Where have all the simple baby items gone?

[sew_crafty_girl]

My first 2 were born in 1998 and 2000.

I had a bouncy seat that was just a bouncy seat and a swing that just swung! No music, mobiles, vibrating... I managed to find an exersaucer (my first 2 loved theirs) 2nd hand that is pretty basic.

DH and I went to buy a crib at BRU yesterday because they had a simple one on sale for $99.

I looked around the store and was amazed by all the overstimulating, uncessary items there.

Help an out of practice mom out? I'm not much of an online shopper and I'm in Canada, but maybe that's the way I'll need to go.

[Riverbeauty]

I know what you mean! I got a swing from a friend that we just took the vibrator/musical batteries out of...

[NH mom]

My then 5 yr old ds sat in my lovely bouncy that was only a bouncy and it cracked. I still can't find one I like as well and I've been looking now for 3 years!

[DoulaAlicia]

Uh oh, what has happened to the bouncy seats in the last few years? I need a new one and fear they have changed horribly?

[Jenica]

Ohh, I so agree, all these bells and whistles on toys these days is a huge pet peeve of mine. I found a bassinet by Eddie Bauer that is just a bassinet but it seems like most things have some electronic element. My best friend is dead set on getting me this musical glowing toy for the crib because her daughter wouldn't fall asleep without it and I don't want to hurt her feelings but I don't want it. Why would I want to condition my baby to only be able to sleep if she/he has that particular toy. I like toys that kids actually have to use their imagination to play with. Melissa and Doug seems to be a good brand for toys but for the other baby items I don't know.

[jenfl]

Yeah, shopping for simple things is so hard!

An interesting consequence of choosing not to have noisy or battery-operated toys in the house -- DD is now terrified of them. We can't go over to other people's houses or into mainstream toy stores without her breaking down about some musical ball or dancing Elmo. I never really expected that.

[Robbins0614]

We chose to have nothing with batteries in our house or to take the batteries out. It was the only way I could stand certain baby items since I couldn't find simple items. They all had flashy lights, sounds, or vibrations. Drove me crazy. And, can you imagine the cost of batteries if you actually used all of those items that require batteries? DH would have to get a second job! Now we also avoid toys with batteries. Fortunately they don't scare DS but he only gets to play with them at other people's houses or at church. I'm with you, Jenica, on imagination and toys!

[hayleyvt]

Originally Posted by Robbins0614

We chose to have nothing with batteries in our house or to take the batteries out. It was the only way I could stand certain baby items since I couldn't find simple items. They all had flashy lights, sounds, or vibrations. Drove me crazy. And, can you imagine the cost of batteries if you actually used all of those items that require batteries? DH would have to get a second job! Now we also avoid toys with batteries. Fortunately they don't scare DS but he only gets to play with them at other people's houses or at church. I'm with you, Jenica, on imagination and toys!

I also don't put batteries in most toys..although we do have on or two around.

My favorite bouncy seat with my son was never turned on (it vibrated), and we would tap the end with our foot to make it go! He loved it, I really wish it made it through for this one. I would check out consignment shops for the classic baby items....they check for recalls (they should at least), and it is much cheaper.

[sew_crafty_girl]

Originally Posted by jenfl

Yeah, shopping for simple things is so hard!

An interesting consequence of choosing not to have noisy or battery-operated toys in the house -- DD is now terrified of them. We can't go over to other people's houses or into mainstream toy stores without her breaking down about some musical ball or dancing Elmo. I never really expected that.

That's really interesting.

I know there will be lots of musical, stimulating toys in our house as baby gets older that will drive me nuts and I will hate, but I'm just so surprised at the amount of Infant stuff with bells and whistles.

[Pepper44]

I have noticed the same thing about baby items! My DD has always gotten over stimulated easily...she doesn't like loud toys at all. She only has one battery operated toy. It's that big house toy that plays music and has a giant light switch and a door bell and things. She loves the song radio on it. Otherwise none of our toys require batteries!

The exersaucers are the worst, in my opinion. There are so many toys attached to the tray! As a baby my DD would have freaked out at not being able to pull them off. I found an exersaucer with an empty tray for $3 at Goodwill once and she loved it for short periods of time before she learned to walk.

This is the bouncy seat we got as a gift for DD, and we will get it out again for this baby.
http://www.amazon.com/Fisher-Price-O...8148862&sr=8-2

You can turn the bubbles on in the little aquarium, or the music on, or the vibrating on the seat. Or you can just not put the toy bar on the chair, the chair still functions fine without it! Without the toy bar it's just a plain bouncy seat.

