Useless Baby Gear

I've been combing the Google group archives for recent posts on baby gear
that turns out to be useless. From the limited info out there, I have
determined that these lists vary by baby and family lifestyle, naturally.
However I just simply have not read enough to feel I am truly informed. For
example - I shall not be buying a baby bath [I have a kitchen sink!] nor a
separate bed [my stroller comes with a bassinet]. I also can safely do
without a diaper/nappy disposal unit and a baby wipe heating unit, and have
bought a sloped sided changing pad [no need for a changing table] to place
on the dining room table/bed/floor or where ever we plan on changing the
baby.

What else is useless in your opinion?

BTW I will not be having a baby shower, since dh and I want to truly
minimise the clutter in our apartment so I feel quite liberated to buy only
that which we truly need.

Many thanks...
--
Jacqueline
#1 Due late Jul/early Aug

Hi Jacqueline,

I'd say it makes sense to look at it in the
other direction, and ask yourself what you
really need to have on hand before the baby
comes. You can the slowly acquire stuff as
the need arises after that.

So, the bare necessities:

-- Carseat (if you plan to travel at all by car)
-- Receiving blankets/burp rags
-- Small number of diapers (if you're doing
disposable, just get one pack or so of the new
born size. You never know if your baby will
come already needing the next size up).
-- Onsies/sleepers (a few of each)
-- Cotton pads and a little dish for early
diaper changes (IME, just cotton and water
are good for newborns, wipes for older babies).
-- A couple of hats for your summer baby.
-- Baby thermometer
-- Baby nail scissors

You'll probably also eventually want:

-- Means of baby transport (stroller and/or
sling/baby carrier)
-- Nursing pillow
-- More baby clothes
-- Pump/bottles
-- Baby book (okay, if you're into this, it
probably goes on the first list)
-- Diaper cream
-- Various meds as the need arises

But really, the first list is all you'll need
on hand before the baby arrives. It's not like
you lose your ability to go to the store

Emily

OK, I'm not going to be very helpful here since I have to say, we've used
almost everything we've gotten (and we've gotten TONS; it's amazing how a
house becomes baby-fied). We hardly used the bassinet; I slept with
Micah until he graduated to the big crib. So I guess that's my useless
item, although it makes a great bedside table/clotheshorse. Oh, and
DH reminded me that the pacifiers were useless as well.

Just FYI, I would recommend re-thinking the diaper pail. M's diapers are
bad enough, and he's not even on solids yet. (Although we're using cloth
and only take it out 1/week.)

Em
mama to Micah, 11/14/04

Cuddlefish wrote:

I've been combing the Google group archives for recent posts on baby gear
that turns out to be useless. From the limited info out there, I have
determined that these lists vary by baby and family lifestyle, naturally.
However I just simply have not read enough to feel I am truly informed. For
example - I shall not be buying a baby bath [I have a kitchen sink!] nor a
separate bed [my stroller comes with a bassinet]. I also can safely do
without a diaper/nappy disposal unit and a baby wipe heating unit, and have
bought a sloped sided changing pad [no need for a changing table] to place
on the dining room table/bed/floor or where ever we plan on changing the
baby.

What else is useless in your opinion?

I sometimes wish I had a baby wipe warmer,
because when it's cold, I warm the wipe in
my hand first before I use it (and my hand
gets cold!). I figure, how would _I_ like
a cold, wet wipe on my bottom in winter???

I'd go with the other poster who mentioned
the bare minimum needed. You can add as you
go along. But, to list "useless" gear isn't
very helpful, as some people swear by the
diaper disposal and others have never used
theirs. Mileages vary.

-- Anita --

"Cuddlefish" wrote in message
newstgfe.1272967$6l.1085866@pd7tw2no...
I've been combing the Google group archives for recent posts on baby gear
that turns out to be useless. From the limited info out there, I have
determined that these lists vary by baby and family lifestyle, naturally.
However I just simply have not read enough to feel I am truly informed.
For example - I shall not be buying a baby bath [I have a kitchen sink!]
nor a separate bed [my stroller comes with a bassinet]. I also can safely
do without a diaper/nappy disposal unit and a baby wipe heating unit, and
have bought a sloped sided changing pad [no need for a changing table] to
place on the dining room table/bed/floor or where ever we plan on changing
the baby.

What else is useless in your opinion?

BTW I will not be having a baby shower, since dh and I want to truly
minimise the clutter in our apartment so I feel quite liberated to buy
only that which we truly need.

Many thanks...
--
Jacqueline
#1 Due late Jul/early Aug

It does vary from family to family, lifestyle to lifestyle and baby to
baby...
Some "extra" things I had, both useless and things I could not live without
(aside from the obvious ones like clothing, diapers, blankets, etcs) we

Musts for me:
-Snugli/carrier - I could not live without this. I think my son spent his
first few months strapped to my stomach for daily activities like shopping
trips, basic house cleaning, etc.
-Car seat - Can't put a baby in any vehicle without one, so it was a must.
-Baby swing - These are just great. Even for doing dishes, cleaning, or
reading a book, it's nice to put them in and let them relax or nap.
-Baby bouncy chair - Good like a swing, only more portable and good for
placing on floor of room you are in, on a table or any place near by to
allow you to relax without having arms tied up.
-Nursing pillow - Again, great for sleeping with, feeding and relaxing with
baby to put less weight on stomach or arms.

