So true. Had to share. "Baby products you don't need"

Olive

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http://uk.lifestyle.yahoo.com/baby-products-you-don-t-need.html

The excitement of expecting your first child can be overwhelming – and the array of cute goodies to buy just too much to resist.

So it’s no wonder six out of ten new parents confess to having bought baby items they never use after their little ones are born.

From prenatal MP3 players (seriously - strap it to your bump and share your proclivities for prog rock with your unborn child) to bathrobes for newborns, there is a host of “must-have” baby gear out there that in the cold light of ‘no sleep till dawn’ turns out to be a waste of precious cash.
So what other baby bits do mums and dads say turned out to be next to useless? Here’s our tally of the top 10:

Scratch mitts

They look so teeny-tiny when you buy them but are flappy as oven gloves on your real-life newborn.

These things never stay on – even if you resort to sealing them around their weeny wrists with a hair scrunchie. Most mums and dads ditch them within days and turn to baby socks as protection from scratchy nails instead.

Newborn-sized clothes

Few new parents could resist those itsy-bitsy babygrows made in that heart-tuggingly small newborn size.

The truth is, you have no idea how fast an infant grows until you’ve stocked up on drawers-full of the smallest clothes – only to find them bursting out of the arms and legs within a handful of weeks.

Every seasoned parent will tell you to avoid the tiny outfits and plump for togs a size or two too big instead. But if you’re expecting your first, you’ll take not a blind bit of notice, of course.

Changing tables

They seem a great idea for the first few weeks, when baby lies still and perhaps even dozes off while nappy-change is afoot.

Then you realise how useless the things are for a real live wriggly tot who, the second you lift your hand to grab a nappy, is flipping themselves headfirst over the edge. Change your baby on a towel, on your bed. It’s easier and cheaper.

Tiny baby bibs

Your baby won’t be eating solids until they’re around six months old, by which time those mini baby bibs will barely reach their armpits. And if it’s milk and baby sick you’re trying to stop from spilling, a big old square of muslin is always your best bet.

Baby bath thermometer

So paranoid are new parents these days, with all the vivid health warnings, that we come to believe we can’t be trusted to know if water is hot or not.
While a room temperature gauge can be a useful gadget, a thermometer for the bath is a gizmo too far. Use the tried and trusted method of popping your elbow in the water. Feel hot? Then add more cold.

Designer baby shoes

That miniscule pair of baby Uggs and those Dior Baby Mary-Janes look adorable. But is spending £50 or more on a pair such a great idea?
Firstly, your baby doesn’t need shoes until they’re close to walking – bare toes are always best for tiny ones. Secondly, they’ll last five minutes before you need to buy the next size. Thirdly, they’ll be booted off those kicky little legs and into a puddle the minute you leave the house.

Nappy wipes warmer

Yes, really. This gadget warms your wet wipes to “give a better clean”. If you’ve got any sense, you’ll be using warm water and cotton wool (cheaper, quicker, simpler). And if you’re on the move, you’ll have scrunched three half opened packs of wet wipes into your fit-to-bursting changing bag and lugging this monster around will be the last thing on your mind.

Pee Pee Tee Pee

Yes, this really does exist – a little ‘tent’ for baby boys to stop the arc of wee hitting you in the face when you whip off their nappy.

The reality is, you’ll never get to it in time. And squeamishness will be out of the window by the time your baby’s pooed up the bedroom wall.

Expensive baby lotions and potions

They look glorious and smell gorgeous, but delicate baby skin is far better served with plain old water, petroleum jelly and maybe a swipe of light olive oil. Fancy lotions can irritate new skin, cost a fortune and last five minutes. And babies smell lovely as they are.

Baby towels

Another too cute to resist item, mini-sized towels – especially the ones with the doggy ears and fluffy hoods – seem practical enough. But it won’t be long before you can barely stretch the things around their chubby tums. Buy a big towel. It will last much longer and you can bundle your baby up cosily against the cold.
 
All of those are sooo true, especially the designer shoes getting dropped & thrown on the street. Same with newborn towels, I got an expensive set out of mothercare & my LO grew out of them at just over 4 weeks old. Also true about the changing table. They start wriggling at a very young age, so you literally only get a cpl weeks use out of it. Newborn bibs....useless, when sick comes out it comes out like a fountain and never straight down the way. Oh yeah & scratch mits never stay on.

xxxxxx
 
God forbid a baby's bum is wiped with a room temperature wipe

:roll:
 
I agree with these all apart from scratch mitts - they fitted well and worked well :)

My changing table is huge and we still use it xx

Sent from my HTC Sensation Z710e using Tapatalk
 
ive got two hooded towels but they were cheap at a couple quid each soo and also i got scratch mitts but ive found alot fo the sleep suits ive bought have got them already sewn into them xxx
 
My OH would be outraged, he uses the bath thermometer religiously (he doesn't like playing it by ear).

I disagree about the scratch mitts (baby likes to poke himself in the eye a bit much) and I love my changing unit. It's up to 14 kg, which is some way off, and keeps everything very organised.

