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June 2013 Moms
duffmaker
member
"Most useless baby item"
duffmaker
member
So we were talking to a few friends of ours last night and we started talking about the most useless baby item that we each own/what we think one would be. DH pipes up "Totally the car seat, technically speaking. We haven't gotten into any car accidents or even come close so it's been the most useless." All I could do was shake my head, all us mom's looked at each other while all the other dad's started whole-heartily agreeing with DH. 
Gotta love men...
So what do you think the most useless baby item on the market is? BTDT, how about the most useless item that you have/had?
I think bottle and wipe warmers are completely ridiculous, you can just as easily heat a bottle in a cup of hot water or rub a wipe between your hands for a second before using it... saving $20+ on each.
As for what we have, we went pretty minimalistic so we didn't have many random odds and ends... so I would have to say the receiving blankets, we have a dozen+ of them stacked in our closet. Occasionally I would use one as a changing "pad" but they were too small too get a good swaddle with and we don't use cloth wipes (otherwise I would cut them up). They'll turn into dust rags in a few months, I'm sure. Also M's baby gym/tummy mat thing, she hated it... she would spend hours laying on the comforter that came with her bed set but less than 10mins on the special toy mat we had.
Proud babywearing, breastfeeding, vaccinating SAHM of 2U2!
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Re: "Most useless baby item"
For us with Lucy, pacifiers. We bought 10 different brands and she hated each one.
I guess for my kid the most useless item was the 10,000 bottles I bought for him. He HATED bottles and almost completely refused them at daycare. Instead he would just nurse all night long and fast all day. :
Other useless items (that we don't have) include: nursery water, premade bottles (is it REALLY that hard to mix formula powder with water and pour it in a bottle???), baby detergent (Dreft???? Blech), infant "shoes" (unless it's cold out and they provide warmth), ear thermometer (ok, we actually had that one, but it was so worthless we threw it away)
Also, diaper bags. Especially the big designer ones. No one wants to lug that sh!t around, it's clunky, large, and not necessary. We had a good backpack/messenger bag with diapers, wipes, a change of clothes, and snacks. We even downgraded to smaller bags as the baby got older. We went to Disneyland, day-long outings, errands, and just about anywhere you can imagine without a giant diaper bag.
FTM so... I actually asked this of my favorite mommas IRL. The two biggest contenders were the Swing and the Jumperoo. Also the Bumbo. However, there were a few of the ladies that disagreed loudly on the swing and jumperoo.
When I worked in daycare, we hated the swings and mechanical bouncers. The batteries were always dying and we only had one or two kids who liked them. It was a decent sized center, so those took up useful space that would have been better for other toys.
Our lil' diva: late like her Momma: 40 weeks 5 days!
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We made plans and God laughed
DS: BFP: 9/30/12 - EDD: 6/9/13
Radley Quinn was fashionably late via induction on 6/17/13
I think it's not just the family but the baby, pacis and bottles were useless for DS1 he wanted nothing to do with them. DS2 has no problem with either of them. But there are a two things that were a waste for both kids:
. 1. We were given a Bumbo my kids hated it. They both have really chunky thighs and were so uncomfortable.
2. Bibs. Most people say "I got a ton of newborn clothes at my shower." I got bibs, mostly the holiday ones. For example I was given 4 new "First Christmas" and about 9 more as hand-me-downs. We did use them some for drool but usually only when I was trying to keep an outfit dry long enough to take photos of them wearing it. Bibs are even useless at meal times for DS1, he just sticks his hands underneath and wipes them on his shirt.
For my son pacifiers, bottles and the playpen were a waste of money. We didn't buy a crib for DS and I'm glad that we didn't. That would have been a huge waste of money.
All of the typical baby items were useless for DS, but we managed. Maybe the next baby will use some of those things.
This is way it is pretty unique to the family! I love my changing table and use it for every diaper change. I have used it for almost 2 years and will use it for a good 2+ more years once I have LO#2, well worth the $50 or so. The height is more comfotable than dresser height and I worked with infants in childcare so changing with the child sideways is natural for me.
