Sharing baby purchases we regret, like our nuna pushchair

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I absolutely regret buying our nuna mixx next pushchair. I wish I could go back in time and pick a better pushchair. I'm convinced that almost any other pushchair is better. We've since bought another pushchair that's miles better, and shows exactly how bad the nuna is.

Theres no returning it so ive got to just live with how dysfunctional this nuna pushchair is. Now when I go to John Lewis I urge anyone I see looking at a nuna pushchair not to buy it.

So this is my digital version of that.

Below is a long account of why I dislike our pushchair so very much. Please read it if you're thinking of getting one. If not then feel free to skip and just share your baby buying regrets.

Reasons why I dislike my pushchair:

1. You can only adjust the straps behind the child, instead of being able to make adjustments to the straps while they're on the child like any normal, not brain dead pushchair design.

This means you have to take the child out of the pushchair anytime you want to make the straps looser or tighter, then put them back in and then if you didn't make the right adjustments the first time round you go through the whole process again.

And the reason you need to adjust so much? Because the straps get a lot tighter when you move the chair from upright to a more flat position (ie for a nap). So anytime your baby wants to nap you've got to go through this whole malarkey. Once you're through, baby is probably not nice and sleepy anymore.

1. The footrest is comically useless. It's so flimsy, it doesn't stay in a horizontal position (for naps for instance). It's also a lot shorter than many other pushchair footrests. Our 7 month old has almost outgrown it.

1. The nuna pushchair looks nice and well made but ours creaks and seems to veer all over the place. It corners really badly.

1. You cant use the nuna raincover on the pushchair if the chair is in any other position except upright. It's been a rainy few weeks and ive felt chained to the house because I can't do something as simple as recline the seat with the raincover on. I'm biting the bullet and ordering a universal cover from amazon - but really, the actual nuna cover should fit.

Baby Björn carrier. So uncomfortable and no good for, er, chunkier babies.

I got a wrap sling for DCs 2 and 3 and it was sooo much better.

Omg burn this pushchair.

I got a second hand pram for my baby and was cheap and works really well.

We bought a bugaboo butterfly that was absolutely awful. It couldn't even manage over basic (slightly bumpy or angled) residential pavement without tipping. Obviously it doesn't tip if you hold onto it but it was hurting my wrists after just a mile or so from constantly correcting it. It's centre of gravity was too high.

Fortunately we were able to return it for a refund when we demonstrated it tipping on standard slightly sloped payments (eg pavements Infront of a dropped kerb), which they agreed was a reasonable use.

Pacapod changing bag. Loved how it looked but just slightly too small unless I faffed around carefully unpacking and repacking it every time I used it.

Oo I have a 10 week old and so far the only things I haven't really needed are:
Breast pump I bought second hand (ended up never breastfeeding for various reasons)
2 X nursing bras
Muslins (not a sicky baby at all).

We bought very very little and have since bought stuff/asked for stuff as gifts when baby arrived.

Alternatively here are things we didn't buy and have been must have purchases:
A wrap sling
The Rockit for the pram
Mam bottles
A smaller changing bag that clips to the pram handles. Better for a walk than the big changing bag that's more for days out

The Joie Mimzy high chair. Loads of little crevices and virtually no way to get the cover off to clean it. I tried once but spent ages fiddling and then got to a point where I couldn't see any way of actually getting it off. Awful design.

20 years later I’m still annoyed at myself for spending £80 on a baby monitor. We lived in a 2 up, 2 down Victorian terrace. You could hear her screaming from the other end of the street. Quite why I though I wouldn’t be able to hear her in the house I’ll never know? Very PFB!

I second this. Hated ours. Never used it. Was rubbish on most surfaces, DC could jump off it at the worst times, and it mostly clattered around getting in the way

For everyone's who's enjoyed their nuna, I'm very glad for you. I enjoyed mine while the baby was still in the carrycot - the carrycot is brilliant. But as soon as we moved to the main pushchair seat is when all the problems started piling up.

I now hate my nuna with a passion. I feel like I get into an argument with it for even simple, basic things.

And I can't adjust the straps with the baby in the pram so they're nice and snug. Everytime I try that I notice the baby leans forward too much when I go up a curb or lift the pram up to go through a doorway for example. It's a bit of a safety issue.

I got in touch with John Lewis to see if there's anything that I can do, and they forwarded my complaints to Nuna, who literally copy and pasted their instructions to adjust the straps from their instruction booklet. The thing is I don't think my pram is faulty, I think it's badly designed.

