Preparing for Fatherhood

Hi All

My Fiancee is 16 weeks pregnant and im starting to think about what i need, to write a shopping list and start putting some money aside for major things like a cot, pram, nappy budget etc...

...first time Dad by the way.

Ive read many posts about not going ott with buying eventually useless things for parenthood. Im looking for mid-range suggestions e.g Prams/Cots. Not ott with prices.

So can people recommend the essentials, brands and models of the following:

Pram -
Cot -
Car seat -
Moses Basket -
Nappy brands -

Any other essentials i need to start building up, one of my best mates had about 1000 nappies stored in his loft ready for his first born, i laughed i remember but he said they will only last a few months.

Anyway i want to start getting prepared, in between having our central heating installed, garage converted, kicthen extended and patio laid...oh and my man cave.

Its going to be a very very busy few months before the elation of fatherhood for me

Any help/tips/pointing in the right direction is most welcome

Thanks
Dan

Army recruitment is that way ---->

One way plane ticket?

Did OP sign up to OCuk for fathering and gardening advice?

Odd choice of forum for it

Congrats

And welcome to hell

Pram:
We used a Phil & Ted sport. not cheap, but not stupid expensive. Lasted both kids and we sold it, knackered, for about £60. It suited us.

Car seat:
Maxi Cosi for us. Again, used for both and then sold on for a small rebate on purchase price. Fairly expensive, but seems sensible not to scrimp too much in this area if you can avoid it.

Moses Basket:
Whatever, really. Don't go for the full-frills, as you only use it for a few weeks.

Nappies:
Stuck with Pampers. Don't stock up too heavily in advance - you don't know what size of baby you'll be getting, and they accelerate through them quickly, early on. Keep an eye on prices - the supermarkets are really sneaky with how they price nappies ('offers' which are nothing of the sort, stocking different denominations to their rivals to avoid having to price match etc). Amazon offer good prices.

Avoid anything gimmicky. Just buy the stuff you know you'll require, and pick up anything else as the need arises.

Serious advice

Pram - Get an Uppababy Vista unless you live in London it is simply awesome and despite being expensive worth every single penny.

Car Seat - Get a Maxi Cosi and get isofix! Loads of people will tell you it's not worth it as it's so quick and easy to strap the seat in with the belt well they are wrong and just wish they had got isofix!

Cot depends what you want if you are decing out a nursery and want all new furniture a cotbed as part of a furniture set from any of the big brands will be fine (Get a nice mattress yo baby will spend hours and hours on it!)

Moses basket - We used ours for 6 months our son only came out of it when he was touching both ends!, any will do but I would seriously consider one of the things that sits right next to the bed that you can slide the baby into in the night, we both wish we'd gone with one even a rental from the NCT, again get a nice mattress!

Good luck it is a rollercoaster!

Nappies - we went pampers when he was tiny as they do feel nicer and have now gone with aldi in the day and pampers at night. We have tried a few brands and all leaked more often the pampers and aldi. We use Aldi wipes as well!

A Tommee tippie bottle maker is a life saver. Other than that, don't plan any thing, it takes all the fun out of it.
Dad of 4 btw.

Congratulations and good luck.

Nothing can prepare you.

No more having a good nights sleep, free time, extra cash, till he/she has moved out.

Other than that all down hill.

Congrats

Father of two here...

Aldi Nappies and wipes.. don't knock them they are really good quality and so much cheaper than the other brands.. never let us down..

Biggest regret me and the wife both had on our first child is the amount of money we spent on the nursery furniture... honestly you will soon realise apart from the Cot (which still can be anywhere from 12 weeks to a year) you will hardly use any of it. change tables, wardrobes, rocking chairs honestly you will use hardly any of it.

What you need is everything accessible as possible.. when you have something that poops, sicks, eats 20 times a day you'll want everything to hand where the majority of the activity is which is usually down stairs... make space or designate an area for nappies, wipes, bibs, muslin cloths, spare clothes etc.. Last thing you will want to do is keeping travelling upstairs every time you need to change the kid.

