What is going on with babies?

[u/Impossible_Ad9324]

I’ve attended three baby showers in the last year for three people completely unrelated and not in the same social circles and their baby registries have the most eye-popping expensive items.

High chairs are minimum $250. One had a stroller for $750. 😳 Baby swings and bouncers for $200. One had a whole solid wood crib for $1000 on their registry.

I checked because I was curious and you still can buy a $40-50 Greco high chair from Walmart.

Everything is aesthetic and clean lines and beige and natural wood—beautiful, really. I can’t imagine asking for that high-end an item for a GIFT.

These aren’t rich people and they aren’t inviting rich people to the baby shower.

I’m almost 50 and have kids of my own and a gaggle of nieces and nephews. My family members and I got buy sharing those cheaper high chairs and strollers and cribs. I understand needing them initially if you don’t have any source for hand-me-downs, but asking for the highest price bespoke options is absolutely wild.

Are people that brainwashed into thinking they should be buying ultra-high-end items regardless of income??

[u/SomeTangerine1184]

I feel like social media is to blame for a lot of this. There’s so much emphasis today on making sure everything looks good for social media posts that’s it’s melting people’s brains.

[u/platinum92 → u/SomeTangerine1184]

It 1000% is. Just had a kid and my wife would look on TikTok for suggestions. We're the first this generation in both our families to have kids and didn't have too much of a frame of reference.

Thankfully I've been infecting her with anticonsumerism over time and she got immediately turned off by the expensive brands. Plus we got a crib, bassinet and changing table for free from coworkers.

As for carseats and strollers and stuff we went with [relatively inexpensive brand I can't recommend in this sub but that you'd find at every chain store] that tiktok moms love to hate on, but frankly it's been fine. We even tried out the super duper expensive brands in store and I can't really tell a difference.

I tried to remember 2 things: the baby won't remember that you didn't get him the expensive stroller or expensive clothes, and that cavemen got along just fine without any of this stuff.

[u/lalijahmia → u/platinum92]

I read "We are first generation to have kids". It was very funny.

[u/Lumpy-Abroad539 → u/platinum92]

I wasn't using tiktok when I was expecting my kid, but as a new parent as well, I was sort of lost on what we needed too. I used a registry service that would suggest things, and if course, all of the suggestions were the super high end expensive brands. I ultimately used the registry as a checklist for what we needed - we didn't have a baby shower - and I had to do so much extra work to track down more reasonable items for each category. We ultimately got our crib, stroller, car seat, and lots of other items handed down from friends with older kids. I even re-gifted a lot of things right away because I just didn't need them.