Buy in sale or wait till 12 weeks?

[scaredcat]

mothercare currently have a sale on until the 14th but unsure how far along i am as have irregular periods anyway. My partner wants to buy bottles sterliser ect whilst they are on sale but im wondering is it better to wait till we know we are 12 weeks? unsure how often they have sales. this will be our first baby but we are on a very low budget so going to try and get as much as possible in the sales or second hand where safe.

[Cheekymonkey85]

Hiya, and congratulations hun!

You will find that sales are quite frequent to be honest, all the main supermarkets have them every few months or so & you can pick up some bargains. I got my Moses basket with stand from aldi a few weeks ago for £30. I expect there will be at least 1 more baby event before I'm due in July. So I don't think there is any rush to buy in any sales you see now. Amazon is good as well for the odd bits. The tommee tippee set with Sterilizer & bottles is rrp of over £100 but is alway on offer somewhere for £65 for example.

[scaredcat in reply to Cheekymonkey85]

Thanks, good to know. want to be ready and feels like so much to do but still waiting for the midwife to get back to me with a date for booking appointment. fingers crossed should be soon as been a week since i phoned her.

[Cheekymonkey85 in reply to scaredcat]

There really isn't as much to get as you think, most things are quite faddy to be honest. You can easily waste cash as a first timer lol don't be put off by second hand either- Facebook & eBay can be great!!

Awww it's so exciting all those first appointments 😊 I'm due my 20wk scan on the 12th (this is my second baby) & I cant wait- love seeing them on the screen, it's amazing x

[emmab178]

start looking on gumtree and eBay rather than Mothercare sales if money is tight. Really good second hand stuff in nearly new nct sales aswell.

I got our steriliser and tommee tippee machine from gumtree for £10.

I didn't get anything till after 25 weeks.

[scaredcat]

Thanks for all the advice it makes me less nervous. looking forward to my first appointment to get things rolling. only thing i know we are definitely buying new is the mattress for the cot. will just keep checking gumtree and fb to see what turns up and hopefully be prepared.

I will talk to my freind nearer the time for more advice as she has a 6 month old baby but don't want to tell anyone just yet until i know how far along things are.

[hellonyago]

Congratulations! I personally would wait. There will always be sales or baby events somewhere and actually supermarkets, Amazon, Argos are all cheaper than Mothercare usually. You don’t need to buy anything till the 3rd trimester really, as tempting as it is to rush out and get everything.

[roxannacar]

Mother care have regular sales. Also look at Emma's diary, Argos ... just have s little walk in the baby section at the super market.

Also if you're tight on money I would consider giving breast feeding a try, saves £10 per formula tub not to mention all the other health benefits.

[Lighthouse0104]

Try the NCT nearly new sale absolutely fabulous , charity shops for clothes some with designer tags at a fraction of the price, gum tree and sphock also , good luck on your journey x

[LucyJJ]

At the NCT nearly new sales or local Fb baby groups there are dozens and dozens of people who are trying to shift their baby stuff for very little money. I think it’s because as first timers we often impulse buy things ourselves and are given by friends/family, then we have a lot of basics for a possible baby No2... and trying to sell baby clothes that are often as good as new is really hard.

They won’t do electrics at the NCT nearly new sales but pretty much everything else and you can pick up a lot of amazing bargains! I’d go for those, to be honest. I bought a steriliser for £1 (for the microwave) 5 years ago and used it for two kids for 3 years. Currently storing it in case we have another child. I love a bargain!

[Hidden]

I don't think you will need as much stuff as you think. A lot of it is marketing and companies putting pressure on you to buy stuff that just isn't necessary. We plan on breastfeeding (free, no need for formula, bottles, steriliser etc) and we've also bought a stack of washable nappies. Will use baby wipes for poops but for wet nappies we will use washable cloths or flannels and warm water. The old fashioned ways are so much cheaper. Also I imagine as soon as your friends find out you're pregnant you might be offered lots of hand me downs. I've already got stacks of stuff! Exciting times. Just relax and enjoy the ride. Bargain hunting is so much fun!

[Babygirltorianne]

Tbh I got everything off amzon except pram and cot bed xx

[Kate91]

I would advise having a cheap set of bottles handy if your going to breastfeed.i learnt the hard way when my second would not latch on that we were going to have to bottle feed. Had to send people out while i was in hospital to get bottles for at home. And yes I persevered but he was born at 1 pm and by 6 am her only managed one feed couldn't get to suck properly turned out he had a bit of a tongue tie

[hough]

Totally agree with Kate91!! We combi-fed BF & formula bottle from day 3 as I found BF hard due to low milk supply, as result of hormone related thyroid condition & big blood loss during birth (placenta came out in bits rather than full thing). He was combi-fed til 3.5 months which I consider a massive achievement as when I pumped I got approx 10ml from both boobs.

Be prepared, have a few cheap bottles, teats, bottle washer & cheap microwave steamer handy in case (Tomme Tippee Perfect Prep machine - boob temp formula in about a minute - also an absolute godsend & worth every penny when the chips are down & you have a hungry, screaming tyke to feed at 1am or 4am & your boobs aren't playing ball or your hubby/bloke willing to step up & do a night feed so u can get a couple mins kip each night 😉)

[scaredcat in reply to hough]

Thanks Kate 91 and hough. will make sure we have bottles as was hoping to try both.

Thanks to everyone for all the advice. its really helpful.

[hough]

The hubby also doubles as a cheap "bottle washer" by the way, but I did mean a little brush with a scrubbing end for inside the teat!! We found Tommee Tippee bottles ok (advised to get by everyone & Aptimil ready formula), but MAM bottles way better for our tyke in end & he struggled with Aptimil & preferred SMA milk from very early on.