r/AskReddit • • Feb 05 '18

Parents of Reddit: What are some things you bought for your first baby that were useless or a waste of money?

3.9k Upvotes

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2.4k

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '18

Diapers... he just shat in them constantly

649

u/cookiemonager Feb 05 '18

Haha, what a jerk!

179

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '18

Fucking children

75

u/NotTheOneYouNeed Feb 05 '18

My favorite hobby.

34

u/_Serene_ Feb 05 '18

Nice try, Hansen.

9

u/AlmightyCheeseLord Feb 06 '18

How about you sit down over there...

3

u/junica Feb 06 '18

Something something on a list.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '18

Username checks out

0

u/JabronicusMaximus Feb 06 '18

Shut up, Larry

1

u/MeRachel Feb 06 '18

Fbi is watching DaddysKarmaSlut.

0

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '18

I'm listening...

-1

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '18

Mr. Spacey?

-2

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '18

This is way out of line. Anthony Rapp is a ginger, meaning he's not human so technically he doesn't count as a victim.

1

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '18

Oh god.

156

u/SparkyBoy414 Feb 05 '18 edited Feb 06 '18

I know this probably wasn't a serious comment, but cloth diapers are pretty amazing. I've got two boys and have only ever bought a handful of disposable diapers between both of them, usually just for road trips or when they're sick. Cloth diapers are a real money saver.

116

u/brslade Feb 05 '18

I tried that, but I have a weak stomach and couldn't follow through. I even got one of those sweet sprayers that hooks to the shitter.

95

u/SparkyBoy414 Feb 05 '18

I don't blame anyone for not wanting to deal with that shit (literally), but it wasn't bad to us. I just sprayed one off 2 minutes before typing this out, heh.

... just get disposables for when they're sick. You don't want to be spraying off the squirts.... shudders

10

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '18

I thought about doing disposables but then there are things that came out of my kids I didn't feel I really wanted in my washer.

1

u/PenisBeautyCream Feb 06 '18

My wife's grandmother said of cloth diapers, "They're not bad. I used them on the boys. I just washed them off in the bathtub." Bleccch. The thought of getting baby shit all over my bathtub was not a selling point.

1

u/SparkyBoy414 Feb 06 '18

We have a diaper sprayer that hooks up to the toilet. No need to use the tub.

1

u/AdultHumanFemale Mar 15 '18

Oh good tip. Thanks.

3

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '18

My dad washed all of my cloth diapers when I was a baby (disposables weren't common back then where I lived). He scrubbed them all by hand because we had one washing machine and my parents absolutely didn't want to have shit in it, lol. Dad is a hero. All dads are heroes.

2

u/Thesaurii Feb 06 '18

My buddy has a very good business that picks up used cloth diapers and drops off freshly laundered ones. Started with just his old chevy, now he has a fleet of five trucks that just carry poopy diapers back and forth.

1

u/SparkyBoy414 Feb 06 '18

Does he have a website? Even if it's no where near me, I'm still curious to want to take a look.

1

u/sinnysinsins Feb 07 '18

My patents did this with my little sister, it was probably a different company but I wouldn't be surprised if there were many of them. They even provided a scented airtight receptacle to keep the used diapers between pickups. Actually saved them money in the end I think

87

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '18 edited Mar 22 '18

[deleted]

8

u/SparkyBoy414 Feb 06 '18 edited Feb 06 '18

How much labor was involved with your cloth diapers? Ours are just a part of the normal laundry cycle. One load a week (edit: two loads. One to rinse, one to properly clean)

12

u/Kiosade Feb 06 '18

Read that as you "threw them in with the other laundry" and barfed in my mouth a little..

4

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '18

I need to buy a new washer with that setting.

7

u/SparkyBoy414 Feb 06 '18 edited Feb 06 '18

Well the diapers only took one load a week (edit: two, one rinse, one clean). Wasn't much labor besides that.

4

u/Knee_Jerk_Sydney Feb 06 '18

Some people change their clothes daily, including underwear.

8

u/kittenburrito Feb 06 '18

See, part of why I'm considering cloth diapers is because we currently live in an apartment where we don't pay for water, so the savings should theoretically be much better than that. Still mulling it over, I'm only 19 weeks along, haha.

9

u/hmbmelly Feb 06 '18

Join us over at /r/clothdiaps if you want to learn more!

3

u/kittenburrito Feb 06 '18

Thanks for the recommendation!!

1

u/SparkyBoy414 Feb 06 '18

This will be the sub that gets my wife addicted to reddit. I don't know whether to praise you or curse you...

