Some of our friends are looking for a "travel stair gate" for holidays. I'd use a chair for our kids but just got me thinking about stuff that you need/think you need for kids that are single use or use a few times and then move on or sell at a loss.
What stuff did you or your friends get like the "travel stair gate"?
*This is only for stuff that had not use or a limited lifespan
*boob* for visibility
Can’t think of anything offhand although everything was sold at a loss or given to others.
We worked this out quickly, so much of our stuff has been second hand and passed on for free or second hand again.
We worked it out having bought first big buggy thing - that was style above substance. Quickly worked out a folding cheap thing was superior in every way... So the expensive thing was sold on when son 2 arrived in favour of a folding double stroller)buggy cheap thing.
The one thing we've struggled with is boots/waterproofs etc that they grow out of, increasingly as they get older...
Fancy over-designed, shaped washable nappy "systems" Expensive, only fit for a limited period and take ages to dry.
Didn't believe it at first, but the good old square of terry cloth was unbeatable! Fold it differently for one size to fit from birth to potty trained. Fold it to suit the pee and poo trajectories of different kids. Cheap so you can have a pile on the go and only wash full loads. Unfolds to a single layer that washes easily and dries fast. Lasts for multiple kids and then still OK for bike rags.
Expensive over designed high chairs full of nooks and crannies to collect food and gunk. The person that designed the £12 IKEA Antilop jetwashable one size fits all high chair was an ergonomics genius 🙂
The person that designed the £12 IKEA Antilop jetwashable one size fits all high chair was an ergonomics genius
I reckon it literally might be one of the best designed things, ever. Any category. I mean it’d still be a great chair at any price, but it’s cheap too!
Fancy over-designed, shaped washable nappy “systems” Expensive, only fit for a limited period and take ages to dry.
This has got me intrigued. We used re-usable fancy pants nappies for daughter number 1, got on fine but they do cost a small fortune. Baby number 2 imminent arrival, dug out the nappies and the elastics failed on them all. Useless and the manufacturer isn’t interested in helping.
So just a trad terry cloth you say? Interesting...
I can contribute a bit more though to the original question:
stuff that you need/think you need
Nappies at all! Best thing we did with baby number 1 (apart from avoiding the environmental catastrophe that is disposable nappies) was potty train earlier than the current norm. Won’t work for every kid but I’m so glad we achieved it before 18 mths. So much better for baby and parents.
Ps I’m no saint, baby 2 will be on disposables for the first few months, sod dealing with that in the washing machine.
We started with disposable baby diapers, moved to reusable, and went back to disposables. The environmental impact wasn't different enough for us if we were washing them ourselves to overcome the massive convenience difference (slightly different if you've hired a diaper service where economies of scale are more helpful).
We didn't have too many things that ended up being single use/underused purchases. We had a bassinet that laid in our bed when our son was little as he was getting up all the time/sleeping poorly but we were worried about rolling on him if co-sleeping. We didn't use it that long, but at that point, had it improved our sleep by 10% for a week, it would have been worth the not gigantic cost.
We had a Thule jogging stroller and backpack, but both got used a bunch. The latter I think tend to be underused, but ours got a lot of use. I'm sure we would have made due if we just had the soft carrier though. We spent a summer in the lower Himalayas for my wife's research when my son had just turned 2, and the Thule backpack was too big to bring, so I carried him all over the hills in the soft carrier. That suggests to me that the structured pack was more a "want" than a "need".
The one thing we’ve struggled with is boots/waterproofs etc that they grow out of, increasingly as they get older…
We always buy out of season and get sizes too big in the hope they will fit by the time they are needed. We recently bought two pairs of snow boots in different sizes so they can be used this coming winter and the following one. They were discounted by 75%.
What's in the case?
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It’s a functional disaster that's what:
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A $hitter-come suitcase. Child craps in the case, you then cart it around and "deal" with the outcome later. Like a potette that nobody’s thought about. We bought it a long time before toilet training our first born on recommendation of a friend. I opened it up two years later as we entered toilet training phase, worked out the horrific logisitics of its operation and moved it directly to the loft in terror.
