THERE’S no way around it – becoming a first-time dad is one giant leap into the great unknown of parenting.
Ahead of the birth, it’s easy to feel a bit helpless as your partner does the (quite literal) heavy lifting of growing a baby, but one of the best ways to pitch in is to get the home ready for your future arrival.
10
What quickly becomes clear, of course, is that every child is different and as the recommendations from family and friends pile up, the list of essentials to buy can be daunting.
So we’ve consulted our team of Sun dads to sift through their top recommendations to make sure your tot’s ready from day dot.
Cribs and sleeping tech
Investing in quality sleep gear should be one of your highest priorities for a simple reason.
Most newborns will sleep around 18 hours a day, according to the NHS, meaning they’re asleep more than they’re awake.
From experience, that figure can be (to put it politely) optimistic, but there’s no question that having a few options for both night and day will make it a lot easier convincing them to nod off.
One of the most popular bedside cribs around is the SnüzPod. With a range of calming colour options, it looks slick and stylish in any bedroom – but with its Scandi-inspired design, also comes with some typically useful innovations.
One of the sides niftily folds down and you can adjust it to the height of your bed to see your baby clearly while they sleep.
The wheels are also detachable, meaning you can put it on a tilt recline to help with acid reflux, or you can take them all off and turn it into a rockable crib.
During the daytime, if you’re seizing on a napping window and need to plonk the little one down ASAP, the DockATot is a brilliant go-to.
Designed to mimic the walled-in feeling of the womb, it’s luxuriously padded for newborns and, crucially, portable – meaning you can place it anywhere in the room, as long as you’re there to supervise in case they drift off.
Like a growing number of baby products, it’s also available in some stunning prints, including William Morris motifs that elevate it to a genuinely beautiful piece of kit.
If you’re after a more portable sleeping crib, the Little Green Sheep Moses basket comes highly recommended.
The basket itself looks gorgeous, sourced from woven palm leaf and organic cotton, but you’ll want to invest in a few sheets and a waterproof mattress cover to make it as comfy as possible.
It’s also worth shelling out for the sleek stand so you can easily move it around the house (and enjoy some rare downtime on the sofa when you get the chance!)
10
10
While you’ll no doubt learn how to swaddle a baby if you attend a parenting course like an NCT class, you might find – as we did – that your newborn won’t always appreciate being wrapped up like a burrito without being able to move their arms.
A simple get-around can be buying a baby swaddle bag. Snuz have a smart collection of easy-zip Snuzpouchs, while Ergopouch offer some adorable prints. Just remember, like a duvet, to check the tog depending on the season.
There’s no shortage of ingenious gadgetry in the parenting world, but some really can make the difference between sleepless nights and catching a few hours of rest.
Our team of dads found the Rockit a lifesaver. It’s a compact little baby rocker you can easily strap on to a pram, but its handy universal adaptor means it’ll attach to practically anything.
A white or pink noise (sounds that imitate those inside the womb) machine can also really help them drift off.
The SnüzCloud is a cute fluffy sleep aid you can hang off the crib, with four sound modes of heartbeat, pink noise, lullaby, and waterfall – and also some calming soft lights. We found the heartbeat setting particularly effective (without being too annoying for mum and dad!)
When you’re sleeping in the same room as your newborn, it’s easy to get fixated on monitoring their every breath and twitch. Fortunately, some seriously innovative kit is taking the pressure off checking in on them 24/7.
The Owlet Dream Sock, which gets a lot of buzz from tech-savvy dads, is an anxiety buster that acts almost like a smart watch for your baby.
It’s a discreet, wearable device that sends readings to parents about their child’s pulse rate, oxygen levels, waking patterns and sleep patterns.
10
10
Paired with the Dream Sight camera – which offers 2K HD video and usefully sends ‘crying alerts’ to your phone – it will relieve you of some nap-time apprehension, comforted in the knowledge the app will let you know if anything is amiss.
Similarly, for later down the line when you’re sleeping in different rooms, the Nanit Pro Baby Camera is one of the best around for easing worry at bedtime.
Not only can you check in on your tot with its HD camera and microphones, but it will send you real-time analysis about their movements and sleep patterns.
For even greater peace of mind, you can pair it with Nanit’s futuristic range of sleepwear, which includes pyjamas that allow you to keep track of your baby’s breathing patterns.
Playtime & nappy changing
It’s incredible how a tiny human weighing just a few pounds can instantly take over most of the space in your home.
