Which baby product do you think receives the most hype (either now or when you had your kids)?

I have two.

First, I think the diaper genie is really unnecessary. It costs like $ 30-$40, it's ugly, and the refills are expensive. When my son turned one, I started shoving plastic grocery bags into the genie & they work fine despite the lack of magic, knotting action the "real" refills provide.

Second, those stroller/carrier/car seat combo deals. Every single one of my friends lugged around her infant in one of those bulky, heavy carriers. They'd come into a resturant, house, playground & plop it on the floor...the baby looked like a shriveled up kidney bean--belted into that goofy looking carrier--and I'd think, why don't you just hold him or her? My husband & I didn't want the free forearm workout, so we refused to buy one--plus, we didn't want to buy a whole seperate car seat when the baby hit 20 lbs. We bought the car seat that goes from an infant, to 20+ lbs and then, to a booster. I can't say we ever missed the 20+ weight hanging from our forearms. Ha, ha!

What about you...what products did you live without or do you think you could have lived without?

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~Jessica

A Classroom of One's Own

Wow I pretty much agree about the 2 overated products!

It was funny when I had my second we didnt have the carrier and used the stroller at the Cheesecake Factory it was like the staff didnt know how to handle it. Its smaller than a wheel chair and didnt cut anyones traffic from our table but they were dumbfounded that we didnt have the carrier!

My list is this (recieved all of them as a baby shower present): a wiper warmer, bottle warmer, a boppy pillow (just did not work the way I hoped it would), desitin (did not work for my child and a pain to get off- I would use milk of magnesia and cornstarch powder) and a few other things I can't think of. BTW- I never used the Diaper Genie- I always thought it would be a waste of money.

I agree on the diaper genie, I got a used one from DH's cousin so I had to act like I liked it but I didn't use it LOL.

I would say a wipe warmer... I didn't have one but really the baby is already uncomfortable with being wet or poopy so the cool wipe isn't going to be that much worse. Does that make me a mean mommy?

LOL we still have ours and my DH uses it... NOT like that! LOL he uses it to lay on cause it's comfy on his neck. I don't know. Not a waste of money for DH's

I agree about Diaper Genie. I personally liked the carrier for the first few months, and it made my life much easier, but I know its heavy and some people probably do overuse it.

Changing table was something we lived w/out for 2nd baby b/c we never used it with the first. I changed her wherever we were and it was usually not in her room. Even at night I usually changed her in her crib before I picked her up to feed her.

I agree, I hated the diaper genie, I registered for it and got it, then couldn't afford the refills!!

I bought a "safety 1st" diaper pail that used white trash bags, for $12.99, and it worked great!!

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I disagree with the carrier b/c both my girls were born in winter and w/ the carrier they make "cozy covers" that keep the baby warm with out putting them in snowsuits which is safer for them. I agree w/ the wipe and bottle warmer, never used either. Changing tables are a big waste of money too b/c they suggest that you don't use them any way. I don't use a diaper genie either diapers just go into the garbage anyway, if they are really stinky they go in the garage garbage.

I used the diaper genie with DD#1 but not DD#2.

We got the boppy for both and only used it for DD#2. It's still around but rarely gets used.

We do use a wipe warmer. It was a handy-me-down, but I really like it. If I were a baby and had a choice, I would want a warm cloth instead of something cold. Just a comfort thing I guess.

I'm on the fence with the carriers. I like how they work for restuarants and stuff, but they outgrown them pretty quick and I think DD is more comfortable in the big seat in my car.

I agree with the diaper genie. We used it with our 1st but it started to stink really bad so we put it out in the garage. We brought it with us to our new house thinking we would use it again sometime but we just started doing the mini trash bag thing instead. We just had to tie our own knots instead of the genie doing it.
My other was the bottle sterilizer. My friend got us one when we had our 2nd and we used it one time and then put it in the closet. (Although we did recently find out that it does work to steam vegetables)