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Let’s not beat around the bush - childraising is an expensive business.
According to The Times, the average cost of raising a child to the age of 18 in the UK is an eye-watering £202,660, including clothing, toys, equipment, childcare and housing costs. That is just shy of £1,000 a month. Ouch.
And - spoiler alert! - they just keep growing and developing, meaning a lot of the kit you shell out for before they are born will need constant updating as they get older.
Buying new items such as prams, cots, and developmental toys every few years (or in some cases, every few months) soon gets costly. And dumping old toys, clothes and items like car seats into landfill isn’t great for the environment.
Of course, there is a great market for second-hand baby and child equipment (hello Facebook Marketplace!), which can save families money and also reduce the amount of stuff going to landfill. But for most people with money and the planet on their minds, it would be ideal to shell out once for one product that will stand the test of time and potentially multiple children before being recycled, sold or handed down to another family ready to be used and loved once more.
When you are writing a list of everything you might need when you’re expecting, it’s hard to know actually what to buy and what products to snap up that will serve a multitude of purposes - be that a pram that will last through the various stages of your child’s life, a highchair that can be used from birth, or a toy storage unit that will show your children they have lots of toys.
Here are some hero children’s products to invest in, meaning you won’t need to rebuy again - and that might even earn you a bit of cash back when the time comes to sell them on.
See below
Best kids beds: Single, cabin and bunk beds for children
Best nursing chairs for a comfortable feeding time for mum and baby
Best car seats for newborn babies: Static models versus attach-to-pram
Best nursery furniture sets 2022 including cot beds, wardrobes and chests of drawers
Best baby travel systems to move from pushchair to car with ease
Best compact strollers for travel: Lightweight pushchairs to take on holiday
Bed - Stokke Sleepi Mini V3
Your child’s cot is an important purchase, especially if they might well use it for several years. The Stokke Sleepi Mini V3 is an ingenious product that your baby can use from birth up until about 5 years as it transforms from a baby cot and bedside sleeper all the way through to a toddler bed.
The Mini V3 is an oval-shaped bed with lockable swivel wheels, meaning you can move it from room to room so your baby can get a decent nap wherever you are in the home. As they grow bigger, the bed can be made larger through the use of an extension kit and then the side can be removed when they are old enough to get out of bed by themselves. Accessories include a canopy, soft fitted sheets and a liner for the mattress.
Buy now £309.00, Stokke
Mattress - Little Green Sheep Twist Mattress
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If you have already bought a cot - or kindly received a hand-me-down - then buying a decent new mattress for it is important. Little Green Sheep makes the UK’s best-selling baby mattress - the Twist. Cleverly, it is dual-sided. This means it is firmer on one side for younger children and slightly less so for when they pass the 12-month mark. It is made from all-natural sustainable materials. And comes with a five-year warranty.
Buy now £219.95, Little Green Sheep
High chair - Stokke Tripp Trapp
This is an iconic high chair that was first designed in 1972. The Tripp Trapp is built to be adapted from birth all the way through to adulthood. It can be used as a newborn seat and resting place, then adapted into a high chair for children of weaning age. Once they are a bit bigger, the baby set can be removed and it can be used as a chair for anyone weighing up to 130kg. Comes with a warranty of 7 years.
Buy now £219.00, Stokke
Portable chair - Mamas & Papas Bug
This portable chair is a three-in-one hero product. It can be used from three months - or whenever your baby can hold their head up - as a safe and supportive place for them to play sitting up. The chair and tray come with a sensory toy attachment that keeps them occupied.
Then, when they get to six months, you can use it as a weaning chair - and it comes with adjustable straps so it can be attached to almost any dining chair at home or on the move. The bug also has removable padding, which can be removed and makes the chair suitable for up to three-year-olds.
Buy now £75.00, Mamas & Papas
Cutlery - Eco Rascals Silicone plate
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There is a lot of kit needed when you start to wean your baby from milk to solids. A lot. An obvious essential is cutlery and plates as - unless you want to wave goodbye to all your nice china - you will need plastic or wooden items that ideally stick to your highchair so that your beloved can’t launch it at you or the floor.
Enter Eco Rascals and its ranges of silicone and bamboo plates, bibs, cups and cutlery. All of the brand’s products are made from sustainable materials, with silicone plates adaptable as your baby grows.
