First Baby - Financial Implications

Yachtie said:

So are the prams. Expensive and usable for only a short period of time. If I'd known, I would have bought a pushchair which reclines fully and a newborn car seat separately. Now I am stuck with hardly used pram which cost in excess of €700. We haven't used in ages and I bought an 'umbrella' stroller in Tesco for €20.00 and have been using it for about a year now.

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A big +1 to that. We have rarely used ours. The McClaren is the business though and is light and portable.

One thing you might consider too is getting a travel cot in case you're going anywhere over night. They fold up into a rectangular box and are light enough.

Firefly said:

A big +1 to that. We have rarely used ours. The McClaren is the business though and is light and portable.

One thing you might consider too is getting a travel cot in case you're going anywhere over night. They fold up into a rectangular box and are light enough.

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handy allright but a nightmare to fold up and put back in their cover when done with them....no matter how many times I use the damn thing, I still never close it properly 1st time!

Baby Bath- disagree with earlier poster...we still use ours over a year later. saves having to fill the bath every time plus when they're younger, the smaller bath is easier for them to cope with

Delboy said:

handy allright but a nightmare to fold up and put back in their cover when done with them....no matter how many times I use the damn thing, I still never close it properly 1st time!

Baby Bath- disagree with earlier poster...we still use ours over a year later. saves having to fill the bath every time plus when they're younger, the smaller bath is easier for them to cope with

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I found the travel cot great, when not used as a cot when we were away, for storing toys at home and also as a playpen when mine were little.

And I also found the baby bath so inportant when they were under 12 months. Babies are so small and need holding in the bath - stooping over a big bath, after a pregnancy that messed up my hips and lower back, would have been awful.

But I disagree with the no-soothers post. My two had soothers for their first 18 months but use was restricted after the 6 month mark to cot-only as much as possible. It wasn't a problem taking them away - done and dusted in 2 nights!
And guess what... not breastfeeding for the first 3 days/weeks/months/(years!!!) does not mean your child is automatically going to be the dunce of the class/crippled with asthma/tortured with middle ear infections!

More important than anything else, in my mind, is to try to enjoy your baby as much as possible and don't beat yourself up.
I stressed so much about doing everything right/by the book with my first born that I really did not enjoy the first 4 months. If your method works for you and your home life then go with it and take no notice of the "helpful" others who seem to have expert advice on everything.

Best of luck.

There is an excellent Irish parenting website with a message forum www.rollercoaster.ie which covers all aspects of having a baby to bringing up teenagers.

Good luck with the pregnancy.

luna said:

And I also found the baby bath so inportant when they were under 12 months. Babies are so small and need holding in the bath - stooping over a big bath, after a pregnancy that messed up my hips and lower back, would have been awful.

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We used the kitchen sink...the photos are class!

Firefly said:

We used the kitchen sink...the photos are class!

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My mother tried this with me many years ago.

She left me for a short while on the draining board and when she got back I had eaten half a box of Daz

LOL - i was a kitchen sink baby myself and have the pics to prove it.

Congratulations MissRibena, great news!

We too received lots of hand-me-downs from various brothers/sisters so the early years cost very little. In fact we seem to have accumulated huge amounts of baby products/toys/clothes etc without any actual money changing hands! There were some sighs of relief amongst family members as their spare rooms emptied and ours became full, though.

Only tip I'd give would be not about money at all...but will mean your child will sleep so listen carefully: Put the baby down awake.

It's so easy when they're born to cuddle them in your arms and let them fall asleep- you will do it, your husband will, relatives will- but don't let them! Always put the baby down awake- this will teach them to fall asleep by themselves and not rely on being in your arms to sleep. This in turn will mean that when they go through the rhythm of sleep and wake up during the night that they can go back to sleep again by themselves without you needing to pick them up every forty minutes.

We did not know this for our first child, which cost us over a year of sleep. We knew it for our second who never had a problem sleeping. You may forget this when your beautiful baby is born so be careful!

Would not worry too much about the extra costs- as posters said apart from few big items in the first few months a baby is not expensive- plus you are not going out really at all- so savings there!
Childcare really is the big expense when the time comes....
Something I would say and reading the posts here it is obvious- all couples will find as they go along that certain systems or ways of doing things work for them and I would say try not to feel under pressure to do things a certain way if it doesn't feel right for you.
We didn't use a soother but more because baby wasn't interested in it really so we didn't encourage it- for others it is a life saver- again do what works for your family.
We were given a changing table and thought it was brilliant- fitted behind the door in sitting room so kept baskets with nappies,vests etc downstairs.Would highly recommend it-(of course you dont leave baby unattended) but then others think differently!
Ditto- baby bath- baby of 2 still often uses it-and she is tall!- handier than filling up big bath- less intimidating for little baby.
Most useless item- was nappy bin- much better just to put straight outside asap!
We liked pram as it was winter time- also used it downstairs for baby naps when baby small.But others think differently.
It is really hard to say because different ways suits different people
A previous poster mentioned horror story of baby sleeping in parents' bed- I breastfed and as baby got older she often slept in our bed- she is now 2 and regularly sleeps in our bed- it's not a horror at all- we love it!- to see her lovely little face first thing in the morn- it's only a precious few years as far as we are concerned- but others think this is somehow a horror! so don't be afraid to do what feels right for you...it's a wonderful time..enjoy it all

Vanilla said:

Congratulations MissRibena, great news!

We too received lots of hand-me-downs from various brothers/sisters so the early years cost very little. In fact we seem to have accumulated huge amounts of baby products/toys/clothes etc without any actual money changing hands! There were some sighs of relief amongst family members as their spare rooms emptied and ours became full, though.

Only tip I'd give would be not about money at all...but will mean your child will sleep so listen carefully: Put the baby down awake.

It's so easy when they're born to cuddle them in your arms and let them fall asleep- you will do it, your husband will, relatives will- but don't let them! Always put the baby down awake- this will teach them to fall asleep by themselves and not rely on being in your arms to sleep. This in turn will mean that when they go through the rhythm of sleep and wake up during the night that they can go back to sleep again by themselves without you needing to pick them up every forty minutes.

We did not know this for our first child, which cost us over a year of sleep. We knew it for our second who never had a problem sleeping. You may forget this when your beautiful baby is born so be careful!

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Agreed Vanilla.

One of my kids was born premature and spent many weeks in hospital. When he came home, he slept 12 hours per night from 7pm to 7am. The reason for this is that the nurses were so busy, that they couldn't possible cuddle him to sleep so he gave up trying.