But with the right buys, you don’t have to feel like you’ve completely surrendered your living room overnight.
Totter + Tumble‘s show-stopping playmats don’t look an inch out of place in even the most style-conscious homes, especially (as with DockaTot) if you dive into their William Morris Range.
They’re pretty enough to keep out like conventional rugs, but are designed to be mess-proof and can be wiped clean with a simple baby wipe.
Speaking of mess, it’s well worth investing in a specialist nappy bin to avoid clogging up your home with some funky smells.
The Shnuggle Eco Touch Nappy Bin is a sleek contraption that keeps out any unwanted smells with a clever double-seal odour airlock – handy when you forget to close it!
10
10
10
They also have an award-winning portable bath that’s ideally sized for newborns, thanks to a gentle bump design that holds them in the recline position. Remember, though, it is advised to wait for the umbilical cord stump to fall off before giving them a full wash.
While babies are generally in sleep and eat mode for the first few weeks, don’t forget about ways to keep them entertained when they are awake and getting curious about the world.
The BabyBjörn Bouncer went down a hit with Sun dads. It’s a great way to keep your baby happy if you need to step away for a moment, and so lightweight you can easily move it around the house.
Our favourite also came with a toy bar attachment that, for such a simple thing, can raise a few smiles as they treat it like a ‘My First Punching Bag’.
For a valuable investment that will last not months but years, the TrippTrapp is one of the most stylish high chairs out there.
Available from Norwegian brand Stokke, it has that classic elegance of Scandi design and is available in a host of colours – though we loved the classic oak finish.
Their newborn seat attachment – which straps your child in on top in a recline position – feels less essential, but is quite fun if you’re busy in the kitchen and want to listen to a few tunes together while cooking.
Car seats, prams & carriers
Alongside a bed, your two essential purchases ahead of birth will be a car seat and a pram – even if getting out of the house in those few weeks can sometimes feel like a distant pipe dream.
While it is a myth that you are legally required to take your baby home from hospital in a car seat even if you’re not driving back, the chances are most of us will need one. That means making sure your seat is not just installed, but also set up for newborns.
Safety requirements dictate they should be rear-facing, and you will want to consider a newborn insert and a reflective mirror to attach to the headrest, so you can still view them from the driving seat.
One of the most popular seats around is the Maxi-Cosi Pebble 360 Pro. The isofix base is incredibly easy to install, but its showiest trick is being able to extend towards the car door, so you can pull the seat right out.
The newborn attachment looks super-comfortable and, handily, the seat is also compatible with many pram frames and even cleared for use on airplanes, should you (bravely) be planning an early holiday!
10
10
Swedish outdoor brand Thule – renowned for its quality roof and bike racks – is a comparative newcomer to the car seat market, but its debut entry, the Thule Maple, is an impressive piece of gear.
Notably, it scores higher on the industry-leading ADAC child safety tests than any other competitor. But – again, in typical Swedish fashion – it still feels ergonomically lush with soft, premium materials.
Our dads also recommended the Babyzen YoYo car seat, which is designed specifically with newborns in mind and can be clipped into the brand’s popular stroller in a couple of easy clicks.
Speaking of which, perhaps your single most expensive purchase will be a pram.
The number of brands and models vying for your cash is frankly dizzying, so it’s crucial to sit down and assess your particular needs to help narrow things down.
For instance, if you live in a busy city that will require jumping in and out of trains, you won’t want something super heavy. If you’re planning a lot of walks in the park, you might need a stroller robust enough to handle a bit of off-roading.
There are plenty of ways to try before you buy. Specialist conventions like The Baby Show have pram-testing tracks on-site where you can wheel various buggies over different surfaces, but even some department stores like John Lewis have smaller tracks to help you assess your options.
We opted for the Bugaboo Dragonfly which, upon testing, felt far more portable than the likes of Silver Cross. Its tyres are durable enough to go off the beaten track in our local park without too much of a bumpy ride, while it also folds down to a size ideal for storage in a small apartment.
The YoYo stroller is also much-loved by parents as a compact get-about. While you may want something larger as your day-to-day pram, it’s a game-changer for when you’re going away – so light it can literally be carried over the shoulder and even stowed away in an airplane luggage compartment.
For a quick trip to the shops or even some momentary respite to sort out household chores, a baby carrier is another purchase you’ll want to make in good time.