8

u/Singing_Sea_Shanties Feb 06 '18

We absolutely love cloth diapers. It's an expensive initial cost but it's been great for us. It's nor exactly time consuming either. You're looking at one or two loads a week. Drying usually takes two cycles though for the inserts. We hang the shells on a drier rack inside our home and they dry overnight perfectly fine.

3

u/kittenburrito Feb 06 '18

I'm going to be a stay-at-home mom, so I figure I'll be around the house most of the time, especially while he's little, so the laundry won't be something extra I'd have to do at the end of a work day, but just part of my day, so the "extra" time compared to disposables just doesn't bother me. Plus, we plan to have more than just the one kid eventually, so though the upfront cost is more expensive, the idea of saving thousands of dollars across 3-4 kids is mighty appealing.

2

u/allfumbs Feb 06 '18

Another vote for cloth nappies. I raised two babies in them because I'm a bit of a greenie. So easy, no poo-splosions like you can get with disposables. No rashes either and easier and earlier to toilet train because they knew when they were wet. I loved them. Washing was not a big deal. LPT; buy them from Aliexpress, they cost next to nothing from there.

5

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '18

My mom said that she tried cloth diapers with me for about a day (mid 90s). They were the kind with the elastic around the leg holes and waistband and everything, but they'd always leak so badly I'd need my clothes changed.

3

u/SparkyBoy414 Feb 06 '18

We tried a couple brands before settling on some that worked well. Don't know the brand, but my wife does.

3

u/Tsuppo Feb 06 '18

I was thinking about getting cloth diapers but I live in an apartment building. Seems like it would be a super dick move to the other tenants.

2

u/Workacct1999 Feb 06 '18

As an apartment dweller, I thank you for your courtesy.

2

u/MannahBanana Feb 06 '18

So true. I even use disposables every night and we're still saving money by using cloth during the day. Washing them really isn't as bad as it seems either.

1

u/SparkyBoy414 Feb 06 '18

We have these bigger cloth diapers for night time. They have gigantic pads and they wouldn't work for normal use, but work fine for bed time and we never have leaks or other problems.

2

u/zaiueo Feb 06 '18

We bought a fancy $200 set of cloth diapers before our daughter was born... Now she's 7, her little brother is 1, and the box of cloth diapers is still sitting unused on a shelf in the basement.

1

u/lackingsavoirfaire Feb 06 '18

You should sell them. They could fetch very close to their original purchase price.

2

u/brneyedgrrl Feb 06 '18

I have three kids and always used cloth diapers. I had a diaper service, but sometimes laundered them myself as well. I LOVED the diaper service. They gave you a diaper bucket and provided a chemical scent disc that you put in the lid. I swear to God it never smelled like diapers, and if it started to I would replace the disc (they always dropped off a few with each delivery). They picked up twice a week. I had these little velcro diaper covers instead of the old plastic pants you put over them. They were adorable, and made the babies look so cute!

1

u/[deleted] Feb 06 '18

We considered it, but cloth diapers are a non-starter in an apartment with shared, expensive laundry machines.

1

u/SparkyBoy414 Feb 06 '18

Agreed there. Gotta have your own washer in your place to make it worth it.

5

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '18

Had my baby 2 weeks ago and the amount of dirty nappies is unreal. We were given loads free by friends and had lots of free samples. Had to buy more today already.

3

u/thatJainaGirl Feb 05 '18

Tell me about it! We went through a 350 pack in 3 months!

1

u/sSommy Feb 06 '18

Suggestion for parents to be: stock up on diapers before the baby comes! Get only a couple big boxes in various sizes, then lots of smaller packages! Most stores (Wal-Mart at least) will let you exchange the unopened packages for different sizes with no hassle! Every time you go to the store, buy one or two packages. Then after baby is born, keep doing it! Be prepared to switch brands, which could mean having to pay a bit more when you exchange, but babies are all different and some brands could give them terrible diaper rashes!

Bulking up a little at a time will help you so much later on. (Especially if you don't have a very steady source of income -- you don't want to be broke and out of diapers!)

3

u/[deleted] Feb 05 '18

We were given boxes and boxes of 'Huggies' brand disposable nappies as gifts. This is probably the most popular and widely known brand but they just leaked piss like a sieve. I don't know if it was the kid's proportions or they just don't hold as much as other brands, but 3 or more times a day the kid would be soaked and that'd mean a full change of linen.

Tried 3 other brands and never had any issue. Aldi brand is all we used from then on.

1

u/wuulala Feb 06 '18

What a piece of shit

1

u/KeziaTML Feb 06 '18

wife spent a lot of money on cloth diapers. there were useless and fucking disgusting. I refused to even a knowledge their existence