XP: What do we spend money on and what do we not...

[doctordonna]

Dec 17, 2013 7:08:01 GMT -5 rugbywife said:

Stroller?
Car Seat (since we will have to change it all the time)?  Get the carseat/stroller combo to start with.  
Crib?  Yes, you need one of these.  Eventually.  
Change Table? These are cool, but it was way easier for us to change them on the floor.  
Cloth Diapers? For burp cloths.  The cheap gerber ones from BRU worked better than any fancy burp cloths ever. 
High Chair? Eventually
Vibrating Swing thingy? Possibly.  This one I would borrow from someone (if you know someone who has one) because your kid may not like them.  Neither of mine did and I would've been PISSED if I'd bought them and then never used them. 
 Breast Pump (I will have to pump after 4 months because I go back to work at 4.5 months and DH is off for the rest of the year)...of course, should I wait to see if I can even effing breast feed before I buy one?) Check with your insurance if pumps are covered.  And I would wait until after the baby is born before buying one.  Check with your hospital (if you're birthing in a hospital) to see if you can rent a hospital grade one.  It was about $50/month for the super fancy one.  
Monitor? (We live in a small bungalow...but we do spend time in the basement...or at least DH will, watching rugby, lol) Not necessary right now.  You can wait to purchase this until after the kid comes home.  

Any other big ticket items I am missing? I would seriously seriously consider borrowing any of the larger items (jumperoo, Bumbo, etc.) from friends instead of buying them.  See if your kid likes them before you purchase.  

The only thing your kid absolutely needs when he/she comes home from the hospital is food, diapers, a blanket, and somewhere to sleep.  Everything else is just gravy.  

[terpsfan]

My kids are 6yo and 3yo now. The "baby" things we are still using from day 1 are...Britax Marathon car seats for both (although 6yo is at the height limit now so she's moving out), Sunshine Kids Radians for both in the other car (they'll be in those for awhile they are taller seats), single BOB (for 3yo when we need to walk far), Joovy sit and stand (although 6yo is getting too big for this but it's good to have when we are going somewhere where there's a ton of walking), Ergo carrier (still piggyback 3yo sometimes), that wooden highchair thing from One Step Ahead (tray off pushed up to table..I think that will be a permanent fixture, my mom even sits in it!). We now have removed the changing pad from all dressers now that DS is potty trained WOO HOO but that was up there for 6 years. It's amazing now I can see the top of my dresser!

[Deleted]

Oh in Canada there seem to be a million high chairs and baby carriers on Kijiji. Like all sorts of brands and types (and lots of bjorn lol). You can get a decent used high chair for $15.

I scored a sweet deal on a nice Cherry crib and change table. $300 for both, the family was moving out of the country. They paid like $1500 two years earlier.

[SusanBAnthony]

Dec 17, 2013 7:08:01 GMT -5 rugbywife said:

Stroller?
Car Seat (since we will have to change it all the time)?
Crib?
Change Table?
Cloth Diapers?
High Chair?
Vibrating Swing thingy?
Breast Pump (I will have to pump after 4 months because I go back to work at 4.5 months and DH is off for the rest of the year)...of course, should I wait to see if I can even effing breast feed before I buy one?)
Monitor? (We live in a small bungalow...but we do spend time in the basement...or at least DH will, watching rugby, lol)

Any other big ticket items I am missing?

A nice stroller (or two) was worth it for me. We lived in an urban area that got a lot of snow. We walked a lot, so we needed a stroller that pushed well on snowy sidewalks, maneuvered over snow plow piles of ice, etc. so we got a nice jogging stroller that pushed really well. We also got the rain cover as that was needed for the freezing days. I got a second umbrella stroller that was smaller and easier to stow in the trunk and haul in and out for shopping trips.

For car seat, the only thing that mattered to me was having a higher weight limit so the baby could stay in it, rear facing, as possible. The bigger seats rear face, too, but they are gigantic and we have little cars. I was able to keep them rear facing until age 2 in the baby bucket.

Crib, eh, cheap is fine, IMO. I didn't want to convert to a fell bed, and even if I had, I could buy a cheap crib, then go buy a full bed, probably for less money. But we have small bedrooms so I knew I wanted the kids to have twin beds.

Changing table- use the dresser if you have a low one, or go buy the cheapest one at. Target. You can also often find them used.

Cloth diapers I hated, so I vote to buy a variety but don't spend hundreds initially.

