Should you buy baby stuff before being pregnant?

Hi guys,
I am curious what everyone thinks about buying baby stuff before your actually pregnant. My husband mentioned the other day that we should start looking at getting some stuff soon. I have kind of avoided that because I am scared it will be bad luck. Almost like trying on a wedding dress before your engaged. If you do that you wont ever get married. Is it silly that I think if I buy anything before I am pregnant that I wont get pregnant? I am not usually supersticious (sorry about the spelling, its late).
Anyway, what advice do you have? What things should I be looking at now? I have no idea where to start.
Looking forward to hearing from you.
Puppies

personally, im not sure if i would or not - we had a surprise pregnancy, so i never went through the emotions of TTC...

if you were to buy things, i would probably stick to neutral clothing (singlets/bodysuits/long sleeve jumpsuits etc in white, yellow, green..) or maybe some blankets, toys, bathroom stuff (baby bath, baby shampoo, sorbolene etc)
i probably wouldnt but anything like playgyms, furniture, car seats, prams etc...

i would keep in mind what you might do with these things if you were to never actually use them.. (please dont take that in a bad way and its not directed at you personally, as i wish you all the best with TTC! but i would worry how it might feel having baby stuff everywhere,if there were any complications etc)

but in the end, its your choice, you may find it helps you!!

good luck with everything!

Personally, I wouldn't buy anything at all - I hate buying things even when I am pregnant - just in case!!!!!
I know my sister brought heaps and heaps and heaps of boxes of breast pads before the birth of her third child, who was unfortunately a stillborn. I know that it hurt her greatly to come home and see all those, without a baby. Thats probably why I am hesitant to buy anything!!
Having said that, we have a friend who brought absolutely EVERYTHING - furniture, rockers, clothes, EVERYTHING.. and wasn't yet pregnant. I think it took her about 6 months pregnant and I think her beautiful little girl is now 9 months old....
Each to their own - if you want to buy, buy away!!!!
Good luck with your TTC journey. I hope its a short one for you.

Personally i wouldnt........as much as i want to i still wouldnt. We have plenty of time whilst we are actually pregnant to buy things. Like you said, its like buying wedding stuff before your even engaged.......but if you want to go for it, each to their own. Goodluck on your journey with TTC :D

i'd be a bit like the other ladies - very reluctant to buy before i'm pg - and i guess being a long-termer, i can related to how much harder it has been - and having baby stuff around would make it so much worse. My brother and SIL actually gave us heaps of baby things (basinet, bath, change mats etc) - and after over two years of trying, when a young friend was pregnant, i handed them to her to get them out of the house. she asked recently if we'd like to go and pick them up again as her baby had outgrown them - i told her to give them to charity as i just can't handle them being here at the moment! it will mean added expense one we're pregnant - but a few extra dollars is a whole lot easier to cope with than pain everytime i go into the spare room....

if finances are what your partner is concerned about, maybe have a think about setting up a "baby account" - work out what you'd be spending on baby stuff each week or fortnight if you were to layby or purchase them, and put it into a seperate bank account - then when you are pg, you can go and get everything - or leave it in the bank, spend that same amount each fortnight, and you have an emergency "kitty" for when bubs arrives - i'm sure there will be lots of unexpected little expenses when bubs gets here! the other thing in doing this is that it makes sure you don't purchase stuff you think is "cute" now, but realise in a year when your baby arrives that something else is much cuter, or more suited to what you want! you don't want to be sick of something before bubs even has a chance to use it!

I don't either, but don't forget you end up with so much stuff from friends and family anyway...

I wouldn't recommend buying stuff. Remember you do get given a lot of things and it's worth waiting to see what you really need to buy - there is a lot of wastage when it comes to baby things that you never really use. I would also be aware of what others here have said re: painfulness of looking at a lot of baby gear if you are having trouble conceiving or (as in my case) have miscarriages or a stillborn.

That said we had a pair of bootees given to us which were sort of like our "good luck charm" through our early pregnancy. I had them on my bedside table throughout the pregnancy. I also bought one little suit when I was in early pregnancy as a kind of affirmation that this little one would be with us soon.

Before we conceived DD1 I actually bought a cot and change table from my friend who was going overseas to live. I felt really silly buying baby stuff but I knew that we were going to ttc in the following months and my friend needed to get rid of her baby stuff. Thankfully we conceived DD1 very easily and I had a perfect pregnancy. I then suffered 2 miscarriages when ttc DD2.

Now personally after going through 2 m/c's I would not buy anything!!! I guess I just could not stand having baby stuff around and no baby to put in it.

If you se something you really really like then I can't see any thing wrong with buying it. I got a couple of little gender neutral suits an bunny rugs cos I was feeling particularly clucky one day. We didn't buy anything major till I was about 16 weeks PG though.
As some of the others have said if you have a loss it will upset you greatly to have it all sitting there.

Also another thing to consider is that trends change and new things come out all the time and you may regret that you didn't wait. There will also be another bargain around the corner too if that is a motivation. Baby shops are incredibly competitive and will match prices.

