Best and worst baby item?

[MrsLilac]

So there are a million baby items that companies try to persuade new mums are a necessity. Just thought it would be great to get a list of the best things you used as a parent to a new baby and what are the things you bought and didn't really use? I am due in 5 weeks and haven't really got that much stuff. I'm trying to keep it to a minimum but is there anything you couldn't have lived without? Best and worst - GO!

Useful - jumperoo, vibrating seat, pushchair, pot for putting formula in so I could mix when out & cheap fabric bathseat to stop baby slipping about.

Not as useful - bulky Quinny pram (never did need to use the 'unfolds with one hand' feature!), blanket thing that fits the carseat (carseat tends to make them hot anyway), pushchair shades & £85 - yes really - highchair, for DC 2 we have the £10 ikea chair.

Good luck with the baby.

Best - bouncy chair when little or jumperoo when a bit older

Worst - Moses basket, neither DC ever slept in it, most became an expensive storage basket instead!

Best - baby bundlers (like baby nighties with elastic at the bottom, so you can change a screaming baby quickly in a dark room)
Worst - door bouncer. Nothing induced a nappy-filling poo quicker

Worst - all nursing tops, much too complicated and also designed to be maternity tops so too big once baby was born.
Best - muslin cloths (lots), Ikea antilop high chair and stacking cups toy, also from Ikea that DD is obsessed with. A baby gym, kept DD happy for hours until she could move.

Wow thanks so much for the responses. So useful but goes to show, what works for one baby is completely wrong for another. Think il try and refrain buying anything much until she is here.

Best: play mat/gym. DD1 loved it and weve kept if for 4mo DD2 who also now loves it.

Worst: changing table in top of chest of drawers - think we used it once with DD1!

Bumbo - both my girls have hated it.

Oh and the ikea antilop high chair is fab. Do not understand why people would buy an expensive one and why you would need one that reclines i will never know.

Don't judge me on this one, as I had four children in just under four years and it was totally, totally mental!

I have to say my best buy was my McLaren twin buggy, great for shopping but also if I needed to go upstairs (or the bathroom) I used to put it up in the living room in front of the telly and strap in the smallest two so I knew they were strapped in and not going anywhere.....

Total life saver....

Worst? top and tail bowl, I never used it until I started crafting....

Thurlow - haven't read the whole thread yet but as no one had replied in the first few after your post I thought I would

The point of the top and tail bowl having two compartments is you use one to wash the face of the baby and the other to wash their nappy area, therefore making sure you don't use water to wash the babies face that has been used on their pooey bottom.

Best: bouncy chair/swing - great for getting baby to nap when nothing else works, dummies, swaddle wraps, muslins, lightweight travel system with a seat unit that converts into a carrycot.

Worst: stretchy wrap - ds hated having the fabric around his head as a newborn, and the movement and pressure on his tummy can still make him projectile vomit all over both of us. Reusable nappies - he grew out of them within months. Heavy, bulky travel system.

Best

Washable nappies
Nappy buckets
Muslins
Formula tub once not breast fed any more
Sponge to lay on in bath - never bothered with a baby bath.
Breast feeding cushion, great for me as had EMCS with DC1 and all used it as a prop when learning to sit up
Bouncy chair

Worst

Bloody music and light thing from John Lewis. I took it back.

Best - Mamas and Papas pushchair - suitable from birth. The one with the little step on the back which an older DC can ride on and you don't have to get a buggy board. Did DC1, DC2, childminder friend's mindees and if I hadn't had an attack of hormones and chucked it out because it had a few spots of mould (could probably have been cleaned!) would have done for DC3.

Also best - baby breathing monitors. I had Johnson and Johnson ones. I was v v v v v anxious and they really helped me.

Worst - playpen a friend offered me and I said I'd have it out of politeness, then she said "so shall we say £20?" Like a twit I paid up and acquired a gigantic plastic-smelling 1980s-style toy basket, until I came to my senses and got rid of it.

Also worst - baby backpack carrier thing. I had enjoyed carrying my niece in one many years ago so thought one was a must for our DCs. Must have used it once, twice?

Best - Baby sleeping bags, Carriers, Jumperoo, THERMAL MUG FOR YOU.

Least useful/Most pointless - baby bath, moses basket, cot blankets. All of which either baby hated or I hated...