When you are expecting your first kid, it’s so hard to know which are those baby essentials you truly need or which make your life easier, versus things that are largely unnecessary and end up creating clutter.
Let’s help the new parents among us out! When you had your little ones, what baby items ended up getting very little or no use?
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I bought peepee teepees and used one once. Receiving blankets. Used maybe once or twice. Baby nail file! As much as I have to admit it...just get clippers and suck up the fear of cutting their nails. The files don’t work very well.
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Ha, so true!! I kept a bunch of those little nail files for years waiting to use them! I think I finally did...once 😊
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We were always too scared to cut their little nails. We would have the pediatrician help us!
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Pee guards. I didn’t use these with my first boy but decided to give them a try with my second. Only used it the one time!! It totally got in the way when trying to change him and I needed to take it off to wipe him anyway. Better to just move as quickly as possible, and use the diaper itself as a guard if necessary, to avoid the pee in the face!
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Blankets, quilts. Used swaddling blankets only.
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Several newborn outfits
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Yup, after our first only used her newborn outfits once, we only got 3 months and up for the next three! It was especially helpful to have at least a few outfits in 6 months, too, since they do grow so fast and suddenly you find you need a bigger size.
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Yes! I made note of this for baby showers I attend to buy clothes for 6 months and up so that the parents-to-be have clothes a few months out.
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Exactly! It’s so helpful to have those bigger sizes on hand when you realize you suddenly need them!
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I bought a big pack of Dr. Brown’s bottles that I still haven’t opened. I wanted to stock up in case breastfeeding didn’t stick, but should’ve waited to see what we’d actually need. We got 6 or 7 free bottles by signing up for various registries which is more than enough for my newborn, and allows us to test out different brands to see which he prefers. Same experience with pacifiers…don’t stock up until you know which brand your baby prefers. Babylist allows you to buy sample packs of bottles, pacifiers and swaddles which I highly recommend.
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What a great idea from Babylist, you really never know which brand baby will like best so it’s great to be able to try a few. I’ve felt so guilty about all the bottles and pacifiers I’ve thrown away almost totally unused over the years. With Baby #4 I finally just got a single bottle to serve as a back up to breastfeeding, figuring we could just wait and get more when we actually needed them. Turns out, 1 was all we needed!
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Receiving blankets. I had about a million of these, and only ever used a handful of my favorite muslin swaddle blankets over and over again.
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Multiple baby bath towels - the ones with the irresistibly cute animal face hoodies. They were bulky to wash and awkward to fold. Plus, my tots grew up and out of them so fast. They wore more like capes than towels.
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Yes! They are so cute but really have too short a lifespan. For my last two kiddos we got lovely, normal sized hooded towels as baby gifts, and these are really the only ones they ever use, even growing into toddler/preschool age.
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Baby shoes. They're absolutely adorable, but not so practical!
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Agreed and I found they fell off easily anyways. We for sure lost a shoe here or there in the process.
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Totally! I discovered Zutano booties with my last two and that‘s all they ever wore on their feet, if anything. Our hand-me-down baby shoes from my older two (in like-new condition!) never got touched.
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Crib Mobile: my babies never once fell blissfully asleep to the sights and sounds of the spinning mobile above their crib. I think it ended up overstimulating their bedtime senses, among other things too.
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Bumbo floor seat. I thought this would make my life so easy, allowing me to put baby down on the floor nearby while I washed dishes, went to the bathroom, etc. Not so! He couldn't sit well enough for me to want to leave him in it until he was about old enough to sit upright, and by then, he would not consent to sit in it - and could just sit on his own anyway!
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Personalized "Baby's First Christmas" ornaments: our oldest daughter received 8 in total, which in my opinion, I thought was 5 or 6 too many to keep forever.
