Free pregnancy and baby stuff Free baby stuff

Once your baby is born, there are plenty of entitlements, freebies and gifts to look out for. Also see the section on free pregnancy stuff, which highlights what's available while you're pregnant.

Pass our tips on to other parents and parents-to-be using the sharing bookmarks at the bottom of this page, and check out our reviews of the latest pushchairs, child car seats, high chairs and baby monitors.

You'll often get free baby stuff when you join a parent and baby club

Junior Isas and child trust funds

Previously, long-term tax-free savings accounts called child trust funds (CTFs) were available for children. As part of the scheme, all children received government contributions in the form of vouchers - but CTFs, along with government payments, have been scrapped. 

In its place, the government has announced plans to introduce Junior Isas from November 2011 - a new tax-free savings account for children which will be open to babies born from January 2011 onwards. 

The new accounts will have no government contributions and will work in a similar way to adult Isas. Your children will be able to hold up to one cash, and one stocks and shares Junior Isa at a time and you'll be allowed make tax-free contributions of up to £3,000 a year, across your child's held accounts.

We'll update this page with more information on Junior Isas once the scheme launches.

Baby clubs

As well as the Bounty club, there are lots of other baby and pregnancy clubs offering free baby stuff. You'll need to register your details to join – so always check the small print to see how they will be used. Here are a few free baby clubs we came across (freebies correct at time of writing):

• Sainsbury's Little Ones Baby and Toddler club – when you join you can get a free 'Huggies mum and baby bundle' worth £9.99 when you buy Huggies newborn nappies, or 500 Nectar card points, as well as a free magazine promising money-off coupons.
• Boots Parenting club – joining this club gets you double Boots Advantage card points when you buy certain baby products, regular Advantage card points offers and a 'free' changing bag when you join and buy Pampers nappies.
• Tesco Baby & Toddler club – offers free magazines, Tesco Clubcard coupons for baby products and a parents' parking permit for priority parking in Tesco car parks.
• Cow & Gate Mum and Baby club – offers a free pregnancy diary, cuddly cow and money-off vouchers.
• Aptamil baby club – offers free ABC guides to pregnancy nutrition and a free huggable polar bear.
• Hipp Baby Club – offers a free samples pack and money-off coupons.
• Toys R Us Mother and Baby club – promises money-off coupons and free mailings.

Kidstart and cashback websites

Cashback websites such as KidStart pay a proportion of the money you spend online into a nominated child's bank, building society or child trust fund account (if your child has an existing CTF). After registering, all you have to do is go to the online shop you're buying from via the special links on the Kidstart site.

By shopping online this way you can get up to 5% cashback on Mothercare purchases, 1% back on most items from Argos, 25% from eBay revenue (ie how much eBay makes from the sale) and 2.5% from Kiddicare – there are more than 400 shopping sites in the scheme.

Bookstart offers free books for babies and toddlers

Freecycle

Locally-run community swap websites such as Freecycle or Freegle are all potential sources of getting hold of free baby stuff – from moses baskets to pushchairs, high chairs and toys.

There are lots of sources of cheap second-hand equipment too, to help you keep costs down – our guide to buying baby products secondhand has more ideas and covers safety aspects of buying used baby equipment.

Bookstart packs

The Bookstart scheme aims to provide a free pack of books to children. A Bookstart babies pack – for babies in England, Northern Ireland and Scotland aged 0-12 months – is available through your health visitor or a local library and consists of a canvas shoulder bag, placemat, two books and a list of recommended baby books. 

Bookstart+ packs for toddlers aged 18-30 months and My Bookstart Treasure Chest packs for kids aged 3-4 years are also available. Separate Bookstart packs are available in Wales, and you can get special packs for blind, partially sighted and deaf children – visit the Bookstart website for more information.

Freebie websites

There are plenty of general freebie websites that help you find free stuff and cheap deals, and many have dedicated baby and child sections. You might have to sift through what's on offer to find the really good deals, but if you've got the time you could find some hidden gems.

• Baby Freebies – a wide-ranging site that covers everything from discounts on clothes and free days out to money-off vouchers for a variety of items. It’s particularly good at helping you find free stuff and directing you to bargains.
• Freebie List – is a UK-based site which doesn’t have a specific baby section, but is dedicated to keeping an eye on and reviewing the best freebies available online. It is regularly updated with the latest free offers, including a mixture of free stuff, product samples and software.