Best baby products to use any recommendations

[LMH20]

what's the best baby product's to use ?
example Dummies,Highchair's,Feeding Bottles,etc
me and partner are TTC and are doing ton's of research into baby product's so far we have found out re-usable nappies are best and we love hauck and silver cross travel system's for there low price and no nonsense approach
we want to find out other people's reviews and view's on the other stuff please :) we love all natural eco products and simple baby clothing but having trouble finding quality baby clothes in plain white (we dont like frills and nonsense lol ) babies are not a doll and all that lol thanks in advance for help we feel like were drowning in options to choose from

[dizhin79]

Get yourself on to the products section of chat you will find innumerable posts there on all of the above

[LMH20]

Thanks :)

[MrsCharlieD]

I honestly wouldn't even think about this kind of thing until you are pregnant. 9 months is a long time but the weeks go by quicker once you start filling your time with shopping for clothes and researching travel systems. It's so exciting once your pregnant. I would avoid hauck if i was you, I've never seen anything but negative feedback on here about them. Uppababy vista has excellent reviews and is cheaper than the likes of icandy and bugaboo. Have fun ttc but in all seriousness leave this stuff until after your bfp x

[LMH20]

I prefer to read as much as i can into parenting and preparation i wouldn't want my child to suffer because i wasn't prepared. Hauck are great system some people just get bad ones ive read 10 bad reviews on various websites and 100's of good ones Hauck are easy to use and value for money ive tried and tested them in store's and they are robust and very cosy Uppababy vista are too expensive they are the same as the "boogieboo" and the "icrapper" over priced just because celebrities have them its not worth the money for what you get we have decided on a hauck or a silver cross just looking for advice on natural baby products and good value economical clothing also organic baby food recipes if any one has any :)

[PenguinsDontEatKale]

Well, I think looking at food recipes is maybe taking organisation a bit far, but each to their own. Personally minimum 15 months in advance seems a bit much.

But as to your question, there is no such thing as the 'best' dummy/high chair/bottle/reuseable nappy. It is all personal and a lot will depend on the personality of your baby (or body shape, in the case of nappies). So whilst it is great to read up, you can't really plan it all now, however much you would like to.

It also depends on priorities, I love the Ikea antilop high chair, for example. Cheap, easy to clean, does the business. Would rate it above all others I have seen. Other people want one that isn't plastic. Or that has a newborn attachment, or a padded chair, or a clip on toy tray....

[LMH20]

Love the antilop heard great stuff about it me and DP where trying not to laugh at the prices of some in mothercare same with travel systems and all the other stuff its crazy how much people pay just to "keep up with the jones"

[hubbahubster]

I'd echo what previous posters have said about it being a bit early, and also that you need to hop on the products boards if you want to canvas opinion.

But since you've asked, I'd say that the Hauck travel system is rubbish. I have one and I have a 2.5yr old, so I've actually tried it out in the real world. I bought it as a second buggy/car seat for my mum, but did use it myself for a good while during mat leave. It feels badly put together for everyday use, it's too bulky and clunky, the wheels just aren't up to any kind of bump in the pavement or slightly muddy surface, and he outgrew it by 18 months. Not great value for money.

Don't be so quick to dismiss Bugaboo etc – you can get great secondhand deals and in fact I ditched my first two cheaper strollers for the sturdiness of a Bugaboo Frog (having initially decided against a Bugaboo for being too flashy) and I honestly wish I'd had it from the start. Now DC2 is due in May, I'm happy to have something robust enough for DS to ride a buggy board on the back of, it turns on a penny, has a proper size basket underneath, takes a car seat on the frame and actually has decent sized wheels that won't tip my baby out if there's a crack in the pavement.

[rallytog1]

Until you actually have a baby, it's very difficult to know what is good and what isn't. What is perfect for one family will be completely unsuitable for another. Some brands have a good reputation for quality, but just may not be suitable for how you live. And you often won't really know how you will live with a baby until you actually have one.

[mumbaisapphirebluespruce]

Agree with others. You have plenty of time to get all this sorted once you are pregnant. I didn't even start buying stuff until I was 6/7 months pregnant and my DD hasn't suffered because of it.

