That’s just for the initial infant gear – crib, car seat, stroller, bottles, bedding and the like. New parents Stacey and Adam Larson of Oakdale, Minn., can plan on many more trips to Babies “R” Us, because the average first-year bill for supplies ranging from diapers to furniture is $6,200. That doesn’t include day care or medical insurance.

“It’s overwhelming,” says 30-year-old Stacey Larson.

That’s coming from someone who is organized and budget-minded. In her first trimester, Larson started shopping at Once Upon a Child, which sells used baby gear, and eventually found a crib for $100 – compared with $300 for similar new ones. She borrowed a swing, bathtub and play gym. She printed coupons off the Pampers.com Web site. She bought closeout baby bedding, 50 percent off at Burlington Coat Factory’s Baby Depot.

Still, Larson says, she has thrown money down the drain. “We bought a bottle warmer. It looked cool.” Then she realized she could just run the bottles under hot water. She’s also out $300 for a nonreturnable breast pump she won’t need since breastfeeding didn’t work for her.

“There’s a tendency to rush out and buy everything, but you really don’t need it,” says Alan Fields, co-author of “Baby Bargains” ($16.95; Windsor Peak Press), a guide on what to buy, how to save and when to splurge.

But for some new parents, that’s still not enough guidance.

Enter Minneapolis moms Gretchen Pope and Kristina Erazmus. Having coached many pregnant friends through baby-product overload, they recently founded a company called the Essential Bebe, offering shopping assistance. They put together personalized shopping lists, take clients to the store to register and will even do all the shopping for them, charging anywhere from $65 for an hour consultation to $400 for a complete shopping spree.

In the six months since they launched a Web site, www.theessentialbebe.com, they’ve had 3,300 hits and say business is brisk. “There are a lot of people out there with no clue,” Pope says.

Here are some clues from the “Baby Bargains” and Essential Bebe experts to get expecting parents started, and there’s no charge.