You are an excited parent to be, but nine months is a long time to wait. At what point do you give in and start making trips to the baby shop? Too soon and you could run out of money and space before the baby has even arrived. Too late and you could cause unnecessary panic!

Lets think about the baby items that you actually need to buy before the baby arrives:

Nursery furniture and decorations

Depending on the amount of free time you have you might need to start shopping for this quite early on. The nursery might need completely redecorating, so it is worth bearing that in mind and being realistic about how long it is going to take you to get it all ready. The last think you want is to be painting and decorating when the little one has arrived! Nursery decorations should probably come first, then furniture when the room is ready. You probably want to start on this about five or six months before baby is due.

Car seat and pram

You won’t be allowed to leave the hospital without a proper car seat, so this is something that definitely needs to be bought first. These are quite technical items that require a bit of research. Does the seat fit in your car? Do you want a pram that turns into a pushchair or a demi grow that you can convert into a double or twin mode? These are all things that need to be thought about, so I would suggest looking at these at least three months before the baby is born so that you have time to get it right rather than rushing and buying the wrong one!