What are the “must haves” and “not necessary” items when expecting a baby?

[UnderABuck]

With regards to furniture and “accessories” (diaper genie, breast pump, baby monitors, boppy pillow, etc). I know that I need to have a crib and some sort of travel system when the baby arrives but figure I can hold off on a high chair for a few months (unless I can find a great deal). Friends say that the diaper genie is a must have while others say, it’s a waste. I don’t want to waste money on things that I only THINK I need.

Thoughts? TIA

[marmis]

Originally Posted by UnderABuck With regards to furniture and “accessories” (diaper genie, breast pump, baby monitors, boppy pillow, etc). I know that I need to have a crib and some sort of travel system when the baby arrives but figure I can hold off on a high chair for a few months (unless I can find a great deal). Friends say that the diaper genie is a must have while others say, it’s a waste. I don’t want to waste money on things that I only THINK I need. Thoughts? TIA

My must haves -
Bassinet or crib! The bassinet was all the baby slept in for the first month or so next to my bed.
Swing - many days the only way I could get work done was to put them in the swing.
Stroller - this is a must have if you plan to be outdoors and walking. Or you could use a snuggli type holder thingy.
Baby monitors - these were great! I could go about doing things in the house while the baby was napping in another part of the house without worrying. I could also hang laundry on the line quick while the baby was in the bassinet without worrying as much.
Car Seat - obvious!

[sbp]

My must haves were:

somewhere for baby to sleep - baby can go right to crib, but we opted to borrow a bassinet for a few weeks so ds was closer to us at night, and then moved him into the crib.

a glider rocker - to get that baby to sleep easily so that momma can go to sleep too!!

a breast pump -needed for ds#1 as I was still working. Just rented it from the hospital at a rate of $1 per day. It was very heavy duty and I probably could have gotten a deal on one, but I didn't know how successful and how long we would be successful in bfing, so we just went with the rental option. Breast pump NOT necessary for ds#2 as I quit working when he was born.

A boppy pillow was necessary - mostly because of the discomfort of baby resting on my stomach while my c-section incision was healing.

Changing table was not a necessity - we bought a changing pad and used it on top of a bureau. Once baby was too big and wriggly, we just used the floor!

We never had a diaper genie and we survived. I just used a small wastebasket in the baby's room. It worked well because it was small enough that it needed to be emptied out regularly enough that it never got smelly in there. There are products available, I'm not sure of the name but they are packages of small garbage bags with deodorizing smells built in that you can put a 'dirty' diaper in and it will mask the 'dirty' smell. IMO, the deodorized smell of the bag is worse than the diapers smell! lol

High chair - we didn't use until ds#1 was 6 months old. When ds#2 came along, we were more pinched for space, so he never had a high chair, we just used a booster seat attached to a kitchen chair. It was high enough that he could sit up close to the table but not so high that the chair wouldn't push in.

Baby monitor was good choice. We didn't really need it in the house as our apartment doesn't have doors between rooms. We could always hear the baby if we were in the house, but it was nice to be able to run to the mailbox with the monitor so I could hurry hurry back if he woke up.

We had a portable fold up baby swing. DS #1 loved it but ds#2 absolutely HATED IT!!!

Our stroller was great because you could attach the car seat to it and wheel the whole thing around. It worked super if baby fell asleep in the car - he stayed asleep since I didn't have to take him out of his car seat to lay him down in the stroller.

[hotcouponmama]

Diaper Genie is great if you are in a small place, or apartment and can't get to an outdoor trash easily. We had one, but midway through baby #2, we deemed it not necessary.

Our kids NEVER took to a swing, so that was worthless. They liked the johnny jumper and the little car shaped exersaucer - that got us many hours of mileage in terms of activity.

The activity mat that you put baby on his back and it has arches that criss cross and hanging toys that dangled - our boys loved that too.

Portacrib was semi-worthwhile - I think my nieces and nephews got more use out of it at the house than we did.

We bought all the requesite items with baby #1 - baby monitor, etc and come babies 2 and 3, we were selling them in a garage sale.

Actually, the true test of what we needed came when we had sold everything baby in a garage sale, and then after it was all sold, we found out we were pregnant again. Since we weren't going to buy it all over, what we had through baby three was:

Crib, carseat, baby gates for staired areas, a small smattering of baby clothes, stroller, high chair and a few basic toys.

The baby market is kind of a scam in that you really don't need half the crap they advertise you need. You can easily get by with the basics.

[queenofthehivemomof5]

In my book

Nessesary:

Car Seat stroller combo - of course you have the car seat for the car, and the stroller for talking the baby on walks. But this can also double as a napping or sleeping spot for a while. My babies all loved to sleep in thier carseats as it seemed to provide them with a semi curled fetus position?? I dont know...they just like it.

Boppy - Good for nursing or bottle feeding. It never seemed to work well for propping them up in a sitting position, but was great for some tummy time as you could drape the baby tummy down with a few toys on the floor. We bought a boppy that has attachable criss cross thingy for removable toys so killed 2 birds with one stone on that one. A pillow can work for nursing too just as well IMO.

A couple of waffle weeve receiving blankets. These worked the best for swaddling and kept the baby swaddled longer than flannel receiving blankets due to thier stretch. Also like to have a couple of waffle weeve crib sized blankets as these were good to use as a nursing cover up yet were not hot underneath, also due to strech of the material it clung better and stayed put while nursing.

