breast pump felt like a milk cow

We used the baby bath until DD was 2.5yrs as we didn't have a bath and she hated the shower.

Bumbo lasted 3 weeks, I then sold it on to some poor unsuspecting person for more than I paid!
All the blankets were a waste of money as we used gro-bags.
'Grown up' baby clothes were taken back and exchanged for babygros.
Baby monitor- we could hear her at 1000 paces, her crying filled the house.
Door bouncer- wrong shaped door frames.
Sling- she screamed everytime she went in it.
Rear facing travel system- she hated facing me so we put her facing forwards and she was happy. Travel system was a huge waste of money, but again I sold it on to some unsuspecting person!
Baby Einstein videos- given as gifts... re-wrapped and past on to other new mums. She wasn't interested.
Bottle warmer- far easier having it at room temp.

I was another exclusive expresser- I wish I'd known you could get electric pumps...Avent Isis was excellent though.

Bath thermometer - an elbow is just as good!

My best baby buy was a BF pillow, I got it for £10 including postage from ebay and when I wasnt BF I could use it to prop DS/DD up.

these threads are always fascinating - dd is still in her baby bath at 2.5 yrs - no idea how many thousands of gallons of water we have saved. She has to share the water with her little brother too (he has a quick dunk in the bath first then she gets to splash while I'm getting him into pjs)

oh yes the swaddling wrap as well, it was like trying to get an uncooperative ds into a straightjacket!

Oh mumblemum I had a top like that and my friend had the backpack pump arrangement. Both of us were failed BFers and so we had to express our milk full time for our babies. I know you only meant it light heartedly but spare a thought for those women going through it now - I know of at least 8 women who have done it in the last year or so - and they are heroines really.

mrspickles - I still remember ds screaming when I came towards him with the snot tube, think it has traumatised him forever!

wet wipes

wet wipe warmers

nappy wrappers

sazzerbear lol, what's wrong with just sucking the snot out with your mouth eh?!

HensMum I loved my sleep positioner I had two! I used them when cosleeping so DD was next to me and it was a bit of a barrier so I didn't roll on her & always knew where she was in the bed. Also she hated being swaddled but felt a bit more secure in the sleep positioner I think, plus it had a wedge to elevate her a bit more which I believe made her projectile vomit reflux a bit easier

actually sod it no idea if it was actually useful but I would not of dreamt of putting her sleep without it!

When I was 33 weeks pregnant I had bought not a single thing except the nappy wrapper which I thought was an essential hahaha

Baby nose clear, sucking snot out of the baby's nose?!! What a waste of money it was!

www.babyworld.co.uk/information/reviews/product.asp?id=343

We also had the mesh bags for teh dts, it was the only way of getting fruit into them when they didn't want to be spoon fed mush anymore but wouldn't pick up anything slimy or wet to the touch.

Cot mobiles and baby baths. Useless.

No-baby baths are good, I still use mine for my large 9mth old DS and put him in it in the big bath- it saves water!

I bought the nappy wrapping thing and have had to jack it in because the cassettes are so bloody expensive.

Cot bumpers- What is the point of them if you put your baby to sleep with his feet at the end of the bed?

Cot mobile- Never used it as I put DS in his cot to sleep not to be entertained.

nappy wrapper bins are really good!!! i cant believe everyone thinks they are rubbish i love mine, its very handy

Ohhh I loved my mesh thing for DS i used to put ice cold melon in it for when he was teething.
Nappy bin was a big waste of money. So was baby bath and bumbo.

Baby bath
Nappy Wrapper
Travel system (£300 down the drain)
Top and tail bowl (just used those little ones from Ikea).
Slumber bear (terrified DD not tried it with DS)
Bottle drying rack
Stand for moses basket
Disposable breastpads (ouch)
dressing gowns and slippers for babies under one (yeah, thanks for those IL's)

Quite rate the bumbo, up till they can sit anyway so used for about 2 months a time.

Don't have, but agree total waste:
Mesh feeder thing
Bottle warmer (erm, hot water in a jug not good enough?)
That ridiculous toilet thing!

Best buys were cot top changer, ergonomic bath seat, baby towel from Ikea (huge) quinny stroller, wooden highchair and loads of muslin squares.

bottles never bought any hurray for breastfeeding

Oh yeah, the door bouncer. DS would just hang in it, never actually bounced. And it took two people to get him into the bloody thing.

I actually rate the bumbo and have bought another one for number three (from Ebay natch) but mine are skinny so it lasts them a while.

