If there is every an event in your life that requires you to buy a lot of 'stuff' it's having a baby! There are endless checklists online, parents are often more than willing to share their 'must haves' and there's just no avoiding buying a lot of the essentials. I absolutely loved shopping for all thing mini, both before Isabella was born and after. Those 3am night feeds were the perfect time for a spot of online shopping! After a few months of new orders arriving almost daily (of course I needed to stock up on endless craft supplies for my 2 month old!) we decided to take a step back and think carefully about whether or not we needed each item. However, there have been a few things I really wish we had bought earlier. There use would have made life easier, we would have got more use out of them and therefore making the more expensive purchases worthwhile.
1) ISO-FIX base that would ultimately match a Group 0+/1/2/3 car seat - When we were looking at car seats for Isabella to use as a baby we were swayed by the pushchair we had already bought. During the amazon Black Friday deals we had managed to pick up the Cosatto Giggle 2 Travel System in All Star for a bargain price, which therefore meant we decided to later buy the matching car seat from Cosatto. We opted against buying an ISO-FIX base as it seemed like an expensive purchase we could avoid and my car is so old it doesn't have ISO-FIX anyway. In hindsight we wish we had researched Group 0+/1/2/3 car seats prior to buying the Group 0 car seat, as we only ended up buying an ISO-FIX base when we bought Isabella's Joie iAnchor Advance i-Size Combination Car Seat. If I think about all those times when she was little I was struggling to get her car seat strapped in thanks to post labour pains I wish we had just bought an ISO-FIX base and Group 0 car seat that would have been both compatible with our pushchair and chosen Group 0+/1/2/3 car seat. It may seem a bit eager to look at bigger car seats before your baby is even born, but you could save yourself a lot of hassle. Even if you just identify a car seat brand you like the look of, so that you have the ISO-FIX base for that brand ready to choose a bigger car seat as and when is necessary.
2) Lightweight stroller - Back in January/February we were kindly sent the Little Tikes Stroll n' Go Stroller (read my full review here) and haven't looked back since. Originally we hadn't seen the need to buy a lightweight stroller, after all we had a perfectly good travel system from Cosatto. However, as soon as we started using the Little Tikes Stroller and could see how easy it was to use, how lightweight and compact we quickly changed our minds. It also meant that we always had a pram/stroller in our cars, instead of constantly having to swap it over. Now that Isabella wants to walk a lot more we use this stroller more than the travel system. It's just easier to fit in the car, has handles to hang bags off for convenience and allows Isabella to either sit up or lie back. This stroller is currently only £49.99 on amazon - well worth the money in my opinion!
3) LittleLife Toddler Backpack with Rein - As soon as Isabella mastered the skill of walking she was off! With no concept of fear or danger walking has been a big learning curve for both her and us, she's just too young to fully understand. Cars, roads, drops, water etc. all present very real dangers to children and with Isabella now walking relatively quickly and completely independently our job to keep her safe has never been so important. We don't want to keep her strapped in a pram all of the time, she's learnt this new exciting skill and she wants to practice is all day long. In fact nowadays she rarely crawls...she's all about the walking! LittleLife do a fantastic range of fun animal backpacks, some of which have reins too. We were kindly sent the Bee backpack, which Isabella has loved wearing and we've loved knowing that we can allow her to explore while keeping her safe.
4) Toys/books with a strap for the car seat/pram - Long gone have the days where Isabella would sleep in the pushchair or on long car journeys, instead we're faced with a toddler who wants to be constantly entertained. No matter how many books/toys we provide her on a car journey or in her pushchair they always end up on the floor and then we have a very sad little girl on our hands. We then bought a variety of books/toys that had straps, so they could be attached to the pushchair/car seat/back carrier. I just wish we had thought about it earlier, as we could have saved ourselves a lot of tears and tantrums!
Ooh, clip on books! Definitely ordering some of those :)
ReplyDeleteOoh, clip on books! Definitely ordering some of those :)
ReplyDeleteThis is a great list! I wish I'd bought a sling earlier as I bought a really cheap one that hurts my back. As times gone on I wish I'd have invested! #bloggerclubuk
ReplyDeleteWe love our Ladybird Little Life back pack. We take it every where. #BloggerClubUK
ReplyDeleteIrishBabyFairy (can't work out how to change ID)
ReplyDeleteGreat tips there. Can totally relate to the 3am online shopping, bought so much stuff I never even used! Definitely need a lightweight stroller - as much as I love my iCandy Peach, it does take up a lot of room in the boot! #ablogginggoodtime
I'm not sure if there's anything I wish we'd bought sooner, we were quite lucky in getting advice (and stuff!) from my sister who had her first a few years before my son was born! x #TheList
ReplyDeleteMmmm... I can't think of anything but certainly have a few things I wish I hadn't bought!! #thelist
ReplyDeleteI can certainly name a few things for sure - love the reins... be needing some soon!
ReplyDeleteThanks for linking to #ablogginggoodtime