Salt & Nectar's Top 5 Disappointing Baby Products
Following up on our recommendations for great products for the new mom, I thought I would share my list of products I was super excited about and ended up not using that much. I suppose a couple of them could become essentials with Amos, but I seriously doubt it.
Just trust me. No matter how inventive and useful they seem in the store—take my advice and skip these products.
Image via supercoolbaby.com
1. Snuggle Nest Oh, Snuggle Nest I had such high hopes for you. In fact, my entire strategy for the first few nights of Griffin's life revolved around this product. We would just swaddle him up, plunk him between us in the Snuggle Nest, and enjoy hours of uninterrupted sleep. Clearly this would work—look how happy the people in the picture are!
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
Sorry. Needless to say, Griffin wasn't that interested in the Snuggle Nest and slept much better snuggled up next to me. Even if he had loved the thing, Nicholas and I were both miserable because you really need a California King in order to have room for two adults to sleep comfortably AND fit the Snuggle Nest. (Please notice the happy photo parents aren't actually sleeping.)
Now, in this product's defense, we ended up using it when he was a few months older and sleeping in his own crib. When he was still swaddled and wouldn't move that much, we'd put him to sleep in the Snuggle Nest whenever he was congested and the incline helped him sleep a great deal better.
2. Squirt Baby Food Dispensing Spoon This little product seemed like the smartest idea I'd ever seen when I first encountered it. You put the food in the spoon! Baby doesn't grab at the jars! Less cleanup! Except, there isn't really less cleanup. You still have to get the food in the jar. The spoon doesn't quite hold a full jar and I could never talk myself into pre-loading the spoon so I'd have it ready. Not to mention, I made a lot of Griffin's baby food from scratch and it was always a little too chunky for the tiny hole in the spoon. At the end of the day, a bowl and spoon worked just fine.
Image via babiesrus.com
3. Boppy People are pretty passionate about the Boppy, especially breastfeeding moms. So, I was excited to add this highly touted essential to my nursery. Only one problem. I NEVER used it. I used the My Brest Friend pillow for breastfeeding (my love for his product is a post in and of itself) and the Boppy basically never saw the light of day. I know some people use it to prop their baby up but I'm not sure that's really worth the $40 price tag.
Image via Amazon.
4. Adiri BPA Free Natural Nurser A bottle shaped like a boob! Genius! These bottles came out a few months before Griffin was born and I couldn't wait to get my hands on one. I ended up getting one free from a friend who said her son hated it. I figured that was just a fluke. They had to work!
Sadly, not so much. I found the bottle leaky, difficult to clean, and Griffin was not a fan—and this was not a picky baby when it came to food. He did much better with the plain old Medela bottles. Go figure.
Image via Amazon.
5. Newborn Gowns I remember one registry recommendation list suggesting you have at least seven of these gowns on hand when the baby came home. They were supposed to be easy to use—no waistband to irritate the umbilical cord or deal with in the middle of the night when changing diapers. It all seems so logical, except by the time Griffin fit in the gowns (I could never find smaller than 0-3 months) his umbilical cord was long gone and he kicked so much the gowns always ended up bunched around his waist.
Are there any baby products you found disappointing? Was one of my disappointments one of your favorites? Let us know!
- Sarah Stewart Holland
14 Comments
Reader Comments (14)
The wipe warmer was a bust - mostly because my son would get used to warm wipes, and then whenever we were out in public and had to use a cold wipe, he'd scream bloody murder. Ooops.
See Courtney I always defend the wipe warmer! We felt like it helped keep Griffin from full waking up in the middle of the night. He didn't seem to get spoiled by it though, which I never even considered as a possibility!
- SSH
I totally agree about the snuggle nest and the spoon thing. I did, however, love the gowns. I thougt it made for an easy pamper change. Abe lived in his "boy gown" for the first month of his life.
Glad I'm not the only one who thought the Boppy was kind of pointless. I used it for several months because I thought I should get my money's worth out of it, even thought that maybe I was using it wrong (how do you use a pillow wrong?).
Wonderful post. I also find it hilarious that the Google ad at the bottom is for another quite possibly useless product touted as "Impossible not to love."
Right!?! Did you every use the My Brest Friend? Obsessed. Totally obsessed with that product.
I agree about the Boppy-it didn't really work for us. They sold a different version of it at the hospital that worked a little better, but only when the baby was newborn. I did, however, love the infant gowns. Mason wore those for the first 2 weeks all the time and then after that, slept in them until he outgrew them. By the way-love your blog!
Ditto regarding the Boon squirt spoon, Adiri Nurser, and Boppy. The Boppy was completely wortheless when trying to use it to support a newborn baby while nursing, as the baby falls into the void between the pillow and the mother's body. My Brest Friend, despite its silly name, is the way to go.
While I never used a sleep positioner like the Snuggle Nest, the CSPC now recommends that parents avoid using them due to http://www.cpsc.gov/onsafety/2010/09/sleep-positioners-a-suffocation-risk/" rel="nofollow">safety risks.
- The Other Sarah
I never used the wipes warmer! And I hated the Boppy with both kids. When my son was born, my sister gave me a ton of those gowns, and I never used them. So when I unpacked them when my daughter was born, I wasn't sure if I should even put them in her dresser. But for some reason, I used them a ton the second time around! I think because I wanted to change her super fast before she cried and woke her big brother up.
But for me, the most important maternity leave item was either a book or the remote control. ;-)
I agree generally but I want to note that things are different for twins, esp. preemie twins - in case you have any future twin moms reading this! If you have twins, you need two Boppy pillows PLUS the My Breast Friend. I wore the My Breast Friend for nursing and had a baby on either side of me in a Boppy to move up to the My Breast Friend to nurse or put back in the Boppy as needed, when starting/finishing nursing. We could only use the gowns for a long time because my girls were just over and under 3 pounds and were still under 5 pounds when they came home from the hospital. Nothing else fit. The gowns were perfect for preemies.
I loved the boppy but now that I see the my brest friend one I can imagine why any mom would despise it. Will definitely try my brest friend for baby number two.
I would agree with your assessment of #1-4, but I gotta stand up for the newborn gowns . . . I loved 'em! Now, I never had 7 . . . I only had 2 or 3, but I liked them for the built-in mittens, and I got more mileage out of them than the regular footed pajamas. Once the baby outgrew the footed pajamas, you have to get rid of them, but the newborn gowns allow room for growth. Both of my kids were skinny little ones, so I suppose the newborn gowns wouldn't last as long if you had a chubby baby.
funny list! I used the snuggle nest the same way, once mine were in their cribs. And the only time I ever used the boppy was to prop them up against on the floor when they were still in the non-crawling phase. I would have to add the moby wrap- friends loved it but I never could get the hang of it!
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