Baby 'stuff'

When having a baby, particularly your first, it's easy to go mad in Mothercare. You are somehow talked into spending £800 on a pram and leave the shop feeling like you've got a bargain, thanks to the shop assistant's amazing sales skills....these women could sell ice to the eskimos. (Just for the record, I absolutely did not spend £800 on a pram, but I know plenty of people who have.) I remember being in Mothercare one Saturday afternoon looking at a Silver Cross travel system and the assistant used the word 'reasonable' to describe the carrycot that fit the chassis....it cost £500. You can buy a second hand car for that much money. How can they sell a carrycot with no wheels for that much money and then have the cheek to call it reasonable?!  I think for the whole pram package it worked out at close to £1000.

Our pram has probably been used 20 times in 4 months...it's probably the biggest waste of money that we've ever spent. Henry MUCH prefers his Connecta sling, it takes up no boot space whatsoever and doesn't get my carpet dirty when we bring it into the house after a muddy walk! 

It got me thinking about the things that we are told we MUST have before having a baby, but actually turn out to be an absolute waste of money. On the other hand are things we find that we can't live without that no one even mentioned before the baby was born.

Cot beds are all the rage now. Usually solid oak and nearly always expensive. The fact that I can't afford to sleep in an expensive solid oak bed is besides the point. Apparently it's cruel for a baby to sleep in anything less. I'd be a bad parent to buy a cheap Ikea cot wouldn't I?! The sales assistants try to con you and tell you that the £600 cot is actually a bargain because it converts into a toddler bed and so it will actually last for years. When I was a toddler I distinctly remember drawing on my bed with crayons and sticking Beatrix Potter stickers on the headboard! Luckily my parents weren't stupid enough to buy me a solid oak cot bed ey?! Again, common sense ruled and we spent £300 on a cot, wardrobe and changing unit as a package. As soon as Henry grows out of the cot it will be put away for baby #2 and he will sleep on a cheap Ikea toddler bed. I can then sleep easily at night knowing that if he decides to draw on it with crayons, the only thing I will have to worry about is which toy to take away as a punishment or how long he needs to spend on the naughty step. If he drew on a £600 cot with his crayons, he'd still be on the naughty step when all of his friends were going off to university.

Moses baskets are the next thing on my list. Yes, they are awfully cute and it's so lovely coming home from hospital and putting your tiny bundle down in it as soon as you get home...until the bundle starts to scream, and scream and scream! Babies don't appear to like Moses baskets much, they much prefer Mummy's chest or her bed. After a few weeks of battling, you eventually settle the baby in the basket and then you blink and the baby has outgrown it! You then find yourself in Mothercare, as I did this week, to buy a crib. So then you've bought a £600 cot bed, £100 Moses basket and £150 crib. Am I the only one that thinks that nearly £1000 for a place for a baby to sleep is somewhat ridiculous?! 

Our nursery is a lovely mix of beige and creams, gender neutral and really pretty. I was determined everything would match. Carpet, paint, wallpaper, border, pictures....and baby gym! We got a pretty play mat that matched everything and came complete with beige toys that hung down from the rails. Beige. What baby is going to enjoy looking at a beige toy hanging above him?! Needless to say, the toys have now been replaced with garishly bright christmas toys and surprise surprise, Henry now happily lies on the mat now!! So for any prospective parents, go with the rule that the brighter the better, even if it doesn't match your beautiful cream nursery.

My labour bag was packed full of paraphernalia that would help support me through the hardest few hours of my life. I had a mini handheld fan, a spray bottle full of calming lavender water for my face, a facecloth to put on my forehead, my iPod, massage oil, hair bands, straws to help me drink my water,  a range of snacks and drinks...you get the idea. Do you know how much of it came out of the bag? None of it. Not a single thing. The only thing we used was a LOT of change (for Rob's many coffees and car park charges) and mints (all i wanted to eat and I didn't have them in my carefully packed bag. Luckily Mum was on hand to pick some up at the garage on her way to the hospital). It then took me about 6 weeks after the birth to unpack my bag because there was so bloody much in there and I couldn't leave Henry for more than 2 minutes at a time (as I said, the beige toys didn't really capture his attention in the early days!!).

So there you have it. My advice to any first time parents is to buy the bare minimum. You will have so much to buy once the baby's born and Mothercare is always open. We are now looking at high chairs, weaning equipment, stage 2 car seats, stair gates and strollers and we find ourselves back in the same position that we were in 6 months ago. The Mothercare sales assistants might want to refrain from using the word 'reasonable' in front of me again though, I'm not sure I will be quite so polite this time.

It turns out prams aren't much good for beach walks either!