Anyone from the UK?

Hi!

I've recently moved over here from the UK with my 10 month old daughter and hubby. Is there anyone out there who can offer me advice re any differences in bringing up a baby here compared with the UK?
Thanks in advance, Katy x

Hi Katy and welcome!
Would you like to change your forum name from Guest? Would love to know more about you - how is it going settling in? Where are you based?

Hi Katy

We are from the UK too. We are having our first child this December. We are based in Auckland. If you are nearby and fancy meeting up just give us a shout. We are originally from Buckinghamshire, where abouts have you travelled from?

MM23

Hi Katy, where ru in NZ?? I moved here nearly 2yrs ago (Auckland east) I lived in sth London, Sussex and Wiltshire. I love it here. I have 4 children 3 born in uk and my 8m was born here. It just takes getting used to different things in supermarkets etc but overall I have found no huge differences. The maternity services are much better just in case you are planning no 2 ;0)). I have a great network of friends here and also have a group of uk mums who meet every week so if you are up this way you are welcome to come along :0) all the best for your new adventure!! Samantha x

Hi Katy, welcome to NZ! I hope you are feeling a bit more settled, summer is finally on it's way too! My name is Tania and I have been here nearly 6 years now, originally from Cardiff. I have a little boy who is 19 months and live in Auckland. Where abouts are you? I can't really offer too much advice in terms of comparisons but can help with any general questions! I too struggled to find a nappy that worked for me, you can get pampers in New World sometime but I now use BabyLove and they are really good, the only one's that keep my little boy dry through the night!
If you need to buy baby things then Trademe is your best bet for second hand things. We go to Mainly music and playcentre, they are available all over so just have a look on the net and see if you can find your nearest one. It depends on where you live as to whats available though, that's something I have noticed from the UK, friends back home seem to have heaps of choice when it comes to activities but here it does depend on where you live.
I am always keen for a meet up :0)

Hey Katy. I think Amazon may deliver over here. I believe we have ordered a couple of things.

Hi Katy u can get amazon here but sometimes u can get stopped and charged gst. There I mothercare here (Auckland) but also do online but is a bit more expensive than uk. For clothes next and m&s deliver but again the pos if gst charge. Good luck in chch I can't wait to see sth island x

Hi & welcome to NZ :)

I am not from UK originally but lived in London for a few years and had our first son there. We came back to NZ permanently when he was 5 months old and have since had another baby.

I miss UK shopping so much - esp Mothercare, Next, Gap & Marks & Spencer. Fortunately they all deliver to NZ so I get lots of stuff from them online. Even with shipping it is cheaper (and I think better quality) than you get here. If you shop smart you can avoid the import duty and GST charges (see below).

These are the websites:

www.next.co.uk (scroll down to the bottom and click on the link to their NZ site which has prices in NZD and FREE shipping)
www.mothercare.co.uk
www.marksandspencer.com
www.gap.com (when you first visit it will ask you for your country and then display prices in that currency).

Shipping costs:

Next - free shipping (as long as you buy from the NZ website)
M&S - 15 GBP to NZ (regardless of amount purchased)
Mothercare - there is a set fee then an additional amount based on the weight of your order. So you don't know how much until you get to the end. Mine is usually about 30 GBP for a pretty big order.
I haven't actually got anything delivered from Gap yet as my husband went on a trip to the States and picked it up for me. It says free delivery on the site but that's only for delivery within the US.

To avoid import duty and GST you have to keep the total bill for each order, including shipping, under NZD $400 (baby clothes are exempt from import duty anyway but not GST) at this end. Or you could split your order into multiple deliveries but then you have to pay multiple lots of shipping - not an issue if shipping is free obviously. That rule applies to anything you get sent - so if you order stuff from amazon you can avoid those charges as long as the total bill, including shipping, is less than $400 NZD. I have had deliveries from both the US Amazon site and the UK one. Not everything can be delivered though, you don't know until you try to order (or sometimes it has that info in the details section).

I got my stuff from Mothercare within 3-5 days of ordering. M&S took just over a week. Next was about 10 or 12 days.

Unfortunately Mothercare and M&S won't deliver all the products they sell to NZ, it's basically just clothes.

In terms of equivalencies between the UK and NZ - I find that BabyCity (www.babycity.co.nz) is probably the closest to Mothercare, although doesn't have quite as much stuff. www.babyuniverse.co.nz is good too. You can't get Dentinox shampoo here which is super annoying! The closest thing is Mustela shampoo which I have only found at BabyCity. We used Pampers nappies in the UK and use Huggies here, although to be honest that's the only brand I've tried.

As well as Mainly Music I would also check out your local library, the ones in Wellington all have a free "Baby Rock 'n Rhyme" session once a week, which is a singalong similar to MM but different songs (and without religious references).

Ummm that's all I can think of for now but feel free to ask any questions about online shopping, I'm an expert!

i wish i saw this post sooner lol

i moved from the UK beginning of september and was very confused as to how to find a midwife ect.

im 33 weeks pregnant with my first baby and am with the primary care midwifes. I am now in wellington but origionally from south england (bournemouth for anyone in the UK that knows)

As for baby bits i to found its alot more expensive here, and i love next baby clothes and especially love there next sales lol, i had to give up my staff discount card before i left :(

Hope all UK mums are settled over here :)

yes when babys born it will be the hospital midwifes that deliver at wellington hopsital. Thats very reassuring thank you :) when everything does happen i see alot of people ring there midwife and they go to there houses to i just ring the delivery suite?