New Baby Essentials vs. Useless baby items

Nothing beats the excitement of preparing to welcome a new member to the family. The elation of finding out that you are expecting, coupled with the nerves that follow soon after is enough to send you into a flat-spinning shopping frenzy!

But before you blow your budget, allow us to put some things into perspective. While we understand that, you may want to go out and purchase all the newest baby goods, which could set you back quite a bit. It’s often best to first take a look at a couple of alternative options, like buying second hand. The truth is that babies are not very materialistic. They do not care about how beautiful their nursery furniture is, how educational their toys are, or how fashionable their clothes make them look. In fact, there are very few items that a baby actually requires:

• • a place to sleep,
• • diapers,
• • a baby car seat,
• • basic clothing,
• • and milk or formula

But even though a baby’s needs are simple, that doesn’t mean yours are. There is a lot of baby gear on the market these days that can significantly enhance your ability to care for your child or just make it that much easier. Sorting through the available items and making sense of the marketing hype is often overwhelming. In this article, we explore alternative options to buying new and point out a couple of items that are not very important;

• • The 'White Noise' Soothers. These very expensive items rarely work because simply trying to re-create the sound of the womb simply isn’t enough, unless you’re able to recreate the whole environment.
• • Parenting books – Every baby is unique. It’s important to get to know your baby and his/her unique needs, likes and dislikes. Google has been many new parents best friend for decades
• • The sling –some babies hate being confined and can only sit still for a couple of minutes before getting restless and wanting out.
• • The Swimming Float. Seems like a good idea unless your baby can't see over the top of it OR you're too scared to let them out of your arms for even a second.

The internet is littered with baby walkers and kneepads, breast pumps and swaddling cloths that, when put bluntly, simply don’t work. To save yourself the clutter it’s best to have an idea of what to get and what to avoid. Many mums feel the pressure of buying a stroller that’s equivalent to a down payment on a car when a well-kept second hand stroller will do just as well and nobody will know the difference.

Great websites to start with include;

• • Gumtree
• • eBay
• • FaceBay
• • Shpock
• • Depop