What baby/child product do you think is overhyped to the point of annoying you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Slings. I'm not carrying a toddler in a sling. Slings are for babies. I see women hauling children around in them. Once they can walk, let them walk.

I get how it looks and never expected to be this mom, but a sling was the only thing my baby enjoyed being carried in and I quickly discovered that it was a handy thing to have around even once my kid could walk. Sometimes a toddler wants to be carried or just needs some comfort, and it was so much easier to just put her in the sling than try to carry her without one. And I carried her in a backpack carrier for our morning commutes until she was nearly 3 -- faster than having her walk and easier than having to haul the stroller to daycare.

But I get that it seems super crunchy and "I have to hold my baby at all times!" But it really just turned out to be convenient for my specific kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were a bunch of common items that:

-I totally understand the appeal of
-Don't annoy me in any way (or rarely)
-I was laughed at for not buying
-I ended up never buying and never using

It wasn't the products, which are popular for good reason! It was the weird insistence (among a vocal minority) that I would regret not buying them, and definitely "break down" and buy them (??) etc.

PP, what were the items? I feel like the carrier people are the worst.

Oh, lots of standards.

Crib
Pacifier
Stroller
Disposable diapers
Baby food

We just didn't use them.

You didn’t use a crib or a stroller? Like, EVER?

Never. Just didn't end up needing them. If I'd have found a need for one, I'd have had no problem buying one. We just didn't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Slings. I'm not carrying a toddler in a sling. Slings are for babies. I see women hauling children around in them. Once they can walk, let them walk.

I get how it looks and never expected to be this mom, but a sling was the only thing my baby enjoyed being carried in and I quickly discovered that it was a handy thing to have around even once my kid could walk. Sometimes a toddler wants to be carried or just needs some comfort, and it was so much easier to just put her in the sling than try to carry her without one. And I carried her in a backpack carrier for our morning commutes until she was nearly 3 -- faster than having her walk and easier than having to haul the stroller to daycare.

But I get that it seems super crunchy and "I have to hold my baby at all times!" But it really just turned out to be convenient for my specific kid.

Not directed at you, PP, but I feel like NOT doing things because one is afraid they might "seem super crunchy" is just as problematic as the opposite. Lots of people (most?) do those things that have been coopted by UMC white "crunchy mamas" because they just work, are more convenient, etc. That's exactly why so many of them are "traditional."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Slings. I'm not carrying a toddler in a sling. Slings are for babies. I see women hauling children around in them. Once they can walk, let them walk.

I get how it looks and never expected to be this mom, but a sling was the only thing my baby enjoyed being carried in and I quickly discovered that it was a handy thing to have around even once my kid could walk. Sometimes a toddler wants to be carried or just needs some comfort, and it was so much easier to just put her in the sling than try to carry her without one. And I carried her in a backpack carrier for our morning commutes until she was nearly 3 -- faster than having her walk and easier than having to haul the stroller to daycare.

But I get that it seems super crunchy and "I have to hold my baby at all times!" But it really just turned out to be convenient for my specific kid.

Not directed at you, PP, but I feel like NOT doing things because one is afraid they might "seem super crunchy" is just as problematic as the opposite. Lots of people (most?) do those things that have been coopted by UMC white "crunchy mamas" because they just work, are more convenient, etc. That's exactly why so many of them are "traditional."

+1

It's sort of weird to assume that most people who regularly use a carrier or cloth diaper or w/e are doing it to be holier than thou or smugly or out of some irrational obsessive devotion to the idea of being attachment parents. Most people are doing those things because they work for their families in whatever combination of ways.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That kekaroo peanut changing pad. Seriously.
Bumbo.

Thems are fightin’ words. LOVED our keekaroo changing pad. My kid was so messy and it was a lifesaver.

Also hated strollers and preferred a carrier or wrap, but that’s personal preference. Totally get strollers, just not my thing.

But it's $130!! For a changing pad. This is what I came here to post as well (the Keekaroo and the Bumbo).

