Bringing Up Baby: What You Really Need (And Don't)

When my son was a year old, I allowed the very nice man in a very nice toy store to sell me the hot educational toy of that holiday season: a large soft cube, each side sporting a fine-motor-skills-enhancing object (a zipper, a dial, a button). When you turned the cube, you would hear a brief strain of Bach, played by a different instrument on each side. My son gave it—as he gave so many of the expensive toys I fell for—only the briefest attention. But if I opened the kitchen cupboard and let him stack the Tupperware, or showed him how to squirt water with a turkey baster, he would remain focused and happy for a good half hour.

It's tempting to think that if we just have the right stuff, we will be prepared for the travails of parenthood. At a time when Americans spend $6 billion a year on baby equipment—and when the hippest stroller will set you back $730—it's useful to remember that children can thrive without a lot of fancy gear. What follows is a guide to the products your child does not need—and a few things that really do make life easier, without undue impact on the environment.

Three Things You Can Skip
ExerSaucer and Other Activity Centers
Many parents are passionately devoted to these stationary contraptions, which suspend the child in a large plastic doughnut affixed with toys and other tchotchkes. In their favor, they do provide a safe place to park the baby while the parent indulges in the luxury of a shower. But according to Maureen Lenke, an occupational therapist at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge, Illinois, babies who spend a lot of time in these devices are slower to develop their gross motor skills. Because the toy encourages babies to push with their toes in order to swivel the seat, they "don't have to use their rotational trunk muscles" to turn their bodies, Lenke explains. These muscles are important for sitting, crawling and walking. The toe-pushing movement also tends to build tight calf muscles, which can lead to delays in walking or to an abnormal tiptoeing gait. (The same goes, she says, for those amusing doorway bouncers.) Lenke points out that normally these motor delays are not permanent and that babies who use them "usually catch up." But "late crawlers and walkers are not exploring their environment, which can lead to delayed cognitive skills as well," she says. Babies need to spend plenty of time on the floor, where they have the freedom to move and explore.

For that crucial 10-minute shower break, try cordoning off a child-proofed space with a safe baby gate. Consumer Reports' top 2004 ratings went to The First Years' Simple & Secure Stair Gate and Evenflo's Secure Solutions Swing Gate (see consumerreports.org).

Diaper Genie and Other Disposal Systems
These fancy garbage cans, popular gifts at baby showers nationwide, are intended to keep the nursery smelling sweet by encasing each baby biohazard in its own pocket of plastic. When the bin is full, you throw away a long string of plastic-wrapped diapers, like a link of fat sausages. I was seduced by this device too, but found that unless I emptied it daily—and it holds 30 diapers, even though infants on average go through only 10 a day—its smell was pretty powerful. And since the bin itself absorbed the smell, it was seriously unpleasant to have around, even after scrubbing it with a good eco-cleaner. Save all that extra plastic; put diapers in your regular trash!