High chair- get the booster seats that strap onto a regular chair. Takes up much less space, can easily be brought to a relatives house, and my 4 and 6 year olds still use gem as booster seats at the table with the trays. Keeps them in their chair so there aren't shenanigans at meals.

I couldn't live without my vibrating bouncy seat and swing. I had the cheapest models that vibrated, lol. Also can often find used.

Pump- I was really committed to nursing, and wanted to have my pump ahead of time in case I needed it for some reason within the first few days. On the other hand, I could have had DH run out and buy one at any time. I wanted the pump and storage bags, etc, just to be prepared. I think either way is fine.

[SusanBAnthony]

For clothes, get like 6 sleepers in newborn size, and 6 in 0-3 months. My babies were 8 and 9 lbs, and were still in newborn for a few weeks. Same with diapers, buy one pack newborn and one size 1.

All the clothes they really need at first are sleepers, and like a pp said, they will go through a few a day sometimes, so make sure you have enough to last a couple days.

For strollers, it is highly worth it to go try them out in person. Some were just not the right height for me to push easily, and some the folding was impossible, stuff like that. You need to try them out.

[taratru]

Spend higher on quality if you're planning on more than one and they will be spaced enough to use it twice. I'm talking about infant seat, crib, high chair, all the big ticket stuff.

Never ever ever drop tons of cash on clothes. No matter how cute they are.

eta: I forgot to say that buying a bunch of stuff just because it's on the checklist or in the book doesn't make sense.  Get the bare minimum and build from there.  For example, I never used a burp cloth, just blankets.  And I borrowed a swing (thank goodness, because my last kid didn't like it).  I also have had three kids and never owned a baby monitor, so yes, you can live without one. 

[heyjude]

Everyone is going to have a different take and this thread could easily drive you batty. But here goes. Take everything with a grain of salt.

Stroller?
You have to pick according to your lifestyle. If you aren't jogging or going off pavement that often, those fancy joggers are simply not worth it. I know from experience. We have a Phil and Teds and we often just use the Maclaren umbrella. If I could do it again I would look more carefully at the City Mini because it might just be the best of both worlds. Make sure you get an infant seat adapter if you get a jogger.

Car Seat (since we will have to change it all the time)?
All the time? Eh. We've had two. The infant carrier that we used up to 16 months (gracco snugride 35) and now the convertible britax advocate that I think we can use a very long time (60 lbs?). Don't start our with the convertible tho because being able to transport a sleeping newborn from car to home is PRICELESS.

Crib?
Get new but not a lot of variation here. Pick the style you like.

Change Table?
Skip. Use the top of a long dresser with a changing pad. Does double duty, takes up less space, done.

Cloth Diapers?
Prefolds and covers in the beginning. Pockets when they fit. Don't cheap out on the prefolds. But I have had just as good of luck with the cheap pockets (Sunbabies) as I have has with the more expensive ones (BGs) but I prefer the BGs. Buy used when possible.

High Chair?
Skip until needed. I have the $19 one from ikea that I looooove. Don't be swayed by the stokke trip trap or the like. Those things are overpriced and fug. The goal should be to get your kid in a regular dining chair, not keep her in a modern piece art until college. Just get something that can be cleaned easily (we can hose off the ikea one!).

Vibrating Swing thingy?
Yes. But you can find these used everywhere. Look for a used baby item group in your area. These come up all the time on mine. But definitely get one and a bouncer too.

Breast Pump?
Invest in a good one. If you find a really good deal now snatch it up. But there is also no harm in waiting until needed. If it turns out you need one to help establish breastfeeding before you purchase you can always rent a high grade one from the hospital.

Monitor?
I loved having a video one but hated ours. Don't get a Levana.

[heyjude]

As for where to drop money and where to not on brands? It's personal preference all the way. I knew that I wanted an organic mattress so we dropped big money for the naturepedic. The high chair? Not important and we got that for free as a secondhand. Your call.

I second (third?) spending the money for the Aden & Anais swaddle blankets and burp clothes. Those things were the BEST! And we still use the blankets in the summer.

[mominatrix]

See, we spent big money on a stroller (based on everybody's recommendations) and hardly ever ever used it. Once my kids were in carriers they wouldn't put up with it, and I personally found them to be a lot easier. In the carrier world, start with a soft carrier (Moby / K'Tan) then move to a structured carrier (Ergo / Beco); get a frame pack if you're planning on doing a lot of outdoorsy stuff like hiking.