Loads of stuff but the one that really sticks in the mind are the expensive all in one pram travel system things. Just get any old crap for the first 6 months and then a lightweight Maclaren stroller. Save yourself hundreds of pounds and hours of trying to fold it all up and playing Boot Tetris trying to fit it in with everything else your other half is adamant that needs to be brought out on any trip.
Gonna rock the boat here but most places I see parents fighting with their maclaren stroller type prams tend to be the only places we use our pram.
They appear to be utterly pants off road. I am sure they work well for shops/highstreets but being a child of lock down that's not something we have had to do.
We had a pram come buggy for first 18 months till Jnr outgrew it- despite alot alot of use ....still looks and works like new.
Now we have an out and about nipper sport which again works well off-road let's us get out and about doing our normal stuff without being restricted to the 2km Jnr can walk before rest.
But I wouldn't want to try a shop with it....it's more like a small wheel chair than a pram.
As for folding them ..... I think we did that about 4 times
We fell for the nappy system. Leaked all the time. Ended up using the "biodegradable" disposal.
The child seat thing got me the hard sell that everything other than this expensive system is pure death. Multiple pram tips, one lie down one for taking the car seat. Car seat and baby borjn carry worked best.
As other have said the second hand market is brilliant for baby stuff. We picked up a massive bag of baby clothes for £20 only used half of them.
The bigger issue (imo) is the pressure that everything has to be new otherwise your not doing the best for your baby and as the oo say people sell crap like that stair gate or portable potty as above (all pottys are portable?)
Second hand Stokke Trails buggy here which is fantastic IMO, and I'll probably get back not far off what I paid for it on eBay when it comes to time to get rid of it.
I see people using crappy cheap looking things around busy roads etc and it makes me nervous just looking at them! YMMV etc.
Those baths you can get which go on the table/whatever to bathe infant in. What exactly is wrong with a bath?
First saw one as a gift for an employee leaving to pup. Her manager said, as he passed over the array of presents stuffed inside said bath, "that's the first and only time this bath will ever be used".
And he was right - weigh a tonne when full. So really handy for a new mother with ripped or torn stomach muscles.
We wanted a stair gate but we moved house and dithered around and by the time we were getting round to it the boy didn't really need one any more, result! 🙂
Dummies.
Reins.
They appear to be utterly pants off road. I am sure they work well for shops/highstreets but being a child of lock down that’s not something we have had to do.
I spent ages researching strollers. I quickly concluded they were all awful. Then I went to the Autosports show at the NEC and on the Recaro stand was this.
It’s been absolute genius. The whole travel system used to fit in the boot of my 500. The carry cot was perfect for travelling and the strollers massive wheels means we’ve been able to go anywhere with it. Can’t really understand why they didn’t sell well.
Then I went to the Autosports show at the NEC and on the Recaro stand was this.
What's with the electric gubbins ?
It has a solar powered light on the front. One button works the headlight, the other makes it flash like hazards. Obviously, being french electrics, it works for about 10 days and then goes on strike, but everything else is superb.
The baby walker was shunned in preference for sliding an empty washing basket around the floor.
I bought this buggy for use on hols where I knew the very expensive, small wheeled one, wouldn't perform. My wife took an instant dislike to it so it never made it to Anglesey's finest beach and campsite. The expensive one was shxte and had to be carried!
Another endorsement of the IKEA Antilop high chair. We bought 3 of them. One for us and one for each of the grandparents. Pretty sure they were under a tenner at the time and we recouped £4-5 a piece on Gumtree years later.
We got a mountain buggy terrain. Youngest was pushed round the glentress red walking route, you ain't doing that in your McLaren.
We got an Osprey back pack. Used it loads.
No2 has been in a 2nd hand baby Bjorn a lot.
We have tons of second hand toys.
