My top 13 newborn items you don't need!

This is following on from one of my previous posts about my top 5 newborn must haves. These are a few of the items we have found no use for and wouldn't advise anybody to purchase. There are so many gimmicks around baby products and it is easy to feel overwhelmed with what shops are telling you you must buy. Don't be fooled! Take time to think if you really do need to buy it and check to see if you have anything at home already that would do the job. Having a baby doesn't need to be expensive.

1. Baby bath. We had one of these but rarely used it. It was easier so wash our daughter in the bathroom sink or to put her in the bath when I was having a bath at the same time.

2. Wipe warmer. I'm fairly sure it never did a baby any harm having a room temperature bum wipe!

3. Nappy bin. Pointless purchase when you have to empty it in to your main bin anyway. We put them in the kitchen bin straight away and never had any bad smells coming out of it.

4. Baby shoes. Your baby will not walk for months and months! Why would you buy shoes for it??

5. Talc. My midwife and health visitor recommended not using talc as it doesn't do anything good for the baby. If they inhale it it can cause breathing problems too. Moisturiser is best for them.

6. Nappy stacker. A pointless purchase. We either had a bag of nappies under the changing table when we used it, or now we have a box of nappies in our bedroom for when we need them. If you want your nappies stacked somewhere, buy a normal storage box for a third of the price.

7. Changing table. We did have one of these to start with but it is just as easy to change a baby on a bed or on the floor. It's worth bearing in mind that there's quite a risk of baby falling off a table if you have one. If you get given one then great, but don't specifically go out and buy one.

8. Bath thermometer. You can tell if a bath is too hot by sticking your hand in it, you don't need a thermometer to tell you if it is too hot or too cold.

9. Manual breast pump. If you intend to express milk at all, you need to get an electric pump. Manual ones take 4 times as long to get any milk out, plus they hurt your hand a lot! Electric pumps tend to be able to do 2 boobs at once too.

10. Baby food maker. If you intend on making your own baby food then a regular food processor works just as well as these baby food makers on the market. Or you can get one of those 'blitz sticks' which just stick in a bowl and blitz it up.

11. Baby towels. We bought some of these when I was pregnant but in hindsight really didn't need them. A regular towel does the job fine and you must have some of those in your home already.

12. Bottle warmer. Stick a bottle in a jug of hot water for a while! It isn't hard!

13. Expensive baby bedding. We got a bedding bundle as a gift when baby was born and we haven't used a lot out of it. Cot bumpers have had a lot of bad press around them causing infant death so that put us off using one for a while. (We did use it for a while when she went through a wriggly head banging stage). You're told not to use baby blankets for a long time because of the suffocation risk so that only leaves the sheet out of the bedding bundle that you will actually use. I'll admit we just use a single bed sheet tucked right underneath the mattress. Much cheaper.

I hope this has given you an idea of what unnecessary purchases I have made and that it can stop you making the same mistakes I have done!

Thanks for reading,
xx