You'll be buying all those things you'll never need - they say!

[MrsOzbek]

Hi everyone!

I'm 19 weeks pregnant and it's our first baby. We are so excited as is everyone else it seems! We're receiving lots of 'advice' from friends and it's all welcome of course - we have so much to learn.

The one constant thing that we keep hearing is: you'll be spending lots of money on things you'll never need or use.

So, please share with me what are the things you bought and never used?

Thanks :) x

I don't think I had anything I didn't use, other than about 3 bin bags of new clothes that neighbour had received and gave to me - she gave me 5 bags in all!
BIL advised not to buy stuff until about 7 months, and NCT teacher was very practical and said 'you're in London. If you need anything, there are shops'. We got as much 2nd hand as we could, got an excellent birth to walking pushchair, sorted.
Did buy a baby jumper that ds was bored of immediately, some clothes didn't get worn, but that was it. And never really used Sudocrem though was handy for dc2.

We got a changing table with a built in bath. It got loads of use. We had no moses basket. Pram for a few weeks then straight into cot bed. Didn't use bumbo seat. And a ridiculous amount of blankets.

Our 0-3 clothes were mainly second hand and he grew out them so fast so I’m glad they were. Definitely baby bath wasn’t used much, now it’s used to keep all DS bath toys and mat in instead. Moses basket was great for us though and so easy to just pick him up and take him round from room to room in. Same with his fisher price bouncer, he’d happily just sit in that and chill. Now he’s 10 months and I can’t get him to stay still for a minute

Muslins were our most pointless buy.. what are they for? What are you meant to do with them? I just didn't and still don't understand the point of them at all.

Ha, ha. I thought muslins were an absolute lifesaver!

Moses basket was good. But doesn't last long. I would have survived without it. If someone gifts you one, take it, but I wouldn't have got one for myself.
Blankets. Buy one. You will get gifted 300 more.
We ff so a perfect prep machine and a bottle steamer were perfect. Formula wait until baby is here before stocking up, in case baby doesn't agree with that milk.
I know people who have bf and said that pumping didn't work for them. So brest pumps were useless.
Pram. We used it everyday and got a travel system. Ds is nearly 2 so in the pushchair part and it's the best money we ever spent.
We did tend to dress ds in 'clothes' from being about a few weeks old. Just joggers and tshirts. Some people stick with sleepsuits, I think it's personal preference.
Nappy bin. We still use it! It only cost about £7 and lives in the downstairs bathroom, no need to take nasty nappies outside when it's raining.
Muslims. Ds threw up at every possibly moment. I think we would have been covered in significantly more vomit if we didn't have any. We ended up buying about 30, but they got lots of use.
Socks! Pointless! They don't say on!
Don't bother with a changing table unless it's one that doubles up as a chest of draws. We just used a changing mat on the floor. Once they are wiggling a changing table stops getting used.
We had a baby bath which was great and ds was in it till about 6 months. It only cost us about £10 and meant we didn't have to try and bend over the main bath etc.
Baby bag. You can get away with a regular rucksack/shoulder bag. They don't really have anything extra than a normal bag does. I do have a baby bag and it was fine for the younger years, but now ds is running around it just gets a bit cumbersome. So we just have a backpack for his rubbish.
We found a babybouncer was great. Ds could nap in it, and it would lay down flat as well as be a chair part. Think we use that for about 9 months. It also had a toy bar attached for him to bat his toys.

Most things will depend on you and your lifestyle. It will also depend on your baby. Some will love a Moses basket, some won't. Just don't spend an eye watering amount on things unless you can afford it. Just because mammas and papas sell it, doesn't mean you actually need it

Muslims. Ds threw up at every possibly moment. I think we would have been covered in significantly more vomit if we didn't have any.

Sorry but

Things I can remember not using were a microwave bottle steriliser (used Milton) and fancy little outfits on the smaller sizes. In fact most baby clothes we had other than sleepsuits / vests were if the wrong season as DS was so small he was about 6 months off the standard age size.

The one thing we said we wouldn't use - a dummy - we ended up stockpiling in case of an emergency and dummy not being found.

Oh we also had some fancy nappy bin - it stunk and was thrown out very early on!

We bought the bare minimum as were in a tiny house and have lots of friends who are parents and passed things down, but stuff we got given/bought and really didn’t use...

Baby bath - takes up space. Also it’s fun and lovely bathing with your baby, or you can plop them in the sink for a quick wash if you don’t fancy stripping off yourself.

Washable nappies - I still feel guilty about this. We used disposables in hospital then got addicted to the convenience.

Scented baby bath/baby powder/baby oil: yuk, and gave him eczema.

Medela bottles for breast milk - he refused a bottle for months then choked on these. Tommee Tippee ‘closer to nature’ were better but he still looks disgusted at not-an-actual-boob at 10 months!

Things we found really useful...

Slings - we didn’t get a pushchair til he was 7 months and heavy. Less to store, and you can go anywhere including muddy footpaths/sandy beaches/through narrow gates/over styles. Plus AMAZING for getting stuff done in the house and getting fretful baby to sleep. Stretchy cloth at first then a connecta when he was a bit bigger (still use this sometimes).

Hand pump for engorged boobs/milk when you’re out. Also lansinoh nipple cream.

Billions of maternity pads.

Puppy mats for leaky boobs/lochia/sicky baby in your bed in the early days.

Bouncy chair so you can wash your hair!

Frozen meals in the freezer.

Didn't use: nappy bins, outfits other than vests and sleepsuits, bottles other than mam were a waste of money, blankets galore, pram carrycot barely used as he won't lie flat, Moses basket used for 2 weeks. To be honest a lot of the stuff is uneccessary really and a lot of the things I use I could live without.

I use my baby bath a lot! People say they're useless but my son screams his head off in the normal bath yet he'll sit for hours if I let him in the baby bath. Vibrating bouncy chair is a lifesaver. Cold water steriliser is so much easier, I had microwave one and sent my husband out for a milton bucket after a week. I use muslins a lot. Aveeno baby stuff if you can get it on offer goes a long way and I've tried other stuff and it dries his skin out but aveeno is great.

My 13 wk old is only now fitting into 0-3 so is wearing all the little outfits cos it’s so hot!
She is baby 2 so my recommendation are:
Loved
Muslins : both spit up just have a stack to hand for wipes soft on their face for wiping spit up. I really liked the ikea ones.
Travel system (bugaboo) unlike many on here I used it as only pram for dd1 and now it’s back in carrycor mode with buggyboard. Has had nearly 4 years of continuous use.
Changing table.: had back surgery before just can’t bend down
Moses basket: baby has all daytime naps in there and will get another few weeks out of it. It’s a family heirloom so no money spent.
Doomoo bean bag. Can be used for longer than a bouncer and doubles as a play gym with arch.
Jumpers;; ah the circle of neglect!
Swaddleboo. Brilliant for newborn .
Didn’t use
Blankets: go to presents don’t buy any you’ll get loads.
Expensive toys: all flashy light noisy things are the same.
Changing bag ; I do use it ( was a very expensive present) but to be honest a nice roomy handbag would have been better.

11 week old here.
Didn't use:

• sleepyhead (luckily second hand)
• swaddle blankets and swaddle up/gro bags
• co sleeper cot (he will only sleep with/on me)
• white noise/mobile

Really useful:

• sling
• shnuggle bath (props baby up so can see and talk to him easily, me and DH can both get to him which would be hard in big bath, and it's been nice to bath him in our room sometimes as it's warmer)
• reusable wipes
• baby bjorn bouncer
• sleepsuits and muslins