What was your most wasted purchase made in preparation for becoming a parent?

[GreyBalonz]

Can be anything

tens machine - towards the end of my pregnancy, it became clear that any attempt at labour would probably kill DD, to the extent I was kept in hospital just in case (until the planned c-section)

Nappy bin, never got used.

second child never ever used his cot/cotbed/toddler bed. He used the next to me until 15m and then we coslept, still doing that at age 3! A case of whatever helps a good night sleep, I know it won’t be forever and I’ll miss it when it stops!

Moses basket, neither of mine ever slept in it.

Car seat. Never needed it as we don't have a car and didn't use taxis or GP's car either.

Cot, I’m pretty sure my DS clocked it as a newborn and thought “fuck that I’m sleeping with you until I’m 2” 🙄.
Ewan the dream sheep.
Those little chairs that baby’s sit in and bounce. He hated them.
The very expensive high chair that could lie down, sit up, had wheels etc. He much preferred the cheap IKEA one.

Another vote for the cot.
I also didn't get on with the isofix base for the car seat - needed to press the button at the same time as lifting the seat, which I wasn't strong enough to do with one hand. Much easier to use the seatbelt.

I love my big heavy travel system (I have the mamas and papas ocarro too) but I rarely use the car but do walk and use public transport loads. Both of mine have slept in the cot from day one too (in my room) and I was glad of having tonnes of newborn clothes because they were both in newborn for about two months and they were both really sicky babies so could easily get through 6 outfits a day at that stage, especially my eldest.

All the raspberry leaf tea, pre and post birth lotions and spritz, the lactation tea and all the other pre and post birth bits social media told me I’d need were almost totally unused over two pregnancies. I still had two fairly straightforward pregnancies, natural birth and relatively easy recoveries - so take from that what you will.

We’ve also just sold the fancy breast pump I’d been led to believe was absolutely essential still in it’s unopened box two kids later

Oh also cloth nappies, had great intentions of using them both times but who on earth has the energy for all that extra washing with a young baby and we like being out and they just felt incredibly inconvenient when we were out for the day, and especially if we didn’t have the car with us.

Oh my god THIS!

What even is its purpose in life?!

I'm glad our cot converted into a toddler bed so we at least got some use out of it once they were willing to sleep on their own.

A massive Joolz travel system. It was sold as all terrain but completely useless as soon as a tiny bit of mud was underfoot. Took up the entire boot space of my car. Plus my baby hated the buggy so got little use.

If I was to do my time again I’d have a Yoyo type buggy for around town & an Out n About for local/rural walks. No thousand pound travel system required at all.

Tens machine. I was induced in hospital.

I used the baby bath loads. Our bath is deep and I am short so worked much better for me. In laws didn’t have a bath so we used it there.

All the postpartum "essentials", apart from pads. Didn't use the peri bottle, witch hazel, spritz for bits, ice pack pads, mesh underwear etc.

Breast pump. Used maybe 3 times.

Black and white flashcards 🤦‍♀️.

Mittens. Never used.

With hindsight, a Moses basket and a cot - we co-slept. A baby bath - never used. Nappy disposal thing - never used. Formula feeding paraphernalia - exclusively breast fed, didn’t need any of it. Changing station for nursery - used about once. Nursery - by the time they used it, it was too babyish and needed redecorating as a toddler bedroom.

The pram, it cost £300 which 20 years ago and as a single parent was loads.

Dd hated it from day 1 🙄

Almost all the other baby stuff was donated and second hand.

I loved the baby bath - uses a fraction of the water you’d use to fill the normal bath even an inch or two.

I didn’t buy a fancy nappy bin but am considering it this time - talk me out of it?

A sling. Neither DD nor I could get used to it and both ended up hating it.

Wearing my babies was not for me, nor for them.

A nappy bin: it was just one more thing to put a liner in and empty when full. By DS4 I was putting nappies in nappy sacks & then in the normal bin. Oh and also a chair for baby to sit in when in the baby bath. He hated it & much preferred me to support his back with my arm and wash him with the other hand.

• Perfect prep machine (we made bottles up in batches and kept them in the fridge)
• Travel system (baby was worn for first few months)
• Moses basket (baby would not lie flat on anything)

Luckily everything else was given to me second hand including bottles so I didn't spend that much on stuff.

Hello new user name @GreyBalonz

The next to me
The bottle steriliser
Velcro child, bottle refuser (incl expressed milk).

"travel system". Should've done for a good car seat and a separate pram to fit where we lived.

Best purchase was my Baby Bjorn carrier.

Add to that the nappy bin (no one wants to empty the poo sausage) and Moses basket

Second the black and white flash cards and mittens!

Changing table drawer unit.

Never used it as a changing table. Should have just bought a normal chest of drawers.

All the fancy bedding for the cot that got taken off every night. Changing table which turned into an expensive shelf 😂
them bumbo seats when my eldest was a bit bigger, she nearly face planted out of it!
them tommee tippee nappy bins. I just felt they were stinky after a day and was easier to just pop them in a nappy bag and take them out to the bin.
Shnuggle baby bath, my very large youngest was like a folded pretzel in it 😂
also the first time I was pregnant I very much over estimated how many products I would need for postpartum bleeding. I must have been expecting a 9 month haemorrhage