Most useless product for you in the First Year

I see tons of posts about Bumbos and I have to say that they were useless for us. My boys hated them. Would not sit still in them. I really never got any use out of them.

What product for you was useless?

 

I am going to get slammed but the snap and go was not used as much as I would like. I am glad I didn't pay for it (it was loaned to me by another twin mommy). ETA--I always use the shopping carts and now that they are bigger (12lbs), two carriers are too heavy so I use their SBS stroller instead.

 

I'm with Rachel. We got no use out of those Bumbos.

 

We liked our Bumbos, and the kids still sit in them for fun.

Useless products, we never used our itzbeen timer things, we rarely ever used our changing table pad on the dresser (just changed them on the floor), we barely used our tummy time mats (they actually use them more now - one converted to a tunnel and Jack loves crawling through it), and Anna never wore those Baby Legs legwarmer things.

Good topic!

 

bottle racks. They were supposed to be for drying your bottles after you hand wash them. I never hand washed a bottle. Not one time. I tried to sell them at a garage sale for 10 cents a piece and even then they didn't sell! I wound up tossing them in the trash.

Oh and when I was pregnant I bought a Snoogle pregnancy pillow. That was the biggest waste of money!

 

You know what's funny? Another one of my useless products was the dishwasher basket for bottle parts. I never once put bottles in the dishwasher. I got in the routine of handwashing and that seemed easiest.

We are no help!

 

Oh yes, same here. My back will never be the same!

 

Milk Bank Bottles. I searched and searched before I decided on the bottles. This was rated the best by moms.
Well, they did not work for me.

 

Baby Bjorn. Hated it, so uncomfortable!

We definitely could have lived without the Bumbos.

I never had a changing table for any of my kids.

A very expensive pump. I was not a good pumper, and wish I would have rented or something before I shelled out the $$ for that thing!

Breathable bumpers. I could never get them on right so that they weren't saggy.

2 of the sit up type bath chairs. Once they were sitting it was just easier to put them in the tub on a slip-proof mat.

I'm sure I will think of more...

 

Adiri bottles, infant mittens, crib divider/spacer.

 

Walking Wings (used them 2-3 times)

We just got one Bumbo and I liked it to keep my mobile babies from crawling away while I put the other one in the car. But really, that's all I used it for.

Bath tub squirting toys: The boys couldn't figure them out and they just got all moldy inside. Waste of $$

(Great thread idea!)

 

The baby bath seat/sling...I just get in the tub with the one at a time and it is much easier!

 

Oh yes, I hated that Baby Bjorn. It was so frustrating to be in the store, kids crying and you can't figure out that darn thing!

Baby mittens, shoes and boppies. We had two boppies and we used them when they were really small. But our boys are so tall that we stopped using them at 8 weeks. I am trying ot figure what to do with it now.

Jenn

 

Every carrier we thought we wanted that people bought us, except for the maya wrap when they were very young that we bought and now I could not live with out our bjorns with the lumbar support! We also had great use of the bumbos, but only for about 6 weeks when they started flailing to get out...LOL.

Honestly, they could care less for the playmats - I had two! We went right to exersaucer/jumperoo and boppy for sitting.

Too many teething toys that I thought..."surely they will LOVE this one."

Mesh feeders.

All the Johnson and Johnson stuff - we only use Aquafor - shouldn't returned all that.

Big diaper bag - I have become efficient and I usually grab a smaller bag I already own instead of lugging that big thing around everywhere.

Doorway jumper - fun for 1 week.

Bottle drying rack - the bottles we have weight it down.

Many beautiful outfits - we were playclothes all day or pajamas.

Bouncy seats - just didn't work for us - girls are wigglers and would just assume be on the floor sitting against a boppy.

Snoogle - WASTE

...sure I will think of more...LOL. Someone should start a post about the things they couldn't live without - think it has been done before but could use a new thread - love to know those kind of things.

..GREAT POST

 

Shoes! Why did I buy shoes for a 3 month olds! They do look cute sitting on the shelf though

 

1. Wipe warmer-never used
2. Bottle warmer-tried to use, we felt it made the bottle too warm and then just used warm water
3. Pacifiers- kids not as enthused about them as we were, they were on to us
4. Teething rings, see pacifiers

 

Ten gazillion receiving blankets. My BIL told us we would need a dozen per child. The only thing we ever used them for was to prop up their heads in the carseat when they were newborns, and that was only 2 per child for about the first month.

However, two years after we gave almost all of them away, they were suddenly in huge demand as baby-doll blankets! So I do wish we'd kept a couple.

Also ditto mesh feeders, bottle warmer, bath seats, and expensive pump. I so wish I had that $300 back.

 

Great thread!


Bumbo

Swing (my LOs wanted to be held)

Boppy (did not work well for breastfeeding, but we've used it for other things)

Sippy cups (mine like the straw cups. Maybe they'll like the sippy cups someday).

Snap 'n Go - we really didn't use it that much. Mine hated their infant carseats. We like our side by side. Just sold it for what I paid for it

Eco Friendly diaper sack bags (They would just shred apart when I tried to take a bag off. I ended up throwing the whole roll of bags out).

 

Ditto the receiving blankets. I still can't figure out what they're good for. I know animal shelters use them for baby kittens. I might have to make a big donation of receiving blankets.

 

Breast pump. No matter how much I tried, I never had any luck with it.

 

I have to ditto the receiving blankets. We have like 20, and some of them have NEVER made the rotation out of the closet! Also cloth diapers for spit-up, etc. We definitely use them, but not 2 dozen!

