Baby things that I'll actually never use!!?

[MissusG]

Hi, I am pg with first baby, and am staggered at the array of baby products that according to the blurb are" essential." Can you help with things that may seem like a good idea but that i'll probably never use ....

Thanks!

How about you tell us which things you are in two minds over and we'll tell you whether we managed without them or not? I do know what you mean but so far I can only think of baby bath - get a cheapy bath support instead and you can use it in your own bath or even the kitchen sink when they are v tiny.

Top and tail bowl. Any bowl will do, just do top before bum

Big travel system. I was told this and didn't listen. I bought a huge system that, admittedly, I loved, but as soon as dd outgrew the car seat part, I never used it since as it's so cumbersome.

Proper clothes for under about 6 months at the earliest. Babby gros are fab and cute and practical. Everything else is a hassle.

Loads more, I'll have a think. You'll get a huge list from everyone

Congratulations btw. It's very exciting

baby toiletries apart from a bar of fragrance free soap and some fragrance free shampoo
matching nursery furniture and wallpaper. just buy ordinary chest of drawers, wardrobe, bedside table etc, paint the walls in whatever colour you fancy and buy accessories to make it look nice for a baby, then change accessories as child grows up - does anyone like decorating? much easier this way!!
pram/moses basket sheets - just use normal ones. pillow cases make good pram sheets by putting the mattress inside them.
anything that is meant to stick on to a high chair as they never stick
tomy aromatherapy soother which was a gift that went back. it only stays on for about 10 minutes so you might aswell just spray lavender around the room before bed.
blender - do baby led weaning. did buy a steamer though.
plastic baby forks. they need metal forks to be able to stab anything.
steriliser - just wash the bottles in hot soapy water and air dry.
bottle warmer - made bottles up as needed and cooled down with water
changing mat liner - just use a towel
proper nappy bucket - bought a cheapo bin with a swing lid -
wipe warmers - use reusable wipes anyway but wtf??
sun parasol - used a uv net
changing table - used a changing mat on the floor or sofa
baby bath - used the big bath
moses basket - used crib downstairs cos it lasts longer and cot upstairs
cat net - they don't work
sun blinds for car
electric swing
dream show thingy (kept ds awake)
baby walker, baby nest, exersaucer, door bouncer, bouncy chair, bumbo
play pen - just babyproofed the room and put a gate on the door and voila you have a big play pen
bed guards, fire guards (ds pulled a friend's one on top of him), socket covers, doorstoppers (just keep door shut in the first place)
baby toiletry box
top and tail bowl - just use normal bowls
hooded towels - just used normal ones.
baby scissors/clippers (i just nibbled them myself)
dummies - didn't use cos of breastfeeding and nipple confusion
change bag - just had a few normal big bags that i could pick and choose with a fold away change mat. i got the free huggies bag from boots and used the change mat out of that.
buying a standard sized cot - mine wriggled so much it wasn't big enough after a few months and had to get a cot bed.

oh and clothes for babies under 12 months - babygros and rompers much cuter and more practical

If your BF stop people buying you bibs for little 'uns. I got tons of them, people couldn't stop buying them for me. Never used them and by the time I was putting DD or DS on solids, they were way too small.

Agree on the top and tail bowl, complete waste of money. And it's true you don't really need a baby bath (although I got one - DS outgrown it and it will be used to grow courgettes in!)

A lot of people get moses baskets - my DS slept happily in a big wash basket with a pillow in and DD wouldn't sleep anywhere but the sofa then her cot.

The trouble is quite a lot of it is personal choice! So one person's lifesaving couldn't-live-without gadget is another's unneccessary rubbish.

I found it easier to think "Could I survive the first week without this item?" If the answer was yes then I worked out if I really wanted it or not. Some things claim to make your life easier but you might find it just as easy without. For example a changing table (even a changing mat) I found completely unneccessary but a friend had a C-section and the changing table was her number one most useful thing.

I can find you the list I made of "absolute essentials" and "you might find useful" if you like.

Bibs are useless if BF but Muslins are brilliant .

Baby clothes just use babygrows and rompers.

Baby bath - put baby in with you it's lovely.

Top n tail bowl -- we used a plastic cup.

baby bottle warmers are a huge waste of money. (jug of hot water should the need arise)

Night cams to watch the baby sleep

baby bouncer chairs - they actually go in them very rarely. dont bother with the vibrating ones they just irritate everyone.

I found moses basket essential as we moved it up and down stairs. And I never had enough bibs due to reflux with ds3 but I didnt know that till he was born. Sick proof clothing for you is also essential

Oh God yes, parasols for buggies. Utterly utterly useless. Spend 95% of the time bend over it adjusting the angle as you change direction and then they just keel over anyway. Really, don't bother.