Buy now £24.56, Amazon
Pram - Joolz Aer+ with cot
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Deciding what pram to buy is like deciding what car to purchase - and there is no right answer to which is the best to buy. But, having tested many prams, we can confirm that the Joolz Aer+ is up there. It ticks a lot of boxes: lightweight, suitable from birth, airplane compatible, easy to use, simple to fold, stylish to look at - the list goes on.
If you are expecting, then buy the Aer+ with cot package which includes a foldable cot, which can then be swapped out for the seat when your baby reaches about the six-month mark. When you get to that stage, the seat goes entirely flat. It comes with a ten-year transferable warranty (great if you sell it!), is delivered with reusable sustainable packaging and Joolz will plant a tree for every pram sold.
Buy now £429.00, Mamas & Papas
Car seat - Silver Cross All Motion 360
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The multi-award-winning Silver Cross All Motion 360 is an all-in-one option for those looking to buy one car seat and be done with it. It is suitable for use from birth all the way through to 12 years. It is adjustable via several seat inserts plus various recline and headrest features, and the seat is made from recycled easy clean fabrics.
As the name suggests, it spins 360 degrees, meaning it is forward and backwards facing and can turn to allow easier access to your child when lifting them in and out. It was named the best baby, toddler and child car seat in ADAC’s 2022 Autumn Test - so your little one will be in safe hands.
Buy now £395.00, John Lewis
Sling - Baby Bjorn harmony
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Baby Bjorn - the brand also known for making excellent bouncers - has recently released its Baby Carrier Harmony to the market, which is suitable for newborns (minimum 3.2kg), all the way to children weighing 15kg - or about three years old. It is super soft, meaning it won’t feel too hard and structured on a tiny baby, yet it is sturdy enough to support a larger child - and comes with a pressure-relieving waist belt, padded back support and shoulder straps to help you carry your big little one comfortably.
Buy now £209.00, John Lewis
Breast pump - Medela Freestyle double
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Medela is one of the longest-established and most-trusted breast pump brands - and the Freestyle is one of its most popular as it fits into your bra, meaning you can pump on the go. No more sitting on the sofa, attached to a plug-in machine!
The cups are lightweight (76g each) so they fit into your bra without feeling bulky and the pump is complete with USB rechargeable batteries. Of course, a pump is a big investment - especially as you might not actually use it. So Medela actually rent its wall-connected Symphony breast pump - which is used in 75 per cent of UK hospitals – so you can see how you get on with pumping before taking the plunge.
Buy now £299.99, Boots
Toys - Playing for peace, Janod and Lovevery
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Yes yes, this is cheating, but these three brands are all worth a mention.
Playing for Peace offer sustainably made plastic toys created in a factory in war-torn Ukraine. If you buy one - or many - of its cute pastel-shade trucks, boats and stackers you will be supporting vulnerable workers trying to make a living in the war.
Meanwhile, French brand Janod has launched its WWF collaboration of toys, with sales supporting endangered creatures across the planet.
Lovevery - the maker of the toy storage system mentioned below - is a fantastic brand selling toy subscriptions of items suitable for your child’s age. Delivered every few months, the wooden and sustainably-made toys mean you have just enough goodies to keep your little one entertained without overbuying. The brand has recently launched its book bundles add-on so, for an additional £19 per box, you can get a collection of works that will help your child’s development.
Buy now £20.00, Playing for Peace
Audioplayer - Tonie Box
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A Tonie Box is a child-friendly audiobook and music player, aimed at children aged 3 and up but children a lot younger - and older - can enjoy. It works by placing magnetic figures on the top of the speaker box, which then plays the book or series of songs. The figures correspond to the work - so The Lion King figure is Simba.
Making the box even more versatile, the company is now launching its night light add-on and various sleepy-time Tonie figures meaning it is an audio player by day and a sleep aid at night. The night light retails at £34.95 and is sold separately from the box.
Buy now £79.95, John Lewis
Toy storage - Lovevery Playshelf
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Toy storage options rarely make it onto lists of baby essentials - but trust us, you will need something to store your child’s toys in. Lovevery, who also sells an excellent range of subscription toys has recently brought its two-in-one Playshelf to the market.
