Monday Q&A |How Much Baby Stuff Do I Need?

Every Monday I answer questions sent in by you, my readers. If you have a question you’d like me to answer in an upcoming Q&A post, leave me a comment or send me an email (thefrugalgirl {at} gmail {dot} com) with “Q&A” in the subject line.

This question is from Jill, and since my answer got so long, hers is the only question I’ll answer this week.

My husband and I are expecting our first child at the end of October. Can you give some frugal tips for a first time parent (cloth diapers, what you really need and don’t need for baby, food, etc.)

This is a good question, as the baby paraphernalia marketers would like you to believe that you need a plethora of stuff in order to properly take care of a the smallest person in your household!

And while babies do require a certain amount of new purchases, I think you can get by without most of the stuff that’s sold at Babies R Us. Some baby products are helpful, to be sure, but it’s good to remember that people raised babies for years and years without exersaucers, baby manicure kits, and potty chairs that sing.

This post is not going to be exhaustive (though it’s long enough that you may get exhausted reading it!), but it will give you an idea of how I approached this.

Food

(can you tell this is an old picture?? I’m slightly embarrassed by how dependent I was on flash when my kids were babies!)

One of the best and most frugal things you can do as a new parent is to breastfeed. The health benefits for you and your baby are numerous, and breastmilk could hardly be less expensive. In addition, it’s a no-waste way to feed your baby. I breastfed all of my babies, but one week when my son was a baby, I had to be on some medicine that precluded breastfeeding. I pumped and dumped and used formula instead, and I was astounded by how much was wasted. It was so hard to predict how much my son was going to drink, and more times than not, he only partially finished a bottle.

There are a number of accessories sold for breastfeeding, of course, but I didn’t find many of them to be necessary. I even managed to forgo nursing bras with my last few kids, opting instead for a stretchy traditional one. I used a blanket to cover up while nursing in public (special covers are certainly not necessary).

I did use nursing pads (you can buy washable ones) and Lansinoh for those first painful weeks of nursing. Since I wasn’t returning to work full-time after the birth of any of my babies, I bought a simple motorized pump, but if you need to return to work, you’ll probably want a nicer model than what I had.

I know breastfeeding doesn’t work out for some moms, but if you need advice on formula feeding frugally, I’m not the person to ask! My experience with formula and bottles is exceedingly limited. I know I have some readers who formula feed, though, so maybe they can share some tips in the comments.

Once your baby is ready for solids, the baby marketing machine is there waiting for you with all sorts of specialty baby feeding products.

I wrote a blog post on feeding your baby frugally a while back, so instead of reiterating all of that, I’ll just link you to it: Homemade Baby Food for Busy Parents

Baby Equipment

When it comes to this sort of thing I’m hesitant to make specific recommendations because each baby and each family varies so greatly. I’ve used a crib for all of my kids, but co-sleeping families probably won’t need one. I didn’t find a walker to be very helpful (they don’t work well on carpet!), but families who live in homes with hardwood floors throughout might feel differently. I loved having a baby swing, but some families might not have room for one.

I think two things are important to keep in mind when shopping for baby equipment.

First, it’s usually a good idea to look for used baby stuff (just check for recalls). You can save a lot of money this way, and since babies don’t usually wear stuff out, you can find items in very good condition.

Secondly, you probably don’t need a piece of equipment with lots of special features. Your baby will probably be just as happy in a swing with three speed settings as in one with 7 (and music! and vibrations!). And your baby likely won’t mind if the baby bathtub you buy is the one without the aquarium theme.

An awful lot of this stuff is just thought up by marketers who are trying to sell something, not by people who saw a need and manufactured a product to fill it.

That said, here’s a list of equipment that I liked:

-a crib (we used a port-a-crib for our first because of space issues in our tiny apartment)

-a baby bathtub. It’s not necessary, but it makes bathing a slippery baby so much easier. Mine was second hand, no frills one that fit into a kitchen sink.

-a baby swing. I bought mine used from the PennySaver, and it lasted through all of our children.

-a Bumbo. I only had this for Zoe, but I LOVED it. So portable and sturdy, and it let her sit up and watch what was going on before she could sit up on her own.

-a bouncy seat. I bought mine off of Ebay, and though it had no motors or music, my babies loved sitting in it. It’s the one you see in the photo above (which, though flashy, totally cracks me up).

Diapers and Wipes

(I’m just interjecting here to say, “Yay!” because I found a baby picture that wasn’t taken with the flash. Ahh, much better.)

When we had our first baby, we lived in a basement apartment with no washer and dryer. Once a week, we had access to the upstairs laundry room, and so I decided that cloth diapers were not going to work out. And for various reasons, I never did get onto the cloth diaper wagon. I kept thinking we were done having kids or were almost done and thus was hesitant to make the initial investment.

Anyways, I think cloth diapers can save money, especially if you use them for multiple children, but I don’t have enough experience with them to be helpful. Readers, you can chime in here!

For disposables, I adored the Luvs brand. They’re much better than the store brand diapers, but not expensive, and I found they worked much better for my kids than the expensive brands.

You can make your own wipes or use cloth ones, but somehow, I never got around to that. I did not, however, fork over a bunch of money for fancy quilted wipes with aloe. 😉 None of my babies had particularly sensitive skin, and so I used whatever wipes I could obtain cheaply whether they were store brand wipes or name-brand ones on sale (with a coupon!).

Clothes

You’ll probably receive a lot of baby clothes as gifts, so I’d be surprised if you had to buy a lot of these, at least at first! If you do end up needing to purchase something, check a consignment store or Ebay before paying full price.

Newborns outgrow their clothes so quickly, they hardly have a chance to wear them out, which means that consignment stores usually have a ton of newborn/baby clothing items for sale in good condition.

A Frugal Mindset

I think the most important thing to remember as you register for gifts and shop for your baby is that babies need a lot less stuff than we (and the marketers) think they need.

Babies just don’t know the difference between a Pottery Barn nursery and a nursery outfitted in second-hand items, or between a Tommy Hilfiger undershirt and a Gerber undershirt.

Buy second-hand, think simple, and save your money. You could put it into a college fund and someday when your baby is 18, you’ll probably be really glad you forewent most of the fancy baby stuff in the stores.

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Readers, if you have any helpful advice for Jill, please share in the comments! I’m sure I’ve forgotten something, and I’m also positive that some of you can help out with cloth diaper or formula advice.