Now you hear a lot about things that you will need for your child and you really don’t need all the luxuries that many people consider necessary items.

When I had my first son, Noah, I was barely nineteen years old and my pregnancy with him was considered an unplanned or crisis pregnancy. We had the bare minimum of items. Ten years later, he is thriving and doing well and he doesn’t remember how much or what we had when he was a baby.

I bought a crib from the newspaper for around thirty dollars then cleaned it up a little myself. I bought sheets, bumper pads, and some sleepers and onesies from a yard sale and then just washed them well before he wore them. I got my old dresser and toy chest from my parents’ house and painted them. The bumper pads and sheets I’d bought had teddy bears on them so I hung a few teddy bear pictures that I framed from the Dollar Store on the wall. The pictures weren’t necessary but I splurged for those! And then of course, my parents and friends and other family members gave and sent me baby gifts. My grandmother had a thing for baby socks - she said babies should ALWAYS have enough baby socks - so I think she sent enough socks for the first year of his life!

So basically the necessary must have items you will need to care for a baby are:

• A place for the baby to sleep – This could be a crib, bassinette, play pen, etc. If you are short on space, bassinettes are small and do not take up a lot of space.



• Clothes for the baby



• Blankets



• Diapers – Cloth diapers may be cheaper than disposable diapers but then you have to deal with washing, so if you did not have a washer or dryer at home, you’d have to take that into consideration.



• Formula – If you breastfeed then this will cut out on the added cost of formula and breastfeeding is often considered better for the baby.

In a recent post, Jan in the First/Birth Parent Blog mentioned some ways to raise money to care for your child. Check out that post for some ideas on ways to cut some of the costs.

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The Journey Series:
Part 1
Which Road To Take Part 2 A and Part 2 B
Part 3: Parenting Resources