Of all the stuff marketed to moms, there are very few that I really need. I already listed my must-haves, and now here are the 5 that don't make the cut. Every mom will have her own opinion, of course, and if you are a first-time mom, it is hard to predict which ones you will truly find handy. But I am a third-timer, so these are the things I know I don't need.
1. Formula. I am so grateful that breastfeeding has always been fairly easy for me. I feel good knowing that my babies have only ever had the real thing, as nature intended. I know it's not that easy for everyone, but I, personally, have never had to spend a dime on nor have my babies needed a single drop of baby formula.
2. The Boppy. This one may have some readers gasping in disbelief, I know there are moms out there who love their nursing pillow. I have one, and I did use it some with my first baby. With my second, I started to feel like it was more a hassle than a help. Now with my third, I haven't even taken it out of the closet. Just don't have a need for it.
3. The Diaper Genie. I don't use many disposable diapers, but even when I've been on disposables for a couple of days, I would never want one of these in my house. Disposables stink SO much, they just go straight in my garbage can, which gets taken out in less than a day. I could never keep a stinky diaper contraption in my kids room. I do keep a small garbage can with a step lid for cloth diapers, but there is never really any poop in there, and the wet cloth diapers don't stink anywhere near as much as disposable. By day 3, when I am due to wash diapers, it smells pretty much like your kids bed the morning after they've peed in it. Doesn't take a genie to tell me when it's time to tote it to the laundry room.
4. Breastfeeding covers. When I am nursing in public, I prefer to attract as little attention as possible. I feel like draping a blanket or nursing cover over my shoulder, chest, and baby would look too obvious to those in-the-know, and for those who don't know, would invite curious stares until the lightbulb comes on and they look away, feeling embarrassed that they were staring for so long. I prefer to just hold my baby as though she is napping, with a blanket (often I just use my sling as a blanket) wrapped under her and pulled up high enough to block any view of the "action." Luckily, my babies facilitate this by not wiggling around too much. I also worry that nursing covers give the impression that breastfeeding is something to be so self-concious about that we should all hide under 'baby-burkas.'
5. A Breast Pump. I am a stay-at-home-mom. I am also a work-at-home-mom. On the occassions when I do leave home, baby is slung along, because my husband is often deployed. Sure, it would be nice to have a couple of bottles of milk stored for the very, very rare occassion that I might go out without the baby, but it just doesn't ever happen. At least not for more than an hour or so. So I have no need for a pump. In fact, I would go so far as to say that NO ONE needs a breast pump, unless they expect to be separated from their baby.
Now, some moms are told they 'have to' pump in the beginning, to get their milk supply up. I say that's a bunch of hooey. Your baby will bring it in, as long as you let her do all her sucking at the breast. Using artificial nipples and milk to replace the real thing will of course tell your breast that the milk is not needed. You will get engorged, and your breasts will respond by making less milk. Nurse your baby on demand, and believe me, your breasts will make the right amount, and get over that initial engorgement faster. Even if baby is sleepy, I would much rather wake a sleepy baby than hook up to a machine that will just interrupt the supply and demand cycle.
Of course I know many moms disagree with me, and love and/or need the above baby things . . . please comment and let me know!