My worst buys would be the tummy tub- was too scared that DS would drown- although we've got some lovely photos of him in it.

The door bouncer thing- he just span round and round and it took the paint of my wall

I'm umpteenthing the nappy wrapper bin. We use it without the cassette, so a normal bin with a lid would have been just as good.

I do use my top and tail bowl loads as we use reusable wipes. I have the water in one side and toiletries neatly in the other side.

Baby towels. No good for a big baby.

All the organic products I bought which turned dd into a rashy mess.

One of those baby's memory books. Still sat under coffee table gathering dust.

SwaddleMe Useless thing the wrap over bit for the chest never worked as unless you could move quicker than baby you had an arm waving out of it and the bit for the legs is so wide baby just brings there legs up and ta-da free and kicking legs.

Also any baby toiletries as I bought one of those johnson baby boxes which I still haven't finished using in 3+ years (notice I haven't) both DDs have/had excema so need prescription creams/bath additives/shampoos.

Well the baby monitor will make a great toy for my dds one day...

baby bath in the top of the change unit - useless. Used a washing up bowl instead.

Baby bath that fits over the real bath = fantastic. Still use it now to limit the area of the real bath that DS can use, and to keep the toys etc. in.

duck thermometer for the bath - never used it (a gift)

I bought a top and tail bowl - but only after my second baby. I bought it so that I had somewhere to put my clean wet cloth and dirty wet nappy after changing (using cloth nappies). It works perfectly for that - but no quite the use it was intended.

Maybe we should be thinking of alternative uses for all these things

AND it has a cute picture of a giraffe on!

Baby monitor! Don't get me started on those! Ours NEVER worked, either couldn't get a signal at all or had bad interferences - sounded like we had to listen to aliens communicating out there in space. We live in a tiny house so it was completely superfluous anyway, as I could hear the babies perfectly well without it. £50 down the drain!

Can I say, in defence of the t&t bowl, that we change nappies in dd's bedroom rather than the bathroom so yes, we do have a sink but it's too far away from the changing table

Things I bought but barely used:

baby monitor
changing bag
rucksack for toddler with lead/reins attached

I would go with the top and tail bowl - why, do you not have a sink in your bathroom??

We were quite tight economical with our baby puchases, so I think the only thing I didn't really use was a baby boiuncer which doesn't fit over our doors properly.

Re the mesh feeder things, someone on my postnatal thread has a baby with a severe cleft palate, and she swears by the mesh feeder for him

Oh dear, I have bought so many of these things over the years
My nappy wrappers best use was as a door stop! I had the mesh feeder thing and I couldn't get the banana out of it after the very first use so was never used again! Top and tail bowl - unused. Also had a travel bottle warmer which was some gel filled thing with a dot that you had to push to activate the warmth (!) however it had always set itself off before I needed it and was therefore useless - sold it at a boot sale.
I am however now liking the look of the baby strung over the door harness...would that be unfair to a 2 year old ?

Although I suppose it cpould be useful in certain circumstances - like trying to breastfeed more than one or expressing for baby in hospital

how about little 'caps' to put over little baby willies so they wouldn't pee on you!

The most hilarious thing I ever saw advertised was a top which had holes for two breast pumps to be fitted through. They were linked up to a backpack holding a collection bottle and automatic pump.

MOOOO

Nappy wrapper. I used it for Ds and it seemed great, but with Dd, I think I used it for about 4 nappies. Complete waste of time although it may have been psychological as I couldn't get the cassettes for it as it was the older design...maybe I didn't want to run out of the cassette that was in there!

Brand new baby bath was only used a couple of times as I had no boiler and therefore no hot water so Dd was showered with me. No idea why I bought it(can't remember if I got it before boiler died).

I have one of those Humphrey, was about to try ebaying it, but I'd sell to a mner very cheaply

To my eternal shame and amongst the many idiotic items I've bought over the years, my worst has to be a dinky little baby shower thingy.

You fill the tank with water and then squeeze a pump thing for ages to get a minute trickle of water thats been so long getting up the pipe it's now freezing cold

I use a jug now

at the Walk-o-long - I can't believe people pay money for stuff like that!!

The walk-o-long, which was just useless full stop tummy tub which he was too small for, then could stand up in at a very early age, then was too big for - we used it 3 times in total nappy stacker, half size feeding bottles, teething toys, those "taggy" things, the playpen I always felt too guilty to use. The big expensive padded reclining highchair at mil's which has about 200 nooks and crannies for hidden food to moulder away in (thankfully I bought an ikea antilop as a result!)