For me, I agree the warmers are lame as well as the Bumbo.
I also received a load of receiving blankets that aside from maybe 4 have been pretty useless.They were awful for swaddling but a few have been used as blankets for nap time at daycare/pre-school.
I think the travel bottle warmer, sterilizer, the miniscule washcloths and disposable changing pads were all pretty useless.
Same, I have an antique dry sink and much preferred chaning DS on that than the floor, bed, etc. And once he was out of diapers it held his stuffed animals on the top and bed linens in the drawers below. So I have definitely gotten my use out of that bad boy.
Are those the really thin ones? My sister told me that's all she used b/c they were the best at getting between fat rolls - neck in particular.
I think some of the most useless products on the market are probably the bottle warmers and wipe warmers. I'm sure some families would disagree and love them, but, to us, they seem like they would take up space and actually decrease efficiency.
Personally, our most 'useless' item was our swing. DD didn't really like to swing and I can only remember us using it a handful of times. But luckily we got the swing/bouncer combo and the bouncer seat came in handy and we used that a lot.
I ended up getting a crapton of baby washcloths at my shower, but I love them. They take so much less time to dry.
Agreed that it definitely depends on the family. I'm probably in the minority on this, but I think the boppy is useless. We registered for one, but my girlfriends all swore the BreastFriend was better for nursing. I have to totally agree. I couldn't get the boppy to work for me with nursing. The BreastFriend was the best!
We used the boppy a little for tummy time, etc, but we really didn't need it. We could have rolled a blanket up and used it for the same thing.
I agree! Disclaimer: I don't judge the people who buy the fancy diaper bags. We went with the backpack diaper bag so that we won't have to switch it out in a year. I have numerous friends who had Coach and Juicy Coutoure diaper bags and they stopped using them after 8 months and switched to a backpack. So I figure we're just skipping that step.
Now that others have mentioned it, I didn't use bibs all that much either.
The little scratch mittens for newborns were useless on DD, she just whipped them off but I did like the long sleeve onesies/shirts that folded over the hands.
All carseat add-ons were useless and returned. From what I understand adding anything to a carseat is a no-no.
There are alot of things I used because I got them and I thought I had to. DD loved the swing (we got one to plug in). I used my changing table every day. Receiving blankets, the best job for them was as a liner for the changing pad and if anything got on that it was an easy change rathar than the whole changing pad.
I agree bottle warmers and wipe warmers are crazy. I got an electric tea kettle for when DH would need to warm bottles. We used the playpen for housing toys rathar than for DD. She prefered being in the Excersaucer/walker that we had for her. Teethers were also pointless for DD, she chewed on everything but the teether. Bottles were horrible because DD didn't like the 3 kinds I had. But I do think it depends on the family/kid for everything.
For DS1 we put his changing pad on his dresser and it worked out great. I've changed him on a bed or the floor at peoples houses and find it really uncomfortable on my back. I also prefer to change him while he's sideways than feet facing me - but everyone is going to have their own preference.
For DS2 his dresser is a lot thinner and it's really not wide enough for a changing pad, so we did purchase a very inexpensive changing table this time. However, it has storage underneath it which makes it worth it for me!
BFP 5/21/10, Missed m/c 7/5/10 at 11w3d (baby measured 7wks), D&C 7/7/10
Aug/Sept 2010 - CD3&10 b/w & u/s, genetic testing, SA, HSG, & Lap/Hyst to remove septum
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June 2012 - TTC #2! -- 10/05/12 BFP -- 5/23/13 DS2 born at 37w1d! Yay full term!
Surprise BFP 6/25/14 LO#3 due Feb2015!
I agree that this really varies family to family, and even kid to kid.
For DD1, our most useless item was the bouncer seat. We used it like, twice ever. But who knows, DD2 might be in it all the time. You just never know!
Same goes for the travel bottle warmer. We travel on the road a lot and a warm bottle at bedtime became part of the nighttime routine, which we could do on the road. A lot of these little luxury items depend on your lifestyle so keep that in mind.