Most mums and especially, first time mums, tend to hoard everything baby-related, be it for sentimental reasons or “just in case” we need it for the next child.
Sure, baby #2 can have hand-me-down clothes and shoes (ideally if they are of the same sex), and toys and books, but what about the rest of the baby paraphernalia?
Yes, some things are important and will be sentimental (I still have the first little pair of booties my twins ever wore and their first teddies), but some things are not necessary to hold on to (the first teether, really?).
So which baby items should you save, and which ones should you donate or dispose of?
The good news is that there is no wrong or right answer. Your memories are yours alone, and only you know how you feel about keeping everything that your precious baby has ever used or touched.
Deciding to get rid of a few things doesn’t make you a bad mom. And you’re going to want to make new memories with baby #2 in the future too, so it’s only fair to make space for them now.
Here’s my advice on how to save the important stuff and how to let go off other baby things guilt-free:
Understand the chaos that unnecessary clutter brings
It’s so nice holding onto every little memory — until you see how much space it’s taken up. And in my case, I had two of EVERYTHING!
Hoarding eats into everyone’s space, frustrates them, and then gives us (mums) the added burden of having to carefully store and manage the stuff earmarked for later — either for your own child once they are a little older or for child #2.
Trust me, it’s very time-consuming preserving things until a child is old enough to (potentially) use them. And naturally, the more stuff you have, the more time is spent (wasted) cleaning and tidying up. Constantly!
And because there is so much stuff, chances are that you will never really find what you need at the right time because everything stays lost forever in your mountain of clutter.
Be honest about why you’re holding onto something
Ask yourself if you are really holding onto a memory by holding onto something from your baby’s past? Or are you worried that if you get rid of it, you’re going to lose your connection with a special memory forever?
It’s very bittersweet for me to accept that my babies have grown up. But that’s life. If I kept everything from every stage of their lives, I would have no space for anything else in the house.
While I might not have been able to hold onto everything I wanted for practical reasons (Singapore’s humidity is terrible when you’re trying to preserve baby shoes and avoid brown age spots on clothes for instance), I also have learnt that preserving one or two prized sentimental things is much better than having a box full of baby stuff that eventually gets spoilt over the years and could have been useful to someone else.
Mums, when you let go of something, know that you’re only letting go of the physical item — the memory attached to it will stay with you forever.
Decide what to keep
If you’re planning to have more children sooner rather than later, it might make ($$) sense to hold onto some of your favourite maternity wear pieces, as well as baby furniture things such as the stroller, car seat or baby crib.
As for the softer things, pick your top 5 favourite each for clothes, books and toys.
For instance, you might want to keep baby’s first clothes when they came home from the hospital — I didn’t keep that onesie, but I still have the blankets that each of the twins was swaddled in. There’s no one formula that works for everyone
Note: For anything battery-operated, remove the batteries when putting the item in storage, or you run the risk of the batteries leaking and corroding your toy.
Also, be prepared to get a little emotional as you go down memory lane, but resist the temptation to just keep everything again!
Decide what to keep as hand-me-downs
Whether you’re planning to have another baby or want to give friends and cousins some of your loved hand-me-downs, long-term things like a highchair, stroller, bassinet, car seat, crib (without the mattress), the diaper bag and a bouncer can certainly be passed down if they are in good condition.
If you went overboard with soft toys with your baby, now might be a good time to pass them on too. Keep your baby’s favourite ones and hand them down to someone else — just make sure you wash these dust magnets properly first.
As for books, clothes and toys, make sure that they too are in good condition and aren’t falling apart. You are sharing your baby’s first things, so take pride in them.
Donate or discard the rest
Everything else that doesn’t fit into the two piles above should either be donated or discarded.
For donations, ensure that you have all the required pieces/parts and everything is clean, safe and still in good enough quality to be used again. For instance, you might not need those pregnancy books anymore now, so donate them to someone who could put them to better use.
And despite your best intentions, don’t feel obligated to keep everything people have bought for your baby. Instead, donate them so that someone else can use them at least.
But when it comes to personal items like pacifiers and teethers, they are mostly made of silicone or rubber, both of which usually become brittle and break down over time (hello #microplastics).
Err on the side of caution and discard these. Ditto for bottles and breast pumps for the sake of hygiene (unless you’re having another child very close to the first one, so there isn’t too much storage time involved).
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This article was first published in Wonderwall.sg.
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