What Baby Equipment Do You Really Need?

When you find out you are having a baby the excitement is often followed by dread when you realize all the stuff you are going to have to buy. Sales people will try to talk you into buying everything. Your baby shower will often give you a lot of cute stuff, but often not realistic or usable. You only have so much money, so where do you start? I think baby stuff falls into two main categories: Must haves and nice to haves.

So first there are the must haves: These are the essential items, these are things that you are going to want right away and things you will probably use everyday. As your baby gets older there will be a lot more must haves --like a highchair-- but I am going to cover the stuff that you will be using right away.
The very first thing you should buy is a car seat. You will need to have a car seat before you can bring your little bundle of joy home from the hospital so this is an important purchase. The car seat is something that is very important for safety reasons and something that you will be using regularly, so go ahead and splurge on this. I don't think you should ever compromise the safety of little ones, so if you are getting a hand me down be sure to check the date on it, and check to make sure there are no recalls.

Next you need to figure out your sleeping arrangements. If you plan on your baby sleeping in own bedroom then you will need a crib. If you plan on the baby sleeping in your room, you might want a cradle or a bassinet. If you are planning on co-sleeping consider getting a co-sleeper that attaches to your bed. If you still aren't sure where you will be comfortable with your baby sleeping you might want to just purchase a cradle or bassinet for now, then make the bigger purchase once you decide. I know a lot of co-sleeping parents that spent a lot of money on cribs that just ended up being a stacking place for clothes or stuffed animals.