 

With my oldest DD the infant bath tub was a huge waste of money because I bought a fancy one. It was much easier for me to put her in the bath with me, bathe her and then move her to her infant seat while I washed up. I did end up using it for the twins though. I bought the twins a bunch of really cute John Lennon style MAM pacifiers and they hated them! At least those weren't too expensive. I think the biggest waste of money with my twins was the Graco Snugride infant carseats, we didn't go anywhere except to the Dr. for the first 3 months and rarely anywhere after that so they got hardly any use before my girls outgrew them in length at 5 months. That was when the height limit was 26 inches though. Also that huge twin nursing pillow, I hated that thing!

 

The snap and go.....never even got it out of the box, we always used the Graco Quattro Duo or put the car seats in a cart

Bouncy Seats.....my boys hated them and sat in them about 4 times total

Bottle Warmers.....I quickly realized life was much easier when they would take the formula room temp or cold

Tummy Mats....a blanket and some toys worked just fine

Baby Mittens....they wouldn't stay on

Breast Pump....my milk never came in so I used it a total of 3 times

Mesh Feeders....used about twice

Bath Tub toys that squirt.....no matter what I do I can never get all the water out of the inside and they mold

Receiving Blankets and blankets in general......We could have lived with about 6, but we probably have over 20 and most have never been used for anything

FWIW we used our Bumbos a lot, we fed the boys in them when we started baby food since we had they trays for them, so they got used every day for months. We also used the boppy pillows every day until they gave up their early morning feed at 10 months. Now they like to lay with them and snuggle so they are still taking up room in my little house.

 

The Ob said that our twins would be preemies, and told us that they would be delivered by 35 weeks or as early as 28-29 weeks due to placenta previa which would not resolve. He advised us that there would be a lot of problems later on in the pregnancy. So we went to Babies R Us and bought a whole wardrobe of preemie boys and girls clothes and a textbook called "Preemies," because we had to do something to relieve our anxiety.

Anyway, the previa resolved and the twins were born at 37+ weeks (considered full-term for twins). The preemie clothes and text were useless. But we were so glad!

 

Wow, interesting thread! I must say some things many of you never used I can't live without! Like our Itzbeen timer, Snap N Go, bouncy seats, and changing table (no way would I want to have to change them on the floor!)

So far the things that have been pretty worthless to me are the boppy-like pillows (Leachco brand). We just lay the boys on contoured memory foam pillows, which we already had. And I have a slew of carriers and slings I HATE and never use (Bjorn, Infantino sling, mei tai, etc). I only use a Moby wrap and Ergo carrier. Ohhh, and all of the hands free feeding stuff I bought!! The Podee, the Milk Maid bottle prop, and the BeBe bottle sling - I never use any of them! Occasionally my mom will use the "Bottle nanny", but its usually too much of a pain to fool with IMO.

 

Also I thought of slings and baby-wipe warmers.

We ended up using tons of receiving blankets because we used them as swaddles, floor mats, giant burp-cloths, lap protection, changing table covers, carseat blankets, etc.

 

I actually loved our bumbo. We used receiving blankets as burp cloths, so loved those too! We used the dishwasher for the bottles, but so save energy the dishwasher didn't dry them, so we also used the bottle drying racks.

I did not use bottle warmers, wipe warmers, or pacifiers.

This thread should be a sticky!!

 

For me it was the binky's...after the boys came home from the hospital they would take them probably for about 2 wks and then after that NOTHING, refused them, so had opened some i had gotten thinking i would be using them, and nada...what a waste...

The best thing was and still is are the Boppy's, i now use them as pillows for the boys to cuddle in or just sprawl upon while on floor...

 

Nothing new to add but -

Bottle warmer

Mesh feeders

Receiving blankets

 

This is an awesome thread.

For us:

We use the receiving blankies as spit up clothes, drool protectors and snuggles for the boys. They use the bumbo chair, but I only bought one. I handwash the bottles, but just throw them in the dish drying rack. And I love my bjorn and snuggli carriers. I think I prefer the bjorn, for me it's the easiest to put on. When we go out together we bring both just in case the boys don't want to be in the stroller anymore.

Useless items: The bouncers, but we are keeping them because they turn into rocking chairs for toddlers, the podee bottles and converter kits (never could figure the darn things out and when I did the boys wanted nothing to do with it); the only binkies they will take are the Avent kind. A waste from all the other ones. The tummy time mats. and 2 swings, the boys like only one of them (they aren't matching) so the 2nd one was a waste.

 

Nothing new to add here, but....

We wasted money on a wipes-warmer.

Pacifiers... we had 2 or 4 of every make, model, color, etc. and the girls never wanted any of them.

Bumbo. They hated them, nothing more to say about that!!!

 

We used receiving blankets for burp rags in the beginning too!
My cousin once said he never knew why they had so many blankets until his daughter got sick one time. Guess I know why I'll be keeping those out :bad:

 

bumbos (boys got too fat too quick lol)
baby monitor ( I could hear them if when I didn't want to!)
nice outfits
bottle warmer
exersaucer ( never needed one)

I actually did use; mesh feeders, receiving blankets, bouncy seats, pacifiers, and of course the snap n go, which some didn't use. It's funny what some find useful vs useless!

 

bottle warmer, Breast pump, receiving blankets, infant shoes

 

Infant socks of any kind, Dr Brown's bottles (would NOT take them)...

We did use tons of receiving blankets, Luke was a spitter & I used them as burp cloths.