After doing this baby thing two times now this is my list of baby stuff I definitely wouldn’t buy again.
1. Diaper pail
With my second child I just use a garbage can and take out the garbage regularly. The liners are crazy expensive and I don’t want yucky diapers hanging around my house that long anyway.
2. Baby tub
I was terrified before I gave Anika her first bath. I had the baby bath tub that we got from our baby registry but I was so nervous about giving her the first bath that I made my mom go to Walmart and buy me other options to use instead. We had like four baby tubs for one tiny newborn. After I gave her that first bath I realized I was fine and she was fine and it was no big deal. So I say just use the sink. They grow out of the darn baby tub so quickly anyway.
3. Bumboo
This thing is ridiculously unnecessary and my babies had such chubby little thighs they were never comfortable anyway.
4. Infant car seat
For me I would have just gone with the convertible one from the start. My daughter hated the infant car seat so we had to swap her over to the larger convertible one at five months anyway.
5. Too much baby clothing
My daughter was gifted so much clothing for size newborn to six months. I delightedly washed it all in super safe laundry detergent and hung it all up before she was born in her little closet. So much of it she never ever even wore. If I did it over all I would have for clothing for the first two months are those footie pajamas, probably 10 pairs since they often require changing throughout the day.
6. Baby washcloths and hooded towels
It’s fine to just use what you already have.
7. Baby toys
My kids didn’t really end up using them much.
8. Excessive amounts of particular types of things
It is with great shame that I admit in the last four years I have owned 6 strollers and 7 baby carriers. Yikes. Why, you ask? Because I was on the hunt to find the one that would solve all my problems. Well, news flash to me, a stroller and a baby carrier is not going to solve my problems. Is one awesome stroller and one awesome baby carrier fantastic and something that add value to my life and makes being a parent easier at times? Absolutely. But six? Nope. Next time I would do better research up front. I would ask to borrow friends before committing to my own. I would also never buy brand new unless I can get a phenomenal deal and turn and resell it when I’m done with it.
9. Baby shoes
No explanation needed.
10. Too much “mechanical mommy stuff”
You know, the swings, the rock and play, the stuff that vibrates. I learned the hard way with my first child that any device that I hooked my baby on…swing, rock n play, etc. I had to eventually wean her off of it. With my second child I was much smarter. Any of these baby devices were used infrequently and stopped by two months old.
Good advice for others. We liked the umbrella strollers, but would only use the ones with swivel front wheels. We had two, one for the house, to go out in, and one in the car on the rear seat floor. About $20 at the time. Those elaborate buggies I could never understand.
The other thing that worked well for us was the swing. We used it for awhile then gifted it to my nephew who had a child right after us. Our kids did well with them.
Agreed about all the other stuff.