Stair gates I got from safetots
I did push the boat out on an early rider 14" seeker though.
I almost felt the need to refer to them as DS1 and DS2 but this isn't Mumsnet.
Another endorsement of the IKEA Antilop high chair.
They are great, but do you not find yourself accidently kicking it every time that you walk past due to the feet being not quite where you would expect them to be?
but do you not find yourself accidently kicking it every time that you walk past
Haha! this. 😅drives me mad
you genuinely don't need much stuff. people spend way too much on bay stuff, so there's loads second hhand
the ikea chair is the best thing ever. also off-road pram with big wheels
second hand clothes, change table the right hieght for your back
decent matress for the cot, mind you.
**** nappies. I've changed my last one.
off-road pram with big wheels
These I just don't get for one. For two small children close together but one it's so much easier to carry. Baby borjn when small, rucksack up until 15kg or so. You can do a lot more than walking trail centre walk with one
The advice I have given people is not to get distracted by trying to buy something that will last forever (pram "systems" come to mind). Kids grow and what works/doesn't work changes at least monthly. Buying what you need now, second hand and then moving it on when it no longer works for you, is the way forward.
Great example of that was an all in one veggie steamer/blender, and those ice-cube tray things for freezing the resulting mush.
It's only useful for a few months (we kept hold of it for Batfink jr mk2) - but during that time, it was fantastic at churning out sensible sized batches of baby mush with no mess or fuss. As soon as we stopped using it, sold it on gumtree/marketplace.
Another +1 for the ikea high chairs. Why anyone buys anything other than these is a complete mystery - ours get put in the dishwasher on the regular. If they could only find a way to make them stack, they would be close to the perfect product (of any category).
They appear to be utterly pants off road.
They are. As, IME, are most of the 'off road' buggies.
Kiddy backpack / papoose for the win. Macpac ( the expensive model of the two) second hand were the solution off-road
Buying what you need now, second hand and then moving it on when it no longer works for you, is the way forward.
I'm pretty sure that in order for a second hand market to exist, someone needs to buy it new in the first place. (We have parents who are bewildered by people who buy things new and not stuff from charity shops, it does my nut in).
In regards to the OPs question - Jumperoo's, biggest waste of money from the experience of ourselves and so many of our friends.
I love these threads.
Travel stair gate? Utter gold. Used ours loads, although admittedly in the Before Times when things like visiting grandparents were possible.
Jumperoo? Again, flipping fantastic. We got one second hand for daughter three. I was deeply sceptical, but she loved it to the point of slight mania, and many teas were cooked with her bouncing happily in the corner!
Travel potty thing? Ok that suitcase approach is utter madness, but the concept is a good one and the flatpack jobber floating about in our car has seen a lot of action.
I will agree, however, that baby baths are entirely pointless (sinks and actual baths both exist), and the Ikea high chair is the best thing, quite possibly ever*.
Horses for courses I suppose.
* +1 for kicking the damn thing and getting them to stack though.
I’d like to get rid of grandparents! Most of the unwanted battery eating plastic crap in our house came from them.
Chunky wheeled pram was well worth it. We did loads of walking when jnr was tiny. No way could have managed sling and changing bag in prema-knackered sleep deprived state. Was as much a zimmer frame for us as a pram.
Pretty much avoid anything marketed as new and innovative. If it hasn’t existed before, you probably don’t need it.
Best recommendation we had was Cheeky Wipes, Washable baby wipes. Expensive to start but have saved a fortune in wet wipes and better for planet. Wipes still wash up soft over two years later. Drew the line at washable nappies though, modern disposables just too good.
Not sure of anything we bought - but someone gave us a "baby wipe warmer" (supposedly less distressing for the child than a cold wipe!). It was put in the loft after it dried its first packet of baby wipes out!
I’d like to get rid of grandparents! Most of the unwanted battery eating plastic crap in our house came from them.