We also need to dress newborns in clothes which will fit, we barely had any when Vince was born and had to do an emergency shop, the 0-3 outfits were enormous.


Of course, I perfectly agree about designer outfits and shoes.
 
Most of this I agree with apart from the newborn sized things my LO was 7.11 yet she was in tiny baby sized stuff for three weeks because she was long & skinny so everything else drowned her so this I haveade sure I have tiny baby & newborn I won't bother buyin any 0-3 until baby is here because I know I have small children! :)
 
Good thread, personally my changing table has been a god send this time round, didnt have one with my girls and nearly never bothered this time but glad we did, as i had an emergency section its made life so much easier as i couldnt bend properly, plus everything is kept tidy in it too :)
 
My o/h is also obsessed with the bath thermometer. I just guess :oooo:
Never heard of a nappy wipe warmer lol!
Also a fan of scratch mitts here, l/o would have had his eye out long ago x
 
I disagree about the newborn stuff as well, Georgia was 7lb and barely fits into first size. I wouldn't buy lots of it, but 0-3 would swamp her just now!
 
I don't like scratch mits, they were brought for us, worn once and have loads of unused ones. I told MIL I didn't want them but she brought about 10 sets!
Love my bath thermometer!
I have far too many newborn/0-3 month stuff but everyone seemed to have brought us 0-3 month clothes too so I'm desperately trying to get through it all before he grows out of it
Changing table, we don't have one but use our dinner table, really useful as I had a section so couldn't change nappies on the floor.


 
I use socks instead of scratch mitts as the ones I have fall off.

B stayed in newborn clothes for about 4 weeks but is a long baby.

I didn't buy a changing table but my knees are paying for it and it was hard after section.

I always now buy bigger bibs that pull over the neck iykwim.

I do use the bath thermometer as I like a hot bath so don't want to make a mistake!

Baby towels I didn't find very good so use our own.

We bought a pair of converse he's worn about 3 times lol.

xxx
 
I dont use the bath thermometer as I know how Sophie likes her baths and she prefers them on the warmer side rather than warm.

Scratch mits are useless and she doesnt scratch her face anyway.

We also had to go out and buy newborn coats etc. as all the 0-3 months stuff is huge and shes still in her newborn stuff now!

any type of boot - they never ever stay on! so I dont put them on ever as I know we will just lose them when we are out and about.
 
Love this thread!!! I think the designer clothes thing is true!!! They do grow fast but sometimes outfits are too hard to resist!!! My lo was 7lb 6oz and was in newborn till he was over 10 wks (he's got little legs) so I managed to get loads of wear out of the tiny clothes we got!

I wish we had room for a changing table I've just got a cot top changer and a chest of drawers that's got a changing mat on it for night changes which are not very often now! I hardly used bibs till lo was weanin muslin cloths were soooo much easier to catch dribble/ sick!!!
 
I read this article to! the pee pee tee pee!! Why? would anyone waste money on that. If you have a boy you're likely to get weed on at some point! and baby wipes warmer? lol. Just why again, somebody actually sat and invented that thinking it was a good idea.

I've bought a couple of pairs of scratch mits, but don't know if they're any good. Our furniture set comes with the changing table on the top of the drawers so i figure we will just see if we get any use out of it or not. But i worked in a day nursery and we used changing tables till they were 6months ish.
 
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My baby is 10wks old and I have only just moved her up into 0-3mths out of newborn as she was just begining to run out of stretch room but 0-3mths are still too big for her.
 
I agree with the scratch mitts totally! I used socks or babygrows with fold over hand things

I do have a change table for the first time , this time round, I always fancied one, and got it free of my sister, brilliant after a section too. We now trow mat on floor to change as he is too wriggly at 14 mths, but it stores all his bum stuff and some clothes etc as we still share with baby and there is no room in our room now for bum stuff! (chest of drawers would do just as well tho, with mat placed on top).

Baby baths ! what a waste of time!
Top and tail bowls, other than when newborn - also a waste

I can't stand designer baby shoes! so uncomfy for them, and more to loose! Mine loved on socks and "sock on's" to hold socks in place , brilliant

Small babygrows, yes mine really needed them, at 6.11, 7.2,5.15 and 6.6 weights , they did wear them, and the smallest one wore tiny baby, (brought afterwards)
 
I do not agree wth the changing table. I have the stokke care one,whh is the ig one where the baby doesn't lay sideways but facing the parent.Itishreat and big and my 2,5 year old todller still fits on there easily (and I know nigger kids will do too). Every. 3 minths I stay at my parents house for 1,5 weeks when my husband is aborad for work and then after those ten days my back is killing me from changing my kids on the bed. I would suggest to get a big changing table and it will be worth it so much. (but that isjust me)
 
I found scratch mits invaluable for the first few weeks!! And they stayed on perfect?!

Still use a changing table too lol So much easier than using the floor, esp now I'm pregnant again!

And my son was in newborn clothes for 3 months!!! So again, not money wasted lol

Defo didn't use fancy lotions etc, just warm water for a few months then the Simple products.

And we used baby towels for ages too lol

Apart from changing table will be buying it all again for baby #2 too lol
 

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