The short version

  • A safe sleep space and good blackout do most of the heavy lifting.
  • Borrow or buy pre-loved for short-lived items.
  • Most of the rest can wait until you know your baby.

Baby lists are long, and a fair amount on them is optional. Strip it back to what genuinely earns its place in the first months and you save money, space and a lot of decision fatigue.

Worth buying well

  • A safe sleep space: a crib or cot with a firm, flat, well-fitting mattress.
  • Proper blackout for the room.
  • A comfortable feeding chair, if you have the space.
  • Enough sleepsuits, muslins and the basics of feeding.

Borrow or buy pre-loved

Bedside cribs, Moses baskets, newborn clothes and many gadgets are used for a matter of weeks. They are perfect candidates for borrowing or buying second hand, with a new mattress for any sleep surface. Your wallet and the planet both benefit.

You need far less than the lists suggest, and almost none of it urgently.

Can wait, or skip

Much of the cot-top, bath-time and play paraphernalia can wait until your baby is here and you know what suits them. It is genuinely easier to buy well once you know your actual life, rather than the imagined one. Leave a little budget and a little space for the few things you discover you really need.

Bubba & Me tip

Resist completing the whole list before the birth. Leave room to buy the few things you only discover you need once the baby arrives.

General guidance only. Always follow current safe-sleep advice for any sleep surface, and choose a new mattress for second-hand cribs and cots.