Preparing for Fatherhood

[Kingdom34]

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

 

[Kingdom34]

Thanks all, me and my fiancée have just sat here for the last 30mins, absorbing with a few chuckles thrown in at some of the more comical advice.

Its been a great help, so far weve had one trip to John Lewis, me personally im building up the "its really happening" thoughts....

We have heard and this post has really confirmed Maxi Cosi are the go to for car seats, so working back we will be finding out what theyre compatable with, with regards to prams.

We had seen the Oyster 2 pram, but then JL had Icandy (too expensive), Vista, bugaboo and Silver Cross in the specific store we went to.

Fiancee isn't too keen on moses baskets, so were angling for a crib.

Very interesting about the Aldi nappies for the day and Pampers for the night comments. I will take a look in Aldi at costs etc to again get some idea.

I have a Honda Civic at present - great boot space so not worried at all about that, but its the Type S so has 2 doors - pain for a baby car seat.
My Fiancee has a 56 plate Corsa, so me personally I want to get rid and upgrade to something around the 6k mark....

...but due to the impending house improvements (its all go). It may have to be a lease option for the time being if not at all.

Thanks though everyone and have a great weekend all

 

[Kingdom34]

Nice one il download the app now Weve just booked up for the NEC - Baby Show in a few weeks time and i notice Aldi have a stand for the nappies Mamia

 

[Kingdom34]

Thanks for all the posts, building up knowledge as the weeks pass....

...its already been a rollercoaster, 20 week scan was supposed to be Tuesday, we were told on the last meeting it was 10.30am, never thought about looking at the letter that was given to us at the same time....9.40am tuesday we decided to have a look....9.30am....arrived at the hospital at 10am to be told youre late....no **** sherlock...lets just say, its been rescheduled for monday next week....great start.

...Going to the NEC Baby Show this weekend....anyone experienced these shows? Are the discounts really that good, as ive checked a few email offers so far and the pricing is the same as in the shops....one Breastfeeding starter kit was actually £40 in Argos compared to £43 at the show....im bordering on the line "its not all great" with regards to the discounts they may offer....

....mainly looking for travel systems, so if i can get some decent discounts i cant in the shops i will purchase.

Advice as always, appreciated and i hope youre all going well on the fatherhood journey.

 

[Kingdom34]

So a nice little update....had the 20 week scan yesterday...all is well, didnt find out the sex as we want it to be a surprise

NEC Show was good, served the purpose...we had a budget, which we slightly exceeded but i found we saved around £200-250 on retail price (well i know that we should never really pay retail price)....

...Few things that stood out for me, it wasnt a big show tbh, ive heard the London ones are bigger.
Babies R Us are a good tool for negotiation, against Mothercare who we managed to get to price match for most of the products and even ones that Babies R Us didnt sell..
Mothercare were offering 10% off and Babies R Us were offering 20%

So what did we get....

Oyster 2 Pram, Carry Cot, Hood Colour Pack, Adaptors, Pebble Plus and Isafe/isofix base, plus a nice Crib...oh and PoddlePod...all for £820 delivered.

Started off at peppermint.co.uk who i found were friendly and gave good advice and showed all the travel systems in one area, but way too expensive at £740 for everything listed above apart from a crib, poddlepod and it was a Pebble and isofix and not the updated versions ie Pebble Plus and Isafe.

Then we went to Mothercare who seemed reasonable, very friendly and we also knew in the back of our heads that they price matched.

Babies R us, although they dont seem as professional and their advice wasnt as good...as stated a great bargaining tool at any show and somehow they also sold MAM bottle sets for less than the actual MAM stands.

Without going into all the figures around a 20% saving overall, im happy with that and well worth the ticket prices..happy with the Oyster 2, its not top end, but its stylish, suits our needs and its what we both liked which is the main point...no arguing also which was great

We also managed to pic up 6 free MAM feeding bottles....only parts next on the list are - Baby monitor, anyone have any experience? Mattress monitor and a few licks of paint for the new baby room...oh and my trusty vinyl cutter will be making some very customised wall decals...i run my side business via ebay and fb so im not sure if i can say the name but its all vinyl related products

One happy father to be

 

[Kingdom34]

Good luck to you guys who are at the prepping stage, and fair play Kingdom for not learning the sex. No way did I have that kind of patience. With regards to baby monitor, how big is your house? We picked up a cheapo Motorola unit off of Amazon and tbh it's pointless (just like everyone here said it would be). She's either a) asleep, b) awake and happy to chill, or c) crying. Only rarely do you hear her fussing a bit before hitting c. Your call, but I promise you that you won't get much use out of it in the first couple months since you'll probably have her with you 95% of the time. Moses basket ftw.


My little girl is asleep on my chest now and has started to give us some amazing smiles. Warning: smiles may cause heat damage to your heart.

Lovely read that post...made me melt in anticipation.
Im not usually a patient person, but i know this one is definately worth being patient for...i said to my partner, im either going to faint or cry when the little one is delivered...im a big softie and i think after reading the (heat damage sentance) it maybe on the cards that il cry.

House we have a 3 bed semi...a few friends have had monitors. Weve looked after our neice who was 5mths old and i was up all night worrying at the slightest noise....piece of mind and also the blanket monitor.

 

[Kingdom34]

Can anyone recommend a good baby monitor, blanket monitor, muslin cloths (bulk preferably), crib mattress and good places to buy baby clothes.....ie not too expensive but good quality on the baby clothes and muslin cloths.

I know we will probably be bought a lot but i just want to see if anyone asks where we would want them bought from