The 13 baby products that I’m still using with a five year old
Some baby products are useful for longer than others. If you’re in two minds about whether to buy something, it can be worth considering its lifespan. As the longer you use it, the better the cost per use and the more it will justify its place in your home. Here are thirteen baby products that are still in active service in some way or other with my now five-year-old. Plus some others that could quite possibly outlive your youngest child’s milk teeth.
1. Blackout blinds
Blackout blinds are very useful in a baby’s room for creating a dark environment for daytime naps. And also in summer evenings when the days are so much longer. Trying to put a child to bed at night in a daylight-filled room is hard. There are also benefits in the morning. When it starts getting light very early, a child coming out of a sleep cycle with even the faintest hint of light may decide it’s time to get up. Even if it’s still just 4 am. So blackout blinds could give you some precious extra time in bed.
For this reason alone, I still put them up every day. And plan to keep doing this until my son is a teenager and I have to start dragging him out of bed.
If you’re interested in the science, the body produces melatonin when it’s dark and this hormone makes you feel sleepy. So a darkened room will help a child get to sleep and hopefully keep them asleep for longer.
The only downside arises when you’re away from home. You’ll have to take them with you and there could be a problem if there’s more than one window in the room you’re staying in.
Blackout blinds need to be fitted very closely to the window to prevent any light from getting through. So it’s best to buy ones specifically designed for temporary darkness rather than permanently fixed roller or roman blinds which will probably let some giveaway light in through the edges.
Baby blackout blinds usually attach to the window with suction cups or static. I use the Tommee Tippee Gro Anywhere portable blackout blinds. These have suction cups are probably the best-known and most popular ones. They come in two sizes and have Velcro patches so you can adjust their size to fit your window. A travel bag makes them easier to transport, although I find you do have to really squish them in. If like me, you often feel a sleeping bag must have grown overnight when trying to put it back into the case - you may struggle a bit with these.
A Doidy cup is a brilliant open cup which has a unique design to make it easier for a baby to use. It’s got a Leaning Tower of Pisa vibe about it and why this helps I’ve no idea, but it just does. My son used it from the age of seven months but you can start from six months.
They are a great alternative to a sippy cup because they encourage sipping not sucking. Many sippy cups should actually be called sucky cups, even though I’ll admit that sounds quite bad. But because the child is sucking not sipping, the liquid pooling around their front teeth can cause dental problems. And it’s also thought that sipping can help with the development of facial muscles. This doesn’t mean that a child who just sucks will have a weak, slack face. But it can cause speech issues and affect feeding and swallowing skills. An open cup also teaches fine motor skills.
The obvious, glaring downside is that their drink is very easily spilled. So not great for overnight sips of water. Even at five years old. But my son does still use it during the day.
The Doidy cup has been around since 1950 and has won multiple awards. It’s made in the UK from recyclable toxin-free plastic and comes in lots of different colours. And it comes with its own little travel pouch. (Which I lost within about a day so that wasn’t as long-lasting.)
3. Weaning plates, bowls and cutlery
I’ve no idea when you’re supposed to give children ‘proper’ plates and a 15-minute Google search did not enlighten me. So I’m still using the plates and bowls I bought when my son was being weaned.
To be honest I’d be fine with him using crockery without fearing it all going a bit Greek restaurant by the end of the night. But his weaning plates and bowls are still a great size for him and it would be wasteful to throw them away. Plus he likes having his own special plates and bowls. I’m sure he’ll tell me they’re babyish at some point. Maybe when his friends come round for tea aged 16. I’ll pass them on then.
I’m equally clueless about when children should move on to adult-sized cutlery. For now, he just uses his little knives, forks and spoons. And when I say use, I mean I put them on the table and he then eats with his hands.
4. Extra large muslins
When my son was born I was gifted a lovely extra large muslin. These are bigger than the usual 70 x 70 cm muslin squares and great for use as a swaddle, lightweight blanket, play mat, travel changing mat etc etc.
And I still use it now. It’s big enough to cover him as a light, breathable sheet during heatwave nights. And it’s often used as a hairdressing smock. I secure it at the back of the neck with a clothes peg to stop him from getting covered in hair when I give him a quick trim.
I don’t know where mine is from but the Aden and Anais ones are super popular. And Etta Loves do lovely black and white baby sensory ones.
Normal-sized muslins can also last for ages and I still use some for wiping my son’s face after eating.
