Most useless bit of baby equipment you bought

Abbafan1972

I never bought these things myself, but I never saw the point of them.

1. changing station - just a cumbersome extra piece of furniture imo, the floor and a changing mat is just a good!

2. Nappy stacker - what is the point of these? Just keep your unused nappies in the packet!

3. Moses basket - didn't see the point in putting dd's in something for 5 minutes before they got too big for it. They both just went straight into a crib.

I did have a microwave steriliser, but trying to get the things in was like being on the krypton factor. I switched to using a cold water steriliser and the microwave thing on went on Ebay.

Chakani

Abbafan1972 wrote: »

I never bought these things myself, but I never saw the point of them.

1. changing station - just a cumbersome extra piece of furniture imo, the floor and a changing mat is just a good!

2. Nappy stacker - what is the point of these? Just keep your unused nappies in the packet!

These were two of my best buys

Changing station (cheapest Ikea one) has a shelf underneath for nappy buckets, keeping them out of the way, room for a big box of washable wipes etc, and the baby bath (which I used every day til he was physically too big because it used so much less water than the big bath, much more MSE IMO) lives underneath.

Nappy stackers hang off the changing station full of ready-folded washable nappies, liners already in place, to save messing about with a wriggling baby.



My money wasters were a bottle warmer and a pop-up travel cot, both useless.

clairehi

Bottles and steriliser - I only bought them cos the MW thought I should have them as a back up to BF, she couldnt believe I had not bought any.
DS would never take a bottle, even of EBM, so that was a total waste of money!

bylromarha

Boppy (now Widgey)

Feeding cushion and play gym.

Feeding cushion was too snug and not floppy enough to be positioned correctly to feed.

Baby gym danglies were too far away for baby to reach.

Put it away after 2 weeks of faff trying to make it work.

Second the changing station as a necessity - ours was in constant use and the shelves were brilliant.

danielle1977

Worst-bath seat for bath (after splint came off his legs I got ds1 stuck in it, because of his legs being a funny shape, was home alone and it too me about 45 mins to get him out!)

Best-tummy tub-I loved it,
Fisher price portable swing, great, my son-with splint on his legs-clicky hips... fit in it, he couldn't fit in any of the swings at nursery, so it went frome home to nursery, to grandmas... and still worked for baby 2.
Ikea high chair, I liked it because it came to the table and children (mine and minded ones...) had to eat off the table like everyone else

Wkdwill

My worst buys were
Bottle warmer - did they actually warm up or was mine just broken.
Grobag Egg Room thermometer - might look nice but was pretty pointless.
Top and tail bowl.
Bumbo seat - was great for DD but DS hated it and could stretch his legs out of it.
Nappy wrapper - the smell was too bad to leave it there, even with the scented wraps.

my best buys were
Changing station - I had SPD during and after pregnancy, sitting on the floor or using the bed were absolute agony on my back so this was a god send, it was just unfortunate that DS grew out of it after 5 months.
Baby swing - absolutely great for rocking DS to sleep.
Jumperoo - DS loved this to bits, thought it was hilarious jumping about.
Projector - still use this to get him to sleep on a night.

got-it-spend-it

Wow, it just goes to show that it is horses for courses, doesn't it. So many of some people's best buys are on others' worst buy lists!

For us useless buys were a M&P swing, which he never took to. We also have a mountain of blankets which don't get used as I swear by sleeping bags.

Other than that I think most things have been useful for a time, but lots are quickly outgrown.

I'm another one who found a changing station invaluable in the early days as I had a c-section. I also found the moses basket great, although he only fitted in it for about 10 weeks as he is quite a big'un.

luxor4t

izzybusy23 wrote: »

Top and tail bowl... Why did I think that was a good idea!

I really wanted to buy one of those but used 2 clean icecream tubs (in different colours). The top & tail bowls were about £1.50 25 years ago & I could have afforded it!

My worst baby-buy was a giant changing bag (almost the size of a week-end bag, with a million pockets & straps & a foldout changing mat. Used it once & then it sat in the cupboard as it was so heavy

ciderwithrosie_2

It's funny the things you think beforehand are going to be invaluable and hardly ever get used.

Worst: baby bath -too heavy, took too long to fill and empty, slopped water everywhere.

Potty chair (looked like a big red teddy, I didn't buy it myself) - DS1 hated it and would never sit on it

Also I got given lots of pretty lacy knitted and crocheted cardigans as we didn't know what we were having. Had 3 boys so the frilly cardies were never used, plain ones yes.

Best: backpack baby carrier - was so handy, used it all the time, means you've got your hands free for shopping and can just jump on the bus without having to struggle to dismantle a pushchair and hang on to a baby, and it meant we could go for walks across fields etc where you couldn't take a pushchair. They all loved going in it too. We thought it was a bit of an extravagant buy at the time but as we used it for all 3 kids we think we got our money's worth.

Portable highchair seat that clamps to a table, meant the baby could join the rest of us properly at the table at mealtimes and we could take it easily to other people's houses.

sooz

Worst - wipe warmer - it was a gift
all travel bottle warmers were awful. There was the in car one & the chemical one onlyroz mentions. Both went back to the shop.


Best - changing table (still using it now)
moses basket
pop up cot (absolute genius, used every weekend away, every holiday, on the beach, by the pool, in the big travel cot)
zapp buggy with car seat adaptor
baby monitor (not huge house, just has good insulation & fire proof/sound proof doors)
baby weighing scales - to avoid trips to the HV
play nest




I'm sure there are lots more gadgets I loved, but I used most of them & sold them all on at the NCT sales for about what I paid for them