Since you ask though.....M&S do good quality multi packs of plain white vests (short and long sleeved) and sleepsuits. They are great. I'm sure other shops make them too, but I like M&S. I also like their muslins. They are good to stock up on.

Baby carriers are a very personal choice regarding comfort. A friend of mine actually waited until her son was born to buy one as she quite rightly said she wouldn't know how it would fit or feel until she could test with a real baby in it. Good advice I think. We were bought one as a gift - a basic baby bjorn, and ended up buying an Ergo instead because the bjorn was too uncomfortable.

[thereisnoeleventeen]

The thing with babies is that everyone gets on well with different thing so it's tricky to recommend stuff...however, for ideas on environmentally friendly parenting you could read 'Green Parenting' or 'Juno' magazine, they have loads of add in their classifieds for cotton/bamboo unbleached unisex baby clothes.

A lot of my crunchy friends don't even get a travel system they just use a sling (or have a few slings for different uses), have a google at (Ergo, Tula baby carrier, Manduca, Connecta, Didymos, Melkaj to name some of my favorites...), you can also buy a nice rain cover so you can be out in all weathers, the list is endless.

One of your best bets would be to go and look in one of those massive mothercares, until you have a go with a pushchair you can never really tell how you will get on with it...it's at that point that you see why people pay more to have a bugaboo or (my personal favorite) a nipper 360'.

I wouldn't worry about high chairs until you need one, same with dummies, not all babies need them (and to be honest a few years down the line they are a pain because you have to wean your dc off them, they always get lots and dropped on the floor!).

[LMH20]

Bugaboo's are just a glorified wheelbarrow the fabric is flimsy with no insulation on gust of wind from the side would go right through it and the wheel are teensy and look like there about to fall off and those velcro straps that hold the entire thing together [shocked] no way would i put a baby in one maybe a toy doll [big grin] also i love wraps and AP dont think i would put the baby down at all ever lol so that is another option we are super keen on and the benefits are endless just wanting a travel system for days out and family trips around the country really baby would'nt be in it all the time

[PenguinsDontEatKale]

You seem awfully sure for someone with no real world experience of any pram. As with all things parenting, opinions often change in the real world. I'd avoid being too dogmatic about anything tbh.

[LMH20]

Ive pushed a bugaboo and lots of prams over the years and bugaboo felt flimsy rickety and got soaked when it started to rain not a good pushchair silver cross were nice and study and mamas and papas pliko was great all the others were toddlers in umbrella prams all umbrella prams are the same to push IMO

[PenguinsDontEatKale]

Okaaaay.

Just saying that you might not want to get too set on everything when you aren't even pregnant yet.

[Heatherbell1978]

Not sure how you can slate a travel system so much unless you've actually had a bad experience with it personally? I'm currently 12wks pregnant and just starting to think about this kind of stuff and for the record the Uppababy Vista looks like the one for me but that's before I've tested it. I live in a top floor flat and need something I can unclip the carrycot from to carry baby up stairs and a few other mums have recommended it for that, plus it has a huge shopping basket. So everyone has different needs I guess.

I find it strange thinking about this stuff now as it still feels really early in the pregnancy and I had a m/c in November so just want to take each day as it comes for now.

I don't think my future baby will suffer if I choose to wait a few months before buying all the bits and pieces so yes, I would echo the other ladies comments and just focus on conceiving for now!

[erikab922]

From my experience you can do research for months on end, pick the 'perfect' item and baby (or you) will hate it. At the last second you will scramble to get something from a neighbour or whatever shop is still open, something you wouldn't have picked in a million years, and it works perfectly fine. Written from experience of wasting a ton of ££ on stuff I was sure was right and I was wrong about 70% of the time!

[thereisnoeleventeen]

...well you like the idea of AP so that's a good place to start reading and researching, the Continuum concept by J Liedloff is a good book, who knows if you are really convinced by the AP method then you might not want a travel system at all.

If you like wraps and things then perhaps see if you have local sling meet?

In the end we didn't put DS3 in a pushchair until he was about a year old, at that point he went in for the odd trip the rest of the time he was on my back, travel systems are ££'s, buggys are much cheaper and babies can go in a buggy at 6 months old anyway.