[Anonymous]

My kids hated baby carriers too. I had a really nice Ergo that was barely used when I was done with it! Came in handy here or there, but definitely not a workhorse.

The best swing we had was not the $140 Mamaroo modern looking thing. It was a $10 consignment find from the early 2000s. It went back and forth FAST and was probably dangerous, but damn my baby loved that thing. It was HUGE. Got rid of it immediately after being done with it haha.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There were a bunch of common items that:

-I totally understand the appeal of
-Don't annoy me in any way (or rarely)
-I was laughed at for not buying
-I ended up never buying and never using

It wasn't the products, which are popular for good reason! It was the weird insistence (among a vocal minority) that I would regret not buying them, and definitely "break down" and buy them (??) etc.

PP, what were the items? I feel like the carrier people are the worst.

Oh, lots of standards.

Crib
Pacifier
Stroller
Disposable diapers
Baby food

We just didn't use them.

You didn’t use a crib or a stroller? Like, EVER?

Never. Just didn't end up needing them. If I'd have found a need for one, I'd have had no problem buying one. We just didn't.

So, when you were pregnant, you were like “my kid isn’t going to sleep in a crib or ride in a stroller”? How did you know? Most people buy at least those two things (plus a carseat) before the baby is even born.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kids hated baby carriers too. I had a really nice Ergo that was barely used when I was done with it! Came in handy here or there, but definitely not a workhorse.

The best swing we had was not the $140 Mamaroo modern looking thing. It was a $10 consignment find from the early 2000s. It went back and forth FAST and was probably dangerous, but damn my baby loved that thing. It was HUGE. Got rid of it immediately after being done with it haha.

Oh, yeah. We had a Fisher Price aquarium swing given to us that I was afraid would launch my children into orbit, but gosh, those children liked it. Total lifesaver.

These stood out as being useless for my lot:

Baby bottle sterilizer
Baby bottle warmer

[Anonymous]

For us, most overrated

Changing table
Pacifiers
Swing
Playpen


For me, carrying wasn’t something I considered really doing so we got an Ergo to start - I ended up carrying so much that I ended up with a collection of wraps and SSCs.

[Anonymous]

I get that wraps/carriers work for lots of people but the thing that drove me nuts was people questioning whether I was doing it wrong/didn’t try enough wraps/needed to just stick with it. When I tried to wear a baby carrier it caused terrible hip pain and no wrap or adjustment resolved it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Ergo. I never used or needed a baby carrier. I like my kids strapped in a stroller!

I’m the opposite, we never used the stroller. The strollers were always too bulky, and it felt rude to take in stores/restaurants. All my kids preferred to walk/run once they could.

+1 to all of this. I still cringe when out with my friends and they bring a huge stroller and take up so much space in crowded places, especially for kids that are perfectly capable of walking.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I get that wraps/carriers work for lots of people but the thing that drove me nuts was people questioning whether I was doing it wrong/didn’t try enough wraps/needed to just stick with it. When I tried to wear a baby carrier it caused terrible hip pain and no wrap or adjustment resolved it.

But people do that with every darned thing. DD hated being put down, and loathed the swing. People were practically in histrionics over the fact we didn’t have a swing. Likewise pacifiers - I stopped buying and people kept giving me their preferred brand. I probably gave 100 pacifiers to the maternity clinic as really, I had no use for them. It was very weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That kekaroo peanut changing pad. Seriously.
Bumbo.

Oh i love that pad - on baby number 3 and still going strong! No slipping and sliding away.

[Anonymous]

We loved our Ergo. Absolutely loved it.

I also heard that the Bumbo is bad for hip development and never used or needed one.

The Rock and Play moms annoyed me the most. They’d say it was a must-have, then complain about weaning their kids off of it at 3 months, right when they were returning to work. Also, I knew several babies with severely misshaped heads from sleeping too much in the Rock and Play. No, thank you.

[Anonymous]

Bottles. People kept giving them to me. When I said I didnt need them and did they want them back, they said I would. I threw them out.