ABB1

Hi,

Everything is set for our arrival in next month to the lovely city of Melb. Since we'll be coming with our 1 year old baby boy i have so many concerns over his baby needs.

Appreciate if someone can let me know where to buy a good reasonable price car seater for my baby and what brands of baby milk powder, baby serial, diapers and food items to be given for him since all Aussie brands will be new to us.

Also would like to know what initial things we need to do upon arrival with a 1 year old baby

itigo

Hi

You can buy car seats in the main department stores like Big W and Target and they are usually well priced. Also clothes and other baby items. Diapers I have found tricky - we tried 6 types before we found our favourite. They were expensive too.....We now buy nappies from Aldi supermarket and they are well priced and work well.

Milk powder is a personal choice for your baby's needs really. There are loads to choose from. I asked for advice from our child health nurse. There are a range of baby foods, Heinz and Organic etc. Since 1 I have been feeding my little one home food anyway so not much more info.

Register first with Medicare (if you are entitled) then see a Dr and they will check his immunisation record. Then he can have any extra catch up ones he needs. You can also contact a child health nurse and he/she will advise on other things to do with development and invite you to milestone checks eg 18 months etc.

Just a few things - hope it helps!! I am an hour south of Melbourne.

sylvesterthecat

I have found huggies the best (most absorbant!) nappies and safe and sound (same company as Britax in UK) are the best car seat manufacturer in my opinion.

Prob good idea to join a playgroup too or look at bubhub.com.au

good luck.

Kingseat

Big W and Target are good for the bigger boxes of nappies. I keep coming back to huggies. Same with their wipes.

You can also pick up a car seat in BW and Target too. Reasonably priced. They both have excellent baby/children's sections.

As the above poster said, get registered with medicare. When we came with our 1 year old he needed additional vaccinations so when he went for his MMR he had a hep b injection. He's since had a booster and will have a further one when he is 18 months and gets hic chicken pox jab.

Loads of formula available. I was lucky, I picked up S26 and he liked it so stuck with that. I did baby led weaning so I never did purees or jars so can't offer advice on that. Masses of choice for fruit and veg though.

Ikea is good if you need a new highchair. I didn't need any furniture for our son but what they had in the way of cot beds etc looked lovely as well.

Within about 10 minutes of where I live there are 2-3 baby shops plus a toys r us which has a big baby section. melbourne might not be any different.

Pomster

We used Snugglers for our D- big box from Big W was 33ish dollars. Currently on promo as 2 for $50.

For a 1 year old, are you not using cow's milk? I noticed lots of the formula preparations had sugar in them (frucose, sucrose) so avoided them. We give our D organic milk from Aldi.

Car seats- if you want one to last for ages and are not worried about reclining, Maxi Rider is good- it suits up to 26kg which should be about 5yr old. New regs come in in Nov so all under 7s need full restraints in cars.
I think you can get Maxi rider from Baby Buntings which are dotted around. (we bought ours in Sunshine but can't remember shop name)

For food, self prep is the easiest. I make lots and freeze in little pots! Otherwise I found Raffertys good for being out and about, as it comes in pouches. Can get this from Coles and Safeways.

hevs

Aldi for nappies
Big W for all other baby stuff....wipes formula etc....

crystaldi

I have a 1 year old that I took to the uk earlier this year so I was lucky to be able to compare a few things...

1. Car Seats - There is NO choice over here - some may say there is, but ISOFIX has ONLY just Been approved and only on certain models. - Prams are more expensive here also - The best child seat on the market is the Safe and sound meridian which is approx $470 depending on offers and is from birth to 18kg. - To be honest if you have one at the uk you like depending on your airline (mine was singapore air) you can take baby goods such as car seat, cot etc for free and they dont inc on your weight allowance.

Check out www.babiesgalore.com.au or www.pramwarehouse.com.au for some ideas of prices and choices.

2. Nappies - definately the huggies but they are not cheap, Aldi is well known here for its good nappies presently at $16.99 for 50 so slightly cheaper than huggies. The other good make is sorbies - in orange bag sold exclusively at coles and IGA - You get 10 nightime nappies and 34 daytime ones for about $15 when on offer and the nightime nappies are superb!

Baby wipes are SOOO expensive compared to the uk. the cheapest i have seen are at crazy clarks and aldi - not used either yet but will try aldi ones. otherwise they tend to be about $4 a pack which at uk exchange makes them over 2quid a pack which is bad as Boots do 3 for 2.70!

3. Baby powder is also higher priced than uk - I used Aptimil in uk which was 7.95gbp, a quid more than Smc or cow & Gate! the average price here is $20! and none are as close to breast milk as aptimil that I know of.
BEST ADVISE - Go for the cheapest and if it works for baby great if not, you havent wasted ya dosh, go to the next one - Heniz is the cheapest but dont get the gold version - my baby vomited it all the time. S26 is one of the most advertised big brand ones but everyone told me not to get it as it causes wind - It did!

Baby cereal - as with all baby foods (god I miss asda!) there is once again not a lot of choice - best brands to look out for are Raffetys garden - which are almost identical to Elles kitchen brand in uk they do a good banana porrige. - although Bellamys orgainic is better value and just as good. - Dont touch FAREX Brand - Everyone i know has a box of theirs in the pantry being wasted away! With other food - again i miss tesco/asda etc there is not a good choice for dinners and I found its best just preparing fresh veg and freezing - i bought a plastic spice tray with 10 spice containers - i noted these were simular size to the food bottles so i prep up veggie mush and freeze it in the spice i can just take one out at a time an defrost when needed. He loves it!

4. Sorry this should have been 1!!! - Register at your local medicare office asap when you arrive to oz - take your passports and visa and you can then get free healthcare you you and baby (bub as they are called in OZ!)

Anyway - all that moaning and comparing i have done to the uk - dont be put off its defo the best place in the world to bring up kids and I wouldnt go back -and on the bright side you pay more for the less choice now but you dont have all the mothercare/next/argos/primark... etc enticing you to spend loads on different things... cause they dont have them here!!

Finally - Don't worry!!! Things are a little different but you will get used to it and there is always a big W/Target/kmart somewhere near to most places and they sell most stuff.

Kingseat

Just to add to this I found the cheapest way for wipes was to buy a couple of the plastic wipe boxes and the large packs of wipes for refils.

Thanks to the above poster about the orange bags of nappies. Will give those a go.

Howard Jenings

We emigrated with our little boy when he was 5 months old, he is now 14 months. We bought a safe and sound car seat which is absolutely brilliant, much better than the one we had in the UK. Nappies are more expensive over here and I have found Huggies to be the best by far (pampers don't exist as such you can buy them online though but they are expensive) I buy big boxes of nappies, 72 in a box and approx $38.00 from any supemarket that has them on offer they normally retail at about $42.00.
As regards milk ask your health visitor in the UK to check out if your brand exists over here (it probably will do but under a different name) health visitors should have reps that they can contact - maybe start your little one on full-fat milk now he is 1 then you don't need to worry when you come over.

SydneySwede

I've got a 20 month old girl and I was very happy to find that Coles have started to sell Pampers nappies (only in Vic and NSW I think). Slightly cheaper than Huggies but more expensive than Aldi and Snugglers but so so much better!