About to have second baby.......what were your BEST and WORST ever baby buys????

[opinionsrus]

I am about to have my second baby (panic!!!).

Can you please tell me your BEST and WORST ever first time around baby buy, just incase I have missed anything.

My worst and most useless ones were too many to mention but from what I can remember:

NAPPY BIN - TOTAL WASTE OF TIME

Ones I missed:

BABY CARRY/CHANGING BAG, REALLY NEEDED THIS!
BABY SWING
INFACOL
WIPES INSTEAD OF COTTON WOOL AND WATER (!)

I have a baby swing that I 've bought second hand for the third child, it's been invaluable.
Our big pram system, lotsa bucks there and took up far too much room in the house

Best =Plastic moulded thingy to bath him in. Leaves both hands free, wouldn't be without it.

Worst=Far too many clothes

second child you say... had second child in September, so if your first is a toddler, get a deckchair style seat for the bath for the baby, then you can bath both at once and have free hands. Brilliant buy.

Worst buy - door bouncer - neither of them liked it!

Best - buggy board
Worst - bumbo - ds HATED it.

Sling - proper one, not a baby carrier. Still use it with DS2 and he's a hefty 13mo now!

As far as wipes go - I wouldn't use them on a newborn - waited till a month or six weeks with both boys, just because newborn skin seems too delicate for wipes.

it's so personal isn't it?

in only 6 post to of the worst buys (door bouncer and bumbo) are/were great favourites with both my 2!

two not to

sudocreme
calpol

Baby sleeping bag for DS2, which was brilliant.

MUSLINS ~~~ Deffo brill

Can't think of a worst

Best buy - cotton muslins. Used them for everything. Now I use them to clean the windows

Worst buy - newborn size clothing. Had whoppers!

personaly I loved the nappy bin!! hated the changing bag!!

Best: Muslins. Couldn't be without them when they were tiny & then both boys used them as comforters.

Worst: Nappy bin thing. It made the whole room smell & we ended up throwing it away & just using nappy bags!

baby sleeping bags, bouncy chairs both fab, one DT also enjoyed door bouncer, other hated it

worst - my double pram that wouldn't fit in the car so housebound until we got a buggy that folded up a bit better

Best thing: Fisher Price Activity mat - DS used to lie under that little blue birdy watching him tweet and flap his wings for hours. Will def be dusting that off for LO no.2

Worst thing: have to agree with the door bouncer - although DS enjoyed it on the 2 occasions he went in it, I found it too difficult to get him in and out of it (esp as he got bored after 5 mins)

Just adding to the worst baby items bought, also on mylist would be a:

£35 gro bag, baby absolutely detested it and would not tolerate one bit.

Avent Breast pump - never got to grips with this and also a total waste.

Nipple cream - seemed to make everything worse. Will try this "lansinoh" one this time as per you guys!

Disposable pants - what a joke.

Official bottle warmer when cup of hot water just as good, then micro when older.

The nappy bin was a yellow sangenic one for putting used, disposable ones in, could never really disguise the smell - lovely!

Best and could not have lived without:

Steam steriliser and stacks of bottles.
Good bottle brush.

Good pram, the travel system type that reclines. Sun shade.

Infacol.

Baby bath.

Red and white wine in bucketloads.

DISPOSABLE NAPPIES!!!

Best Buys:
Grobags, muslins, cotbed (not just a cot). Monitor with temperature and night light. Bath support for baby. (Fabulous)

Worst:
Bumbo (grew out of it too fast). Travel system (awkward, heavy and only used the car seat thing).

Not the worst, but still not value for money:
Baby towels with hoods: Grow out of them too fast, so use normal towels and keep seperate from adults or other childrens; Baby clothes like jackets and chunky trousers for the under 6 months: too difficult to get on and off babies, keep it simple and easy - less expensive too.

Worst buys

1. Car seat toy - hangs too close to baby, bashes her in face when reclining handle so has to be taken off.
2. 2 gallons of shampoo. DD3 is 10m old and I have used about 2cm out of the top of the bottle. With DTDs we had about 4 bottles - gave 3 of them away and had just about finished the first when DTDs were about 2.

In fact I am just 'selling it up' to put it on ebay - anybody want it????

Best buys

1. 35p jug from wilkinsons as a bottle warmer
2. Play nest - fantastic from about 3-4m when baby starts to sit with support - converts to small ball pool for older babies.

best buy - Avent isis breast pump, couldn't have lived without it.

Worst buy - Avent bottle/food warmer...why?

My advice would just be to get as little as possible - most of the stuff you really don't need and if you find you've missed something, it's easy to get it later.

I would never buy baby wipes, I would use either cotton wool and water or washable flannels and water.

I probably wouldn't bother with any sort of baby bath if you already have a child - just do them both together!

Best buy ever had to be the terry nappies - I've still using them for all-purpose cloths 14 years later!

And a pram that allows you to carry a decent amount of shopping.

Best:
my phil and teds
stickers to keep ds1 happy and entertained
REAL knickers for post c section
kiddiguard gate (much less intrusive than the lindam type ones!)
fleece sleepsuits with feet, as ds2 hated grobags
electric breast pump; life is too short to hand pump!!
Baby Bjorn carrier

Worst:
Any clothes under 6 month size!
Tons of plastic crap that only gets played with for 5 minutes
Paper knickers
door bouncer
Premaxx carrier that ds2 screamed every time it was put near him.

worst - chicco pram with baby car seat - hardly ever used except for car seat - great big hulking thing.

best - baby bjorn sling - carried ds around in it all the time for first 10 months.

oh yes and worst buy also an electric breast pump from mothercare which was useless, and also i couldn't give it to anyone else/charity shop after it had been tried. Borrowed breastpump from hospital, which worked a treat.

best: a lovely cotton swaddling blanket.

worst: door bouncer.

Best: reclining high chair/booster seat (the first years)
worst: bumbo