In this article, I continue my discussion of What a Baby Needs that I began a couple of weeks ago (you can see the first two parts HERE and HERE). In this article, I’m taking the contrarian approach of listing a few items that are generally considered necessities for a baby that we decided to do without. Some of these items made their way into our home as gifts, a couple of which we ended up using because they were nearby and convenient, but others of which we didn’t ever use even though they were in the handy.

Before I post this list, I again want to reiterate that my list is not meant to be an absolute list or a list for every one in every possible circumstance. My goal in posting both what I think a Baby needs and the things I think a Baby does not need is not to point fingers at anyone who made different decisions than we did. My goal is simply to help you to think before you buy.

Baby gear is a multi-billion dollar industry. There are a lot of people who are making a ton of money by convincing you that your Baby needs everything under the sun in order to thrive (or even to survive, they may claim!). My articles are not to say that you shouldn’t buy or use these things, my articles are simply here to say that you should think carefully before you buy and make a conscious choice before you bring a whole bunch of stuff into your home. (Honestly, I’d encourage that with any purchase, not only with baby gear.)

So if you’re concerned about the environmental impact of the tons of baby gear that ends up in landfills, or you live in a small space, or you subscribe to a minimalist philosophy, or you’re on a tight budget, or you’re simply tired of marketing folks telling you what you need: these lists are for you. These lists are here as a starting place, and are meant to spur thought and conversation.

Always, if you think a particular item will be helpful to you and your family, by all means purchase one. If there was a magical sleep device that would help my 2-year-old to sleep through the night instead of continuing to wake 5-8 times a night, you better believe I would buy one and give it a try.

All that said, here are 7 things that Babies do not Need:

1. A Crib. We did not buy a crib. Instead, when my boys were babies, they slept with us. This made nighttime breast-feeding So Much Easier, as I could just roll over, nurse the baby, and then fall back asleep instead of having to get up out of bed, pull Baby out of a crib, sit down somewhere to nurse, then resettle us all into our separate beds. Also, your baby will want to be with you; nature programmed babies to want to be with their parents.When my first son got old enough to transition to his own sleeping space, we simply put him on an organic twin mattress on the floor (this way, it was low in case he rolled off). We didn’t buy a toddler bed or any other sleeping apparatus that would only be used for a short period of time.
2. A Stroller. Although we were gifted a stroller, we wouldn’t have bought one. In fact, we never ended up using the stroller we had, though it sat in our house for years. Instead, as described in What a Baby Needs (see HERE), we used a carrier (like THIS and THIS).While in a carrier, Baby can hear and see everything you’re doing. He’ll be up at the level of the action, instead of always being far below it. He’ll also feel snuggled close, which helps to keep babies happy. In addition, it’s so much easier to get around places without having a bulky stroller to contend with (I’ve watched a lot of women, both friends and strangers, struggle with this over the years).
3. A Baby Bathtub. We didn’t buy a baby bathtub. We washed our boys with a wet washrag, in the sink, or just sat in the big tub with Baby in our laps as we cleaned him. You can easily get by without an extra piece of plastic cluttering up your bathroom.
4. Baby Towels. We didn’t buy baby towels. We were given a couple of them, which we ended up using because we had them (and they were very cute with their little hoods). However, I definitely wouldn’t recommend going out and buying any. We had regular bath towels that would have worked just fine for drying off a baby.
5. A Changing Table. We didn’t buy a special changing table. In our first house, we set a pad with a cover on a counter in the bathroom (that bathroom had a weirdly long counter top) and changed our baby there. In our current home, we set a mat on top of a dresser. We also use a mat or towel on the floor. And if your child wiggles a lot, a mat or towel on the floor is probably the safest place for him anyway.
6. Toys. Please take my word when I say that you don’t ever have to buy toys for your little one. Toys will appear and multiply in your house without you ever buying a single thing. If you have a preference as to the type of toys that you want, then you can share that as you feel comfortable. For example, we try to avoid plastics in our home, so we’ve gently asked family members and close friends to be considerate of that when giving gifts to our boys – a request which some people heed better than others.In spite of the fact that I can count on one hand the number of toys I’ve bought over the years (though I do buy lots of books and art supplies), there are times when I feel like we’re overflowing with toys. So again, toys will more than likely just show up. Importantly, Baby does not need toys for healthy development. Baby needs your loving attention and to interact with her environment. And, like my boys, she’ll probably prefer a wooden spoon or a measuring cup anyway.

The above are 6 things that are highly marketed to parents. I hope by giving a non-mainstream view of what a Baby does and does not need, you might be able to avoid ending up with a bunch of things in your home that you don’t find particularly useful.

What standard recommendations do you think a Baby can do Without? Did you find any of the above to be absolute necessities for you?