The "baby stuff" industry does a pretty good job convincing us that we need to spend a lot of money on this and that. Thanks to everyone who left comments on my Top 5 Useless Baby Stuff list. I like hearing about other parents experiences with these products. I've found that a lot of the expensive baby stuff adds a lot of features that are really unnecessary and rarely, if ever used, so the cheap stuff works just fine, or in some cases, better. So here's my list of baby products that you shouldn't spend a lot on.
- Strollers: Expensive strollers usually add a lot of features that just add a lot of weight.
Since you often need to take strollers in and out of car trunks, closets, and such, I've found the cheaper, lightweight ones to be more convenient. - High Chairs: The main thing I'm looking for in a high chair is something that is easy to clean. The fancy high chairs add a lot of little nooks, cup holders, and such that just make it harder to clean. If high chair manufacturers really wanted to make me happy they would make it with a tray that would fit in the dishwasher.
- Bottles: Here again, easy to clean is the priority. As a general rule, the more expensive the bottle, the more parts it will have to clean. (If you've ever tried Dr. Brown's, you know what I mean.) The simple, cheap ones work just fine for me.
- Swing: Mostly, you just need the swinging motion and the kind that takes batteries instead of the manual crank. Sadly, we discovered (the hard way) that while the swing may work wonders for your firstborn, it may cause the second to just scream louder.
- Bassinet: You're only gonna use this for about 4 months, so why spend a lot of money on it? With X-factor we just used bassinet that came with the pack and play. I liked it because it also had the changing table right there.
