Surprise! Equipping, feeding, and outfitting your tiny offspring is likely to cost between $9,000 and $12,000 during your pregnancy and the first year of your baby’s life. Our guide is designed to help you figure out what to buy and what to avoid so you can save yourself hundreds or even thousands of dollars on your baby’s gear.

“Layette” is the traditional word for all the baby clothing and related paraphernalia that parents accumulate before their baby arrives. Baby magazines and stores love distributing long, detailed layette lists for the sole purpose of driving guilt-ridden parents into the stores.

Expect to feel a bit overwhelmed by the thousands of baby items lined up on today’s store shelves. When you walk through giant, big-box baby stores, like Babies “R” Us^®, or even stroll through a big-ticket baby boutique, or surf around on the Internet for pricey baby duds and strollers, it’s hard to resist piling up your shopping basket with everything that catches your eye, especially when you’re in the throes of feeling “hormonal” and convince yourself “nothing’s too good for our baby.”