They can be a bit fiddly to adjust to your body shape, so if you’re prepared to push the boat out, it’s not a bad idea investing in a couple to fit to both mum and dad. It’s also worth noting most require a newborn to weigh at least seven pounds before use.
Baby Bjorn’s Carrier Harmony was a hit with our little one. It feels incredibly comfy and snug, so much so that they often drift off easier in it than the pram!
The Carifit was also recommended by our dads, though it’s perhaps most of interest to mums looking to keep fit in those days when you’re confined to the home.
The snazzy baby carrier comes with access to a postnatal fitness app, which provides workout plans and advice tailored to help mothers get back to full strength.
The top 50 boys names in England and Wales in 2024
- 1 – Muhammad – 5,721
- 2 – Noah – 4,139
- 3 – Oliver – 3,492
- 4 – Arthur – 3,368
- 5 – Leo – 3,324
- 6 – George – 3,257
- 7 – Luca – 2,814
- 8 – Theodore – 2,761
- 9 – Oscar – 2,747
- 10 – Archie – 2,575
- 11 – Jude – 2,540
- 12 – Theo – 2,387
- 13 – Freddie – 2,369
- 14 – Henry – 2,360
- 15 – Arlo – 2,220
- 16 – Alfie – 2,020
- 17 – Charlie – 1,956
- 18 – Finley – 1,886
- 19 – Albie – 1,820
- 20 – Harry – 1,765
- 21 – Mohammed – 1,760
- 22 – Jack – 1,711
- 23 – Elijah – 1,661
- 24 – Rory – 1,588
- 25 – Lucas – 1,550
- 26 – Thomas – 1,543
- 27 – William – 1,517
- 28 – Louie – 1,516
- 29 – Teddy – 1,506
- 30 – Jacob – 1,484
- 31 – Edward – 1,461
- 32 – Roman – 1,454
- 33 – Reuben – 1,442
- 34 – Oakley – 1,432
- 35 – Adam – 1,410
- 36 – Alexander – 1,365
- 37 – Isaac – 1,360
- 38 – Ezra – 1,339
- 39 – Tommy – 1,324
- 40 – James – 1,252
- 41 – Rowan – 1,246
- 42 – Hudson – 1,216
- 43 – Reggie – 1,194
- 44 – Max – 1,140
- 45 – Sebastian – 1,116
- 46 – Hugo – 1,094
- 47 – Louis – 1,092
- 48 – Ethan – 1,086
- 49 – Ronnie – 1,059
- 50 – Joshua – 1,027
The top 50 girls names in England and Wales in 2024
- 1 – Olivia – 2,761
- 2 – Amelia – 2,448
- 3 – Lily – 2,185
- 4 – Isla – 2,056
- 5 – Ivy – 1,956
- 6 – Florence – 1,936
- 7 – Freya – 1,929
- 8 – Poppy – 1,888
- 9 – Ava – 1,774
- 10 – Elsie – 1,727
- 11 – Isabella – 1,708
- 12 – Sofia – 1,626
- 13 – Sophia – 1,610
- 14 – Mia – 1,609
- 15 – Maya – 1,592
- 16 – Bonnie – 1,583
- 17 – Phoebe – 1,549
- 18 – Daisy – 1,548
- 19 – Sienna – 1,537
- 20 – Evelyn – 1,512
- 21 – Willow – 1,481
- 22 – Harper – 1,461
- 23 – Charlotte – 1,418
- 24 – Rosie – 1,406
- 25 – Grace – 1,390
- 26 – Maeve – 1,265
- 27 – Millie – 1,255
- 28 – Margot – 1,243
- 29 – Evie – 1,231
- 30 – Arabella – 1,222
- 31 – Matilda – 1,220
- 32 – Hallie – 1,218
- 33 – Delilah – 1,180
- 34 – Emily – 1,170
- 35 – Aria – 1,154
- 36 – Penelope – 1,133
- 37 – Mabel – 1,113
- 38 – Lottie – 1,109
- 39 – Ella – 1,108
- 40 – Ada – 1,049
- 41 – Ruby – 1,020
- 42 – Violet – 1,010
- 43 – Aurora – 1,002
- 44 – Maisie – 992
- 45 – Emilia – 961
- 46 – Mila – 953
- 47 – Ayla – 922
- 48 – Luna – 908
- 49 – Alice – 896
- 50 – Sophie – 886
