I agree with McGlory. Ask ten moms their top baby item and you’ll get ten different answers.

We had a diaper pail with the first (but not the Genie) and when the kid got to be mobile, he started knocking it over and rolling it around. It went into the basement and stayed there until I gave it away.

The medical kit was useless, I could have bought just the thermometer and nail clippers for cheaper.

In general, I think people don’t realize how many items are duplicated on those lists. Do you really need an exersaucer AND a walker? Or a Bjorn AND a backback? Or a bouncy seat AND a bumbo?

Why is everybody always hatin’ on the Wipe Warmers? Frankly, a little heat helps, ahem, clean more thoroughly sometimes.

I agree, mcglory13. One parent’s treasure is another parent’s useless piece of crap. Personally I find these lists to be totally useless. If I want advice about things to buy or not buy I ask people I know and who have used them and why they liked/disliked them.

I’m having my third baby any week now, and I’ve pretty much banned my family from buying anything except clothes and cloth diapers. No crib (although I did get a co-sleeper), no playpen, no wipe warmers (I mean really, eventually the kid is gonna have to get changed not at home, with *gasp* a non-heated wipe), no baby monitors (we live in an apartment–how far am I ever really going to be from this baby?), no dedicated diaper pail, no shoes (sure, they’re cute, but does a newborn really need them/keep them on?), no gigantic diaper bag…the list goes on.

I obviously think most dedicated baby products are a waste of money, particularly considering the short time these products will actually be used. Of course, it took me until my third kid to realize this, but really, stream-lined is the way to go.

Baby signs was a waste of time. My daughter began talking at 6 months. If I could nto understand her she had some unusual ways of communcating. If she wanted to eat she beat on her high chair. If she wanted a drink she beat on the fridge. I knew the sign language stuff was out when she made a sign and then said, “Right mama?” Good grief. Sterlisers were a waste of money and those plastic bottles that make kids autistic. Should have stuck with the boob.

I don’t understand how people can lump teaching sign language to your baby in with frivolous sh*t like wipe warmers. Sure, she’ll eventually learn to speak in fluent sentences, but that takes a while and until that happens, I welcome every opportunity to understand what’s going on in my baby’s head. Not only have we been able to respond to her needs (milk, bed, dirty diaper, lights too bright) but we’ve also been able to respond to and “talk” about things that interest her: music, bears, dogs, etc etc. I love it that we taught our daughter sign. She’s 1 year old and knows dozens of signs, and I firmly believe that it’s helped her speech as well, since she knows more than a dozen words and is literally adding more every day. Sometimes, when she says something I can’t quite figure out but does it along with a sign, we both get excited when I “interpret” her correctly!

Wipe warmers.

I never bought one, I refused, but everyone around me raved about them.

Look I changed my son in a church cemetery on a rainy, fall day in London. The kid didn’t utter a peep. He’s a trooper. Wipe warmers are for wimps.