I have gone baby shopping crazy!

Hi,

I must confess that I bought baby clothes from when I was ten weeks pregnant and from then on have not stopped. I love shopping and it seems that buying for the baby justifies spending up on the credit card and draining my savings account. My sister has given me all secondhand stuff and thought I would be grateful for not having to buy much else. God dammit this is my first baby and I want to spoil her/him even if they are too young to realise it. By the way, I am not sure of the sex but I have a feeling it is a girl and have bought a few dresses already. Does anybody else have this dilemma?

Hell Yes!

I have done the same, you cannot help it! I get excited thinking about going baby shopping. It has taken me 4 years to get to this part, so my child will have the best in life. You cannot help but wanting to get your baby the best! You love it already and it's not even here!

Ana, you are not alone. I just knew I was having a boy so I bought and I bought. Once the scan confirmed this things just got worse. I even worked out what future size he would be so when the sales came out I would layby the cheap things. I had enough clothes until my baby was around 6 months of age. But it still didnt stop me from buying more of the "just cant resist" items as they came into fashion. I even bought Huggies disposable nappies when they were on special in the different sizes and nappy wipes. In the end my son had clothes he never wore and they still to this day have the shop tags still in tact. Then you will get just about every one you know buying you more clothes as they too couldnt resist. I too was given the hand me downs which were lovely but I wanted all the new lovely things for my baby. My little one is now 13 months and I am now in the process of buying his new summer wardrobe. You have to take into account his home out fits, his going out out fits, his good going out out fits and of course his play and day care out fits............my husband use to say I was just nesting, I wonder what he thinks I am doing now!! I wish I could say you slow down but I havent yet. Good luck with everything. It is such a lovely time of your life and it sounds like you are enjoying it. Your about to start the most amazing stage of your life.

Hi Ana and Janeen,

I would have to agree. We got lots of hand-me-downs from 4 different mums - all for boys! Lots of clothes and mostly the right time of the year for his size. But it is so nice to have some clothes you picked yourself because they looked so special. You do need different types of outfits for different occasions, and I think my hubby must wonder why tracksuit pants just aren't good enough to wear out. But he has some really nice long pants that he can wear instead. You know what I mean. At least you can leave the hand-me-downs for home and use your nice outfits for going out.

When I discovered I was pregnant I would go to the shops mostly on 15% off days at Target and Kmart. I would take my list of things we would need for when he arrived like linen, clothes, bibs, bottles, nappies, etc. Well, everything really. I would get what I thought I would use or like or need heaps of like napisan, wipes, teats, nappies and put them on layby and then cross them off the list. e.g. If I thought I would need 3 x 000 bonds singlets and 3 x singlet bodysuits I would cross off each one when I got 1, 2 or 3.

I saved an absolute packet by shopping for the specials and stocking up big time on your expensive things like nappies, teats, and things that you tend to go through really quickly. I find I am still doing it. I'm just waiting for the next 15% off at Kmart so I can stock up on nappies, formula, teats, etc and bring some home with me and put some on layby to pick up in a couple of months. You just try and work out how long before you will need it and how long it will last. Just be careful with nappies that they don't outgrow them before you pick up your layby.

It's a fun time indeed. Just write a list of things you need. You can get lists from different magazines or baby shops and work out what you need for you and your baby from that. You won't stray too much if you work off a list. It's big enough as it is and if you are shopping around for your bigger items that takes a lot of time and should satisfy your shopping urges a little.

Ange.

Hi,

A few more things I forgot. Don't buy too much girly stuff just in case. I stuck to mostly neutral things and things that I could put a boy or girl in. It was a big relief to finally find out when the baby is born and you can go and buy specifically for a boy. And he is such a boy. There were a lot of baby clothes I couldn't put him in because they looked ridiculous on him so it's just as well I didn't buy them. It was frustrating to not be able to buy the cute outfits for boys or girls, but I concentrated on things like singlets, pjs, bodysuits, socks, etc. And be careful about buying too much in the smaller sizes as you don't know how long the baby is going to be and may never wear some clothes if in the wrong season for their size too.

Ange.