Should I buy new baby gear or just use stuff from my 1st child?
I definitely want a new crib cause my current one was a hand me down.
What about car seats, strollers, bottles? I still have the stuff (my daughter is 3 so it pretty much been collecting dust).
I would reuse as long as they meet current safety standards.
I’d use everything you have minus the bottles/paci’s.
It will still be okay to use. You do want to clean everything but im sure you already would do that. That stuff gets expensive so use as much stuff as you can over!
Why waste the money? If it is in good condition, use it.
Reuse as much as you can….Just replace bottles, dummies and those bits that need replacing anyway. Will save you alot of money.
Economize as much as possible.
All three of our daughters used the same crib their mother laid in when she was an infant. Hand me downs are not important to an infant or child. It’s only when they become teens that they start to object.
I’m a hoarder and have saved everything for the future. The bottles should be fine, not sparkling new i’m sure but just replace the teats and sterilise as normal. Wash or sterilise all toys, rattles. Replace the cot mattress and check the car seat still meets safety standards, check the fasteners on everything and it should be less expensive for you next time round!
If you have the money! go for it… if you’re a bit tight on cash save it for an emergency or for an emergency needed swing, pump, anything… if you dont like your old crib maybe just buy new bedding to dress it up “new”
If you have the bucks, why not????
I reused alot of stuff from my DS. You’ll want to wash everything well and make sure there hasn’t been any recalls on any of the stuff. Saving money (especially in this economy) is always great in my opinion!!! Good luck!
I plan on reusing anything that I can. I purposefully got very gender neutral patters in my high chair, car seats, pack & play, etc so that they could be used again in case we have a girl next time around. I don’t see the harm in it, in fact it seems rather frivolous to spend so much money on new stuff when that’s perfectly usable. I’d just give it all a good wash down to get rid of the dust
We are on our 5th pregnancy and we have reused almost everything we have if it is not damaged/or out of date. We have bought a new car seat somewhere in the middle as one of the first ones we have was past it’s date (check on your car seat). But, as long as things are in good condition, we just re-use!
Bottles? Just sanitize them again is some boiling water and you’re good to go.
Strollers? Just ckeck them out for stability. Is the current one about to fall apart, or does it look like it has another several months of life left in it. I know that in our case, the stroller we got to go with the travel system has served two children well and still has life in it. However, our ultra-protable-folds-down-to-nothing second stroller barely made it though one child.
Car Seats? That’s the biggest question mark. If the seats have not been mistreated, never been in an accident, and are 3 years old or less, you are good to go. But the general recommendation is that car seats older than 5 years should be replaced. So if you have a car seat that is 4 years old, you might be well past that 5 year mark when your child still needs a car seat. Of course it’s not like car seats suddenly expire after 5 years. If it’s been well cared for and seen little use, a 5-1/2 yo car seat is still going to protect your child. So that’s where you have to consider the details of your situation and decide if the car seat you have is good enough to be reused, or needs to be replaced. The answer might even be that you do BOTH. A good example would be if you have a car seat in both cars, but only one was primarily used. It might be best to replace the primarily used car seat, but reuse the secondary car-seat that isn’t used nearly as often.
It’s okay to reuse somethings as long as they are still fully functioning and safe as they were when you first bought them. The stroller should be fine, you might just want to clean it and make sure the straps aren’t twisted or anything, and they buckle correctly. I would just clean the bottles by boiling them, although you might want to buy new nipples and as far as the car seat goes you might want to buy a new one just to be on the safe side so that it meats the current safety standards which are ever changing for car seats.
As people have said, feel free to re-use as long as the car seat and stroller are still in good repair and properly fit your new baby.
As far as anything else goes, make sure you boil the bottles to disinfect them because so much time has passed(as I’m sure you already know), and please at least buy your newborn some things of their own so it doesn’t create a problem or complex later when they find out they had hand-me-downs. My younger sister got a lot of my old things when she was born, and nothing really to call her own, and it really bothered her.
I have a 4 year old and a 4 month old. I reused everything from my first son.
Everything except bottles and pacifiers and the baby bath. You should definitely get new bottles and pacifiers, your old ones have probably been storing germs. Or at least get new nipples to the bottles.
But theres no need to get everything new.
Definitely reuse what you can
No point in wasting money where you dont need too.
I have been using loads of clothing that belonged to my first daughter (who is now six) for my newborn, glad I kept most things. I am also using the cot and mattress, the mattress is in fine condition as it has a removable washable cover, and was kept dry and clean over the years, it was an expensive one at the time, and has not weakened.
With the bottles, I would get new teats though, especially if they are latex. As for car seats I have been given a loan of one, it looks almost brand new. and I also had a loan of a crib. Instead of getting a new crib you could just buy a new mattress for it, if it is in otherwise good condition.
Good luck! xx
As long as the car set wasn’t in a crash then that’s fine to use. I wouldn’t use nipples or paci’s. But bottles would be fine to use. Yes use the stroller and anything else. I reused my hand me down crib and didn’t have to spend any money.
Oh, don’t spend the unnecessary money on new…It was yours anyway, so it’s perfectly alright to use it again. Save your money for things you will really need! I’d buy new bottles however…
Reuse it all… Why spend more money on things you already have??? Unless you have money falling out your bum… In that case send me some….
I would buy new pacifiers, nipples for bottles, and maybe some new fun stuff. But it is silly to spend money an stuff you already have. Unless you really hated something and you wanted to replace it.
I would go through what you have and make sure it meets safety standards. I would also go through and get rid of anything that is over used. As far as reusing I would say definately. You can go through and clean everything up really well. Save Money to buy things you don’t already have.
You should reuse your stuff, unless you feel like wasting money and then later on storing more stuff for no reason. Or you can even just sell the ones you have now since you feel like getting new things.
I mean, who doesn’t like new things anyway?