5. Cot bed
At seven months old, my son moved into his own room with a cot bed. The only thing that has changed since then is that we’ve taken one side of the cot bars off so it’s like a normal open bed. If you’ve got the space, the longer a cot can last, the better. It may be passed down to a younger sibling before it’s outgrown but it could be used by your youngest child until they’re seven or eight.
There are even some, which with the help of an extension kit (usually bought separately), can be used until your child is 10.
Keeping the same cot bed for as long as possible also means maximising the cost per use of all the bedding. I’ve not had to buy any new sheets and we still use the same waterproof mattress protector. A mattress protector is recommended by the Lullaby Trust for babies but it’s also useful when dealing with any bed wetting.
I’ve got the IKEA Gonnatt and am very much hoping to get another few years out of it. I did notice it’s got a maximum load of 20kg. But it copes with me and my son reading stories on it.
6. Baby towels
When getting ready for my baby, I was reluctant to buy baby towels as they seemed so wasteful. Why would I buy a towel that only lasts a year? I’ve got towels still going strong from 20 years ago.
As it was, I got two as a gift and they are still my son’s towels. And they still ‘fit’ him. In that it’s not like trying to wrap a tea towel around a six-foot man.
I pretty much use a towel just for drying before getting him into a warm, fluffy hooded dressing gown so it doesn’t need to be too cosy. I will have to reassess at some point or risk it being something more son brings up in therapy in later years. (“I was eighteen. The towel didn’t even reach my belly button.”)
The ones I have are from George at Asda and while not the fluffiest, have a hood and they can dry a body. They measure 75 x 75cm. Here are some alternative baby towels, including some that are larger.
7. Baby bath rinser
A bath rinser is used for pouring water over a baby in the bath and also for washing their hair. You could argue that a plastic jug does exactly same the job. Which it does but the benefit of a rinser is that it has a head-shaped rim to make it easier to pour water over their head and not in their eyes.
Until I can persuade my child to get in a shower or until I get one of those hairdressing sinks in my house, I’m still using this bath rinser. And because he really hates getting water in his eyes and hair washing in general I also have to use one of those water visor things. Which I like as it makes him look like a newspaper editor from the 1930s.
I’ve got the Skip Hop Moby Waterfall rinser. As well as the special head lip (it’s probably got a better name) it has ridges for even pouring. I’m not sure how much these ridges help. I’ve never experienced ‘uneven pouring’ with a jug, for example. But this is a good rinser and one of the most popular.
It might seem a bit of a drag to buy a baby thermometer as it only gets used a few times a year. Especially when your mum probably just used to put her hand on your forehead to see if you had a temperature.
But a thermometer is super useful to see how much you need to worry when they’re unwell. If your baby is under three months and has a temperature of 38˚C or higher or if they’re three to six months with a temperature of 39˚C or higher, call your local surgery for an urgent GP appointment. If they are closed call 111.
For older babies, get urgent medical help from your doctor if the fever goes on for more than 5 days, if ibuprofen or paracetamol doesn’t bring it down or if they have any other symptoms. There are also times when it’s best to call 999. See this NHS guide.
The NHS recommend a digital thermometer. The definition of a fever changes (slightly) with age, so you can buy ‘age precision’ thermometers. Just input the age and it alerts you to a fever without you having to check.
But any thermometer can be used at any age so there’s no reason why the baby thermometer you buy now can’t be used when they are 132 years old. (Although we’ll probably have inbuilt digital temperature readings on our foreheads by then.)
9. Car sunshades
Unless you’ve got a blacked-out limousine (or just well-tinted windows) you will probably end up with some kind of car sunshade for the rear windows during the summer months. Not only will they keep the car cooler but protect your baby’s delicate skin from UVA rays.
During last summer’s heatwave, when I was forced to leave my darkened room and get in the car, I was very glad I’d kept my car sunshades. Mostly as my son acted like every inch of the car was lava every time he got in and would refuse to sit down. I once also put a large ice pack on his seat before a journey to minimise the complaints. It can be hard enough to strap a kid into a car so keep hold of those car sunshades until they’re seventeen and can drive themselves.
I have the Jellybabababy ones, which are the ones that go over the frame of the car door so you can still have the window open. The air conditioning in our car is very poor so cool breezes are definitely needed in the summer. Plus it acts as a bug screen and stops insects from flying in. I also like that the mesh doesn’t completely disrupt the view. The window can still be seen through for games of I spy and my terrible parallel parking. The only downside is that they look terrible. They look like someone broke the window and we’ve done a very cheap, temporary fix. But in the height of summer, I really don’t care.
