There are a lot of products available for you to buy for your baby, a great deal of them you just don’t need.

Some things are essential and some are not. Here is our list of 10 things you really do need for baby:

1) Safe sleeping place for baby

Babies need a safe place to sleep. Even if you’re planning on co-sleeping you’ll need to have your bed set up for a baby to sleep safely with you.

Some parents opt to hire a hospital bassinet or perhaps a baby hammock?

Babies can go straight into their own cot. Make the cot up so that baby is at the foot of the cot and can’t slip down under the covers.

SIDS guidelines recommend babies sleep in their own bed in the same room as an adult caregiver for the first 6 to 12 months of their life.

2) Infant restraint for the car

If you have a car or use Go-Get or other car share program, you’ll need a rear facing infant restraint for at least the first 6 months. You can choose to hire or buy a baby capsule or you may prefer a convertible carseat that rear faces till baby reaches the first height marker then turns around at between 6 and 12 months and faces forward till about 4 years.

3) Pram

Even if you plan on babywearing, having a pram for walks, and getting out and about with your baby is a must.

There’s a very wide range of prams available on the market, priced from the affordable right through to the ridiculous.

Some prams will take a baby capsule on the top so you can have what’s called a travel system which is very handy indeed.

4) Nappies

Whether you go eco-friendly cloth or disposable, you’ll find you will be using quite a few of these in the first 6 weeks so stock up before baby arrives.

5) Easy to wear cotton clothes

Babies don’t need a huge range of clothes as newborns, just some vests, grosuits and a “nice” outfit or two for going out will be fine.

6) Good quality nappy bag

You’ll be using this bad boy quite a bit so go with something you’ll love, that has lots of storage space, matches all your ensembles and will last the distance.

A little bit extra spent here should save you buying 3 in 3 years.

7) Change pad or table

If your bed is high enough for you to comfortably change on it or you don’t have a lot of room, you don’t need a change table. I bought a few padded mats that worked fine.

8) Bouncer or rocker

These are just somewhere safe to pop your awake baby so you have your hands free to do whatever else you need to do. Many babies love the motion and there are different types: musical bouncers and swinging swings and rocking rockers – a huge range.

9) Swaddles

Many newborns love to be wrapped firmly, and having a few blankets made just for this purpose can make your life much easier.

Summer babies would be best wrapped in muslin or other light cloth, and winter babies can go in something a little thicker.

There are many swaddles purpose made for wrapping babies to sleep, with flaps that fold over your baby’s arms and secure with velcro.

10) Digital thermometer

Keep this in your baby’s room. It’s sometimes hard to tell if baby is just warm or its actually a temp so having a digital thermometer is a must.

Can you think of anything you couldn’t be without that isn’t on this list? Please share in the comments below.

Image courtesy of Shutterstock.com

We may get commissions for purchases made using links in this post. Learn more.