New mums and dads are suckers. I know I was one. But when you only live in a little place, or if you're on a budget you need to distinguish between the necessary; and the nice, but not necessary.
It's hard because every day something new hits the market that is cleverly advertised to make it appear to be a life changing must have. But you need to train yourself to question every purchase. Ask yourself, each time does this have a use that I couldn't achieve without it?
Here is a list of things you don't need:
It's hard because every day something new hits the market that is cleverly advertised to make it appear to be a life changing must have. But you need to train yourself to question every purchase. Ask yourself, each time does this have a use that I couldn't achieve without it?
Here is a list of things you don't need:
- A moses basket, crib or any other bed that a baby will have grown out of by the time they can smile. Yes, newborns like to be cosy and wrapped up, but if they are swaddled up tight they won't know whether they are in a cot or a cradle.
- Which leads me on to another pointless extra bulky purchase that so many of us make: the cot bed. If you are planning on having another child, baby number 2 will more than likely be ready for the cot just as baby number one is ready for a bed, so you might as well put him or her straight into a standard single bed. Once again they won't mind that this bed is a little longer than their cot, in fact they will probably relish being in a big bed.
- Then there is all that cute little nursery furniture. Mini wardrobes and chests of drawers encompassing a purpose built changing mat. What self-respecting three-year-old in big boy pants is going to want a nappy changing station in his room? Opt instead for plain and simple standard size furniture that will take your tiny one through to his teens.
- A baby bath is something else I'd cross off your baby shopping list. When they are tiny you can bath a baby in the sink and as they grow you can move on to your main bath. Oh and don't bother with baby-size towels either, you can dry them just as easily in a standard bath sheet.
- There are so many ridiculously pointless toys being pushed at us too. People have spent time inventing products for tummy time, for example. Just put baby on her tummy in her cot or on a blanket and stick a rattle just out of her reach, that will give her just as good a work-out as any new fangled exercise contraption.
- I'm not advocating you follow my lead on this last point, because where health and safety is concerned you need to make your own judgements, but I didn't clutter up my worktops with a steriliser either. Breast pump attachments, dummies and bottles were just washed in the dishwasher.
Have you bought any other products that turned out to be pointless to add to this list?
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