Research by consumer group Which? has revealed some surprising findings from new parents in the form of a list of the top ten most useful products and top ten least useful products.
In case you haven’t seen it yet, here are the lists in full:
Top ten most useful products
- Stair gate
- Audio baby monitor
- Electric steam steriliser kit
- Baby change bag
- Video baby monitor
- Baby sleep bag
- Digital ear thermometer
- Microwave steam steriliser kit
- Baby bouncer or rocker chair
- Changing unit
Top ten least useful products
- Door baby bouncer
- Baby washing bowls
- Manual breast pump
- Cot mobile
- Bumbo seat
- Nappy stacker
- Swaddling blanket
- Baby reins
- Nappy disposal bin
- Fabric sling or baby carrier
Some of these products don’t come as much of a surprise.
After all, a video baby monitor was one of the products we knew had to be carefully researched and we put a lot of time into doing just that. We regarded it as an essential purchase (eventually opting for a BT video monitor) and will no doubt be reviewing the product once we’ve had a few weeks’ use out of it.
Likewise, I’ve never even heard of a nappy stacker, and we’ve purposefully avoided swaddling blankets and similar products due to the health concerns over swaddling newborns.
However, some of these findings have surprised us slightly. Although we can’t say for sure yet since our little one is still – hopefully! – a few weeks away from arriving, we had thought one of our better buys is a nappy disposal bin. Manufactured by the same company that make a cat litter disposal bin that we’ve relied on for the last few years for our three cats, surely it can only be a space and time saver when the baby comes.
Along the same lines as this, after being loaned two baby carriers and taking them to our NCT class so we could practice how to put them on properly, we can’t see how it won’t be useful to have these at our disposal. Sometimes you just need to have your hands free to do certain things, or need to be without a pram in a certain situation, in which case surely a baby carrier is a Godsend.
Our opinions may well change after our little one arrives and we find that either we’re horribly under-prepared in terms of useful essentials, or (as I hope is the case!) well-stocked in terms of items that help us cope with a newborn. Either way, we’ll be sure to feed back our thoughts!
Categories: Products