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Where did you buy yours? Baby equipment.

(77 Posts)
gmelon Sat 13-Jul-19 12:49:46

There seems nothing you cant buy for babies from supermarkets nowadays.
When I was pregnant Mothercare was one of the few places to buy baby equipment.
I bought most of the clothes from there with the odd addition from Woolworths. The cot was Mothercare too.
With a pram from Debenhams and later on a pushchair from again Mothercare.
Oh and the baby bath came in a set with bucket and potty. From Littlewoods.
Of course there were all the knitted layettes from friends mothers and random ladies who loved to knit.
Plenty of hand me downs from a young aunt who'd completed her family.
As for gifts no one worried "but will they like it" and everything was gratefully received by us.
Where did you buy/acquire yours.

gmelon Sat 13-Jul-19 12:50:10

?

Maybelle Sat 13-Jul-19 13:12:56

Mothercare and a small independent store that stocked all sorts of baby equipment.
Plus was grateful for lovely hand knitted cardigans.

MiniMoon Sat 13-Jul-19 13:17:54

I bought very little that was new! My pram and cot came from a friend who had completed her family, baby basket from sister in law, all clothes also from s-i-l. I bought new nappies from Mothercare. Everything else were gifts from relatives.

gillybob Sat 13-Jul-19 13:23:07

I had nothing new at all for my son, in fact his pram and cot were probably about 20th hand never mind 2nd ! Poor lamb he was very unexpected. A few new bits when I had my daughter including a lovely pram that I “paid off” for from an independent baby shop in town (now sadly long gone) .

Wobbles Sat 13-Jul-19 13:23:33

Mothercare for equipment.
Boots for Terry towelling nappies
BHS and Adams for clothes.
A small family run baby shop for a second hand double buggy which turned out to be my best buy, most used piece of equipment.

Auntieflo Sat 13-Jul-19 13:28:56

For our first son, we inherited a beautiful coach built pram from my Sis-IL. Cot was also probably second hand. We did buy a new carrycot and wheels, remember those? I bought Harringtons terry towelling nappies, that were used again for DD, who came along 2 years later. They then got used as floor cloths.
She also had all the hand me downs. We didn’t have a lot if spare cash, and so were very frugal.
DS2, 10 years later, also had a second hand pram, Mothercare, I loved that pram. We had lots of other inherited things. I don’t think any if them suffered as a result if being ‘a second hand rose’, and we were grateful for any thing passed on to us.

Sara65 Sat 13-Jul-19 13:32:03

Child number one, had nothing new at all, all hand me downs, child two did a bit better, mostly new, but on the cheap side, child three had the best that money could buy

SueDonim Sat 13-Jul-19 13:38:21

My sister-in-law gave me her dd's pram, a green Pedigree. I later got a navy blue coach built pram which I still have! It's in fine fettle. I think the cot also came from SIL, although I don't quite remember. It was well-loved before that, too! My sister lent me a carrycot to begin with then I bought a new one.

SIL gave me some nappies and pram and cot linen. I still use the Harrington cot sheets as under sheets when the grandchildren came and stay. My niece is now 48yo so they've done well! SIL also gave me some flannelette baby gowns and I bought some babygros from Boots and M/care.

I remember having to hand-wash every day because so many baby clothes were non-machine washable. I bought clothes from Woolworths and a department store in town, also the Coop, which in those days also had a department store in Canterbury, where my first was born. There were independent baby shops, too, Hills and Barrett's come to mind.

Sara65 Sat 13-Jul-19 13:43:36

There used to be a Heinz baby club, if you saved the wrappers from your baby food tins, you could swap them for baby items, a bit like green shield stamps, I got a quite horrible plastic high chair

Lizzy53 Sat 13-Jul-19 13:43:43

My sons pram was new from small local shop, thanks to mother in law. Rest were hand me downs. Pram went on to be used by four other friends babies then sold! It’s changed days, I now buy most of stuff for Granny’s house from gumtree, some great bargains, high chair, travel cot, jungle play, and toys/books/jigsaws from charity shops, recycling I call it, as it then goes back to them when no longer needed.

paddyann Sat 13-Jul-19 13:48:12

first baby I only had a moses basket and a pram toy when she arrived very early.She died . I gave the moses basket awayWhen my next was on the way i was too frightened to buy anything and even when she was born on the same day of the month at the same time as her sister I refused to get anything in cas eshe too died at 4 days old.The day they said I could take her home my husband and sister did a raid on Mothercare and bought everything on the list within half an hour