You could always make a special savings account and put a little bit away each week so the cash is there waiting for when the time comes.

i did. it took us 9month to conceive. by the time i got preg i nearly had all the litle things. i didnt buy any big things like cot or anything. I was gettin big bulk lots of baby clothes off ebay when i found them really cheap which worked out well but the only thing about that was, that i had the biggest feeling i would have a boy first and got alot of boy clothes and this little bubble is a girl.

I think nine months is PLENTY of time to buy stuff so I wouldn't buy anything beforehand.

Infact, I didn't buy anything until about Week 32 and then only clothes and a cradle.

I waited until after she was born to buy a pram and she was 6 months old before I bought a cot.

You can always do your research now and make a list of the things you want - that way you're not doing nothing and you can budget ahead. If you want to feel more prepared then live on one wage and put everything else into your savings to mimic what you'll be doing when baby comes along.

We started our TTC journey (fertility investigations) in March last year, got pregnant in November... we were so scared of buying anything just in case. It was stressful going through the investigations not knowing if our dreams would be shattered before they even began, and then once we started TTC, each month we didn't conceive was so disappointing, I can't imagine how much MORE painful it would have been being surrounded by baby things.

I still struggle with buying things, thinking about possible disappointment. I know it sounds pessimistic, but you just can't help it sometimes!

If I do want to be organised, maybe it would be smarter to put things into a savings account. I think thats a better idea, as if you buy something like pram/car seat and it takes a while to get pregnant, you could run out of warrenty on the item (dunno if thats a huge issue but that was one of my excuses for not buying anything), or decide you want the next model etc. At least with a savings account you're getting interest lol.

If you want to buy some special things, like a bunny rug or a cute outfit or a little teddy, that keeps your spirits up then thats a great idea. I had a baby names book which I'd read and imagine our little bub.

We had friends who years ago started buying stuff, everthing from clothes to cot and bassinette before they even thought of TTC. She had most of what she wanted when they eventually got pregnant.
Me, I'd be more inclined to wait. You may buy stuff now like a cot or change table, and put it together when bub is on the way, only to find something wrong with it or something that you're not happy with and then not being able to exchange or get a refund if too much time has passed. Suppose it all depends on when you are buying and TTC. :0

Nic

Maybe it's just me, being mercenary, but you may be better off putting the money into a high interest account rather than having it sitting in furniture and equipment that you can't utilize yet... Just a thought. Every cent makes a difference!

Hi Puppies..

I hope your TTC journey is short but I tend to agree with most of the other posts.. I've been TTC for 10 months now but when I first told my family they took that opportunity to off load all the stuff they had been keeping for this occaison.. It was so exciting at the time but at this point it's a reminder that I don't have what I want now and since I don't want to set up a nursery yet it's scattered around the house and even out in the garage.. Save the money and have a massive splurge when the time is right.. Good luck.. I wish you all the best..
Dee

In our first month ttc I bought a gorgeous little baby blanket and a small pair of pink pants for a girl and a little blue outfit for a boy only because I was just so excited at the thought of being pregnant and having a baby.... now, I can't even look at them and they are tucked away in a cupboard in what will be the babies room one day....

Try and hold off as much as you can, it's a bit upsetting seeing all that baby stuff and knowing you are 'at least' 9mths away.... once you are pregnant, you can go crazy i reckon

You girls are all right and have some very good points. I have already started a Baby account and have saved quiet a lot already. My DH was just suggesting that we start looking at things so that we can protect what I have saved already for when I am not working etc. But I have to admit, I really don't like the idea. I would rather wait till I am almost ready to drop before I buy anything serious. Although I love the idea of the good luck charm booties. I might invest in those and keep them in my draw to pull out when ever I need a bit of hope.

Thanks girls.
P.S. 8DPO cross fingers

I brought a cot set (which arrived yesterday lol) and I have a few other bits and pieces. Id love to start buying bigger things but I dont have anywhere to store them.

I wore a ring on my wedding ring finger for years and years before I was engaged. Im not overly supersticious.

Myself, i probably wouldnt. Just because my tastes change all the time and new products come out all the time. Id rather wait until im actually pregnant to see whats out at that time.

Personally I wouldn't just in case of fertility issues, or it even just taking longer than you expected to fall preg. Seeing baby things may just get you down.

We have just started trying and ive already picked up 2 small clothing items for the next bub when i was at the shops the other day, but after talking to my mum im thinking maybe its bad luck... so i wont be getting anything else.

I'm terrible with buying things! We have been TTCing for what seems like forever and I have a second bedroom that has 5 80L underbed storage tubs that are almost full to bursting! One is full of little jumpers and things that I have knitted and sewn. One is full of purely baby related fabrics that I am yet to sew. One is full of toys, one has clothes that I have bought ranging in size from newborn to about 5 years and one has miscellaneous. And then the ones under our bed have... no wait - DH doesn't know about those ones! Mainly wool that I have bought - much of it already packaged up with the patterns that I am going to use.

I actually get the opposite reaction to what most have described. If I am ever really down about there not being a bub yet then I pull them out and visualise a time when I will actually be using them. It makes me happy. I also love that when MiL comes to stay she stays in that room and has no idea that supplies for that grandchild that she is pressuring so hard for are right there waiting!

DH jokingly calls my stash my "box of broken dreams" but he is always smiling when he says it and now even suggests items to put in there.

But, if you feel at all uncomfortable about it then don't.