When I was pregnant, I was astonished by the range of expensive products that are out there for babies, and at the marketing that makes parents think that they need to get this P5000 bouncy chair or that P12000 stroller.

I've tried to be as sensible as possible with my purchases. I've had hits and misses: some purchases I later realized I didn't really need, others I'm really glad I bought. The thing about expensive purchases, however, is that you want to make sure that you're actually going to end up using what you bought, rather than letting it go to waste.

So here's my list of things that cost more than P1000 that I'm really glad I bought.


1. Crib Mobile.
For some reason I couldn't find any cheap mobiles when I went mobile-shopping. The cheapest I could find was P1250 -- on sale from P2500! -- and it was a wind-up kind. But boy, does that mobile get a lot of use! We change our baby in the crib, and we turn it on during every diaper change so he doesn't squirm around too much. We also turn it on to entertain him especially when we need a short break to shower or check e-mail or whatever. We're definitely glad we got a colorful mobile with high-contrast colors. And in retrospect, we should've spent the additional P2000 to buy an electronic mobile so that we wouldn't need to keep winding the mobile up every few minutes.

2. Boppy Nursing Pillow.
There are cheap nursing pillows and expensive nursing pillows. I bought an expensive one, a Boppy, which I ordered from the US. Aside from being a great nursing pillow, it's a good "seat" to prop up baby with when he's sitting on the bed. (Of course babies should never be left unattended on their parents' beds once they can roll over.)


3. Fisher-Price Kick N' Learn Piano.
Another toy that gets a lot of use, especially now that our baby is at an age when he can learn cause-and-effect. When baby kicks the piano, it plays music and lights up. Our baby shows a lot of interest in the toy.

4. Graco SafeSeat Infant Car Seat and Stroller Frame.
We didn't want to buy one of those gigantic, bulky travel system strollers, so instead I bought a stroller frame that can convert a rear-facing infant car seat into a stroller. It's a fantastic car seat and stroller system for young babies. It's relatively light. The infant seat doubles as a carrier, so we can take our sleeping baby in and out of the car without waking him. And when we prop the seat up on the stroller frame, it becomes baby's seat in the house as well. And when baby outgrows the infant car seat, we'll just get him one of those cheap, light umbrella strollers.


5. DXG compact camcorder.
Our family used to own a video camera that never got used, so when I went video camera hunting, I was determined to get a tiny ultra-portable one that I was certain would see action. My husband said I should get an HD-capable camera so that it wouldn't become obsolete in a few years. I did some research and found this video camera on Amazon. For a video camera, it's cheap (and looks it); the video is shaky; there's no optical zoom ... but let me tell you: I use that video camera to record baby's moments almost everyday.