10. High chair
Before you get concerned, I’m not strapping my five-year-old into a baby’s high chair for every meal time. But when I started weaning him, I got the DanChair by Baby Dan, which is used at a dining table and grows with your child. It can be used from six months old and is adjustable so that it’s perfectly fine as a chair into adulthood.
The simple design comes in a range of colours to (hopefully) blend into your other dining furniture. It’s also got very long feet to prevent it from tipping over which is great when you’ve got a hyperactive child that needs constant reminding not to rock on their chair.
The downside is there is no tray. So it has to be placed at a table. I also found the baby harness quite tricky and ended up just not using it. There is a brace that holds babies in place though, which can be easily removed when they are older.
The big rival to the Danish DanChair is the Norwegian Stokke Tripp Trapp. The Tripp Trapp is more expensive and often seen as the original but actually came out a year after the DanChair in 1972. It can be fitted with a tray though. Another similar chair is the Safetots Grow With Me.
11. Baby food storage pots
These are great for batch-cooking baby food and then freezing or refrigerating them in portion sizes. But these small pots have a multitude of uses beyond weaning. I’ve used them for:
Portions of food for a preschool lunchbox
Taking endless snacks out with us
Chilling or freezing small portions of leftovers
An impromptu water bowl for the dog when out walking
Decanting vitamins when going away
And I’ll stop there before I bore you. You get the picture. They are very useful.
12. Vacuum flask
Not me. Yet.
I originally bought a thermos flask to keep water hot for making formula feeds. The water should be at least 70˚C when it meets the powder, in order to kill any bacteria present. I found it useful to have a flask of just boiled water for night feeds and for making feeds when out and about.
The one I chose was by a German company which has been around since 1936. The 500ml Esbit flask can keep water above 70˚C for six hours. And the 1000ml can achieve that for 12 hours. It’s also great as it has a one-handed pouring lid.
When I bought it I knew it would outlast the baby feeding. I kind of imagined I’d be using it on mountain hikes. The reality is I fill it in the morning and then have a few cups of tea without having to reboil the kettle. I know this is quite lazy and probably only saves me about 2p a day. But until I get around to that mountain, I’m glad I’m still using it.
There are cheaper flasks out there which claim to keep the water above 70˚C for a certain amount of time. The Flintronic is popular as it also has an LED screen which displays the temperature of the water.
13. Baby blankets
Not only do I still use pretty much all my son’s baby blankets, but I also use my own baby blanket, which is well over 40 years old.
I put his old small cellular ones over him if he’s ever cold in the car in the winter. (Children shouldn’t wear bulky coats in a car seat. It’s not as essential in booster seats where the car’s seat belt is used but it is still recommended).
The bigger ones, I throw over myself in the evening on the sofa. With those and my constant supply of hot drinks, courtesy of my flask, I’m sorted for winter and hopefully will save about £3 million by putting the heating on fractionally less.
That’s all the ones that have stuck around for me. Here are some baby products that I didn’t use myself with ways they can justify their place on your checklist.
Changing table
If you decide to get a changing table, realistically it won’t last the length of time your baby is in nappies. It will be hard to wrestle a toddler onto the surface and even harder to keep them there. After a certain age, a nappy change is most likely to take place on the floor or while they’re standing up and trying to run away.
So if you’re going to buy this piece of furniture, make sure it’s got some staying power by choosing one which doubles up as a chest of drawers.
Changing bag
I never bought a baby changing bag. I just used an old rucksack. But if you have nothing suitable and are tempted by all the handy pockets and baby-friendly elements, get one which can outlive your baby changing days. There are many you can get which don’t scream ‘baby’ and have extra features like a padded laptop pocket.
UV steriliser
Out of all the sterilisers, a UV one has the best chance of being used for the longest. The fact it uses no water means it can sterilise a really wide range of objects. So once baby bottles are no longer used, you can still disinfect cuddly toys, remote controls, makeup brushes - anything you fancy.
Nursing chair
A stylish nursing chair which wouldn’t look out of place in a child-free home with some added cushions and a throw means you don’t have to find a new home for it once your breastfeeding days are over. And even if it’s not the most attractive one, put it in your bedroom and use it as a temporary wardrobe, which appears to be the fate of all the chairs in my house.
Are they are any other baby products which you’ve found to outlive babyhood and are still useful some years later? Let me know in the comments below.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Annabel Port is the founder of Get Get Got and in a former life a Sony award-winning radio presenter. After the birth of her son, she brought her forensic research skills to the world of baby products to help new parents not repeat her mistakes.