I would wait to buy:

Swing, jonny jumper, excersaucer, or bouncy seat - wait till they are a little bit older, buy one test it out and see if baby likes it. If not return to store (save receipt) some kids like them some don't.

Highchair - they won't be using it for quite some time. I found that a booster seat with attachable tray was the way to go for us (AFTER grandma bought the babies expensive full size highchairs!) they strap onto the dinning room chairs, and easily cleanable in the bathtub or hosed off outside, can be folded down quite compactly for travel.

Crib - not nessesary right away. If you want to wait go for it.

Baby proofing gear - it can wait till the baby is mobile.

Monitor - Wait and see if you can already hear baby crying from all parts of your house. If you have a small place it might not be nessesary. If your place is big or you are a sound sleeper go ahead and get one.

Toys - Babies dont play with toys for a little while.

Would not even bother with:

Diaper genie - not easy to find bags cheap (no coupons!), emptying this is horrible in my opinion because it is akin to throwing away baby powder scented poopy diapers wrapped like linked hotdogs! Yulk. Just get a diaper pail with a cover. Throw a regular kitchen trash bag in it and empty frequently. Most diaper pails have a place for a deoderizer cake, which is toxic, but you can put baking soda in it, or we put some cotton balls with tea tree oil in the little cake place.

Changing table - buy a dresser instead and put a pad on top. Changing tables have no function after its original use. A dresser can be used forever. We have a dresser in our living room that we use as a changing station.

Bassinet - these are only used for such a short time. If you want baby in your room you can put them to sleep in the car seat or a moses basket on the floor. Both will be used longer than the bassinet.

[kurlisola]

Well, I'm guessing that you want essentials & not alot of fluff? So, here is my list of stuff you'll need immediately:

Car seat for infant (should last for about a year)

Crib...bassinets are only used about a month & imho wasted money

Swing...I don't think you're supposed to put them in a swing until they are a certain age...So, I'd pass on this until 3-6 months (whatever the age is...I forget-lol)

Tub for bathing & some sort of baby wash

Bottles? If you are nursing, no need

Diapers? Consider cloth; if you use disposies, then just have alot of grocery bags nearby & dispose of them that way.

I'd recommend Burts Bees Diaper Cream, just in case

Never had a use for baby powder or baby oils...ended up tossing them.

Didn't use a moniter...crib was in our room until about 6 months old

Stroller? Maybe. We had a couple. Best one was a Graco Duo glide. But, with just one baby, I used a Maya Sling. But I'm a real homebody & rarely took the baby out anyway (most of my shopping done in evening & dh stayed with babies).

Some onsies. Very few other clothing for the first couple of months...I had a long nightgown that closed at the bottom for those colder winter nights.

Several different style blankets. We had cotton, fleece & chenelle. Also, snag a couple of the receiving blankets from the hospital. Our's gave us about 3-4; they are thin enough to wrap up securely and hold in place.

Playpen. Can be used as a bassinet, easily moved around the house (and elsewhere if they are portable) & can be used as baby gets older & more mobile.

A couple toys...bright, with mirrors & moveable parts.

[3swimmersmom]

Originally Posted by brendakc i just wanted to add my small bit of advice here on something :)...i bought the Carters brand hooded towel @ jcpenney for my son cody when he was born. he is now 7 yrs. old and we are still using the same towels...no rips, tears or anything. i remember being frugal then and thinking each towel was to much $...but i bought them anyway... and they are so worth it! brenda (experienced mom of 21 years! :) )

I bought those towels too. My girls are almost 10 and we stil use them. After the girls got too big to actually use the towel for drying their body off or wrapping up in we started using them as "hair towels", put on head and catch all that hair in the towel and twist it up! Works great and these towels turned out the be such useful items that lasted.

[jonnysmomma]

I say a boppy pillow is a necessity...It was great to breastfeed with, feed him a bottle with, he sat up on it, laid on it, andjust loved it. To this day, he still plays with it and lays on it...and hes 2!

A swing was indispensable for me...there were nights that there was no calming Jonny and a swing worked. He outgrew it by 7 months9was 20 pounds already) and even now I miss it cause it worked every time.

Playtex VentAire bottles are awesome. But then again your baby might not like them. DONT buy too many bottles before your baby comes.

Learn to swaddle! It really does work!

Boudreaux's Butt Paste is the BEST diaper creme out there!

[isis]

For us, it was a swing and bouncy seat. My oldest had a full size swing by Graco and my mom got my youngest ds a portable swing. It sits lower to the ground and was great to take on vacation and when visiting friends & relatives.
Never used a high chair for either one. I just used the booster seat and attached it to one of the kitchen chairs for meal times.
And clothing, you don't need to spend a fortune on newborn cutsie outfits. I had a couple outfits for special occasions, but the rest the boys were in onsies or a tshirt with long pants.

[boninikids]

I completely agree with the women on here telling the must haves. I have 3 kids so by now i have learned my lesson. Definate waste of money is a diaper genie or any of those, because if your kid needs to be changed you do it where your at instead of running to another room! to much hassel IMHO. I snagged blankets from the hospital and had many onsies that worked the best my youngest was a fat baby so he was always hot so the majority of the time he was only in a diaper! crib carseats sheets and burp clothes for the babies that like to spit up mine never did tons of wasted money right there. honestly people should wait til the baby gets here and by anything other than the obvious as the time aproaches cause most babies dont care for certain things so its hit or miss! Good LUck in your endevours