[Sk8ermaiden]

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[ivymae]

I completely agree, and while i have been able to find simple items, they are $$$$$ and i am way too cheap for them.

Like this: http://www.csnbaby.com/bloom-E10601-CCW-OOM1049.html or this: http://www.csnbaby.com/Cariboo-C8412-1-VE1053.html

Most of our baby stuff has been thrifted/handed down from friends, so we have been fairly lucky about finding simple toys on a budget. Of course, then I gave away all of that stuff after DD2 was born.... We'll see what make it's way back to us, but I can see taking off the flashy bars and batteries out of loads of things.

[GreenTeaGinger61]

You know I saw some bouncey seats at Target that were fairly simple. One was a Boppy brand and the other was Bjorn I think. Both were nice with no gadgets except for the vibrating aspect (my kids HATED that feature by the way). Also Ikea has some nice simple items at reasonable prices.

We're not anti-battery. My son has a remote control truck, and my daugther as a couple of Fur Real animals but these things are normally not functioning:P Batteries are expensive! Luckily my kids never liked the flashy baby toys and while not scared were defintely cautious around them.

[boheime]

Slings are pretty simple.

[prancie]

ITA about crazy baby stuff. We live in a very small house and refused all swings, bouncy seats etc. I did fine with slings and mei tais and and a mini arms reach cosleeper. Later I did get an exersaucer but gave it away a few months after that.

[Riverbeauty]

Originally Posted by boheime

Slings are pretty simple.

yep! I am going to be wearing baby a lot!

[dogretro]

You can take the toy bar off of the bouncy seat and then it is just a regular seat. I do like the vibration feature b/c a lot of babies really do enjoy it. And you can still easily bounce the chair w/ your foot ~ that is how I got our last foster baby to sleep every night!

Every. Single. Baby. Is different. We had one who would only sleep at night in the swing *with it swinging*. I was so excited to see swings that actually plug in instead of needing 43788923 batteries.

We have a Waldorf-inspired play philosophy, so our baby toys are extremely simple, too. We have a regular playmat by Baby Einstein, but you can clip anything to it, not just flashing, singing toys. I'm so used to reading Mothering that when I read other magazines (some parenting, some not), I get blown away by just how many toys are flashy, bright, electronic, plastic toys! The toy store we always go to is a natural toys place, so I'm not even used to seeing this crap in stores, either!

Jenica ~ There have been threads on Melissa & Doug around here. I know b/c I started one last year after reading Mothering's best toys of 2008! Turns out that a ton of people have problems w/ the paint chipping off. I always thought they were a great brand until I read (and saw from friends' toys) about the paints. Brands like Plan Toys and Haba make similar toys and their paints are bright and do not chip

[Jackies Ladybug]

i'm having a hard time finding a replacement bouncy seat as well, i am going to check thrift stores and i may have to make my own cover. i hate the designs on most of them!

melissa and doug toys- i bought a few, was bummed out to see they are made in china and most are made of MDF not wood. most of them are worse than plastic IMO

i now use plan toys and there are some amazing handmade wood toys on etsy that i would highly recommend!

[jsh7809]

Seriously! All of the simple stuff I remember from being a kid and having siblings is outdated... and of course a lot of it is "no longer safe enough" for today's babies.
We're trying to choose the simplest, nicest stuff but it's overwhelming just looking.
And parents who tell you you have to start the baby watching Baby Einstein DVDs, etc - don't even get me started!

[Jenica]

Oh wow, thanks for the head's up on the Melissa and Doug toys. It's a shame they take such a great concept and cheap out on the manufacturing and ruin it. I'll have to check out the Plan toys they sound great.

Jess, the Baby Einstein, ugh, I hate that too. I think they should call it, and other "kids" shows, kid crack. I studied ADD/ADHD in college so I'm always interested in articles about it. About 5 years ago I read an article on how watching a lot of TV, and especially these flashy kid shows before the age of two, leads to a much higher incidence of ADD. They explained that it had to do with the development of the attention span. In real life when we look around there's always a gradual change of what we see, the picture doesn't flash from one scene to the next. On TV, the camera changes take away that gradual shift in picture and the article says kids get used to those quick changes and their attention spans don't develop. Admittedly, baby einstein isn't too bad about that but I hardly think it's going to make your kid smarter. The worst, IMO, is The Wiggles, that one is downright hypnotic with all the flashiness. My nephew would be visiting and watching the wiggles and my husband would go to walk through the room and get sucked in. I'd walk in to see them both staring zombie-like at the TV. My husband now thinks the wiggles are a bit scary. He can't believe how it sucks him in.