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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To ask when you stopped using baby stuff

88 replies

suzu1982 · 29/12/2016 08:31

I know this should probably go somewhere else, but putting it here for the traffic.
DS is 2 in a couple of days (new years eve) and we still use his high chair for all his meals and baby monitor at night.
When are we meant to stop using this stuff? DS is our only child, so we've not had any experience of when to change things.
I'm only just weaning him off his dummy, so I don't want to throw too many changes at once.

OP posts:
Cambam2010 · 31/12/2016 14:22

My DS turns 7 in April. We still use his monitor at night. He and I both find it reassuring being able to talk to him and reassure him without having to keep traipsing back upstairs to his room. It also helps when he is ill during the night or needs the toilet as he can just call out without worrying that I will not hear him. As an added bonus it let's me know if he is out of bed and wandering around and therefore he has not walked in on me and my DP whilst we are otherwise engaged.

ItsDefinitelyGinger92 · 31/12/2016 14:22

I used ours until ds was four. Especially handy when they're poorly and you want your keep an ear out for them!

user1477282676 · 31/12/2016 14:36

My friend was cramming her poor DS into a high chair till' he was almost three!

He barely moved whilst in it as it was so tight he couldn't!

I had to tell her in the end.

BeyondIBringYouGoodTidings · 31/12/2016 14:42

We moved off the highchair at about 2 with ds1, as that coincided with ds2 turning six months and needing it. We never used the baby monitor with ds2, didn't use it much with ds1 either.

Pram wise, they went in the double together for about a year, then ds2 in the pushchair til he turned 2. They both potty trained at 2, though at 4.8 years old, ds2 still wears pull-ups at night (it was at about this age that ds1 was dry at night)

Can't remember when they changed from baby seats to stage 1 in the car, but they are both in HBBs now

kel12345 · 31/12/2016 14:47

My lb is 16 months on January 5th. We are getting him a booster seat next week, mainly because I hate his highchair, and can't wait to get rid of it. And it will be nice to have him say at the proper table, instead of in his highchair with the plate on the tray.
He still sleeps in our room because we want him to, but we will use the video monitor for a couple of years still. I feel safer knowing we can see him. And especially when we do now him into his own room, I will feel happier knowing the monitor is there so we can keep an eye on him.
I hate dummies so he never needed or had one, so can't help there.
I really think it's a personal decision, no real right or wrong.

theonlygeorgie · 31/12/2016 14:47

My son is 4 in January and we still use his high chair as it's practical for us when I'm doing stuff in the kitchen as we don't have a table. Out and about we don't use one, haven't done since he was about 2.5/3.

There are no rules. Do what works for you.

foxessocks · 31/12/2016 14:48

DD is 3 soon and we still use highchair at home but she sits on normal chairs everywhere else! We use highchair at home because our dining table has a bench on one side which she is too small for and a cushion would slip off. She is tiny so the highchair is still fine.

We don't use a buggy for her anymore because we have DS who is in the buggy so she walks.

She went into a big bed at 2.

Baby monitor we still use although we don't really need to I don't think. As soon as ds is in his own bedroom we'll use the monitor for him instead and stop using one for DD.

Use bibs when we remember!

mymatemax · 31/12/2016 14:53

Baby monitor stopped when ds1 was about 3 months. He was loud if he woke & didn't need a monitor. Ds2 was on a hospital monitor Until about 1yr.
High chair, ds1 until about 18 months. Ds2 until about 3.5
Bibs, never for either of them.
Baby bath used twice for ds1

It depends entirely on the child & the circumstance & whatever works for you.

MummaGiles · 31/12/2016 14:58

DS is 2 in a few weeks. He has started refusing the high chair at home but will still use them in restaurants as long as there is food in front of him (thank god).

He uses a mix of sippy cups and beakers, metal and plastic cutlery.

We use a monitor when he is asleep upstairs and we are downstairs but don't bother taking it to bed with us.

He's still in a cot and I'm in no rush to change that. Same with nappies.

We are just taking his lead on things.

MsAwesomeDragon · 31/12/2016 15:00

Dd2 was still using a buggy with me til about 4! That's because we walked quite a bit at weekends to go swimming/to better parks, so she couldn't manage the walk both ways (about 4 miles in total sometimes) as well as the activity in the middle. With the cm, she walked the school run from just turned 2, as the cm had 2 younger children in the double buggy.

