What baby items to buy secondhand? What to avoid?

[Gnomegirl]

Lots for Tots. They know my sister by name there as well as the toy store next door. I agree - tons of great things and I did some school clothes shopping there. Also check out Mardens and of course the Goodwill. My sister has gotten a number of Peg Pergo strollers and the like from Mardens for both her children and the ones she sits for.

DO NOT buy a used carseat or crib. And speaking of cribs - my sister had a great point about this and it was something that was great for us. We used a pack and play almost exclusively. I live in CT but am from Maine and travel a lot back and forth. If you do travel the pack and play is portable and the baby shouldn't have issues falling asleep in a strange place.

 

[Gnomegirl]

I also wanted to say that you should get the carseat installed prior to delivering. Where I delivered we were required to have the girls be in the carseat properly and monitored for a period of time before we could leave. The hospital, police department and health department should have people on staff who are certified.

I am carseat picky! Keep the baby rear facing for as long as possible and in a seat for as long as possible ignoring the whining and pleading in later years that their friends don't even use a booster Mom! My almost 9 year old is still in a high back booster and the almost 7 year old is still in a 5 point harness.

 

[kimkoz]

I got basically everything new for my first but things break or expire so I did buy items for my second.

New - Crib, car seat, stroller

I love my travel system stroller and have used it for years so to me it was a good buy.. Now I have known people to find great second hand ones too but I just figured it was a good investment.

If you do not check out Target Daily Deals I suggest you start. Just last week they had a bouncer seat for $18 shipped. If I was pregant I'd def. buy that. We got a fancy bouncer for our first and it stopped making all the lovely sounds and lights in time for the 2nd to use it so the 2nd time around I just got a basic vibration one.

2nd hand - Swing, exerciser.. things like that you never know if your child will like or not. A swing was a waste of money for us but who would have known. One child loved it and one hated it.

I personally would only buy a crib and car seat right now. I'd still look for great new deals and tape reciepts to things. You may very well be surprised on gifts you recieve. I personally do not like to buy clothes for showers and would much rather buy a bigger item I know the child will use more then a month or two. Also you may ge gift cards to put to these items.

Bumbo is also a great 2nd hand buy, those things are expensive. They are selling around 15 here on CL.