They're a bloody nightmare aren't they! Mother in law insists on buying those shite kids comics from the newsagents. You know the ones with half a tonne of plastic taped to the front that then spends the next 6 months appearing in different places in the house until you manage to secrete it into the recycling.
Travel Cot - we bought one for no2 child. Used it around 3 times, she is now too big for it.
Ikea highchair ftw as well. They do stack as long as they have the legs on, a few local pubs have them and they are always stacked in a corner.
@northernmatt https://thephoenixcomic.co.uk/ is the only comic your kids should need. Delivered in the post each week, my kids love it and there's no plastic crap on it. It's like a comic should be.
Back on the off-road big wheeled strollers vs Maclarens - I'm still in the camp of lightest weight Maclaren (I think ours was 2.5kg) slung over your shoulder and the kid in a baby bjorn / kiddy back pack for any hiking.
+1 for cheeky wipes at home anyway.
The baby Bjorn didn't work for us hence the big wheel pram . Baby loved carrier . Mum not so much . Baby too heavy.
Now at 18months after her 2km walking and is tired -shes even getting to heavy for my back @14.5kg . The prams been a godsend.
Especially as mum did loads and loads of walking during maternity leave and lockdown when Jnr didn't walk at all -and without driving out of our area a maclaren would have restricted us to a single tarmac road.
Any kind of Buggy. Using slings opens up everything so much more. They take up no room and are easy to use, once you have learned how. You can get them right up to kindergarten first year of school size and they are still good (it’s like giving a piggy back but with out the throttling or dead arms. They are better than the ruck sack ones and when baby is small and on your front it is also really good for bonding with them.
A plus one to the IKEA chair. We have actually found a travel stair gate really useful but then it’s the same one through all our children and we now use it to stop our Puppy from going where we don’t want.
We dragged a travel cot (including an actual mattress) all over the place with our first. In retrospect, he wouldn't sleep in his normal cot (or any other non-parent surface) so there was an enormous element of wishful thinking involved. We definitely spent more time erecting & collapsing the thing than he did sleeping in it.
Absolutely agree about the Ikea high chair. Just thinking about the difference in ease of use between them and the huge wooden things that cafés tend to have makes me laugh. OF COURSE a high chair needs to weigh 25kg, have 12 different straps and a giant hinged wooden chopping board for your kid to eat off.
We used a baby bath loads. Second hander that cost £5 I think.
Those stupid travel systems can definitely get in the sea. Fortunately we bought second hand again, and sold it on after about three months. Replaced with a more useful light(ish) folding buggy thing.
High chairs are universally awful.
Things "baby" are only out-bad-valued by things "wedding".
Given IKEA high chairs are rated to 15kg/3yo
And ours started causing the seat to tip on two legs at 13 kg by getting over enthusiastic about food or painting or play dough.
Wouldn't fancy being responsible for supplying a seat that tipped as parents often don't care for limits so long as child's not running about......
To bring it back on topic - I'm looking for things that have limited life that cost loads. Idea is to create a "lending library" of stuff
I’d like to get rid of grandparents! Most of the unwanted battery eating plastic crap in our house came from them.
Yep, I used to dread Christmas/Birthdays due to the pile of toys that we'd have to find room for that would never get played with. In fact my in laws (with the best intentions) still turn up now and again with presents I know will be destined for the charity shop.
My brother (actually I suspect his wife) had a habit of buying expensive items that never got used more than once. Some form of vibrating cushion springs to mind, alongside huge bottle steamer and god knows what else.
We had friends that went through about 3 travel systems in a year, cost a fortune. We did buy one, but did do a reasonable amount of research first so endued up with one that lasted 2 kids so we got value for money, was strange when we stopped using it, was amazing how much stuff you could store in/on it for a day out.
To bring it back on topic – I’m looking for things that have limited life that cost loads
Decent bikes
Walking boots
Outdoor suits (waterproof / fleece suits, known as adventure suits in our house)
stuff that you need/think you need for kids that are single use or use a few times and then move on or sell at a loss.
anything claiming to help with sleep. total snakeoil