This is the second post in my Baby and New Mom Mini Series, in this and posts to come, you will find informative info on what products are lifesavers and what products you really just don't need, all from the perspective of a new mom. in todays post I'm sharing a few items that we personally thought we could have done without and saved money. :)
1. Infant bathtub.
I thought we just HAD to have one. I thankfully took everyone's advice and didn't buy the most expensive one, but in the end it turned out to be such a novelty item that we didn't use a whole lot and I actually very much disliked because it seemed we got more water everywhere than actually stayed in the tub. Plus Bella hated being in there. We ended up settling on co-showering/ bathing in the regular tub (only letting it fill up a couple inches) and both are is still a big hit at 6 and a half months! She especially loves being able to kick and splash in the water and in the infant tub there wouldn't have been nearly enough room.
I thought we just HAD to have one. I thankfully took everyone's advice and didn't buy the most expensive one, but in the end it turned out to be such a novelty item that we didn't use a whole lot and I actually very much disliked because it seemed we got more water everywhere than actually stayed in the tub. Plus Bella hated being in there. We ended up settling on co-showering/ bathing in the regular tub (only letting it fill up a couple inches) and both are is still a big hit at 6 and a half months! She especially loves being able to kick and splash in the water and in the infant tub there wouldn't have been nearly enough room.
2. 4 oz. bottles.
I'm still kicking myself over this one. She outgrew them so fast (once we started giving her bottles) and after just a few months we had to go buy 9 oz. bottles. If I had to do over I would have initially purchased the 9 oz. size and used those, just filling them up 2 oz., 4 oz., 6 oz. as she started growing and eating more, especially given the prices bottles sell for.
I'm still kicking myself over this one. She outgrew them so fast (once we started giving her bottles) and after just a few months we had to go buy 9 oz. bottles. If I had to do over I would have initially purchased the 9 oz. size and used those, just filling them up 2 oz., 4 oz., 6 oz. as she started growing and eating more, especially given the prices bottles sell for.
3. Sterilizer.
We spent nearly $20 on a sterilizer that we've really only used a handful of times. Would have been much wiser in my opinion to just boil everything in a big pan of water.
We spent nearly $20 on a sterilizer that we've really only used a handful of times. Would have been much wiser in my opinion to just boil everything in a big pan of water.
4. Babies really don't need as many clothes as you'd think.
I thought babies needed a ton of clothes, I mean, what if she had a blowout or her diaper leaked? But what I didn't take into consideration is that we do in fact wash clothes almost daily (lol pregnancy brain at the time haha). Plus they outgrow them SO FAST! Bella had some stuff she didn't even get to wear because by the time I remembered we had it, it was already too small; and even more stuff she only wore once or twice. They especially outgrow the newborn clothes the fastest. 0-3 or 3 month she's worn the longest so far. At 6 and a half months she's already wearing 9 month and 12 month size stuff and has outgrown most of her 6 month clothing. I mean I didn't go super crazy buying as much as some people but I think we still had too many. My advice is buy a few extremely soft comfy things that they'll enjoy wearing (Bella's favorite newborn outfit was a purple velour sleeper with tiny silver glitter snowflakes:) and a few nice outfits, but don't bother with too many expensive clothes, because 3 words... baby poop stains... I don't care who you are, your baby WILL have blowouts. Lol.
5. Receiving blankets.
Yep, I'm talking about those thin flannel ones. Whoever thought up these things were both smart and dumb. Smart because they are definitely a money making item: everyone buys them for you and you go buy even more because you think they must be a necessary item because everyone makes such a huge deal out of them, right? Nope. They're much too small to swaddle a child, too thin to keep them warm, and not absorbent so you cant use them for a large burp cloth. We've really only used them for laying the baby on when we change her out in public, other than the one warm day we left her blanket at home and used it to covered her legs in the air conditioned car. My advice is to not go crazy buying receiving blankets, if someone gives you a package there's nothing wrong with keeping them but having more than one package is useless. Buy swaddle blankets, you can swaddle them, no they won't really keep them warm but during the spring and summer, but that's not really the issue for us, since blankets for Bella are more about security now that its warming up, muslin swaddle blankets are basically the equivalent of a "baby sized" bed top sheet, its nice and thin for warm nights. I mean no doubt about it, the receiving blankets are cute, but they're just not practical.
Yep, I'm talking about those thin flannel ones. Whoever thought up these things were both smart and dumb. Smart because they are definitely a money making item: everyone buys them for you and you go buy even more because you think they must be a necessary item because everyone makes such a huge deal out of them, right? Nope. They're much too small to swaddle a child, too thin to keep them warm, and not absorbent so you cant use them for a large burp cloth. We've really only used them for laying the baby on when we change her out in public, other than the one warm day we left her blanket at home and used it to covered her legs in the air conditioned car. My advice is to not go crazy buying receiving blankets, if someone gives you a package there's nothing wrong with keeping them but having more than one package is useless. Buy swaddle blankets, you can swaddle them, no they won't really keep them warm but during the spring and summer, but that's not really the issue for us, since blankets for Bella are more about security now that its warming up, muslin swaddle blankets are basically the equivalent of a "baby sized" bed top sheet, its nice and thin for warm nights. I mean no doubt about it, the receiving blankets are cute, but they're just not practical.
Oh I so much agree with all of these especially the receiving blankets, haha!! I still have so many from both births. We'll be good to go for the next one!
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