As far as useless items I've had, I found the following to be totally
useless to me:
-"Diaper Genie" - Piece of garbage that thing was!
-Stroller - I hardly used mine until later on.
-Change table - Blankets/plastic change pad on bed/floor/sofa/etc. worked
just fine.
-Bottles - I nursed and never planned to bottle feed.
-Crib - Baby slept beside me in bed, although in ways I regret that since it
took months for me to get him to actually sleep in a crib alone when he was
starting to roll or whatever and bed became dangerous, yet I loved him
sleeping beside me anyways.

I dunno... Those are just a few things off the top of my head that
worked/didn't work for me.
I had a baby shower. It was planned by my mom and aunt and a surprise for
me when DS was about 2-3 weeks old. I'm with Cuddlefish where I too
thought, for me, that a baby shower is generally useless clutter around the
home. Should you/your family decide it's necessary to have a small
family/friend get together maybe to all just see the new baby, and people
are wanting to offer gifts (since it's just the thing that often seems
'right') maybe suggest no baby items. Maybe an idea could be that family
and friends offer something that will help mom and dad out, rather than
something for baby. Some ideas I've found were great were things like house
cleaning service. Maybe someone or a group are willing to offer you
something like a cleaning service once a week for a year, for example. You
might find with a new baby that you have very little time to sleep, let
alone accomplish household chores! Another great idea is good, frozen
meals. Something that you can store in a deep freeze and bring out to cook
if you find you have very little time to think, nevermind thinking of
cooking. I found that frozen, precooked meals were great. They're not
expensive, even if you make a bit extra for daily meals and pack them away
in containers for easy meals later on. Healthy and fast and inexpensive!
Also frozen lasagnas are great too. Another thing I found great was a night
out. Something that could be used once baby is a bit older, like maybe
movie passes or a gift certificate for dinner?
I don't know exactly how others feel about this, but for me, they were great
ideas and less clutter around the house, since I lived in a small apartment
and had limited space for useless items!
Just my 2¢!

"Irrational Number" wrote in message
link.net...
Cuddlefish wrote:

I've been combing the Google group archives for recent posts on baby gear
that turns out to be useless. From the limited info out there, I have
determined that these lists vary by baby and family lifestyle, naturally.
However I just simply have not read enough to feel I am truly informed.
For example - I shall not be buying a baby bath [I have a kitchen sink!]
nor a separate bed [my stroller comes with a bassinet]. I also can safely
do without a diaper/nappy disposal unit and a baby wipe heating unit, and
have bought a sloped sided changing pad [no need for a changing table] to
place on the dining room table/bed/floor or where ever we plan on
changing the baby.

What else is useless in your opinion?

I sometimes wish I had a baby wipe warmer,
because when it's cold, I warm the wipe in
my hand first before I use it (and my hand
gets cold!). I figure, how would _I_ like
a cold, wet wipe on my bottom in winter???

Nah, just put it between your breasts, and by the end of the feed it's ready
to use. It works even with a small cleavage. And once you've done it, you'll
never again use a cold wipe on a baby's bottom in the middle of winter ;-)
I've heard of people microwaving them, but I've never tried it personally.

~Amy

"Cuddlefish" wrote in message
newstgfe.1272967$6l.1085866@pd7tw2no...
I've been combing the Google group archives for recent posts on baby gear
that turns out to be useless. From the limited info out there, I have
determined that these lists vary by baby and family lifestyle, naturally.
However I just simply have not read enough to feel I am truly informed.
For example - I shall not be buying a baby bath [I have a kitchen sink!]
nor a separate bed [my stroller comes with a bassinet]. I also can safely
do without a diaper/nappy disposal unit and a baby wipe heating unit, and
have bought a sloped sided changing pad [no need for a changing table] to
place on the dining room table/bed/floor or where ever we plan on changing
the baby.

I know a lot of people consider baby baths a total waste of money, but we
found ours invaluable. DD was born mid winter, and we have no central or
bathroom heating, so it was great being able to bath her in the middle of
the lounge by the heater. We got months of use out of it.
Now I use it as a laundry basket when I hang out the clothes. When she's
older, she can use it on the lawn with plastic cups and boats and watering
cans etc for water play. I think that's pretty good value for an item that
was NZ$10 new.

~Amy

In article ptgfe.1272967$6l.1085866@pd7tw2no,
"Cuddlefish" wrote:

What else is useless in your opinion?

Clothes that aren't machine-washable.

Clothes with collars -- the corners turn up and the baby keeps trying to latch
on to them.

Clothes that do up at the back. Babies just *hate* being rolled onto their
backs to have them put on, and you can imagine how much fun they are with a
nappy blowout.

--
Chookie -- Sydney, Australia
(Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply)

"In Melbourne there is plenty of vigour and eagerness, but there is
nothing worth being eager or vigorous about."
Francis Adams, The Australians, 1893.

