Buying second hand for a baby......where would you drawn the line?

DaisyFlower

Depends on personal factors, we only have one child and could afford to buy new so we did and then donated the bulk after via my HV.

If we had to buy second hand, I would still avoid used mattresses (SIDS guidelines) and car seats. Some car seats have expiry dates on them, not to mention there is no guarantee they haven't been in a bump, dropped etc so again would get new. Safety has to come before money in my book.

Angela84

Im pregnant with number 2, and really have barely bought anything!
We bought a Quinny travel system second hand, (£700 new in Mothercare, £170 from a lovely family on Ebay!) so that is a second hand car seat, but I must just be really trusting I suppose but I can't imagine someone being in a car crash and still trying to sell the seat!
The Quinny also came with the carry cot, he can sleep in that when we're downstairs so thats second hand, but cleaned it down, and will use one of my pillow cases as a cover so smells of me. (Sleeping in the spare room double bed with me when upsatirs)

When we move and I can buy a cot, I think I would probably buy a new mattress, but if one was donated and wasn't stained, I really wouldn't be bothered. I'm actually surprised how laid back Ive been about this stuff! I personally dont think I could buy clothes for myself from a charity shop, yet on ebay I could. Ha! That really makes no sense does it.

The only thing I don't think I can handle second hand is a breast pump. All the steralizing and cleaning I could do would still leave me feeling uneasy.

gratefulforhelp_2

New mattress for each babe for the cot, new car seat, but passed down through from child to child. Anything else, second hand is fine. Well, not socks or underwear probably, or dummies but I don't use them.

OrkneyStar

pigpen wrote: »

carseats
Mattresses
shoes
opened food/milk

everything else is recycled!

I basically ditto this completely....although until they are walking/cruising they can make do with soft socks/shoes so they can be 2nd hand. I did breast feed so no issue with opened milk.

jcr16

i wouldn't buy a second hand car seat for a baby. i have always bought new. my jane one cost £114 but did my son and daughter . and then we bought another one which again cost over £100, but 3 children later is still going and is in the loft for the next baby.

mattk35

We bought a black bin bag full of baby clothes from a carboot for a fiver. Sorted through them and sold a Ralph Lauran tracksuit and Liverpool football strip from the bag and ended up being £15 in profit. For the amount of times they wear the clothes it's not worth spending alot of money.

AbFab

I'm 31 weeks with my first. We've bought everything new, but I've been very careful - everything has been in the sale, or from places like TKMaxx, where things are inexpensive anyway. We're hoping for more than one baby after this, so I'll re-use the items, and get good use out of everything. If we aren't lucky enough to be blessed with further children, we have enough family to pass on the nice things to, or sell.
Managed to get a new pram at one of the Baby Shows, and saved an absolute fortune. It's one of the high-spec ones, so it should last for years, and as such, I believe it is money well-spent.
We will splurge on a carseat, as I believe there is no price you can put on safety.

brians_daughter

we draw the line at matresses, shoes and car seats (however, we will be re-using our car seat with this one as obviously we know its not been involved in an accident etc)

neneromanova

ukjoel wrote: »

Car seats am ok with second hand as they are a lump of plastic and am just not convinced with the arguement that your a bad parent to buy second hand as you dont know where they have been.

My guess is the exposure to the chemicals in a new plastic seat are probably more dangerous than a second hand one where some other poor sod has had the chemical effect.

Sorry but you what? It's nothing to do with the chemicals. It's to do with if the car seat has been in an accident. If it's been in an accident it becomes weaker. same as if you bought a new car seat, then a week later has a crash you'd need to buy another new seat. it's for health and safety.

But I think health and safety nowadays is outrageous. I'm suprised we're allowed to breathe and walk around and not be covered in bubble wrap.

I bought a new cotbed with mattress but pretty much everything else was second hand. my graco travel set was second hand but I knew the person hadn't been in an accident so i felt ok buying it. I did buy a couple new clothes but only as they were cute

brians_daughter

ukjoel wrote: »

Car seats am ok with second hand as they are a lump of plastic and am just not convinced with the arguement that your a bad parent to buy second hand as you dont know where they have been.

My guess is the exposure to the chemicals in a new plastic seat are probably more dangerous than a second hand one where some other poor sod has had the chemical effect.

Car seats follow the same principals as crash helmets once dropped, or suffered any impact they need repalcing as the whole unit is weakened. You dont know how weakened until the next bump/crash/drop and TBH i wouldnt want to find out for the sake of £40 or whatever the cheap ones cost now!