Is it just me or do kids wreck everything?
I don’t necessarily mean intentionally (although I’m not ruling it out), I mean without meaning to, just by virtue of being.
Now we’re expecting baby number four I’ve been thinking about what we need to buy and what can be reused – and the answer is not very much!
You’d think that having three kids already there’s not much we’d need – and to some extent that’s true – but having assessed the state of what’s left after raising the three kids we’ve already got it’s made me realise just how much is unavoidably condemned after having kids.
I don’t mean plastic things (I’m pretty sure our version of that Ikea highchair will outlive me), I mean things you’d think you’d be able to hand down, but it turns out you can’t.
10 things that are unavoidably condemned after having kids
1. White baby grows
I can count on one hand the number of those I’ve washed and put away for another baby. Not very many!
2. Baby bottles
Why is it plastic bottles go all filmy looking and tacky to touch between babies? And I didn’t formula feed, so I didn’t even use them every day. No amount of scrubbing and sterilising will bring them back to life so there’s only one thing for it: the recycling bin.
3. Cot mattresses
There’s no need to spell out the unmentionables thrown at a cot mattress in the course of its lifetime. Let’s just say it comes from both ends and I’ll leave your imagination to do the rest. You can turn it over and over, but the fact is it’ll never be quite the same again.
4. Car seats
The chances are your car seat will have seen as much action as your cot mattress – more if you’ve got a chunderer on your hands like me. There’s nothing for it, the dump it is.
5. Changing mats
It all starts when the plastic splits at the side. Then little fingers work their way in and there’s no going back.
6. Pushchairs
Ditto the pushchair. Despite carefully cleaning it and washing the covers before putting it away in the garage it still manages to grow its own eco system in the time between the last baby and next baby. And there’s really no going back from that, either.
7. Nappy bags
For me three babies has meant three different nappy bags – and I’ll be needing a fourth one for the new baby too. I blame the matching changing mats that come with them – ours have practically walked out of the house of their own accord after each of my three – and don’t even mention the smell. No matter how much you clean it, it permeates the whole bag.
8. Duvets
The same fate awaits duvets as the cot mattress, and for all the same reasons – especially if you co-sleep like we do. Except in this case turning it over is pointless. The best thing you can do is burn it.
9. The car
Even if you don’t allow eating on-the-go, the chances are the car bears the scars of little hands – and feet. You should see the state of ours: the frames of the built-in sun blinds have been snapped on both sides, there’s a questionable mark on the driver’s seat thanks to slime that Misery Guts sat on and I shudder to think what you’d find between the seats.
10. Me!
I don’t know about you, but I feel unavoidably condemned after having kids. Things don’t work properly; I feel like I’ve aged beyond belief and the fact is I’ll never be quite the same again!
How about you? If anyone has managed to successfully preserve a baby item that isn’t plastic, I’d love to know what it is!
I have found anything white doesn’t last after having kids. lol I even stopped wearing white a long time ago. x
Ha! I assumed by the title was going to be a list of pelvic floor and sagging skin etc, so I was thinking it was a bad reflection of me as I read thru 1-9, but then I saw # 10 and felt much better. You wouldn’t change it for anything, and the joy def out weighs the rest of it, but somedays you just feel so tired and worn down! #Dreamteam
Hahahaha all soooo true and what happens to pushchairs??? i only ever buy colourful baby grows for others #dreamteam
Hehe! With all the best will in the world, a lot of things that you imagine surviving 1 baby, just don’t. Those white baby grows for starters had me in giggles. I think after about 2 to 3 weeks I completely ditched them. Apparently they are meant to be better for washing ?! Thanks for bringing the giggles to the #DreamTeam xx
I hear you with the changing mats, I’m already on changing mat #4 in 20 months and I’ve only got the one child! Oh and after 2 weeks with a newborn I realised white babygros/bodysuits were impossible to clean even with stain removers. Coloured patterned ones are definitely the way to go! #MMBC
Most of my stuff did all three of mine. Still have the changing bag and have repurposed it. Did change the cot mattresses, each time, because some things do not last. The rest did. Except me. I’ll agree with you on that one. #mmbc
I agree with you on all of these! Nearly all our white vests and babygros were ruined after our first baby. We nearly managed to re-use our first baby’s car seat though, but unfortunately when we were getting ready for the birth of our second, my husband dropped the seat through the loft hatch onto the landing, and we thought that would probably be classed as an accident, so had to get rid of it. #MMBC
All baby grows should be brown. It would make laundry so much easier 😉 #ThatFridayLinky
Oh yes…..cars and car seats in particular are never the same again! And the less said about matresses the better. Should really be changed every couple of years I’d say, maximum.
Oh I do love reading your posts, they always make me smile! Thank you!!
And thanks so much for linking up at #KCACOLS. Hope you come back again next time.
It’s sad that a lot of these things end at the dump after use, but totally understandable. How do bottles get so icky?! Lol #KCACOLS
Haha! I hear you! All baby clothes should be dark coloured!
#kcacols