Pointless baby purchases: tell us your silliest buys
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Version 0 of 1. Something happens to you shortly before you become a parent. Overnight you turn into a gullible consumer. Where previously you may have deliberated before spending money, now every purchase seems urgent, particularly when prefixed with the word "baby". This is why people buy "baby washing bowls", for instance, which enable parents to clean top and tail. Some parents are going to be in for a big shock when they find their baby doesn't have a tail – which may explain why "washing bowls" rank number two on Which? magazine's list of least useful buys. At No 1 is the "door baby bouncer" - a harness on elastic straps that hangs from the doorframe and allows the baby to jump around. I think this one sounds like fun, but that may be because my parents were too restrained to invest. Which? arrived at its list by asking 2,005 parents of children aged five and under to rate the products they had bought on a scale of one to ten. More than anything the list proves that one parent's waste of money is another's lifesaver. "Video baby monitor" is sixth on the "most useful" list while "breast pump" is the third least useful item: contentious. The most useful purchase, according to those surveyed, is a stair gate. Surely a cheaper alternative is teaching babies how to climb stairs safely. I don't remember any catastrophes, and neither do they - although that could be symptomatic. On the other hand, the swaddling blanket, No 9 on the useless list, was something I loved and used. Err on the safe side and avoid compound adjectives and names that sound laughably made up - such as the "Bumbo" seat (No 7). In a spirit of amnesty, I confess my own biggest wastes of money were a device called a CabrioFix to enable the installing and removing of a car seat with a single click. It cost £100, and remains unused in the cupboard under the stairs. A BabyBjörn baby carrier is stuffed into the same box of shame ("fabric sling" is No 5 on the Which? least useful list), although thankfully the evidence that I once bought the same unused device in a lightweight summer version has long since gone to the charity shop. Least useful 1 Door baby bouncer2 Baby washing bowls3 Manual breast pump4 Baby hammock5 Fabric sling6 Nappy stacker7 Bumbo seat8 Cot mobile9 Swaddling blanket10 Nappy disposal bin Most useful 1 Stair gate2 Baby change bag3 Audio baby monitor4 Electric steam steriliser kit5 Microwave steam steriliser kit6 Video baby monitor7 Baby sleeping bag8 Digital ear thermometer9 Baby bouncer or rocker10 Travel cot Your turn now. What did you buy that you wish you hadn't, and which products did you find most useful? For any prospective parents out there, I am open to offers on an as-new CabrioFix. |