To wonder why people buy baby gear rather than rent it?

[LaurieMarlow]

DS is 7 months. He's already grown out of his moses basket, bouncy chair, baby boppy cushion not that he really needed that , plus shedloads of clothes. We hope that DC2 will come along in time, but for various reasons we will probably wait 3/4 years before TTC. In the meantime we live in a typically teeny London flat with virtually no storage. What am I supposed to do with all this stuff?

Which made me question why I bought it all in the first place? Why don't people rent baby gear rather than buy it? As it happens, we rented a bed nest cot from NCT, which worked brilliantly for us. We returned it at 5.5 months when DS grew out of it. But I never considered it for the other big ticket items like pram/high chair/etc.

Are there rental companies out there that I just haven't heard of? Or do people simply prefer to buy, so there's no demand. Obviously I know there's a huge market in used/second hand stuff, but surely renting would be a good alternative option for people.

Any thoughts?

We're on our 3rd baby in 3 years so it was a good job we bought when we did. I don't think there is an availability to rent here but even if there was I don't think I would have used it, the plan always was to have lots of babies in quick succession although this was a bit quicker than planned stupid failed contraception

One of the greatest pleasures I had when pregnant with DD1 was going shopping for a pram, I enjoyed that more than wedding dress shopping.

I was the first of my friends and family to have a baby, but I only wanted new and always loved buying things, everything was used again for DD2.

I know someone who also has two DDs, though they are a lot younger than mine, and have a bigger age gap, their DD1 being 6 and DD2 is 1, they bought everything new again for their DD2, which did seem a bit wasteful to me (they still had everything in storage) but none of my business!

And also I am unexpectedly pregnant with DC2 (DD1 is 14 months) so I imagine it would cost more to rent twice than buy once. I won't have to spend a penny on things for DC2 because i already have it all and always bought gender neutral even though we knew DC1 was going to be a girl. Our only expense will be a rumble seat for our Uppababy Vista.

brilliant feedback - thanks. How do you manage when you're going to be away from home when you need stuff for a week or two eg visiting relatives, going for a family holiday to a cottage in cornwall or heading abroad. Do you think it is a service you would use when you need stuff but don't have a nearby network to borrow for a short amount of time?

I'm also thinking older kids - so perhaps you might like to have bikes/ scooters/ etc at your destination..?

Izzy as I said in the post above there is a service like that in the town in Spain where my IL's live. I thought it was a fabulous idea until I saw the prices and it wasn't much less than buying new. For example it would have been 50 euros to hire a high chair for 2 weeks, so we decided to just buy a travel one that clips on to the chair for £20 and use it for subsequent holidays. Same with a travel cot. You can also hire baby/toddler toys through them.

I'd be worried about trashing things. We have bought very little, just a second hand pushchair, a sling, new cot mattresses, video monitor and second hand clothes. I have 2 dc 2 years apart so most things will get 4 years+ use, for example our pushchair is a bugaboo csmeleon, we bought it 2nd hand for 300 pounds, we'll use it for at least 4 years, that works out at about 6 pounds a month, I don't think you could rent one that cheaply. We are a very outdoorsy family so my kids often have mud/sand/snow all over their boots, I'd hate to be constantly worried about keeping hired things clean.

I don't agree that storing baby stuff is a mug's game. We kept everything from having DD (now 3) such as Moses basket, jumperoo, bouncy chair, pushchair, car seat, bumbo, high chair, cotbed and clothes. Now we also have 5 month DTs we needed to buy/borrow (mostly borrow!) extra things and a new pushchair but I'm so glad we kept everything. And in time we'll sell it all as we've kept it in good condition.

Lots of holiday cottages will buy a travel cot to set out if required as it increases their target market. My parents got travel cot, high chair, stair gates and pushchair off eBay and they've been used down there for my two and now will be used for DSis's kids.

Car hire companies rent car seats - they aren't great but most importantly they are available at the airport so no need to do a journey without one.

I'd rather buy second hand so don't have to worry about damage. Also, ive been lent and given lots.