WHAT BABY PRODUCT COULDN'T YOU DO WITHOUT?

[Rhiannon]

I've found the baby intercom (Tomy Walkabout 2000)very handy although I can't find the downstairs one at the moment, I've started to turn out cupboards in the hope it'll turn up.

Britax car seat (the polystyrene one) suitable from 9 months upwards although I found it only useful from 18 months up as they both fell out the side of the seat belt when they went sleep in the car.

[Bloss]

Message withdrawn

[Jodee]

What is a hipseat - I need one !!

[Rhiannon]

Oh and at the moment its the travel potty. It's by Tommee Tippee, a wonderful invention. The lining bags have what looks suspiciously like a sanitary towel in the bottom of them to soak everything up and then it's little legs fold up and it fits back in my bag. We're a couple of streamlined girls now, no big potty for us anymore! (Just lots of pairs of wet knickers in a Tesco bag.)

[Bloss]

Message withdrawn

[Mel]

Babywipes! How people managed with just cotton wool is beyond me! It always sticks to their skin when you're trying to get the disgusting, gloppy baby lotion off!
Anywayup cups. The best thing in the world - no more soggy sofas, carpets, car seats etc.

[Rhiannon]

Bloss, had a look at the hippychick website. What age can you use the hip seat up to? My little girl is 2.7, not wanting the pushchair anymore, what do you think will she be too heavy or does it make the carrying a lot easier?

[Bloss]

Message withdrawn

[Rhiannon]

Bloss, she's 26lb, I'm no good with kilos!

[Bloss]

Message withdrawn

[Joe]

its 2.2lb to a kilo, I only know because of working out my ponies feed for a course.

[Emmam]

A travel stair gate. Quick, adjustable, great for taking to relatives who think child-friendly means giving them a packet of crisps. Saved endless woes. I've got about 3 of them! One at my mum's, one across my landing and one for emergency blockings!

We're just getting to the stage where I can probably do without the gates now, but my sister and friends all have small babies so its handy when they visit I can just whip one out and put it across the kitchen door, stairs or anywhere else.

Also, couldn't do without my doorstops, the ones that fit over the top of the door. The thought of pinched little fingers makes me shudder.

[Debster]

My favourite products are the anywayup cup and metanium nappy cream. Works instantly and one tube lasts forever.

[Alibubbles]

I've been using a hippy chick for a while now. I think it's great, I first saw something similar froma friend who lived in Tokyo and thought what a brilliant idea. I bought one and showed the mother of the baby I mind (13months) and she wouldn't be without it. It's so handy to leave in the car and doesn't take up any storage space. I agree about Metanium it's invaluable, the tiniest amount clears up a rash in between nappy changes!

[Bo]

My bath seat £9.99 from Safety 1st I think, in mothercare & mail order. My boy's 2 now & he's still in it. I never have to worry about him in the bath (obviously still never ever leave him) and we can both play without worrying. I'm amazed when I find out some people don't use it. The best tenner I ever spent. Got a 2nd one now for no. 2 just got to wait for him to sit up!

[Mooma]

Hear hear re the Anywayup cup - wish they'd been around with my first three. Mind you, I have heard of some little kids who can't get up enough of a suck to use them!!

[Lizzer]

Funny you say that Bo as my friend would have had the bath seat down in the 'worst buy' catagory. She said once dd realised the joys of kicking, splashing and 'swimming' in the bath getting her in, or even near, the seat became an impossible task - which was about a week after she bought it!

I think my most treasured item is my wonderful maclaren techno pushchair - it's just so perfectly formed (except the brakes which are impossible to click on and off in flip-flops!) and looks great too - reflector stripes and everything! I heard that maclaren had gone bust though - anyone heard anything more?

[Marina]

Our son's sleeping bag. Available from PHP or Urchin. Since 6 months he has gone to sleep cheerfully in beds all over the UK because he was in his familiar bag.
For older babies, his folding booster seat (Safety First, £24.99, John Lewis etc). Fab. Much better than his expensive, impossible highchair.

[Janh]

marina, when you say sleeping bag do you mean just a bag or a thing with sleeves?

all of ours slept in a sleeved bag - grandma made them out of winceyette - big enough at the bottom to move around in BUT, unlike with one with legs, they could not climb out of cots - one of penelope leach's better tips i always thought.

mind you they were not climby children - it might not work with a climber - but it even kept them in a travel cot when they were otherwise easily big enough to hop out. definitely one of our best things.

i never had a bath sitter but did use those big sponges with a baby-sized cut out - do they still exist? a non-sitter could lie on it without you having to bend in and support head and shoulders...my first one was mail-order from somewhere but mothercare did start selling them, do they still exist?

[Marina]

Janh, sleeveless, long, zipped down the front. We've had three. One with special zips to allow holes for a car seat harness; one standard winter-weight one; and a lovely summerweight one made of towelling with poppers on the shoulders. Our son's not a climber either, luckily, as they are quite effective at hobbling small children.

[Rhiannon]

Janh, Mothercare was selling those sponges a couple of years ago as I bought one, very handy.

I also loved my big old fashioned 1960's Silver Cross pram that I bought from a boot sale for £10. It had a broderie anglaise canopy and was sprung so you could rock the baby off to sleep.
I managed to get a new mattress to fit it from Mothercare for about another £10 so we had perfect bliss for £20!

It didn't fit in the car but it was lovely for walks and for in the garden.

[Tigger]

Baby sling, and then the Backpack, 2 of the best items we had. We also had my big pram from when I was small, and I used to take it outside when I went to feed a shed full of heifers and tied it to the gate and they used to nuzzle the handle and rock Lucy back and forth until she fell asleep in the afternoon!, cheap childcare!!

[Robbie]

Another vote for nappy wipes - i shall never stop buying them as they're great for wine spills too. And anyway up cups (though we've gone through an awful lot of lids - they all start to leak eventually)
Dummies - God knows how I'll get rid of them but they've certainly helped me get some sleep.
Those £5 kids pushchairs from Argos are THE best-value most long-lasting toy around.
Disposable nappies - don't know how my mum did it!
Intercoms - great invention (and the soaps would lose half their story lines without them)

[Robbie]

Oh and those foldable, changing mats - couldn't do without one of those...

[Lizzer]

Nearly forgot, Safety 1st folding booster seat and tray, great when you're on holiday or even just popping round to friend's for lunch....!!