Are you ready with all your baby must-haves? Have you shopped til you dropped and ticked off all the items on your list? Or are you still baffled by babygros and cotton cellular blankets?

Shopping for your newborn A FEW MUST HAVE’s Time for a little shopping trip. You may think it’s a bit too soon to be worrying about baby’s wardrobe, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared. Your baby may arrive earlier than expected – so best not leave everything to the last minute and prepare a shopping list. Here’s a list of items you will need for your baby’s early days. How many items you end up opting for will, to some extent, depend on how much washing you are prepared to do!

• Newborn nappies
• Cotton wool
• 2 or 3 soft, baby-sized towels for bath-time
• a bath thermometer
• Muslin squares (always useful to mop up baby dribbles or leaking milk!)
• A well-fitting mattress for the cot, moses basket or carrycot you plan to use at first.
• Several cotton cellular baby blankets (so that you can easily adjust the number of layers covering your sleeping baby to prevent overheating – remember a folded blanket counts as two layers).
• Several cotton sheets
• 6 or so front-fastening cotton stretchsuits, babygroes, or all-in-ones
• 6 or so cotton body vests (long and short-sleeved with poppers)
• 1 or 2 cardigans
• A few pairs of socks or booties
• a couple of cotton hats
• 2 pairs of scratch mittens
• a baby shall or small pram blanket for baby’s journey home.
Don’t go overboard with your shopping list for your baby’s wardrobe. Baby items are designed to be irresistible, especially to impatient mums-to-be, so it’s Best to stick to your shopping list. But remember that your newborn will quickly outgrow his clothes, and you may also receive many more items as baby gifts after the birth. Buy the basic essentials now, and get the rest when you need it. You’ll have a much better idea of exactly what is useful once your baby has arrived and you have embarked on the exciting new job of caring for your newborn.