I’m Not Throwing Away That Bottle Rack and Neither Should You
If you’ve crawled the Buy/Sell/Trade groups of Facebook or ever used an app to sell kids clothes (here are a few good ones), chances are you already know the drill — Kids outgrow it and you sell it, donate it or trash it if you’re not a DIY goddess of some sort. But not everything in your collection of baby goods needs to be outgrown. Here are a few other uses (upcycled I guess you could call them) for some of that baby gear . . . or simply 5 items I still use even 5-years postpartum. Don’t judge.
1. Pregnancy Pants
I made an effort to stay in my regular clothes as much as I could during my pregnancy not only because we were super low on income back then, but because I was just hoping not to need a whole new wardrobe. But I ended up buying about 5 pregnancy shirts, 2 pregnancy dress pants for work and one pair of jeans that I didn’t need until I was about 6 months in . . . and then later relapsed to when the kiddo turned 4 (thank you Toddler 20 & Preschooler30). Guess it’s a good thing I didn’t get rid of these puppies!
2. Bottle Drying Rack
Savannah was exclusively breastfed because she absolutely wouldn’t take a bottle (and we tried bottles and bottles), so though it didn’t get much use back when the kiddo was an infant, I bought a bottle drying rack. In toddler years I started using the rack to dry her snack cups and what not, and now that the kiddo is 5 it’s used for water bottles and stacking snack cups. I just gave my mom our old Munchkin Bottle Drying Rack because she wanted it for her water bottles and I wanted to get this cool new Boon Grass one for the S’ip by S’well bottle — It just looks prettier left out.
3. Diaper Ointment
OK I’m not talking the butt paste heavy duty kind, but a little SheaMoisture Raw Shea Chamomile Argan Oil Baby Head-To-Toe Ointment and some Natural Boudreaux’s Paste Diaper Rash Cream come to the rescue when my daughter gets rashes from toilet paper getting stuck places, or if either of us have some sort of heat rash going on.
4. Baby Clothes & Blankets
I saved my absolute favorite baby clothes to make a quilt for the kiddo someday (and in the hopes of having another baby in the future), but some of the outfits are perfect for Savannah’s dolls and stuffed toys to wear now. She carries a few dolls around that she says are her sisters so she especially likes to get them dressed for the day. She uses her baby blankets to set up little beds for her toys, too, and they come in handy when family visits.
5. Wipes Warmer
I haven’t done this yet, but I have a natural wipes warmer in the garage that I plan to use for keeping face cloths warm for either my evening face wash routine (why not start one?) or wiping the kiddo’s face at night. The idea of a towel warmer just sounds so serene — It reminds me of visiting the spa, or how some manicurists apply a warm towel to your hands and arms after a light massage. Maybe I’ll even give myself a nice at-home facial with a complimentary hot towel over the mask!
I feel like I’m forgetting some (you know, mommy brain), but I’ll leave it at this for now. What baby items do you still use even though you’re kiddo isn’t a baby anymore?