What wouldn't you buy the second time round?

[MooMaid]

Hi all,

Apologies if this has been done before - I've done a search but didn't get much up.

Pregnant with our first and have just read the Baby Coming thread where some people have spent a lot of money (makes me wonder how much we're going to spend!). We shall be looking on eBay etc for second hand bargains as well as buying new but it got me thinking...

What did you buy/get given with your first baby that you probably wouldn't bother with your second? There's so much stuff out there to buy that I reckon you could go mad but what wouldn't you bother with again?

I'm hoping your examples will help me work out what the hell I don't actually need!

A baby bath, a Moses basket and a baby bjorn style carrier.

Sorry, forgot to say, those are my things, but others will have sworn by them, the things you will not find useful are so personal!

I didn't use a Moses basket with ds1 but used it loads for ds2, also a swing, basically lots of safe places to put baby!! I didn't use as many bibs or the bottle warmer, tbh I think I used most things again!!

I didn't use a Moses basket for any of mine but I used the baby bath and baby bjorn a lot.

The only thing I bought and didn't use at all was a playpen.

Less 'newborn' sized clothes. More muslins.

Don't bother buying clothes until you get to the season and know what size they are.

I didn't buy them but lots of people gave us little dresses. Most are still unworn - dresses are totally impractical on babies and just end up rucked up round their armpits or foiling their attempts to crawl.

Outfits in newborn/0-3 months. DD lived in baby gros for 3 months.

Playpen

Baby bath, and as pp says, "outfits" in sizes 0-3 months. Babygros are lovely and you really don't need to be messing around with separate tops and bottoms. Baby socks - because I would keep baby in babygros.

Wipes warmer, snot sucker, baby nail clippers... Anything touted by jojo maman bebe as 'essential'. H&m up to 1 month size (mine have all been sub 6lbs and still didn't fit in the stuff!) bulky snowsuits (I lost ds1 in a faux sheepskin snow suit once- it was so bulky I couldn't see where he started and the snow suit ended!)

Things I can't live without: muslins, car seat base, decent breast pump.

Congrats! I'm on no4 and still buy crap on a whim when pregnant

Baby bath
Snow suits (didn't realise they're not safe in car seats so didn't get much use)
Swinging crib (next time I'll get a co sleeper instead)
Bouncy chair

Like PP have said, this was just us, others may find them invaluable.

This is hard to answer for me because #1 liked different things to #2 and by #3 there was more crowd control involved so safe places to put the baby were valuable here too. So there's stuff I would end up buying but not until I had met the baby iyswim. Stuff I would get before it arrived would be:

Pushchair/pram suitable for lifestyle (which would also serve as downstairs sleeping place), a good carrier (like an ergo for example but I would make it) a few clothes, a Moses basket, couple of sheets and blankets and a gro bag.

I would definitely not bother with - baby bath, high st baby carrier such as baby born, crib, loads of bedding and um.. Anything else.

Once the baby arrived I would think about a bouncy chair, swing, baby gym etc. once I saw how things were panning out temperament wise

Bumbo
Sling
Clothes - only baby grows until 3 months
Any clothes with buttons down the back

We used our play mat, baby monitor and travel cot loads. (Travel cot as a play pen for emergencies - ie. for me to shower/toilet).

Baby rest to go in baby bath
Thermometer
Sleeping bags
Swaddle

I disagree about the sling, it was the best thing and the most useful thing i bought and I used it all the time, for a long time. But I bought lots of different types when a ring sling is the only one I needed/used.

Baby bath
Baby bjorn carrier
Electric breast pump (found manual easier)
Newborn clothes (only go up to 9lbs and dd1 was born 9lb9oz!)

Different circumstances require different approaches op- loads of people don't use a baby bath, we on the other hand require one because of living in a draughty farmhouse where the logical place to bath a newborn winter baby is not the ice-walled bathroom but in front of the inglenook in the living room! Think about how you will cope with day to day stuff and buy from there- eBay is a godsend, buy it, if you don't find it useful resell to the next unsuspecting noob and lose nothing :-) also kiddicare sales! I got a baby bath for £4 the other day at that price if it didn't get used I wouldn't be heart-broken!

'outfits' until at least 6 months. Vests and sleepsuits, or rompers in summer much better.

True! I'm still using my baby bath now, DC is 7 months! I bath him daily as part of his bedtime routine and it saves using so much water with the big bath!
Agree about the moses basket- I'd put baby straight into the cot if it fit in my bedroom, mine didn't so I bought a proper mattress for the travel cot and DS slept in there for 6 months during the night, and in his pram during the day!

I wouldn't bother with buying so many outfits for newborn 0-3, my DS was born in winter and I just kept him in his all in ones during the day, warmer for him and easier for me with all the changes!

I loved the baby bath, was very handy. Wouldn't buy so many 0-3 baby clothes, they grow so fast

A nursing pillow. I never got comfy with it and it was quickly commandeered by the cat. Bloody expensive cat bed!

Someone has loaned us a baby bath thing - it's HUGE, I have no idea how I'll actually use it, and where I'll even store it. I was going to use the sink for the first while, and then just dump it in a couple of inches of water in the normal bath/in with one of us of an evening. Boyf likes the idea of coming home from work then having a bath with a baby.

most stuff.
Being PG you are so heavily targeted to spend, spend, spend. Anxiety is well milked by 1000's of companies who want your ££££.

The stuff I used was the basics - probably not that different from what my Mum used.

I did use a sling lots (ergo was my fav) which my mother didn't and I loved walking and getting out and about so buggy with carry cot etc was well used.

I didn't use cotton wool, top and tail bowl, changing station, fancy high chair, bibs, lots of the small baby clothes.

I used lightly but wouldn't buy again - baby moniter (small flat), gadgety bits and bobs.

Ohthegoats: I like the idea... Hopefully you have central heating, getting in the bath here in winter takes some balls because you know at some point you have to get out!

Slings: don't buy a bjorn type one- try and borrow a wrap from a sling library or somewhere if you want one straight away, if you have a section a bjorn type will never be comfy and the buckles are a right faff! If you get on with sling wearing it's quite a personal thing to buy the right sling for you and baby! For me I know that a wrap is useful, then a mei tai when it's a little heavier.