On Facebook Marketplace I found preloved baby items and a community that touched my heart | Maggie Kelly

Maggie Kelly went looking for secondhand clothes and a crib and found the mother tribe

It was that special brand of 2020 pessimism and a hefty dose of first-mum nerves that turned me in the pregnancy Grinch. Everything was new, overwhelming and expensive. List upon list grew with every 3am bolt from the blue. Cribs, bassinets, prams, nursing chairs, eco-nappies, cotton nappies, bamboo nappies. I was trapped in a cutesy-wootsy duckling-print plastic hell.

We're going to kill the planet with every dollar we spend," I grumbled to my partner as I waddled the aisles of Baby Bunting. Shopping secondhand seemed like the better option - I could save the planet while avoiding anything printed with baby animals.