What *dont* I need to buy?

[BlueBee]

Hello. We are expecting our first in August, loads of people have suggested what we need to get etc but what did you buy that you now realise was a waste of time? What don't I really need?

Firstly CONGRATULATIONS!

We did a John Lewis appointment prior to the arrival of our baby and they were very good and did not put us under any pressure to buy things we did not need, (there is so much on the market to dazzle you!) I really suffered with back pain after mine, so things like prams and baby baths were invaluable for me, but might well be a waste of money to you. Here goes:

These are the things I did use:

Baby bath (saved back and baby was very small so made the whole thing far easier)
Travel system, was brilliant and is still in use. The pram part was great and helped me get out every day and get my bottle back a bit too. However, although our baby was born small, they outgrow parts far quicker than you will be led to expect.
changing table-saved my back
Playmats various - have been used lots and now have been passed to a friend
Bouncer- was used for first month or two only until baby figured out how to escape, however was fab to have during that time.
Sensory, small toys, soft playbook, bath toys, books various and absolutely anything that lights up.
Lego night lights (£10 in argos I think and key part of our night time routine!)
Other posters are quite correct you will be inundated with loads of cutesy clothes, I did use mine, but doubt you will need to get many early on.
I failed to find shoes to fit until baby reached 3 months, but doubt there is ever a need for these.
Photo frames and keepsake box (got given loads of trinket bits that have no actual use but will be nice to look at later I suppose, but was good to have somewhere to stash them and get them all out of the way, Vera Wang musical silver hearts look shiny and cute but you will simply have no time for these fripperies, much less want to dust them all!)
Hooded towels worked great for us...
Highchair- works well and is not a flashy or overly big one, would advise waiting to see how big baby is as we find a huge variance and our little one only fitted in two we found on the market without slipping right through!

Things I did not need:

Baby advice/Gina Ford type of advice books. Just enjoy your baby, who will amaze you with their own abilities in dictating routines needs etc...
Bath/room thermometers. Common sense does not leave you when you have a baby!
Nappy bin- a normal pedal bin works just fine
Talcum powder-still sealed.
Nursing covers, just used baggy clothing and scarves.
Baby blenders/ gimmicky weaning plastic bits: I found a stick blender and lots of sealable plastic stacking pots in various sizes work well. Don't waste money on the tiny ones, you will spend your life filling, emptying and washing them.
Moses basket- useless, ridiculous and bloody cumbersome waste of money. It is now home to the never-ending pile of soft toys you naturally accumulate without ever having bought any..... biggest ever waste of money, was supposed to last 3 months and lasted about a fortnight (I told MIL too, but that's a whole other thread)
Bottle warmers/sterilising units/microwave.... 10 months on and still have not thought "maybe we should get one". Did get a sterilising tank for about £15 in Sainsbury's which I now use for all feeding tools, bowls etc... However if you formula feed I guess they might be a requirement
Top and tail bowl-cannot imagine why you would ever need this!

Best of luck OP!

Oh and if you buy slings first hand always keep the proof of purchase so you can sell it on later- lots of fake ergos around.

Also look for your local Facebook baby selling page- you can pick up pretty much everything you need for less than half the price of brand new stuff.

Ha, so much info, seems everyone is different, it's all good food for thought though. The only item I can see that everyone agrees not to get is a nappy bin. Thanks for everyone opinions, they are great to hear.

I think the best advice is to buy as little as possible and then buy extras as you find you need them. The majority you will find you don't need at all.

We live in a tiny flat. We took above approach and it's worked well.

Yep. Don't be buying solutions to problems you don't know if you'll have.

All baby toiletries are totally pointless. My DS is now 2 and has only ever been washed in plain water, and has never needed anything else. Full of chemical nasties too, yuk.

Baby outfits are pointless too, baby grows and vests are all we needed until about 6 months old!

Baby shoes, total waste of time!

In my case, a moses basket and a cot were utterly pointless. My baby only slept on my chest for the first 4 months of his life by which point we became full time co-sleepers out of pure necessity . He sleeps very well in a bed alone now though!

Changing station!! Naively spent £300 + on M&P one neither DC has ever been changed on it as they were in our room for first year.

A change table. We used a mat on the floor.

Actually we have two! One for downstairs and one for upstairs. Can totally recommend that one.

Don't bit ten tons of nappies, you will find at some point they will leak and will have to change brands. I think we've been through them all.

There will always be baby events, so don't panic about missing a sale.

Technically babies don't need much at all I suppose, after the basics anything else is there to make life easier...

I would say though, don't be put off buying something that other people think that you shouldn't, if it makes your life easier (and/or makes you and your baby happy) then buy it!

If I knew the first time around what I know now (hindsight is a wonderful thing) then I would have bought a really good parent facing pushchair that could be pushed one handed (my all singing all dancing travel system became useless once DC2 arrived, I couldn't push and hold onto DC1). I would also have bought a really good sling, the sort that you can wear for hours (Ergo or Tula or Manduce or Boba or long piece of cloth wrap one).

One of the best buys was this cot mobile the tune it plays is long enough for you to have a shower.

The other thing that I bought was a good camera.

If you are planning to bottle feed, I can't recommend Dr Brown bottles highly enough.

The ones with the thingy in them to help push the air to the bottom of the bottle.

We tried other brands without that thingy, and then other brands with that thingy, but in the end it was the Dr Brown ones that worked for DS.

They might seem expensive, but they work, and if you have a windy/refluxy baby, anything that helps is a good thing.