IKEA is a fantastic source for all things kid and baby. If they don't have it there, then look elsewhere, but one of my great parenting regrets is being all "oh, I don't want my preshus in an Ikea crib!" Yah. No. Great cribs. Great high chairs. And this.

Things like swings and strollers are also available in good baby consignment stores... it's really worth it to seek out those places in your area now... Also, Craigslist is a fantastic source for this stuff.


Probably 90% of my kids' clothes is seccondhand, and from places like Goodwill and Value Village / Savers at that. They grow out of them, trash them, etc... tons available for practically nothing.



IMHO, spend good money (even overspend) on car seats.  After the infant stage, continue to spend good money on carseats. Totally worth it.

[wawa]

Not that you haven't gotten essentially the same advice from 24 people already...but we all like to run our mouths about kid shit.

The infant seats are easy - either get the graco snugride or the chico keyfit. They're roughly the same price. roughly the same size. (eta: I was just double checking this - and there are half a dozen graco SR models some of which this is true of, others it's not.  Whatever - they're all good.  just grab one.  I like the chico myself.)  Standard all around good seats with all the features you want. I went to a store and snapped them both in and out of the bases a few times to decide which one I liked better and was done. We have an amazing baby store near us where the staff is actually trained (i.e. not BRU) and they told us that you pretty well go with one of those two seats and call it good and there's no real reason to hem and haw over it. there are "better" seats, but they're typically bulkier and/or MUCH more $$ and unless you have a HUGE vehicle they're really a pain in the ass. Alternatively if you have a VW bug or something, then you'll need something special as well. Don't bother with the convertible now. You'll just have to find somewhere to store the damn thing and they aren't small. We just bought ours on cyber monday and shorti is 9 months. And a BIG 9 months too. My petite 18 month old nephew is still in his keyfit.

I agree with everybody else that strollers are a lifestyle thing. I personally knew we'd be doing a lot of sidewalk and paved hiking path strolling, with the occasional foray onto grass or gravel so I wanted something a step up from the standard 4" wheel travel systems, but a BOB was overkill IMO since I wouldn't be running with her. (didn't stop MH from wanting one really really bad) Again, went to the store, grabbed random heavy shit off shelves to load them up and drove the floor models around and around and around. Our store even lets you take them outside to really test drive and we went across the street to the power line easement and offroaded to REALLY test them. Then once we'd narrowed it down to two choices we borrowed MH's boss's BOB and a nestie friend's City Mini and took both seats for a walk through our 'hood. We ended up with a City Mini GT with an infant seat adapter and I have nothing but good things to say. The fold and push on that thing is amazing. MIL and her sisters pitched in together to buy it for us at my shower.

Look for carriers second hand. The nice ones are REALLY durable, so they're great used. I picked up an ergo from my local nestie swap page and it looks new. When I'm done with it I can probably sell it again for the same thing I paid if I'm careful not to stain it. But for how much I like it and how useful it is I'd have bee happy paying for a new one (watch all the baby/mom flash deal sites...these come up often if you aren't picky about color). This will depend on your kid - but if it's a bust for you they're easy to resell at least.

Buy a pump. Don't break the seal on the box. If you need it early the last thing you're going to want to do is stuff your engorged puffy postpartum self into real clothes to go spend $$$$. Get a double. this is something where it's worth spending the money. Does canadian health care cover the cost of a pump?

we got a swing/bouncer combo that was a life saver because it was the only place shorti would nap for the first 3 months or so - but that's one of those things where you just never know. Our consignment place had our exact swing, NWT, for like half the price we paid for it - so I advocate checking for used versions of anything you don't get as a gift. Or even things you do. (return the gift, buy the used. use the difference to buy diapers.)

Everything else we completely cheaped out on and have no regrets doing so.

[stealthmom]

I would try to get everything second hand except for a crib and car seat. You use this stuff for such a short period of time you csn find some good stuff on CL.

[rugbywife]

Thank you so much everyone...I am going to read through this thread over the holidays and take notes. I am happy to hear that you don't all think buying an ikea crib is.the.end.of.the.world....because that was the plan. I refuse to spend $400 on a crib. Can't do it. I am fine with spending money on a good car seat. Now we just have to discuss the stroller issue, lol. We will see what DH thinks once he sees some of the prices!!