Cuddlefish writes:

What else is useless in your opinion?

A cover for the changing pad. Using square terry nappies is much easier.

What else didn't we use? We didn't use all the receiving blankets we got
given, just a couple, but that's a big YMMV area. We mostly waited until we
actually wanted something, then bought it. If you're not having a baby
shower, that would be the obvious approach, I'd think.

Sidheag
DS Colin Oct 27 2003

Cuddlefish wrote:
I shall not be buying a baby bath [I have a kitchen sink!]

Ok, this creeps me out a little. Food goes in my kitchen sink, like
raw chicken and stuff. And I can't imagine putting my baby in the sink
that I just used to clean chicken, or putting my chicken in a sink that
I just used to clean baby! I mean, eeewww... Maybe I'm weird, but
generally I don't do anything in my home kitchen that I wouldn't have
been allowed to do in a restaurant kitchen when I was working in that
field, and if someone bathed a baby in the sink at the Olive Garden,
and I found out, I don't think I'd ever eat there again!!

Yes, yes, I know that you can clean the sink, but the stuff I use to
clean my sink (Comet) is not something that I'm going to want to get on
baby's butt. Even a little bit could be really abrasive, cause a rash
or an allergic reaction. And I don't think that Johnson's baby soap
will get the kitchen sink adequately clean.

Plus, we have a hot water tap, and God forbid that those little fingers
reach up and nudge it, and 190 degree water come out on little body...
Oh, the horror! It makes me nauseated just to think about it.

Not to mention the general PITA of making sure that all the dishes are
done and put away every time you want to bathe the baby...

Baby can bathe where we bathe - in the bathroom - where it's safe for
both baby and for us from a food-safety point of view. Since it's
wasteful to fill a whole tub (what is that, 30 gallons?) for an 8 lb.
baby, we'll be using a baby bath. I've seen this cool "grow with me"
kind, where it works in one configuration for infants, and in another
configuration for bigger babies... I plan to get that one if there
isn't already one in the truckload of hand-me-downs coming from my
aunts...

I also can safely do
without a diaper/nappy disposal unit and a baby wipe heating unit,

Ok, maybe I'm a tool for mass marketing, but I wouldn't think of going
without the diaper disposal unit, either. #1, I have a dog, and the
dog is far less likely to get into some special disposal contraption
than she is to get into the regular trash. #2, I don't want to have to
run out into the garage every time we have a stinky diaper, and my
husband gets all irritated when I throw stuff away that is not in a
garbage bag. #3, Odor. #4, When the baby's old enough, a special
diaper disposal unit will keep him/her from getting into the used
diapers. This is no small concern. A friend of mine had two year old
twins who, very quietly and sneakily, managed to get into their old
diapers and smear poo all over their bedroom. I mean ALL over. On the
walls, in the bed, on the carpet, all over toys. She couldn't figure
out where it all came from. She actually had to call another friend of
ours and say, "Come get these kids before I kill them..." (she's a
single mom, and was beyond stressed for a variety of reasons at that
point...). Anyway, just a few ideas you might not have considered.

and have
bought a sloped sided changing pad [no need for a changing table] to
place
on the dining room table/bed/floor or where ever we plan on changing
the
baby.

Ok, ick again. Maybe I'm a little OCD, here, but I don't want the baby
changed where I'm going to eat. Maybe my ideas about all of this will
change when the theoretical baby I've got cooking becomes an actual
baby, but on the dining room table? I have seen, with my own two eyes,
babies reach into their diapers and smear poo all over the surface
they're lying on... So I sure hope the changing pad is big enough that
s/he won't be able to reach off of it. And what are you going to do if
it's a boy and you get a pee fountain? That's going to be a much
bigger PITA to clean out of the carpet (trust me, I have pets) than it
would be to clean off of a changing table. My friends have told me
that one time their baby projectile pooped while on the changing table,
and it was all over the wall. I don't know about you, but I don't want
to have to explain that odd stain next time I have a dinner party.

Bathrooms are for toileting issues. Bedrooms are for sleeping.
Kitchens are for food prep. Dining rooms are for dining. There are
very few exceptions in this house. Occasionally we'll eat in the
living room, when there's something really interesting on TV, but I
pull out the folding table. I wouldn't dream of dealing with my poo in
the dining room, so why should I deal with my kid's there?

I guess you can do what you want, but I won't be coming over to your
house for dinner , and you might want to avoid bathing the baby in
the kitchen sink, or changing diapers on the dining table when you have
guests!!

BTW I will not be having a baby shower,

Wow, I must be in a contrary mood this morning. I think that's a
little sad. I mean, showers are about more than gifts. Why not have a
no-gift shower, or one where people only buy gifts for baby? My sister
is throwing me a "build the baby's library" shower... Everyone will
bring their favorite children's book for the baby. How cool is that?
And books don't take up that much space. I don't need a lot of stuff,
because my aunts have young kids, and they saved all of their
paraphenalia for me. So, we're doing books, which are flat, pack
easily, and IMHO are absolutely essential for a happy, smart baby.

I don't think it's possible to avoid all of the baby paraphenalia. It
just happens. But good luck trying.

Amy