Being a first time parent is such an exciting time! It is also confusing, stressful, and overwhelming. I am an avid planner, researcher, and organizer; but the first time my husband and I went into a baby store, I was so overwhelmed I had to sit down in the rocker section to calm down. There were so many sections in that store! What did I actually need for my baby?
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The truth is, no matter how much research you do or how much advice that you get, you are going to end up with things that you will not use for your sweet little one. It has nothing to do with bad advice or that fact that you may have over-bought. What one mommy needs for her baby, you may not need for yours. It’s as simple as that. Everybody has a different living situation, priorities, and things that are a “must have” for one, may not matter to another. You have to just look at it as a trial and error phase.
This is Lesson One that you will learn as a parent; you have to be flexible!
Mobile
This is definitely something that you don’t need for baby. BUT, I really wanted everything in Baby L’s room to match and have a theme, so it was more for me to have that sense of completion. Don’t get me wrong, there were times when I would lay Baby L underneath it, turn it on, and it would keep him busy for a few minutes while I did something else. But it wasn’t a must have. AND once he reached around 6 months old or so, he started grabbing and pulling at it, so we had to remove it.
Lots of Small Clothing
For us, we didn’t need to buy much newborn or 0-3 month clothing because we were gifted A LOT. Even if you don’t register for clothing (like we did), you will still get A TON. People can’t resist buying teeny tiny clothing (and who can blame them, they are so cute). In baby’s first year he will grow so fast that sometimes you can’t even get a turn in some of the cute clothes that you have. Baby L was almost 10 pounds at birth and hasn’t stopped growing since. I learned pretty quickly to just start sizing up. For example, when he was 9 months old, I would dress him in 12 month+ clothes. That way you get more use out of their clothes and you can have a little breather in between growth spurts. Also, unless it’s cold and you live up north or something, you really just need onesies and sleep sacks for the first several months.
Baby Shoes
We did not buy Baby L a single pair of shoes until he was at least a year old. Again, they grow so fast and they really don’t NEED shoes until they start walking. I must confess, if I had a girl I probably would have gone crazy with the super cute shoes that they have but this is an article about NEED, not WANT. We did buy a pair here and there for pictures before he started walking, and when it came to the cold months we bought very warm socks and some fleece booties that were adjustable. They worked perfectly to get us through his first winter.
Wipe Warmer
This one is nice in some ways but over time I felt like it was a bit more of a hassle. The pros of having a warmer are that your little one doesn’t have an icy cold wipe on his little tushy. The con is that they are going to have to deal with it sooner or later when you are out and about and don’t have your warmer with you! You also have to remember to unplug the warmer when you go out of town because it will dry out your wipes and could potentially be a fire hazard. Another con, because I’m picky, was that the wipes seemed to get bunched up a lot and not come out of the slot easily. As you can see here, they are not very expensive so if this is something that you want to try, you won’t be out a ton of money!
Car Seat Cover
Now this last item I got absolutely no use out of. This is the one we had.
For me, I felt like it was more trouble than it was worth to get it attached to the car seat and when it was windy, it was all over the place! I really tried to like it, but just couldn’t!
As you can see, some of my items that I didn’t use or get use out of may be at the top of your list of must haves! Everyone is different!
Tell me, what items did you buy for baby that you didn’t use? I would love to hear from you!
