Things You Don’t Need When Having a Baby:

I live in a small space. While we have ample storage, the footprint of the apartment isn’t very large. I’ve noticed a Small Space trend happening, and I would like to provide my insight to the family with fears of first born sprawl.

Oh my God. I don’t have ROOM for a baby. For a good chunk of my childhood, I didn’t have my own room. My stuff was in the room called the Girls’ room. My [half] sister is about 8 years older and got to sleep alone. I slept in the room we called my brother’s room on the top bunk with my little brother below and racecars racing along the walls. Except when my sister was visiting her aunt, mom, granny or another “daddy.” “Where am I sleeping tonight?” I’m sure my sister felt the same way, what with so many people passing her back and forth (she’s a story for another day). Having no real place-of-my-own for a few years out of my life didn’t hurt me. It also didn’t hurt me to not have themed bedrooms with matching curtains.

After almost two years of motherhood, I’ve discovered that a lot of things on my Registry are not actually necessary! Here they are along with solutions/reasons:

Matching bedding: her bedding is changed often due to milk and diaper leaks. I use hand-me-down fitted crib sheets and a “breathable” bumper panel so she doesn’t get stuck in the bars. She is not interested in blankets or pillows.

• A changing table: face it – they take up a lot of room, and even if it doubles as a dresser, there is still lost storage potential. A changing pad on the floor or bed works just fine.
• Baby lotion: regular person lotion is just fine. The baby is going to smell good no matter what.
• More than one stroller: Get one of those strollers a step above an umbrella stroller. It’s fine from birth to toddler years. Seats adjust.
• A different car seat for each phase: we had the travel system and then another car seat for after 1 year old. When we graduated to the second car seat, we realized it was also a car seat that would have been fine for rear-facing phase. They’re out there. It will serve her until she’s four. It will also work for another kid (should we have one) while rear-facing.
• Shopping cart cover: you just don’t need one. When they’re so little, you have a seat in most shopping cards. When they’re bigger, they can sit on a blanket or your sweater if you’re that afraid of germs. You do bathe your baby, don’t you? What’s to worry about?
• Bottle warmers, wipe warmers: rub the wipes in your hands, and run hot water over the bottle.
• Baby detergent: Even if your baby has very sensitive skin, you can use the same detergent on your clothes as your baby’s clothes.
• Rocking chair/glider: While I really like the way my rocker looks and it will probably be in my family for a long time, I didn’t really use it that much. Babies tend to like being walked around better rather than rocked. If I rested Amelia on my lap while rocking (which is the argument of rocking over walking), she just wanted to sit up and play.
• New clothes: duh. Hand-me-downs are cheaper!
• A baby book: I totally sucked at keeping a baby book, and they’re kind of confining. I ended up making a scrap book and keeping my pregnancy journal – turned long letter journal to Amelia – instead.

Some life-savers, on the other hand:

• Oragel: for you and the baby
• Baby gates: good for pets later.
• Bottle brush: Trying to minimize my belongings and not having one of these around was a KILLER on bottles. The milk might not be there, but the stench stays unless you scrub it.
• Breathable bumper panel: Bumper pads get a lot of attention these days in conjunction with fear of SIDS. I was nervous, so I didn’t get them. Then, Amelia got to be a very mobile sleeper and kept getting stuck in her rails. This breathable panel was the key to her sleeping through the night. As soon as we got it, she was a dreamer.
• This list is by no means exclusive. It adjusts with the person, but these are some general findings that I think are fairly universal.

What have you learned is necessary or unnecessary accoutrements in life?