When we asked you guys, “What’s one baby item you’d advise a new mom to borrow instead of buy?” there was one clear winner: The Swing.
I had a swing baby as I like to call her, and she slept overnight, swaddled, in the swing many times. Oh yes she did. But I can imagine that if I bought a swing brand-new, and then learned that my baby hated it, I would want to return it. Borrowing from a friend who is in between babies or done with baby-making is the easiest way to learn on-the-cheap if a mechanical swing will be a miracle drug for your child.
Other items with short shelf lives named by rookie moms as good candidates for borrowing (or Craig’s List):
- Snap n Go stroller
- Baby gym
- Bouncy chair with fancy features
- Bumbo
- Infant insert for the Ergo carrier
- Breastfeeding pillow
- Double stroller depending on the spacing of your children
- Shopping cart cover-thingy (Heather discovered an easy way to make a cheap one out of fleece and a few strategic scissor snips.)
- Exersaucer or Jumperoo-style entertainers
- Moses basket/basinette/co-sleeping device
- Infant bathtub
Baby carriers are another story. If you can borrow some for a few weeks to see if you like it, that’s great. A Moby wrap is wonderful to have in the very early days and a friend with a two-year old is not going to miss it. But an Ergo carrier, or similar styled device, can be used with an infant and a toddler, so you might want to splurge on it — especially if you scored a bunch of these other items from a friend or consignment store.
How about travel cribs? Many of you called these out as short-lived, but mine got tons of use. I think this depends on whether or not you travel (we do!) and if you host a nanny share (we did — and our baby guest slept in our Pack N Play every day.) I think it’s a must-have for a baby registry list, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t accept a hand-me-down from a friend!
