Babies are expensive for a short time, which is the whole argument for buying most of it second-hand. A cot is used for two years, a pram for one, and a set of newborn clothes for about six weeks.
Where to buy
Kantamanto and the second-hand trade is where most of Accra buys children’s clothes, and it is the category where the second-hand market is at its best: children outgrow clothes before they wear them out, so the donated stock is barely used.
— Where to buy second-hand clothes
Markets carry baby clothes, blankets, bath things, plastics and the enormous range of cloth used for carrying a baby on the back.
Melcom and the department stores carry cots, prams, car seats, high chairs, bottles and nappies at fixed prices, which is the easy way to buy the large items new.
Pharmacies and supermarkets are where formula, nappies and baby toiletries are cheapest in quantity, and where you can be most confident of what you are buying.
Online parent groups and marketplaces are where prams, cots, car seats and outgrown clothes change hands, usually in good condition and usually at a fraction of new.
What is worth buying used, and what is not
Buy used without worrying: clothes, blankets, cots and cot frames, high chairs, changing mats, toys, baby baths, prams and carriers.
Buy new: mattresses, bottles and teats, dummies, anything that goes in a mouth, and car seats. A car seat that has been in a crash is damaged in ways that do not show, and you cannot know the history of a used one.
Check before buying used: that a cot’s bars are close enough together and nothing is loose, that a pram’s brakes work and the frame locks open, and that nothing has a recall against it.
The things that eat the budget
- Nappies are the running cost. Buying by the box rather than the packet is substantially cheaper per nappy, and supermarkets and wholesalers both sell them that way.
- Formula is dear, and it is also the category where counterfeits and badly stored stock turn up. Buy it from a pharmacy or a supermarket, check the seal and the expiry date, and do not buy it from a roadside stall standing in the sun. It is regulated by the FDA.
- Wipes, creams and toiletries are cheapest in the wholesale shops of Accra Central and Okaishie.
Health and registration
Two things to do early, and neither costs much:
- Register the birth. It is the document everything else depends on. — Registering a birth in Ghana
- Get the child onto health insurance. Children are covered cheaply, and it is what makes a clinic visit affordable. — NHIS and health insurance
— Having a baby in Ghana — Schools in Accra — What a month in Accra costs