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“We need to get a travel swing for when we go to someone’s house, we might need it,” said my wife as I was glancing at the $70 price tag. I am not a miser when it comes to my daughter by any means, but as a consumer we have to throw in the towel on all the things we “need.” Seventy-five percent of the items in baby stores didn’t exist when we were babies, and we clearly didn’t need them.

From play yards to playmates to bouncy chairs to a million things you can connect to a stroller, new parents are bombarded with items, and it really does get confusing. The worst is when some hack with a laptop and a blog states their daughter spoke after a month because she had a special white noise machine that cost $300.

Thanks to one night time sleeper blog stating the “need” of a wipes warmer, there’s a $40 dollar warmer in the nursery. By the way, we’re on vacation, and she has been sleeping 8+ hours a night with the warmer at home. That will be a return to the store once my car pulls into our driveway.

Baby Jesus didn’t even have a bassinet or crib. He slept in a manger and turned out quite fine. In fact, I hear a rumor that His parents opted not to buy the white noise machine with projector, and all was well.

With all cynicism aside there are things that aren’t needed but are a huge convenience and a majority more which should be banned from shopping carts. The trick is discovering the winners from the losers.

My rule of thumb is looking at what my wife or I complain about the most. For instance, we would run into the room every time my daughter made a peep, and 99% of them were nothing. So, we found it best for our sanity to buy a video monitor. She was a crazy sleeper and would wiggle out of the swaddled blankets, so we found ones with Velcro.

Embrace new innovation, but don’t think you need each one.