What things would you say were essential baby buys and what were a waste of money?

[llamamummy]

There is SO MUCH baby paraphernalia on sale now so looking for advice. Obviously you need a pram/buggy ...but what things did you buy that were great and what things that were a waste of money ? I'm thinking nests, walkers, baby gyms, beside bed cribs, rockits, rockers etc ...

Actually think carefully about a pram/buggy depending on where you live. We are rural with no pavements so a sling followed by a papoose were what we used most. I did have a pram/buggy that GPs kindly bought for us. I used to plan trips out so I could use it!

A fair bit of it is useful, but for a matter of months, so best to buy secondhand and sell on (but not carseats or mattresses, those should be new for safety reasons).

We got a lot of use from a BabyBjorn style bouncer – easy to move from room to room, even to travel with – a bedside crib, and a simple baby gym. The rockit was great with DD2, but easy to buy one later if you turn out to have a baby who needs the pram kept moving to sleep. We never had a nest, activity cube, jumperoo, or moses basket. We did have a simple pushalong walker, the sort that comes with wooden blocks in it. Neither used it to learn to walk, but it had years of use as a baby buggy, shopping trolley, general stuff transporter when they were toddlers.

It’s hard to say. We had a cheap rocker seat thingy that vibrated slightly, played music and had a bar with toys hanging, DD1 hated it, DD2 loved it.

I didn’t bother with any nest type things, I think they aren’t really recommended for safety reasons.

Bedside crib - no less useful than any other crib I think. But the bedside aspect of it never helped me.

Bump

Nests shouldn't be used for unsupervised sleep, I wouldn't bother. We had a second hand next to me cot, that was good but baby outgrew it fast so switched to travel cot in our room. Our Ergobaby sling has been amazing, would recommend. We never had a walker or baby gym. Had a bouncer but barely used. I'd buy the bare minimum in advance, you really don't need much.

Amazon do next day delivery, so really don't over buy. So much of it depends on the baby's personality, and some things will surprise you. I thought I'd do baby wearing, but I found it a complete pain in the bum and it didn't fit our lifestyle and hot summer at all.