0 | I used my tesco clubcard vouchers for nursery furniture. Cot bed turns into toddler bed |
| Mattress | 100 | 100 | Do not scrimp on this, get the best you can afford |
| Changing Table | 150 | 0 | I used my tesco clubcard vouchers for nursery furniture. |
| Changing Mat | 5 | 5 | |
| Top and Tail Bowl | 5 | 1 | Use a mixing bowl! |
| Nappies/Wipes | 40 | 40 | Stock up and buy these when you see special offers. |
| Nappies cost a fortune, but you can often get 2 big boxes of 170ish nappies in Asda/Tesco for £20 | |||
| Baby Wipes you’ll need when you tire of cotton wool. Again always offers, buy 1 get 2 free etc. | |||
| Baby Bouncer/Rocker | 50 | 20 | An essential for us that baby can sit in and chill. You could buy from nct sale/ebay. |
| We went for chicco, expensive but so comfy and baby would sleep in it. | |||
| Play gym | 30 | 20 | Good for baby that doesn’t sit up yet. Get one with a mirror, again could get from nct, ebay. |
| Baby Carrier baby Bjorn | 50 | 50 | I could not survive without this. Means you can do stuff with your free hands. |
| Gets baby to sleep. Good for mum and dad. | |||
| Clothes (7 sleepsuits, 7 vests, | 40 | 40 | Don’t go mad as people will buy you pressies, mostly clothes! |
| muslin cloths, hats, snow suit) | |||
| Baby Blanket | 10 | 0 | I used my blanket my mum crocheted when I was a baby 🙂 |
| Changing Bag | 30 | 0 | You could buy a nice one, or join the boots baby club and get a free one |
| Bepenthanol | 5 | 5 | Nappy rash cream or there is sudocream |
| Feeding Bra x 2 | 40 | 40 | Just use your maternity bra straight after baby born and get feeding |
| bra as soon as possible after baby is born if you are breast feeding. | |||
| Your boobs will get bigger! | |||
| Lansinhol Nipple cream | 10 | 10 | Nipple cream, to stop cracked nipples. Don’t go for any other brand. |
| Baby Bottles | 20 | 20 | For formula or expressed milk |
| Steriliser | 30 | 30 | Avent do a good starter pack with bottles included |
| Breast Pump | 50 | 30 | Up to you, depends if you want to solely breastfeed and pump milk so you can go out/hubby can feed baby. |
| Manual or machine. I borrowed a friends machine. Quick and easy. Manual much cheaper. | |||
| Baby Monitor | 50 | 50 | Prices vary, Tomy is reasonable. |
| Camomilla | 5 | 5 | From health food shop, natural remedy to help calm you. |
| Arnica | 5 | 5 | From health food shop, natural remedy to help heal you after birth. |
| Total | 1565 | 941 |
Happy Shopping. Make a comment if you think I’m missing something off the essential list!
