Open Thread: Name The Baby Gift You Didn’t Ask For But Now Can’t Live Without

When Daughter #1 came along I diligently did my research and registered for every baby gift I thought we needed. Endless muslin blankets? Check! Ergo carrier and newborn insert? Check, check! Enough diapers to create a bed of diapers big enough for me to sleep on? All the checks! But the gifts I didn’t ask for were often the ones that were truly life-saving. In particular, the giant cardboard box of chux underpads a friend sent us from a medical supply company.

Pee pads. Seriously.

At first I was all, “Da f*ck is this? Couldn’t they have just gone on my registry and Amazon Primed me that fancy baby food maker I MUST HAVE?!” But then my baby blasted her first newborn poop all over our diaper changing pad and I quickly saw the light. We put the chux underneath her every time we did a diaper change, and on the floor so our she could chill out naked without dropping runny poop bombs all over the rug. They were incredible. I now send boxes of them to everyone I knew expecting a kid. And I never used the baby food maker.

Your turn – What’s your favorite unexpectedly awesome baby gift? (And what did you think you needed that ended up being a total waste?)