Confessions of a New Mom: What I Wish I Knew Before Baby Shopping
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I thought baby shopping would be cute. Onesies, a little mobile for the crib, maybe a cute stroller in a soft colour. It turned out to be a full-time confusion.
Nobody warns you about this part. Baby gear is expensive, and baby clothes barely fit for a few months before they're outgrown. I spent my first trimester adding things to cart and my third trimester wondering why my bank balance looked the way it did.
The thing nobody says out loud
Most of what you buy for the first year, your baby will use for a few months at most. A stroller that costs as much as a month's rent gets folded up and forgotten by the time your toddler wants to walk everywhere themselves. A crib gets swapped for a bed before you've even figured out the assembly instructions.
What actually changed things for me
Somewhere around month four of pregnancy-induced panic-buying, a friend told me she'd bought her son's entire nursery preloved. I was skeptical — wasn't that just... other people's used stuff? But she walked me through what she checked: condition, missing parts, recalls, cleanliness, whether it still met current safety standards. It wasn't random secondhand shopping. It was a process.
That's when I split my list. Mattresses, bottles, pacifiers — bought new, no debate. Everything else — stroller, high chair, carrier, books, toys — bought preloved, and safety-checked before it reached me.
What I'd tell my past self
You don't need to buy everything new to be a good parent. You need to buy the right things new, and be smart about the rest. Save the guilt for something that actually matters — like the third 3am feed of the night.
Read our full newborn shopping checklist if you want the exact split I ended up using.
Buy second hand, without second guessing
Shop preloved baby essentials on Chub Chub →