How much babystuff do the grandparents keep at their house?

[beatie]

My inlaws and parents are at opposite ends of the spectrum.

My parents have a massive amount of baby gear at their house so if my dd stays over there I don't have to pack much more than clothes for her.

They have:
highchair
cot
buggy
bed rail
bedding
potty
toiletries - babybath,lotion toothbrush/paste,hairbrush, nappies, wipes
Toys, videos/DVDs, children's music,books
Children's plates, sippy cups, cuttlery, bibs
Toodler friendly-food/snacks

In contrast my inlaws bought
a cot

We had to supply the bedding! They have a few toys and books at their house which we left.
What's normal? My mum seems to be living her second motherhood and takes the attitude that she couldn't afford it/it didn't exist in her day so she's going to buy it now. It's great that we only have to pack clothes for dd but then if she's babysitting my mother has a tendency to ignore the way I do anything and won't use dd's grobag, cloth nappies or the homemade babyfood we prepared. She's just loving the modern conveniences

On the otherhand, my Inlaws take the attitude that they didn't have it in their day so why can't we do without it. When we visit and unload the multitude of baby equipment, we get gasps of horror. Sometimes I'd like it they'd keep the odd thing in their house so we didn't have to pack toys, toddler cuttlery, bibs and sippy cups when we visit. Sometimes we leave things purposely so we won't have to remember to pack them when we visit and MIL puts it in an envelope and sends it back to me

So, what do your parents/inlaws keep at their house? Who is 'most' normal? My inlaws or parents?

My mum & dad have our old cot and high chair that was in the attic for 20 yrs between kids/grandkids. They have a few toys (again my leftovers) and have aquired stuff as my neice (who is now 12) has grown out of. They still have a 'playroom' - small tv and junk room that we used to have

MIL has a high chair we aquired 2nd hand, an old cot and platic plates etc. A box of toys and the odd bit we have left behind.

TBH I never lugged loads of stuff around, we did use the travel cot but that was about it. Buggys/carseats have always got left with the child

Wasn't meant like that, Beatie Honest!

Basically, I was more than happy they'd taken care of the bulky stuff and food & nappy wise it's easier to take supplies from what we had. Now DSs are 6 & 4, both GrandPs supply food and feeding stuff too.

Crikey!
How old is your dd beatie?!

My dd is 2 and a half. But A nephew precedes her - he is 4 and a half. I fogot, my parents also have a stairgate and carseats!

"Tbh, I think it's a bit much to expect grandparents to fill their house with baby stuff!"

Just to clarify - this wasn't the purpose of this post. I haven't anywhere said that I expect my Inlaws to buy lots of baby equipment. I'm very good at improvising and actually feel like my parents have gone excessively overboard. I'm grateful that they have the stuff but don't expect it to be there.

BUT ~ I sometimes think it would be nice if they would buy one pack of baby wipes to keep in their house. Since my parents are at the other end of the spectrum to the extreme, it's hard for me to judge if I am being fair in expecting the inlaws to have anything at all ~ so, that's why I was curious as to whether there's a general middle ground that grandparents tend to adhere to.

Are my parents odd for having too much? Are my inlaws odd for having nothing?

lottie has her own room at my mums, with just as many toys and books as she has at my house! She has a pram for her dolls, enough books to opena shop, everything she could need. A seperate wardrobe there with one or 2 of everything she might need. She has DVDs there, her own chair, my mum buys and keeps in her fav foods, a buggy, you name it, it's home from home.

My dad has another whole set of toys, a large cupboard full, packs of nappies and wet wipes, cutlery, a few spare clothes, videos etc. her own rug to have dinner on as no special chair there.

At my PIL she has a cot, toys and books, nappies, cutlery and plates etc, high chair.

We can pretty much turn up anywhere with nothing packed for her!

I also keep 1 of everything in a bag in the car so we are never caught short.

I don't expect my parents to have anything,neither do I expect the in laws too either. I don't see either set that often as parents are abroad,as are we,and the in laws three hours away from our house in UK.

Your parents are very generous bt I really don't see the need for baby equipment of any sort. You can use a flannel instead of baby wipes.

I've just been away fro a w/end with my two (4 and 10 months) and didn't take *anything' apart from a change of clothes and some nappies.

Sounds very like my parents. They even have a sterilizer. Depends how often they babysit though and what sort of thing they do.

I was very un-organised and so my parents had everything there. I also worked shifts to it was easier.

At my Moms and at MIL's, DS has some toys, a highchair, changing mat,nappies and wipes and bath stuff. My Mom has also got a buggy now as we forgot ours last time and we live 2 hours away...she just went and bought one! It is nice when you don't have to pack so much stuff!
A house on our estate has a gorgeous pink chitty chitty bang bang car for when their Granddaughter comes over.......lucky girl!!! It is fab!

My parents and in-laws are just like yours. Mum and Dad have everything she needs - but then they do look after her for 2 days when I'm at work. The PILs have a few toys that I left there one day, but they've only babysat once. MIL told me before dd was born "you have 'em, you look after 'em. No-one helped me when mine were young". Fine! Mum LOVES having her.