Ignore all must-buy lists in Mothercare catalogues etc - 90% of it really is useless

all a baby needs immediately is
milk
nappies
cotton wool pads (as big as you can find)
clothes (7 vests, 7 babygrows, 2 cardies, 2 blankets, hat)
somewhere to sleep
a carseat if you have a car

nice to have are
some way of carting it about (sling, pram)
a changing mat (the £3 Ikea inflatable one is ace)

the rest (towels, flannels) you probably have in your house already. Use old pillowcases as sheets for the pram / moses basket - just slip the mattress inside.

for anything else you discover it needs, send DH out to the 24h Tesco.

More to the point, you will need:
chocolate
wine
food easily prepared and eaten with one hand
sky + or equivalent
bulk amounts of washing powder
magazines, novels and/or dvds
Lansinoh
comfy yet presentable pyjamas / loungewear
an insulating mug to keep your coffee warm

Oh yes muslins much better than bibs. You tie them around their neck and they cover a much bigger area than a tiny bib.

Prefer this type of thing to a bouncy chair as they allow a newborn baby to lie much flatter.

Cotton wool and packs of baby wipes - instead you can get a pack of 6 baby washclothes from the poundshop which are great for topping and tailing and using as baby wipes.

Oh and if you get a pushchair with a carrycot you can use that as a moses basket instead of buying both.

If you decide to get a sling then woven wrap slings and these are really good.

ah but nappy that chair doesn't boucne

we had this one and I lost count of the dinners I ate bouncing dd with one foot

not till she was 3m or so admittedly

see, another 'don;t buy yet' item...

yes those lists would be great thanks!

I loved my bouncy chair (just a cheapy one) and dummies,had a fantastic baby bath which sat over the big bath (saved my back), and no way would we not have doorstops and socket covers so I think it is different strokes for different folks. Start of with the minimals and add if you think it seems like a good idea when your lo is here. Carboot sales and e-bay are fantastic for stuff you can't borrow.

My most stupid and useless pre baby purchase was a cot bale. (used sheet for mattress and sleeping bags)

OK just tidying up now - will be back later, I promise

Nappy wrapper. Cartridges are expensive and, despite the claims, they are pretty rank to empty. Just use ordinary nappy sacks and chuck them out of the window towards the put them straight into the outside bin.

door stoppers and socket covers not useful (let alone imprtant) till they are mobile

so wait 6m!

See, I found my cheapy bouncy chair great - like MrsBadger, I used it so I could eat with 2 hands . DD1 also quite liked sitting in it while I had a shower.

Re fireguards - I consider that essential. We have an open fire in our living room and DH fixed the fire guard to the wall so it cannot be pulled over. (It unclips on one side to let adults in to put more wood on the fire, before some smartarse clever person points out the problem to me ).

I used this in the big bath so I didn't have to bend over the bath and hold him.

Fantastic, all the messages are really great, please keep them coming, your experience is just what i need to get a clearer picture of what choices/mistakes people have made

Sorry, can't find it now! It basically went through everything like sleeping, eating, bathing/nappychanging, travelling (ie sling/pram/carseat) and comfort (keeping warm etc) so if you think of the basics then you know what you need, then you can work out if you want to spend a bit more on e.g. a rocking crib rather than a normal cot.

buy or borrow a second hand pram with a bassinet like silvercross or pliko (mamas and papas or peg perego)and buy new a maclaren XT or quest to use from 3-6 months.

buy the cheapest bouncer seat you can find and buy second hand or borrow a swing.

buy a full sized travel cot- you'll use it for years when you go away or other baby's need a rest at your house, and it's a great playpen for 3months-1.5 years. you can fill it with plastic balls and make it into a playpen.

having had 2 colicky babies, I would say a sling and a vibrating chair/swing is the single most important thing I had, but you wont know if you have that model till they are a couple of weeks old.
Kitchen sink is the perfect size for bathing a newborn, and the perfect height for you.
Instead of a changing table, get the tray that sits on top of the bars of the cot and a cheapo wipe clean mat for it. By the time they are sleeping in the cot in their room (about 6 months), they are actually too big and wriggly for anywhere other than the floor/bed/knee. Do not be tempted to buy the fabric terry towelling liners for the changing mat as your newborn will pee all over them at every single changing, if you are worried the changing mat will be cold, just rest it up against the radiator for a few seconds to take the chill off.
buy lots of pairs of the same sock, then when you lose half of them, you can still make pairs. Socks also double up as excellent scratch mitts and they stay on better too.
Bibs are essential if you are planning to FF, otherwise dont bother.
If you feel you really have to sterilise things, buy a large inexpensive tupperware type box and some miltons fluid. Then when you are finished sterilising, you can use the box for something else.

Best advice I can give re baby stuff, is to always borrow or buy second hand, that way if you never use it you can sell it on yourself and not make too much of a loss! Especially applies to the big newborn bus type pushchairs/prams which can be hideously expensive new and are only used for a few months then swapped for a stroller style.