When I was pregnant, me and J took advice from everyone. The sales assistant in Mothercare, family members, on line articles, strangers, absolutely anyone who had something to say – we listened. We took the advice like God himself was bestowing wisdom upon us and followed it all to the letter.

You’ll read a baby’s bath should be about 37 degrees. This was way too cold for N and he screamed his way through every bath we gave him at first. Eventually I figured it should be warmer and now it is, he loves a bath and could stay in for hours. We also looked at how often/how much a baby should be eating. When you read the side of the formula tub (if bottle feeding) it looks like a new born should be feeding around 8 times a day – N would feed every 1.5 hours. It’s just how they are. Adults have preferences and so do babies. We also went out and bought everything a baby could possibly need. We have the Chicco next to bed crib and he slept in it about a week. We have tonnes of dummies and he never took to them. We stocked up on so many nappies and he grew out of them before we used them. We also have the ‘safest’ (and most bloody expensive) car seat on the market and it’s too heavy for me to carry with N in it.

Don’t get sucked into buying stuff just because it’s recommended or looks nice. You need what works for you and your situation. The amount of money we (I) wasted on baby things because they looked good rather than being practical! Figure out what your baby likes and don’t be afraid to stray from advice if it works for you. As long as you have a place for baby to sleep, nappies, clothes and means to feed them, you don’t need much else before they arrive – Don’t be scared to wait and see what you really need before going shopping.