The way I look at it is Mum really enjoys buying things for dd, she can afford it, so why not if it gives her pleasure. She also works in a charity shop so that's been very handy! If she hadn't bought stuff though I would have done, as it does make it so much easier on the days I go to work.

I should have asked how far away your parents and inlaws live and how often you see them. That might have a bearing on how much stuff is kept by them at their home.

MIL lives about 30 mins drive away. She sees our ds'es 3 or 4 times a year so doesn't need to keep anything there for them.

My mum lives about 10 minutes drive away. We've been invited there once in the past 4 years or so. Again she doesn't need to keep anything there, although she does buy clothes and toys for them.

My parents have acquired more since my sister had babies too. They have a travel cot, because a friend of theirs was offloading it, and they have a high chair - ours, now that my two don't use it! So my niece uses that. I've left a set of cutlery, and there's a box of random toys, supplied by the friend. They're 90 mins away, and we see them, maybe monthly - we just take loads of stuff with us for mum to trip over!

My inlaws have everything. Their kitchen is so childproof I can't get at anything anymore. we visit them once or twice a year (5hrs drive), but our nephew lives 5 mins away from them and is there a lot. The inlaws have nappysacks and wipes on hand too. along with plenty of unwanted advice

Got to love how generous parents and inlaws are with their advice

coppertop..am amazed at how little you see the parents! Is that intentional or a source of tension?

Beatie my parents are the same. My mum enjoyed getting her stuff as much as I enjoyed getting ours! She's got literally everything, if he's going to stay all we need to take is him. She even went as far as hunting down a teddy identical to his favourite home teddy. We see them 3 or 4 times a week.

The in laws have nothing. And I mean literally nothing at all for him. Not even a single toy. We see them less than we would/should because of the hassle involved. They want to have him to stay but their house is so unchild friendly (they have 2 big dogs that are not house trained properly for a start) and their general lack of interest in him means that I am not going to let him stay there anytime soon.

my in-laws house looks like a nursery. it drives fil mad. theres always toys everywhere, they even have 2 bedrooms between them! she does look after her grandaughter alot though. my mom has a five year old so her house is very kids friendly too.

My dd has her own room at my mum & dad's, which is full of my old toys and books. My pil have a spare room with a single bed and some books but it is not very child friendly (looks a bit like an old ladies room in a nursing home) and an understair cupboard with some of my dh's old lego and his siblings old toys and some we provided. We are going to visit them all in Scotland for half term next week (we live in England) and will have to take the full works for ds (17mths) as neither set have anything for him at all. We also take our own nappies, wipes, cream and buy food and milk for both of them. I feel quite envious of those who have a ready supply of things at your parents/pil's houses as it would be nice not to have to lug travel cots, buggies, highchairs around all the time.

I'm really surprised at these enormous lists ! My Mum and stepdad live 1h 45min from us and keep nothing at their house for dd. Never have, whenever DD has stayed there with or without DH & I we have brought her stuff with us.

I really didn't see the point of duplicating the nursery equipment for visits. It might be different if the GPs have a number of small grandchildren that will get use out of it, but my DD is the only one as yet (apart from the stepDSs of course, but they are older).

Neither my parents nor PILs spent much on a cot -secondhand, so, it seemed like a reasonable thing for them to buy at the time. But, in the grand scheme of things, the travel cot is easy to transport and put up and down. For me, it is the little niggly things. Perhaps because I am so scatter brained and always end up forgetting something

moondog - MIL is lovely and would love to see more of us. It's difficult for her to get to us and we have no car to get to her so we make the most of seeing her when we can. I don't get on that well with my mother tbh. She sees our ds'es every few weeks when she comes here but doesn't invite us to her house. It's not really a problem for me in the day-to-day sense but I can't help wondering what will happen when ds1 starts to wonder why his cousins are allowed to visit his granny and he and ds2 aren't.

My parents have a travelcot and an ikea change table at their place. I turned up with the change table on my last visit and I don't think they were too keen on me cluttering up their house!

Not yet visited the PIL who are abroad but suspect MIL still has entire nursery set from when DH was a baby (baby clothes from the 70's were shipped over when DS arrived)

I think it's great to put ds in my old cot when I go to Dad's! he also has a high chair (2nd hand) and a box of toys, plus a tractor in the garden his cousin handed down. I certainly wouldn't expect him to buy stuff, if I needed it I'd get it/bring it myself.

My parents are on another continent, and live in a trailer home, besides (really!) when they're not in rented accommodation in Mexico. So no baby stuff there, except for a high-chair, I think.

My in-laws are two hours' drive away. We spend half-term etc there, now. I think they now have a travel cot, they have an old cot, too, sans mattress. They have a couple of books and toys, and an old high-chair. They have a special placemat, and cutlery and dishes (all breakable, of course!) for DS1. Oh, and a carseat.

Beatie, I think your parents are odd for having so much, and your in-laws are odd for having so little.