It’s tough being a new mum. Everyone seems to have an opionion on how to raise your baby. You’re bombarded with information, you’re enticed by coordinated nursery decorations, and stores are ‘helpfully’ providing you a list of all the items you must buy to be fully organised and prepared for your newborn.

So much of that is just noise and marketing. As a new mum who did not want to splash out for the sake of an instagram-worthy nursery, I thought to put together my no-nonsense, essentials list that I have needed for my baby’s first few weeks. Every one of the items on my list are indispensable, tried-and-tested products that I use frequently, if not every day.

There are so many things for babies that are purely cute in concept, but auxiliary for use (baby shoes, anyone?). Then there are those products that sound like they’ll make your life easier or baby mopre comfortable, but are actually unnecessary clutter (e.g. wipe warmers. Babies can cope just fine with a cold wipe to the butt).

Raising a kid is expensive. So hubby and I wanted to only get the necessities and buy as we need. We saved a lot of money from the incredible generousity of friends and family, and were more than happy to accept second-hand clothing and other used baby goods (changing table, bathtub).

Since babies rapidly outgrow their clothing and other items, it made sense not to buy everything brand new. However, for safety-sake, hubby and I only considered a completely new car seat and would not have bought that second-hand.