And here's a link to an article that talks about the uselessness of the footrest: https://www.madeformums.com/reviews/nuna-mixx-next-pushchair-review/

I love my Nuna Mixx! 2.5 years later, still going strong although I don't really use it now.

Bought an expensive baby bjorn carrier and he hated it so never used it. He hated all slings and carriers. Quite a good thing really as he was over 10lb at birth and has always been 98th percentile so I'd be done in carrying him.

Also tommee tippee perfect prep machine - i quickly realised I'm not faffing around making milk while my baby cries at 2am. I just made 6 bottles in advance and used them from the fridge.

Babyzen yoyo. They used to be made so brilliantly (I was a nanny in London for years and LOVED them) but ours has broken several times and it so bloody flimsy. Having spoken to friends who also have them there seems to be general agreement they're only good on flat surfaces and if your child is light.

I love my shnuggle plastic baby bath! Get through mountains of muslins too.

Totally wasted money on a perfect prep machine and loads of Mam bottles. I breastfeed and used feeding cups then doidy cups etc.

Never ever used the towel with a hood. All my babies hated the hood.

Boobs were too big for a breastfeeding pillow. Regular pillows or cushions etc and BBHugme do the job much better

Rucksack carrier backpack thing for carting your toddler around the countryside.

Fuck me! Toddlers are heavy!

Used it a handful of times and got rid on ebay. Wasn't cheap either.

Spent >£800 on a Snoo smart sleeper and my baby refused to ever sleep in it. What a massive waste of money. Ended up just using a £50 second-hand next2me cot (with a new mattress) with much more success.

This is why I bought 99% of baby stuff 2nd hand or scavenged like the wobble I am.

The most useless thing was probably a Moses basket even though we got it for free. She hated it, and when I finally could get her to sleep in something her carry cot on the pram did the job.

A high chair that isn’t the IKEA one. So much grime to clean off material that £15 plastic cheapo job really pulls its weight.

My sister did the same and gets more use out of hers now the kids are older and going to the park and such - the insulated pockets are great for keeping drinks and snacks cool!

I had a silver cross pram for mine, it was huge. I had a car seat, a baby bath and a carry cot for sleeping and that was it. Obviously a cot for later, but none of the stuff that's "essential" now. Looking at all the stuff nowadays I think what the hell.

I recall having a carry cot on a frame, the carry cot looked like a corn flakes box covered with plastic! As we were working with the Army most other stuff was provided, a man came from Stores with a cot and then said I'll be back with a high chair in a few months. Eventually we bought a far more substantial pushchair but the tatty pram was also used for number 2 I think.
I was surprised to see door frame bouncers are still around, even then they were considered bad for very young legs.

I hated mine too. I got a Tula FTG instead and love it. I'll be trying a Ergobaby Embrace with this baby

Bloom high chair - it was impossible to really clean - the IKEA one was so much better and a fraction of the price. DD is 12, so clearly this touched a nerve.

@violetskypurple yeah I did use the embrace one quite a bit more. But depending on the size of your baby at birth, it may or may not last that long. I got about 3 or 4 months out of it until DC was just too heavy (10lb baby though!)

Things we bought and never used:
crib
cot
sling/ carrier
20 x outfits which had a million press studs
sudocrem and baby lotions - the HV said no way in week 1.
baby bath
first pram - was dull and boring so needed a new one. I was embarrassed by the first one.
all those tubs for the purées we would make and never did.
shoes before she walked. Ten pairs.

just soooooo much was donated in the first few weeks to the nearest refuge.

Baby bath, ended up getting a seat instead.

Multiple types of bottles and bottle warmer, all firmly refused. Same for dummies.

Tonnes of muslins, both DC barely puked once.

A lovely changing bag for DC2 that I bought as a treat for myself with a tax rebate. I went on maternity leave the end of March 2020 so it barely saw the light of day 🙁

I absolutely love my Uppababy Vista still 6 years later,hands down best baby purchase.

DD was 6lbs but I only managed about 4 months of the Caboo lite until I moved to the Ergobaby which I hated then onto the Tula.

I've still got the Caboo so may just stick to that and then go straight to the Tula then

I regret buying our bugaboo fox 5 years ago. It was so hard to put up and down, they replaced it once and it happened again I just couldn’t do it! It was also just dreadfully made and the wheels used to undo themselves and fall off and you had to retrace your steps and find the bolt. It was a nightmare. For Dc 2 I bought a second hand silver cross on fb and I love it it was £40! That bastard bugaboo was nearly £1000!!!!!!! I still feel so annoyed.