Our health visitor suggested some sort of god-awful mechanical wind massaging pillow, which we paid a fortune for, and it terrified DS and didn't work. Do not buy a mechanical wind massaging pillow.

Oh, and that cot mobile that BigSmiles just recommended, we had the sea creature one and it was wonderful.

Different tunes that didn't make you want to stick a pencil in your ear, cute fish to look at, lights and swirly patterns for when it was dark, worked by remote control so you didn't have to go to the cot to set it off again.

It was one of our best things.

Lots of people not needing a top and tail bowl but I found it useful to put the dirty nappy in while I was changing baby You don't need much stick to the basics

I agree you don't need a baby bath - I had a C-section, so it might have made it worse, but I struggled with it, finding it really cumbersome and hurt my back and made me pop my stitches! So from then on I bathed my baby daughter in the kitchen sink, which was great because it is at a good height, the changing mat can go right next to it and I used to wash her hair over the bowl, dry that and then bath her. It was so easy. Nappy bin, changing unit, expensive changing bag: all of those things aren't necessary at all either. I didn't have a car, so I needed a sturdy pushchair and I didn't have an expensive one, but it was great. My friends all spent a fortune on theirs and mine was just as good and not so bulky, so in fact, it was probably better! Good luck! x

As you can see from this thread it's so subjective!! If you get stuff passed on to you, keep it until you know you aren't going to use it then put it away for DC2 or give it away or sell it. As for buying new stuff, don't go crazy, and depending on your disposable income, any single item over £30 or so I would say don't buy beforehand, see if you need it and buy it online or look on ebay... (apart from car seat, pram etc)

Taking a different perspective - things I would say that people are gagging to get rid of after they finish having babies, so you should be able to get for cheap or have passed on to you:
top and tail bowl
bath support / baby bath
jumperoo / baby walker
baby "gym" mat
bumbo
moses basket and stand
high chair

We had a Bumbo as a gift I thought it was crap.

So many unworn baby shoes given away.

I have always used normal towels, thick towels as changing mats, never had and special plastic tableware, gave bottles cold.

My favourite playmat was the cotbed quilt which is now used for bedtime.

After a cs I wouldn't have been without my widgey pillow for feeding, which was after great for baby sitting up.

yep bumbos are rubbish (and apparently bad for the baby's spine or something?)

There's been a massive recall on Bumbos. DS worked out how to get out of it within a few days anyway. Glad I didn't pay much for it!

i also found for things I needed I could get them second hand e.g. ebay / gumtree, then sell them for the same price again after I had finished.

as you use them for such a short amount of time it's not worth buying new most of the time, and to sell them for the same price you buy makes good financial sense!

if you buy things new they lose a lot of value and you'll make more of a loss overall.

Every family is different and will benefit from different things. I would say get your essentials; few clothes, nappies, car seat, bed/crib/cot/Moses basket, bouncy chair (or anything to lay baby in dur no the day), pram and leave the rest till you have baby and you find out which things would benefit you.

Oh, btw.... Like dragonflygirl1 says, expensive prams are not necessarily the best. Ours is mamas£papas zoom... By no means one of the most expensive ones out there, but I love it and wouldn't change it for any other

Congratulations!
hmm..interesting. most things written above are true and totally agree, however, I just wanted to add most other things are actually MAINLY depend on the baby and you. so think carefully!

1. Shoes and loads of little clothes -> agree a waste, so better exchange.
2. top and tail bowl -> can be useful but can do without it too (found it just not really working)
3. bath -> very useful if you don't have a big enough sink with right sort of taps which aren't getting your way/mixer tap, save time and water filling up big baths when they are little bigger but not enough to go in bath yet, a stand is useful to save your back -which i used a lot with my first but only twice with my second one. and never used those bath seats either but i know people who found it very useful as it frees your arm to wash the baby.
4. mittens -> was a must with my first (he scratched his face from the day one), but never used for the second one (as he never scratched his face once)
5. Breast pump -> was a life saver for me. used it for both kids. (I wouldn't have had even the little milk to feed my little ones without it! you never know which way it would go until you have the baby. this could be the most important thing to worry if you are someone hoping to breastfeed)
6. big travel systems -> cannot agree more! never used one and never had to use. a stroller which can fit a car seat would be far more better. Think of what sort of traveling you do - urban travel including buses or driving around in cars. place you live - if needs to carry the stroller upstairs/weight of it when empty and with baby in it! space taken in the car boot when folded!! mainly comfort of the baby, if in it for more than couple of hours a day.
7. bottle warmer - again, was a life saver with my first as at some point he did not take cold/ room temp or warm milk at all! it had to be hot! but never used for second one.
8. bubble baths - again, you would only know what suits the baby after the arrival - most out there can irritate the baby's skin.

The thing about buying a breast pump in advance without knowing if you need it is, as a friend said to me, if you have a screaming baby who won't latch on (or is causing huge pain when you try to latch), and it's 3am, you will be glad you have the pump to ready to hand rather than have to wait to send your DP out to mothercare the next day.

It's impossible to predict if you'll be in that situation, of course, but based on her advice I bought a pump, and I was glad I did. Or you could plan to hire one for a few weeks and see how it goes. I've hired a hospital grade one this time & it's helped massively.

I'd agree with marshmallow I unexpectedly had a preemie and we had breastfeeding issues. In hospital there was one pump, with a lot of demand for it. There'd always be someone wanting it so wasn't the easiest to express under those conditions.
Ironically I had bought one but it was at home (I hadn't packed my bag) and DH couldn't find it.
If you do buy stuff for hospital then do pack your bag - sounds obvious I know but I hadn't yet!