What are the silliest things you've done or bought for your new baby? Tell ASDA Little Angels for the chance to win a £300 voucher! NOW CLOSED!

[EmmaMumsnet]

A regular topic of discussion amongst MNers is the steep learning curve that parenting entails. It’s not uncommon for first-time parents to be a little bit OTT when it comes to DC1, investing in every last toy, cream and accessory that the baby books recommend - even if this overzealousness suffers a rapid decline with subsequent children.

Here is what Asda Little Angels have to say, ‘We know how much fun you can have when shopping for your first little angel, and how easy it is to get carried away. We’d love to hear the stories behind your most extravagant purchasing missteps!’

Asda Little Angels would like to know the extra-lengths you went to for your precious first born. What unnecessary extravagances did you invest in before you started to follow your instincts and simply go with the flow?

Perhaps you carried a painfully heavy changing bag fully-stocked with ‘must-have’ gadgets on every outing, before realising that a wet wipe was sufficient in most situations. Or maybe you bleached every surface your first baby came into contact with, but by child number two reached the conclusion that a quick wipe on your jeans was probably an adequate way of cleaning something.

Whatever the passing quirk, please share it below and you will be entered into the prize draw where one Mumsnetter will win a £300 voucher of their choice (from a list).

Thanks and good luck!

MNHQ

Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

I bought a giant foam flower to go in the kitchen sink so I could bath my little one by myself.
Didn't occur to me that my kitchen is freezing so I can't use it till summer! By then I'll be able to bath her in the house bath room.
I also bought a giant inflatable duck bath - haven't had chance to use that yet either!
Husband has banned me from shopping for ridiculous items anymore! ☹️

Spent £1000 on an extravagant twin pushchair when I now realise a £120 twin stroller would have done the job...a changing table was also bloody pointless!!

Converse trainers for my baby DTs. A pink pair and a blue pair. In my defence, they looked adorable, but they cost a small fortune and they'd outgrown them within about a fortnight.

DC3 lives in cast-offs and hand-me-downs!

A Moses basket that she led down in once. She would not sleep in that thing!!

Way too many outfits, for 3 months she has pretty much worn just sleep suits. Much more practical.

A chest of drawers with a changer on top. I literally use a small mat that I keep in her changing bag. She's never been on the dresser changer.

Way too many brands of bottles. She only used mam.

Insulated bottle holder warmer thing. Doesn't keep it warm for longer than 3 seconds and she likes it room temperature or cold anyway.

my first 3 daughters first birthdays I bought alot of toys/presents to make it special. Its my sons 1st birthday in 2 and a bit months and I'm going to buy one special toy and make the day really fun.. Hes so little and already has so much he really doesn't need it!

I bought no tears shampoo and then squirted it neat into my eye to ensure it wouldn’t hurt her little eyes

I remember the terror (and madness!) of finally bringing home DC1, our NICU baby.

I insisted DH got the car valeted before picking us up. The NICU nurses taught us to do nappy changes with cotton wool balls and warm water ONLY - no wet wipes allowed. I signed up for Amazon subscription for cotton wool ball deliveries!

We had hand sanitiser gel everywhere; my hands were red raw from constant gelling. The steriliser was never off.

DC2 came home in DC1’s old car seat, complete with a vast array of mystery stains. She had a penchant for sucking fingers - anyone’s fingers. I did not stop her.

They are both alive and well.

I bought lots and lots of newborn clothes, washed them and carefully put them away. My baby was born big and never fit in any of them. Since I took the tags off and washed them I couldn't return for an exchange. i spent a fortune and gave it all away unused

3 special ‘make them sleep’ sleeping bag Swaddles that our friends swore by but our DS hated - wore them a couple of times and if anything hindered his sleep as he was so grumpy about being stuck in them!

Exhausted myself taking PFB to classes at 6 Weeks old. Thought if i didn’t it would hamper his development for ever! Needless to say I learnt from this mistake and the second one happily snoozed in his Moses basket while I watched boxsets and rested!

Travel system. Although we used every piece it is so blummin heavy and big nothing else fots in the car boot. Should have bought separate car seat and light weight buggy. Good job we only paid half price for it

A sling which just didn't work for us 🤔

A "rough terrain" buggy. Never got used!

We wasted a lot of money on stuff that could have really been great, but our babies didn't take to.
Neither liked the sleep hammock, and neither tolerated sitting in a high chair.
They both hated those baby sleeping bag things too. Argh.

Clothes. Fancy clothes for DD1. So many lovely fancy clothes.

Those that did get worn lasted at most half a day before getting covered in milk/spit up/poo/my tears.

DD2 exclusively wore onesies until she was almost a year old.

He has far too many clothes and I still insist on washing everything myself before he wears them

I bought a rocking chair for the nursery and had this vision of me feeding feeling calm and relaxed whilst gently rocking my DC to sleep after a feed. In reality I sat in in 3 or 4 times, then it got used for putting towels on and after I banged my ankle for the 99th time - it went to the charity shop.

Bought a fancy cover to go over the supermarket shopping trolley seat lol
Starting taking my son to baby sensory at five weeks - how ridiculous! He slept the whole time

We bought the best quality cot mattress in the range, although a basic one would have been fine since our PFB only took up a tiny proportion of the cot and slept in our arms most of the time!

Blankets, got some beautiful blankets and people made them for me. My little girl hates them, won't use them in bed and it's a fight to keep them on in the car seat too! Also washing and ironing everything before it's worn. That soon stopped when she arrived!

An all singing all dancing pram. Much preferred the £30 one off eBay!

The sheer quantity of clothes that never got worn. Fortunately I kept the tag on most and was able to gift them to friends!

When I was pregnant with my first child I bought a heart monitor to listen to his heartbeat but I was using it wrong and was listening to my own heartbeat for most of the pregnancy!! When i realised this and tried to listen to his heartbeat, it was really hard to find it so i spent a lot of time panicking that there was something wrong! Not a good buy at all!

I bought an insect net to keep bugs away from the pram. Never used it!

So many things!

Shoes - pointless for babies as they just pull them off

Proper outfits - so many fiddly buttons. All in ones are fine for at least the first three months

Swaddle blankets - she hated being swaddled

Way too many clothes - I went through her wardrobe today and she has outgrown clothes I never even took the tags off

Mamaroo - £300 for what is a fancy baby swing. She wasn't bothered by it in the slightest and within a couple of months when she could sit up, didn't want to be in it.