Ohh and don't be surprised after a few days if you get bored... I came to realise very quickly in the early days babies do absolutely nothing apart from eat, sleep, and poop.

When they start to smile and react to you in a way you can see and even when they actually start to move is when the fun begins..

ohh and if you are going to bottle feed or even if after a while at trying to BF she switches to bottles and formula go get a perfect prep machine... make bottle prep 1000% easier. they can be had on offer every now and then for half price.

You need a Lincoln Navigator.

Get some sleep now. You won't have any more for several more years.

Also, make the most of going to the toilet alone because that'll never happen again.

More serious note - don't worry about buying the best of everything. Babies don't care as long as they're fed, had some sleep and aren't laying in a pool of their own excrement. They're not bothered if they're in a tesco value baby grow and that's a good thing as you'll get through 4-5 a day some days!

enigma27 said:

Biggest regret me and the wife both had on our first child is the amount of money we spent on the nursery furniture... honestly you will soon realise apart from the Cot (which still can be anywhere from 12 weeks to a year) you will hardly use any of it. change tables, wardrobes, rocking chairs honestly you will use hardly any of it.

Click to expand...

Agree with the first bit of this. For Child 1 we spent around £1,000 on a nice Mamas & papas set of cot/bed, dresser/changing table, tallboy. After moving house and needing a wardrobe (previously built-in), we found it all selling on Ebay for peanuts - got the wardrobe for £75 (retail: £300 or so), and then bought the whole set for Child 2 for a grand total of £300.

We preferred having the changing stuff set up in junior's bedroom, and didn't mind the trip upstairs, but do whatever suits. Certainly, having a consistent nappy setup helps - just rely on muscle memory

Found the cheap wipes to be less effective than the pampers ones but, admittedly, didn't try Aldi.

Yeah second hand stuff is a very good idea, there are loads of 'local Mums' groups on Facebook that I suggest your missus joins.

You should be asking questions such as 'spec fiancée a new PC'..


Not long before my wife gives birth..

I've done all the prep. I've got my Commodore Amiga 1200 up to scratch with a new CF card and ACA1221 board.

I'm still waiting on news from NVidia to see what the new GPUs will bring to my 4670k PC.

Other than that:

Car seat/Pram:
I've got a Joie car seat in my car. She's got the Silvercross Wayfarer System and Isofix for her car.

Cot:
We've got a second had Moses Basket and a nursery with the Mamas and Papas Rocco Set. (Gone way up in price). The bed converts from a cot into a low lying bed when needed. All other nursery furniture was sourced second hand.

Nappies:
Been recommended the Aldi ones.



First baby for us. Good luck to you and your other half.

Take it from one new dad to another - the first 4 months are tough as your baby basically doesn't do much other than sleep and poo.

I'm six months in and mine has become the most wonderful little person. I get huge smiles all the time, cuddles, bitten and scratched and basically loved. It's amazing how quickly their brains develop and they love you unconditionally. It's really nice.

Oh and yeh - ALDI all the way

fastwunz said:

Take it from one new dad to another - the first 4 months are tough as your baby basically doesn't do much other than sleep and poo.

I'm six months in and mine has become the most wonderful little person. I get huge smiles all the time, cuddles, bitten and scratched and basically loved. It's amazing how quickly their brains develop and they love you unconditionally. It's really nice.

Click to expand...

Stockholm syndrome finally kicking in then?

Good, good.

I was one of those dad's who had to have everything for my little girl.

As much as i love buying her 'cute' outfits it was a waste of time with the amount of time they are in them.

Got the pram 2nd hand and sold it for the same price when she was in a pushchair.

Moses basket was also 2nd hand,the amount of time they spent in it was short.

Cot was also 2nd hand and we got a new mattress.

Try to spend as least as you can on items you will only use for a year,a £500 pram will do the same as a £100 2nd hand pram.

Nappies are a person thing,we found tesco to be good,just try each one to find a happy medium.

All the best for the birth,it's my daughters 9th birthday today and im down £200 so better save while you can