Hand-Me-Down Baby Items

I believe it is important to moms today to understand the pros and cons of receiving (or purchasing) used baby items. It is important for your baby’s health and safety to be weary of used items like furniture. Over time, changing tables and cribs can loose their binding pieces and cause entrapment or fall apart. Drop-side cribs have pretty much been dropped from retailers’ lists, but there are still many used ones out there. Make all efforts to test before buying.

Items like strollers, car seats, and swings pretty much show their scars more easily. A plus to buying these items pre-owned, is most seat covers can be detached and washed. The good ones usually have sturdy frames and will not much show much use if only used for about six months. Anything that is a year or more older often falls behind on safety regulations and a new one is wanted or needed.

For things like bouncers, stationery activity centers, high-chairs, walkers,  and other big toys the big thing to watch for is missing toys. My father-in-law bought me a used bouncer and it was great except for missing a few toys. The rest of it was clean, and the batteries still worked. I improvised with toys designed to attach and hang on car seats and they served the same purpose.  Make sure to clean the surfaces that baby will be touching and chewing on thoroughly before placing him inside.

Probably the most used items that I have are clothes! When I was pregnant, I did a lot of my shopping at the Salvation Army. I carefully looked over each outfit checking for stains, tears, missing buttons, etc. I found a lot of really nice clothes and they were like a dollar apiece. I have learned from experience that when someone gets rid of baby clothes, chances are that a lot of them were only worn once or twice before baby outgrew it or the season was not right. As for used blankets and crib sheets, these can be less forgiving when it comes to showing use.

Basically any items made of fabrics like stuffed animals, clothes, socks, and blankets can all be safely used when taken care of properly. Wash everything in hot water with a detergent that is free of dyes and perfumes. Some moms do not think they should change their detergent for baby, but I quickly learned that some strong detergents will irritate baby’s skin. I switched to Arm and Hammer Essentials, and it seems to do just fine.

Isn't shopping for baby stuff a lot of fun? If you liked this article, you might also like one of these articles related to children's decor and other kid related things in general:
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