My son was born 3 months early ,I had nothing for him .When he was around 8 weeks old I decided to be brave
and order a pram.From the co-op baby shop next to our office.She kept it for me until he was safely home .The cot was bought by great granny whose husband baby was called after .I still have the pram toy bought for baby no 1 ,it hangs in my wardrobe .It seperated once when the ribbon broke and a psychic stopped me in the street and told me to "rejoin something of your daughters that should be kept together" So I did ,I do know the psychic she didn't randomly accost me .Its 2 little fluffy ducks and they are 43 years old ..almost

harrigran Sat 13-Jul-19 13:48:53

Town centre had a shop that sold everything you needed, very old fashioned but had the best quality terry nappies and cot linen.
Mothercare was still only mail order when I had my first baby, didn't matter as cot and pram were second hand.
Babygrows came from Germany courtesy of my sister, I had never seen one in this country.
When I had second baby I bought a pram from Mothercare, shops in all towns by then.
By the time GC were being born I was buying their clothes and equipment in John Lewis and Fenwick, how times have changed.

Sara65 Sat 13-Jul-19 14:02:01

One new thing I bought my oldest, was the mcclaren baby buggy from mothercare, they were blue green or red stripes £9.99, I loved it, my mother said she’d get a deformed back, but she seems ok!

Greenfinch Sat 13-Jul-19 14:07:13

Just about everything from Mothercare.

Ellianne Sat 13-Jul-19 14:17:26

Living in London we did a swoop on John Lewis Oxford Street and had everything delivered. My mother had already died so I kind of chose items she had spoken about .... Silver Cross pram, white nighties, Harringtons towelling nappies etc. to remember her.

midgey Sat 13-Jul-19 14:26:44

Do you remember the glories of the jumble sale? I had some really great things. The first thing my DD ever gave me ( aged about 5) was a jumble sale book. She said I wasn’t to worry as she had waited till everything was a penny!

sodapop Sat 13-Jul-19 14:36:24

No Mothercare in my day, pram from a dedicated pram shop courtesy of my mother. Nappies from a haberdasher type of shop, department stores for the rest I think.
I remember the striped buggies coming out Sarah65 but as you say they were initially viewed with suspicion.

dragonfly46 Sat 13-Jul-19 14:38:41

My parents bought the pram and I had very little else new.

SueDonim Sat 13-Jul-19 14:56:38

Oh yes. Sarah65, the Maclaren buggy! We bought a green striped one for £9.99 from Hills in Canterbury when ds was about 18mths old. I remember the concerns from GP's about babies getting curved backs.

My mum, who is normally very modern, was concerned that the new-fangled babygros would damage the baby's feet, like Chinese foot-binding!

Anniebach Sat 13-Jul-19 15:00:35

We bought a Tansard Coach pram from a local shop. Nappies, babygrows ,nighties etc from mothercare , my mother knitted the baptism shawl, clothes from a local baby shop.

paddyann Sat 13-Jul-19 15:09:21

I remember a funny story my granny told about a pram.When they were expecting their first baby in 1912 they had aday out in a neighbouring town and granny spotted a lovely navy coachbuilt pram.Being impatient she insisted they would take it home with them but the only way was walking the 5 miles back.So thats what they did until half way when she decided Granpa could push the pram and she sat in it.She said she got a lot of laughs from passers by .They dont make prams like that nowadays ! I see some that have to be covered with plastic overcoats to keep out the rain..which is ridiculous given we live in Scotland where rain isn't unusual.

Davida1968 Sat 13-Jul-19 15:15:46

Virtually everything was second-hand - even the terry nappies! Mostly passed on from kind relatives & friends. This included a beautiful "proper pram". (Coach-built.) I walked miles with it - great for the shopping, which could be placed underneath. (No family car back then - and no supermarkets, either.)

EllanVannin Sat 13-Jul-19 15:21:46

A Marmet pram handed down for first D then a Royale pram given to me by a friend for D2. In-laws bought cot, carry-cot and bedding and a new Silver Cross pushchair later.
My mum never stopped knitting until her rheumatism got worse.
The market for clothes and terry nappies and a new bucket to boil them in on top of the stove----hand-wrung when they were rinsed. Until I got a top loader complete with mangle. I had to wash everything for the family by hand and also rinse before I got the machine and the skin on my hands used to " shift " when I was wringing out clothes---I used to nearly cry with the pain.

Those were times that I'd never ever wish to return to and could cry when I read of anyone struggling this day and age.
Then there are some women today who don't know they're born.

silverlining48 Sat 13-Jul-19 15:35:33

Mostly second or even more hand, jumble sales, hand me downs, mothercare was fir special treats but happy with what I had. There was a stall at the market selling cut price ready made seconds clothes and i got material from another stall and hand made simple dresses and trousers.
Bucket in the corner of the kitchen for dirty terry nappies, unpleasant to deal with, and remember the nasty smell which hung around..How things have changed in just one generation.