Bexie, I know, but why not call it an expressing kit then? Not everyone who breastfeeds expresses.

The whole point of breastfeeding is that a, it's free, and b, you don't need to faff with all that stuff if you don't want to.

here Humphrey.

The bottles in breastfeeding kits are for those who are expressing though? The bottles attach to the pump. The joys of expressing!

I think it should be against the law to sell tiny baby shoes. Their poor little squashed feet! I hate seeing socks on babies in this hot weather as well.

But yes, non slip socks for new borns. What good is that?

I want one of those things that rock the buggy, didn't know they existed!

I am not lazy btw, just fed up wth spending hours pushing the buggy only for her to wake when I stop.

Love that hanging the baby on the toilet door idea!!! Ridiculous but I can think of more than one occasion when I had to wee with a baby on my lap.

Could put them on the outside wall while you're gardening too....

I love our baby bath it's a cheap one from Ikea and he'll be in it for a while yet.
I love our nappy bin we use normal bin liners in it and it keeps the stinkyness to a minimum!
I love our changing bag, it keeps everything organised and to hand
We decided on bf'ing so bottle warmers were a complete waste of time.
We got a load of clothes for tiny babies - ds was only just under 6lb when born - for winter, he was born in April!
Wipe warmers are imnsho a waste of time!
We have been bought several pairs of socks for him that fit - he's 10 weeks old - with non-slip feet! And shoes, what's going on with that for a baby that can't even sit up yet???

dxx

What the hell is that Rusty? Like a timeout thing? Somewhere to store the baby?

Bumbo, Bumbo, Bumbo etc.....

DD3 was too big, even at three months to use it.

The expensive baby changing unit; also another waste.

This has to be up there amongst the contenders!

Ok. After a quick browse through my Mothercare catalogue...........

Endless funny shaped cushions and pillows for when you are pregnant / breastfeeding.

The extortionate 'breastfeeding kits' sold by Tommy Tippee etc containing amongst other things, bottles.

Monitors with a TV screen - what is this, Big Brother?? And if the bedroom is dark you won't be able to see anything anyway

Cot bumpers that say to remove when the baby can sit up - most babies don't move around much before this anyway and so are unlikely to bump themselves.

Bed guards. They've got to learn not to fall out at some point. or leave them in the cot.

Teeny weeny foodprocessors for making baby food.

Baby bath is good as you can actually sit on the floor with baby in bath. I hate bathing them in a big bath as you have to hunch over the bath and it hurts my back/I get a dead arm.

My baby towels still do for Tom at 3, lol.

We did use top/tail bowl as well. Oh and steriliser, even though I breastfed.

I do prefer babies in sleepsuits for the first 3 months, they just look odd in proper clothes before then. Or maybe it was Tom and his weird hairdo at the time.

Someone tried selling me a nappy bin but I declined as was using reusables.

Glad I didn't pay fill price for Bumbo as Tom escaped, but I did keep it and hope i'll use it for DC2.

Baby "gyms". Useless for my babies who were both velcro children and wanted to be permanently attached to me, not swiping at stuff above their heads.

Mesh thing - I can't believe it! Had never heard of them

I did use my top and tail - but just as a bowl. One side for water one side for holding dirty cotton wool.

Baby bath
Nappy wrapper

were the two I never used.

Another vote for Nappy Wrapper! Waste of money for us - used once!

KingRolo that is v funny

love the personal bog roll stuck on the side

25 squid too, a bargain

Jojay... do go on

'Proper ' clothes for tiny babies

Shoes for babies that can't walk

Those things you see in catalogues that rock your buggy to get your baby to sleep - how lazy is that??

Most cheap baby socks - they fall off in seconds.

Highchairs that recline - why would you want your baby to sleep at the table??? And in my view they are a choking hazard.

I could go on.........

How ever did babies learn to use a toilet before this was invented?

I loved the Bumbo too. Was brilliant for sitting DS in in the garden when I hung out the washing.

