What baby items can I buy at consignment sale?

[heatherly2475]

There is a fabulous children's consignment sale coming in August and I am wondering what items I can safely buy used for my soon to be born DS? The sale occurs twice a year so I will be buying for the 0-6 or 7 months stages. This is my first child so I don't fully know what I will need or want yet. I am thinking of a high chair and an exersaucer thing, clothes, and a carrier or sling. What other items do you folks think I may see there that could be purchased in advance? This sale is huge and has everything! Clothes, gear, toys, you name it. I went this spring and was thoroughly impressed; some items I bought were brand spanking new in the package! And of course everything is so affordable I hate to miss an opportunity to get something I'll need or want later! Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

[Momof3Labs]

Sounds great!! Personally, I would stay away from car seats, but that's about it. It might help if you looked through the CPSC site (for recalls) and made some notes, then you could stay away from anything that you know has been recalled (say, within the last 2-3 years).

[stillplayswithbarbies]

I'm probably too picky, but I wouldn't buy anything that would get food or spit up on it that can't be sterilized. So I would not buy a used high chair or boppy. But that's just me. :) I would buy used bottles, since they can be sterilized, but I would not buy used nipples because you don't know how old they are and they wear out.

Definitely buy used clothes, especially when you can inspect them in person to see if they are stained or torn. (be sure and try out the snaps to make sure they are not broken, I got an outfit on eBay that won't stay snapped because a snap is bent)

I wouldn't buy a used pack n play because babies chew on the top rail and I don't see how it could be cleaned/sterilized. But I guess if I could see it and it looked clean and hardly used that would be different.

Try to familiarize yourself with the usual prices of the things you are interested in so you can tell if you are getting a good deal or not. Sometimes used items cost almost as much as you can find them new when you look for sales.

...Karen
Jacob Nathaniel Feb 91
Logan Elizabeth Mar 03

[KathyO]

I second the bit about avoiding car seats. I am the Second-Hand Queen, so I adore consignment stores, but am less fond of consignment sales because sometimes they can be real stampedes, so you have only moments in which to evaluate an item, think it over, and decide whether or not to buy it. So, err on the side of caution, in general.

For clothing - go for it, but always inspect for stains, and snaps which have ripped free of the fabric. Also imagine putting the item on a child... I despise any outfit where you have to dismantle and remove the whole thing just to change a diaper. For young babies, watch for buttons and whatnot in the back that will be uncomfortable for them to lie on. For tiny babies, avoid white stuff, and sleepers with those big white lapel collars which are EXCELLENT for showing off those indelible spit-up stains... Clothing manufacturers clearly do not have babies of their own...

For gear and toys - if you're really serious, bring a couple packages of various batteries to make sure that battery-powered items really work. Swings can be chancy - for some reason, the motors in the battery-powered ones can often poop out after a certain amount of "mileage", so they swing fine when they're empty, and become completely inert when you put an actual baby in them. For gear that folds up, make sure that it still folds and unfolds smoothly, and that none of the components are bent, or look like they've had rough use.

Some folks are iffy on used breast pumps - search the Maternity/Nursing Clothes and Feeding Baby section for the threads on this subject. I'd also avoid used nipples if they look too roughed-up and gnawed on, because they do develop holes and break after a certain amount of use. But I would go ahead with nipples that look brand-new -- all too often, they were part of a failed experiment to get the baby to use that kind of bottle, and only got used once! Just boil'em and off you go.

On the issue of sterilizability, I confess that I am less worried about this than some others. For a start, most of the stuff that really tiny babies touch can be easily cleaned (clothes, bottles, teething rings etc.), and once they're a little older, they'll be taking in the germs left right and centre anyway - mouthing adults' shoes if they can, eating dirt, kissing the dog on the lips, and all sorts of other fun stuff. On the more philosophical plane, I am a believer in the hygiene hypothesis - that is to say, children's immune systems are designed to take on a very germy world, and when their environment is too sterile, the system does not develop properly and we see more asthma and allergies. I'm really not trying to pick a fight with anyone else's approach here - this is just what I figure, based on the research I've done for me and mine. You can decide what works for you.

Happy bargain hunting!

Cheers,

KathyO