Baby stuff really is so subjective though, I spent over £100 on a very very long piece of stripy fabric in which to wrap my baby and carry him about, some of my mates thought that I was utterly bonkers (I was over the moon with my purchase!!), just the same way as my friend was over the moon with her bugaboo, a purchase for which you think that she was crazy to make (also, I might add, she got a really good price for on ebay even though she had used it for about 3 years in all weathers).

[thecakeisalie]

My eldest is 4 now and we've had several prams over the years for him and ds2. I've only ever heard bad reviews about Hauck prams. Personally I find M&P prams to be quite solid but as people have said different prams suit different people.

I agree with others that it probably isn't a great idea to be getting too carried away with planning products for baby before even being pregnant. Getting and staying pregnant isn't always quick or straight forward. I would suspect having huge plans of what life with a baby will be like would make a long period of ttc hurt even more. Plus as others have said 9 months is a very long time!

You have all the plans in the world for what kind of parent you want to be and I can guarantee something about those plans will change when baby actually arrives.

[highlove]

Don't be too quick to dismiss stuff. I absolutely didn't want, wouldn't get under any circumstances, just wouldn't have an iCandy. Didn't want one because it seemed like a 'status' buggy. Hours of research and trying them in shops later and guess what - iCandy jogger. It was the one that best met our needs. And we got a fantastic deal with crib and carseat so it wasn't cheap but we felt it was good value.

But like others have said, I really would hold off on this for a bit. Had I started researching for stuff when we first began TTC, I suspect it would have made the subsequent three years of fertility treatment and miscarriage much harder. It's obviously really unlikely you'll go through this - I certainly hope not - but TTC can generally become a bit obsessive even for those who it only takes a few months for. Best to try and be as normal as you can for as long as possible!

Best of luck.

[Rowena1988]

Expecting my first child at the end of May, and I have to say we have bought next to nothing. We went to Mothercare the other week and literally tried out all the travel systems we liked, got advice on car seats and bases, watched how to put them in the car, had a go, and took apart the pram etc.

I can't say what is good and what isn't as its kind of personal choice but also what is good for the baby. The travel system we like is one which is suitable for all of us, its got lots of support for baby and is easy to put up, also has an extending handle has I am short and DP is quite tall, its also good for going around towns with cobbles, something quite important for where we live.

I hope it all goes well for you and that you find everything that you want.

[rallytog1]

As I've said upthread, it's not a given that the things you like will be the things that actually work best for you. I too liked slings and AP. However I got a baby who didn't really like being held and wouldn't tolerate being in a sling for more than about ten seconds. So it's good to think about these things but a lot will only become clear once you have an actual baby.

[tertle]

Whilst it's great to be prepared, I'd agree with other posters; you don't need to think about everything too early on. I'm due in 5 weeks and we have only just bought our nursery furniture and are still waiting for our pram to be delivered! I would not say that my baby will suffer for this though. I did a lot of research from about 5/6 months onwards and feel like I had adequate time to prepare.

You need to consider is that new products are forever coming out on the market so by all means you can start researching early but you won't want to make decisions too early on.

What I would say is that Which? is a fountain of useful information. You have to pay to become a user but it's definitely worth it. Then, as other people say, you can only really wait until your baby is with you for a lot of things. What works for one baby might not work for yours.

Good luck with TTC!

[hubbahubster]

D'ya know what, don't ask for recommendations from people who have actually tried products on their own kids if you're going to stick to your own preconceived ideas formed by absolutely no daily experience. Seems like a pointless exercise when you so clearly KNOW EVERYTHING ALREADY.

Sheesh.

[CaipirinhasAllRound]

Kind of agree with hubba
We were TTC for 4 years so any research while TTC would have been pointless as products change so quickly

[LMH20]

i asked for views on food clothes and other baby things not prams only one poster was helpful enough to give me a point in the right direction as i said in the OP me and DP already have prams picked out and know what style ones we like were looking for reviews on baby clothes (white possibly organic) and baby food recipes and stuff this isnt a pram thread