If you plan to practice any aspect of attachment parenting, you will likely find your needs for baby gear significantly diminished. For example, baby wearing may eliminate your need for a stroller or a bouncy seat, but what kinds of carriers are accessible and affordable? We’ll guide you towards your unique baby gear needs.
Gear you can avoid
Depending on the choices you make, there are several things you won’t need to register for when you’re planning for your baby’s arrival. If you’re planning to wear your baby, you will likely have little need for bouncy seats, strollers or swings — at a minimum, plan on purchasing fewer items before your baby is born and add them as your needs dictate.
You may want a portable play yard for times when you take a shower, for example, or you may enjoy letting your little one rest in a swing for 30 minutes a day. Instead of buying everything at once, play it by ear as you go along to see what you really have a need for.
You might even forego a crib purchase if you plan to sleep with your baby, and bottles and formula if you plan to breastfeed. Although breastfeeding and bed sharing aren’t hard-and-fast attachment parenting rules, many AP moms do both as they instinctively parent their little one. Instead of a crib, you may want to purchase a bed rail that will fit along the side of your bed to prevent your little one from rolling or falling out when she gets bigger.
For nursing moms, an expensive, high-quality electric breast pump may be a necessary purchase if you will be working outside the home, but a smaller manual one may be an option if you only plan on pumping every now and then for a night out.
Get wrapped up
One of your early purchases will likely be a baby carrier of some sort. During the first few months, a soft, stretchy wrap is ideal. Moby wraps are becoming widely available online and in retail stores (even some hospital gift shops carry them) or you can order online. If you have a fabric store nearby, you can even make your own version with 5 or 6 yards of a jersey knit material. This type of material doesn’t fray, so you don’t even need a sewing machine to hem the edges.
Older babies are usually more secure in a woven wrap or a soft-structured baby carrier such as an Ergo or a Beco. These options are a little more expensive, but if you start off the newborn months with a stretchy wrap you can save up in the meantime for a bigger purchase.
Instead of buying all of the cute baby gear that is available, you can rest easy knowing you might not ever have a need for some of it, which can help ease the financial strain of adding a new baby to your home.
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