I don't get those sleep positioning things you can get for tiny babies, to keep them on their backs. Most tiny babies don't roll, do they? And once they can roll, I thought it was fine for them to sleep how they like.

our Bumbo was used once, or possibly twice - and judging by the number of them on ebay, I think lots of people are trying to offload them!

amazing, i have seen everything now

it looks vaguely rude

The bumbo chair was my best baby purchase ever (£12 from a second hand baby shop - first rule of baby purchases, never buy anything new). DS2 has quite fat legs though so once he was in, there was no way he was escaping! I was so impressed with it I am actually keeping it in case of another DC (most baby stuff I give away, ebay or freecycle)

I bet that fresh food feeder is absolutely rank after a few goes, imagine claeaning all the bits of chewed up meat out of that.

I quite like my bumbo but on reflection I probably wouldn't have bothered, they are very expensive for what they are.

Oh, and the tray attachement is useless, just keeps falling off.

I like my top and tail bowl. Only cost £2 and we've used it every day since DS was born 20 months ago (we use reusable wipes). Yes, I know a normal bowl would have worked just as well but still, at a price per usage basis, it's been worth it.

Just back from holiday where we had use of a nappy wrapper bin and I hated it! It didn't work properly and was a pain to empty because of the special bag thing. Much better to use a normal bin with lid lined with carrier bags and empty often.

Most useless thing we bought was a musical swing for £50. DS much prefered the £12 bouncy chair.

Schulte,

Ds has a Bumbo, used it once and he threw himself out, plus couldnt get him in seat with tray on as it was too tight around his wee tummy and he was so squashed so all in all a waste of money IMO

Yappy - this

Thinking about it, anyone found a bumbo sitter useful? As soon as DD1 was old enough to sit in it, she was also old enough to get out of it by throwing herself sideways!

what is a mesh thing? didn't have those back in the day

KingRolo LOL at 8 quid per bath!

Specially designed changing bags - I don't get that either. What's wrong with a normal bag? And they come in such hideous designs too.

We got this but still held him under the shoulders, to stop him slipping in the bath. We were very nervous! A second time Mum on the ward recommended it and she was right.

I don't get the top and tail bowl. We just used a bowl and di his face first.

Any clothes other than babygros for the 0-3 months. Annoying and uncomfortable for them.

Baby bean bags.....erm, it's a normal bean bag with a harness on it, and double the price.

This. DD was too small for it for ages then seemingly overnight she was too big for it and could get out so we actually used it twice. That works out at £8 a bath. The baby bath proper cost a fiver and we're still using it at 8 months old.

Top and tail bowls are probably the best example of late pregnancy purchase lunacy. Pointless.

Most things!

Baby bath
Top and tailer
Nappy bin
Those big changing units with drawers
Specially designed changing bags
Bottle warmers
Pointlessly impractical clothes

i know schulte! how funny is that! she's obsessed with babies choking.
i probably won't mention BLW to her.... lol

Believe me I wanted a lamp so badly, DH was having none of it!

No waaay Purple!

I like my top and tail bowl!

Wet wipe warmers? Seriously? You can buy those?

Oh, in Germany everyone has infrared lamps above the changing table so baby doesn't get a cold bum during nappy changes. Madness!

DS was still in baby bath at 7/8 months, til he started to rock it! I wouldn't have been able to bath him in the big bath when he was little. Would have bought a washing up bowl to use but got the bath cheap.

Most baby stuff is useless.

God I'm feeling silly now...

Baby bath I liked but it was part of a big changing unit thing.

Baby seat for the bath this I have really loved, DS still uses it now at 17months.

Set of Peter Rabbit baby towels he still uses now

Avent steam serilizer, Avent microwave and Tommee Tippee single bottle one.

Hhahaha in my defence I was a first time Mummy in Germany with no one to tell me that I didn't need all this stuff

I have a mesh thing, and think its fab

Top and tail bowl, I never used mine

Baby baths, they are in them for a matter of weeks

LOL Schulte! this is so apt! just to top the whole hooter hiser fiasco....guess what my mom gave me when was here.....

Baby bath.
Baby seat for the bath.
Baby towels. (too small)
Nappy wrapping machine. (don't get it)
Top and tail bowl.
Baby juice.
Steriliser.

Oh God, so many others!

Hahhaah I actually have the mesh thing....and a Tommee Tippee nappy wrapper! I agree about the wipes warmer though

What about a top/tail bowl, they are pretty rubbish.

baby wipe warmers or nappy wrapping bins.

I personally thought those toddler helmets they sold on the Apprentice were the most ridiculous and pointless product I have ever seen. But I also can't believe anyone would seriously consider buying one of those mesh things for weaning that you put a piece of fruit in so baby can chew on it without risk of choking. I mean wtf? So what do you think is the most unnecessary piece of baby kit ever?