Top 5 Baby Essentials and 5 I Wouldn’t Buy Again – Blogtober 17

So Day 2’s prompt for Blogtober with Hex Mum Blog was ‘Babies’ and I have been meaning to write this post for ages (seeing as dude is now 15 months old!!) so thought this would be a great time to do it.

When you first find out you are pregnant you are bombarded by information and products you have zero idea about, working out what you really need and will use is really difficult. You simply can’t buy everything you see advertised and you really don’t need to. Obviously every parent will have a different essentials and regrets list depending on their parenting experience and their little ones, but me and Jon were pretty adamant and unanimous on what we thought was essential and what wasn’t and some of them might surprise you!

Here are our top 5 baby essentials and top 5 baby purchase regrets

Top 5 baby essentials

1. Muslins – These were used multiple times a day when dude was little. They are great for catching spit up and dribbles but they can be used for a multitude of other things. I personally like the really huge ones that can also be used as a blanket, I have a stunning set of Aden + Anais ones I managed to pick up in Home Sense and they have been used so many times and are still perfect so will be fine for baby number 2 some time in the future
2. Sangenic Nappy Bin – Now this is the kind of thing that comes up on peoples regret list usually but in all honesty me and Jon love it and it is used at least once if not twice a day. Its so simple to use, not that expensive and it locks away all stinky nappy smells! We had it in our bedroom so morning and night nappies went straight in and were locked away, now it is in dudes room as we change him in there for bath and bed times. You could take nappies down to the bin every time but believe me in the early days where you too tired in the middle of the night you just want the easiest option and this is it.
3. Baby Wrap/Sling/Carrier – I have a few different types (Kangawrap and a Wuti Wrap as well as a Rockin Baby Sling) but Elian always preferred a wrap over a sling but it is up to you and baby to decide which suits you best as a carrier, try visiting a local sling meet or sling library to test them out first if you can. If you have a limpit baby as I liked to term Elian, and they simply want to be held at all times then a baby carrier of some sort is key, it was the only way I could get anything done in the early days, he would happily sleep in it for hours. Plus it made quick trips out so much easier than taking the buggy all the time. Wraps may look confusing but once you get used to them you can tie them with your eyes closed, honest!
4. Baby Wipes – Piles and piles of them, you will use them to wipe down and clean up everything from babies bums, faces and hands, to high chairs, pushchairs and car seats, baby wipes are multipurpose! Whether you go with basic supermarket ones, pampers or water wipes they are all incredibly useful
5. A Large Changing Bag – The ones you get with your buggy is often similar in size to a satchel and they just aren’t big enough for trips out that are longer than an hour when you have a little one. Between the nappies and wipes, change of outfit, muslin, bottles if your using them, and a multitude of other baby things I could never get everything into my Cosatto one sadly, so I would say invest in a larger baby changing bag that you love or a regular large handbag or rucksack will work too. We have a Babymoov rucksack now that I love as it fits a ton of stuff in it and its cute, plus I got it in Home Sense for less than half price!

5 items we wouldn’t buy again

1. Dummies – We just never used them. I know a lot of parents will swear by them, but Elian never took to it, so I have about 3 boxes of them brand new and unopened that we were gifted. I’m pretty glad he didn’t now too as we don’t have the issue of removing it from him. I think if you don’t try them with one in the first place your never gonna miss it. We never wanted to give him one anyway but on a few of those sleepless nights we were wiling to try anything!
2. Baby Bath – Yeah…we used it like 3 times! Luckily we didn’t buy one, we had borrowed a friends one, so glad we did. We did the first few baths in there and then he came in the bath with me after that. Actually holding him in the water and trying to wash hi with one hand is difficult, it was a 2 man job. But saying that my mum used it every time she bathed him and she still does!
3. Bottle Warmer – I totally don’t get the point of it! I had mine with our steriliser otherwise I probably wouldn’t have purchased it separately. Maybe its because we are combined-feeders and didn’t do that many bottles in the grand scheme of things, so we never got much use of it.
4. Talc/Baby Oil – This is one of those things that we got bought a ton of when Elian first arrived. Lots of people gave us Johnsons products and we had enough to probably last us 2 years (we still have loads left and dude is 15 months old and we use all the bath stuff daily!!) I don’t know why but other than baby oil for the first few weeks, when his skin was a little flaky we just haven’t used any, and haven’t even opened a talc! Again this is something my mum does use on dude though, so I think maybe its a generational thing. Don’t buy any as you will no doubt be gifted some by someone even if you do use it.
5. Baby Shoes – Babies don’t need shoes!! If they aren’t walking they simply don’t need shoes, just put some socks on them! Some cute little slipper type footwear to keep their feet warm in winter is good but spending lots of baby shoes is just pointless and a waste of money. We had a few pairs and they probably only went on him once or twice. Pointless.

If you love my little list and want to save it for when you have a newborn (or as ideas for newborn gifts maybe) Don’t forget to PIN IT!