At the front are shelves where you can put a small selection of toys for your child to pick for themselves what they want to play with, and to the back a roomy trunk to put everything else. It was created with the Montessori idea of toy rotation in mind - or that by putting out small numbers of toys for your child to play with and rotating them regularly they actually engage with their toys and get bored of them less easily.
Lovevery co-founder Jessica Rolph explains: “Having fewer toys out at any particular time benefits a child by allowing them to get deep into longer stretches of play, which enhances their learning. It’s also great for parents as independent play is more likely to happen when children are given a more minimalist environment with fewer choices.”
Buy now £390.00, Lovevery
OUTDOOR TOY: Scoot & ride Highway kick 1
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A little-known fact that people who don’t have children may not be aware of - kids’ scooters are surprisingly expensive. So this is an excellent option as it easily adapts from a sit-on scooter to a regular one. This means your (roughly) one-year-old will be able to use it until they are about five, giving it a far greater shelf-life than a regular scooter. The transformer-like mechanism to change it from one to the other is super simple, and they look great too with the throw-back vintage aesthetic.
Buy now £115.00, KIDLY
PLAYROOM - Totter & Tumble mat
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A playmat is a great investment for your child as they will use it from birth until they are much older as a central location in your home to play on. Totter + Tumble are among the best, namely because they are so chic, you’d struggle to tell they are playmats rather than designer rugs.
Available in a variety of designs, sizes and shapes, they are made from 1.3cm thick memory foam, are easy to clean and are reversible. The brand’s latest collaboration with heritage label Morris & Co has produced a number of new, even cooler designs which will look wonderful in your home. Can be used as a playmat or a yoga/exercise mat - so a great multipurpose long-lasting buy.
Buy now £80.00, Totter & Tumble
Clothing - Polarn O. Pyret
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Founded in 1976, Polarn O. Pyret (or POP) is a Swedish childrenswear brand renowned for its premium, sustainable clothing. Its founders are passionate advocates of the circular fashion movement, meaning it guarantees that all of its clothing lasts a minimum of three children.
Taking it one step further, the brand now has POP second-hand across its entire clothing collection – so you can grab yourself a bargain on extremely high-quality childrenswear, while safe in the knowledge that you are giving an item of preloved clothing a new lease of life and preventing it from ending up in a landfill.
Buy now £16.00, Polarn O. Pyret
Shoes - Zig + Star Astro Infant Shoe Leopard
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Children’s shoes are expensive and rarely offer good value for money as the amount of wear tends to be limited. However, Zig + Star are here to help. All of the brand’s shoes are unisex, which makes them great for hand-me-downs and have been cleverly designed to include a removable midsole giving its wearer at least six months more wear from the moment they start to feel small.
All of the shoes, which are suitable for children aged about two to 10, are made from sustainable materials. The brand has been created by mother-of-three and ex-Topshop buyer Ali McAleavy - and you can tell it is a small business made by a parent, for other parents. We love the classic Astro design in leopard or pewter moon.
Buy now £56.00, Zig + Star
Clothing storage - Grohanger
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These clever hangers will save you from having to purchase lots of small hangers when your baby is little, then again for slightly larger ones and then again when their clothes finally fit onto normal ones. They expand as your baby does - a simple concept which means you are buying something once rather than over and over again.
Buy now £21.99, Amazon
Safety - Fred Stair Screwfit stair gate
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Fred sells various baby-proofing items - from plug socket covers and cupboard locks to door stops that will help protect your little one when they get to the curious stage. But it is its wooden stair gates that are worth a mention here - made from FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) approved source wood, they are easy to use, look good in the home and exceed the requirements of EN1930.
Buy now £155.00, Amazon
Nappies - Kit & Kin eco nappies
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While reusable nappies are obviously better for the environment and fit into the “buy once and be done with it” philosophy, there are brands doing their best to make disposable - which are much more convenient, especially in the early days - better.
Enter Kit & Kin, the sustainable, B Corp-certified nursery brand co-founded by former Spice Girl Emma Bunton. The nappies are produced in a carbon-neutral factory, made from sustainably sourced, natural ingredients and come in paper packaging. They also sell wipes, skincare and babywear.
Buy now £8.00, Amazon