My other posts from this series:

Furnishing a Nursery

Choosing a Stroller and a Car Seat

Choosing a Jogging Stroller

Necessary Baby Equipment

In this post I will focus on articles that I found unnecessary either through my own experience or judgment. So here is my list:

Breast pump. I’m sure it depends on the type you get, but the one I got was not working for me at all. Since I knew that I was going to be staying home, I decided to settle for one of the cheapest automatic pumps out there. I would sit there for 15-30 minutes at the time, pumping  and get only an ounce or two of breast milk from both of my breasts combined. I was even thinking that my body will get used to it within time and gave it a run of a month or two. The pump was designed to pump from both breasts at the same time, but one of the sides broke way before I gave up on it.

With this in mind, if you are seriously considering pumping, I would highly recommend renting a pump from a lactation professional. They will give you a hospital grade pump with good suction. It’s also recommended for women who happen to have low or no milk supply. The pumping action with correct suction is supposed to help stimulate breasts to get them going on producing milk.  You can inquire about renting a pump at the hospital where you’ll be delivering or just look up a lactation specialist in yellow pages. When I inquired about it, the monthly cost of renting was about $40. Also, once you use the pump successfully, then you can buy one for yourself that is very similar to a professional grade either from the same lactation specialist, a store on online. They usually cost $200-300.

Baby carrier (6+ months). We happen to own one of the front facing baby carriers and I didn’t like it. I tried it at home, adjusted the stripes according to directions, put the baby in it and wore it for a few minutes. First, putting the baby in the carrier by myself while wearing it was a big challenge. The carrier itself felt like it kept sliding downwards under the baby’s weight. My back started killing me after just a few minutes. I just could not get comfortable! I gave it couple more tries and gave up on it.

Diaper disposal. I never owned one and don’t feel like I missed out. First, newborn’s poop doesn’t really smell until he starts eating real food. At that stage, while they go to the bathroom literally all the time, I kept a small trash can with a grocery bag liner inside next to the changing station. I emptied it couple of times a day and it worked out just fine. Once they start on solids, their poop definitely gets stinkier, but they don’t go nearly as much. By then I decided to get rid of the trash can in the nursery and started using our big trash can in the kitchen. Yea, I had to make a trip to the kitchen after every diaper change, but it wasn’t a big deal. Little exercise never hurts. If you feel disgusted by throwing a poopy diaper into the trash can, just put it into a grocery bag and it won’t smell. Not recycling plastic bags and using disposable diapers is not a very eco-friendly move (I’m not proud of it), but it works. I happen to rid of trash in the kitchen once per day and I’m not having any smell issues.

Couple more things to consider with using a diaper disposal. Depending on the manufacturer, you might have to purchase special bags for it, adding cost to the overall purchase. Another thing is, you still can’t completely avoid the dirty diaper stink experience. Can you imagine changing a liner every 2-3 days, with all the stinch coming out in your face while you’re doing it? I don’t care how deodorized they make the bag, a three-day old poop still stinks!

I am ending my post here, since I can’t think of other things at this point. I can’t possibly cover all of the baby paraphernalia, so please feel free to leave a comment with other baby equipment that you found not very useful or otherwise.