I think she was about 2 when we stopped using the high chair but can't really remember.

Use the baby stuff until it's unsafe or your dc starts to complain. It's not really a big deal when you move on with things, different people do things differently.

MummaGiles · 31/12/2016 15:00

Oh and dummy we just went cold turkey a few months ago. Best decision we ever made.

soundsystem · 31/12/2016 15:04

DD is 2y2m. We still use the monitor - we were just discussing the other day when we should stop. We only use it now in the evenings when she's in bed and we're downstairs, so we hear her right away if she wakes. Turn it off when we go up to bed as we can hear her.

Stopped using the high chair a while ago, I think around 16-18 months. She likes her food and is pretty good at sitting at the table and not wandering off!

Basicbrown · 31/12/2016 15:08

OP the rule of thumb is 'If it ain't broke don't fix it'. I am a bit Confused at the ones who 'refused' the high chair from 18 months though - erm you want dinner you sit in the high chair.....

Equally I am Grin about people who insist on 'bed training' before 2 like moving out of a cot is some kind of developmental step. Unless they start climbing out (which both of mine did unfortunately) or the is another good reason why move them out of a cot and risk cocking up their sleep?

Also you find that use things less often and it just happens naturally.

Basicbrown · 31/12/2016 15:09

But I wouldn't use a baby monitor with a two year old

Jux · 31/12/2016 15:13

It all takes as long as it takes, and you stop when your child is too big/objects/things get broken/you can't be bothered.

No rules.

TheThingsWeAdmitOnMN · 31/12/2016 15:13

As others have said 'if it ain't broke, don't fix it'

There's usually something that instigates the change, so just go with it and change something when an alternative seems like a better, or safer, option.

CherrySkull · 31/12/2016 15:15

i used the baby monitor right up until dd was 7.

smellyboot · 31/12/2016 15:21

by about 1 for monitor as could hear anyway. And by 2 for high chair as mine both just climbed out so it was pointless. Same with cot - gne by 2 as they both climbed out all the time

user1481916344 · 31/12/2016 15:27

We still use DD's monitor - she's 6. We won't bother replacing it if it dies now, but it came in handy waking us up to a power cut in advance of our house alarm a few weeks back!

user1481916344 · 31/12/2016 15:29

DD moved out of her cot at 17m because she used to fling herself out of it.

jamdonut · 31/12/2016 15:29

Never, ever used a baby monitor!

High chair was the sort that you could remove the tray so it could sit against the table, (about 2 and a half years old), and also turned into a nice little table and chair, which we used for ages!

Cot...When they were able to climb out by themselves!! ( About 2 and a half).

trilbydoll · 31/12/2016 15:31

DD1 is 3.5 and we still have the video monitor. Means we can check who is wailing, her or dd2.

Both still in cot beds, dd1 as a little bed, dd2 still has bars on. They're not very tall so I see no reason to buy a new bed when they fit in their current ones.

I took the double pushchair out this week Confused Hmm they're way too heavy now but dd1 was adamant she was too tired and too cold to walk Hmm I didn't have the energy to fight her tbh.

PyongyangKipperbang · 31/12/2016 15:32

I still use a baby monitor occasionally and the youngest is 5!

I find it very useful when someone is poorly, as you cant always hear them due to the layout of the house, so a coughing fit or vomitting or whatever could be missed, so I plug the monitor in just in case.

Heatherbell1978 · 31/12/2016 15:37

Haven't used the baby monitor since DS was about 5 months as we've always been able to hear him. He's 2.4 and still uses the high chair although he is quite petite so no issues fitting in it. He also still uses the dummy and has a bottle of milk in the morning. He's still in his cot and we still use the travel cot when we're away. I'm expecting number 2 mind you so everything will get re-used anyway!

myfavouritecolourispurple · 31/12/2016 15:38

Our baby monitor was the biggest waste of £££ ever. Partly because having bought one, I was also given one and also because I heard ds crying/murmuring before I heard it on the monitor! So I had two monitors which I never used.

DS is 14, we got rid of his high chair this year. It was one of the ones that gradually grows with the child and my dh used it for longer than ds did!

DS moved into a toddler bed 10 days before his 3rd birthday, he'd never tried to climb out of the cot and was small for his age.

Pushchair, he was a lazy little so-and-so, so we were still using it at least on occasion well into his 4th year.

He never had a dummy.