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!

My favourite must buy items are

Sling (a proper one, not a baby bjorn style front carrier!)
Cot top changer - we attached reins to ours and used it until it fell apart, when 2nd child was 30 months old (A john lewis one, it was brilliant)

Ah, now DD did so much better in a baby bjorn than she did in a ring sling or a hug a bub. And we never had a cot top changer Now you see how tricky this all is

DS was too heavy for a ring sling or stretchy wrap like hub a bub by about 3 months. Wish I'd gone for the woven wrap and mei tai to begin with!!

Yurtgirl we also had a changing mat with a harness given to us as a gift - was an absolute godsend. Think it was this one.

unless you have a very large car boot and arms of steel get the smallest/lightest pushchair/travel system that suits you.
It's easy to push a baby around. They are harder to push up hill/lift up kerbs when chunky toddlers! and mine were out of pushchairs by 2 years.
Or maybe I am just feeble.

Muslins
Babygros (for some reason always called growbags here although I think that is for tomatoes). Do not buy many a) you will be given things and b) your baby will grow at an amazing pace.
Reusable nappies - great - but do not buy newborn-size ones for the same reason. Ds1 wore his for 10 days. Ds2 has been wearing the same size nappies and wraps from 3 months to 2.3 years, though.
Chair thing - the cheap ones are best -once baby starts to take an interest in the world

We had a cheap babygym from kiddicare that was popular with both ds.

no no grobags are baby sleeping bags thus that you use instead of blankets / duvets

babygrows are the stretchy all-in-one suits thus also known as sleepsuits

Don't buy a £70 naapy bag - they are just bags! So buy one that you really like and would use in the future.

Ooops - meant a normal everyday large-ish bag (wipe clean is good - so leather is practical).

Ooh I'm interested now - why are "proper" grobags the only ones to have? We've had a seletion - Boots, Next, Slumbersac (hated that one, it felt cheap), La Redoute, even a home made one and they have all been great. (Apart from slumbersac obv!)

"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."

Absolutely. Bibs were always essential for us - we got through loads pre-weaning (and while bfeeding) as DS was really sicky. Much easier to change a bib than a t-shirt or babygrow.

My kitchen sink is way too manky to put a newborn anywhere near! We used a bath seat until about 8 months, then DS just sat in the normal bath.

I can't see the point of those baby bath boxes to keep all their toiletries in. At most all you really need is a bottle of top to tail wash and you can keep that on the side of the bath, surely? It's just a con to make you think you need bubble bath, shampoo, talc, lotion etc etc etc. You don't.

Totally useless things we bought were a swinging chair with music - the music was hideous. DS was much happier in his cheapy bouncy chair. Also useless was the Mothercare 4 way carrier - a decent sling would have been much better I think.

Don't buy too much. Borrow/car boot/NCT sale what you can and then buy things as you think you need them.

You can never have too many muslins though!

no idea

I bought some random brand from TKMaxx and dd hated them, so I gave them all to her cousin and used blankets.

My brother died of Sudden Adult Death Syndrome so when DS was born I was very paranoid about SIDs. I was advised by doctors and a charity called CRY to only use celluar blankets and cotton sheets up to 2 years and then to use a duvet and pillow as there was some research occurring that seemed to show fleece blankets and grobags can cause overheating.

Oh they also told me not to let DS sleep unsupervised in one of the fleecy baby gros or in a fleecy footmuff.

bibs are essential if your baby is a champion chucker anything like mine (who was bf) - she spend ages in bibs - which were much easier to change than several outfits each day.

But that is something you won't know until your baby is here.

Mine hated bouncy chairs and the doorway bouncy hanger things.

Also hated the bumbo - still couldnt' reach anythign so was still cross - but a friend swoer by a bumbo for a beach holiday as it kept her baby out of the sand

Didn't have a baby bath with either of mine. Used the sink and once or twice a plastic storage box, and then just a swoosh around the bath until old enough for one of those seats to use in the bath

top and tail bowl - what a waste of money. we just washed the baby's face etc first and bottom last int he same bowl

Don't worry too much about what you think is and isn't essential. Instead think more about what you should buy new and what you can buy second hand or borrow, or what you should splash out on and what you should minimise cost of.

Very little stuff needs to be bought first hand, and most stuff you use for such a small amount of time that it really isn't worth buying it new. If you borrow something or buy second hand, then you'll not feel too guilty about it being a rubbish purchase.

My essentials are:

• car seat
• new mattress for cot bed (cot bed lasts longer - can get that second hand but buy a new mattress)
• Maclaren Techno XT - saves you buying some ridiculously expensive/big travel system as it lies flat so you can use it from birth, and it folds down easily and can be used right until DC no longer needs a buggy
• plastic bath seat rather than baby bath as lasts longer and is safer as you don't have to hold onto a slippery baby
• muslins
• vest and babygros
• sling: we borrowed a Baby Bjorn for the start and then bought an Ergo when we realised we liked carrying DS around

But everything else can be bought second hand or borrowed, or you'll get it as presents. Then if it isn't brilliant or you don't use it you can sell it on or give it back or freecycle it and you won't feel bad about the waste.