What Not to Buy for a Newborn in India

1 day ago

5 min read

Updated: 14 hours ago

The short version. Shoes, a changing table, a cot bumper, a wipe warmer, newborn-size anything in bulk, and most of what comes in a gift set. Between them that is ₹10,000 to ₹15,000 of things that will sit unused in an Indian home.

Every baby list tells you what to buy. Here is the other half, with the reason for each, because "you do not need it" is not useful on its own.

1. Shoes

A baby who cannot walk does not need shoes. Feet develop by gripping and feeling the floor, and a soft sock does that better than anything with a sole.

Buy the first pair when your child is walking confidently outdoors, which is usually well past the first birthday. We went through what to look for then in best toddler shoes.

Instead: socks with grip, or bare feet indoors.

2. A changing table

This is a Western-home product. It assumes a dedicated nursery and a parent who is comfortable changing a baby at waist height on a raised surface with a strap.

In an Indian flat it takes up a square metre you do not have, and most families change the baby on a bed or on a mat on the floor anyway — which is also where nobody can fall from.

Instead: a waterproof changing mat for about ₹300. Put it on any surface, roll it up, take it with you.

3. Cot bumpers, pillows and soft toys in the cot

Not just unnecessary — these are a suffocation risk for a baby who cannot roll or lift their head reliably. Safe sleep guidance everywhere is the same: a firm flat mattress, a fitted sheet, and nothing else in the cot.

They are sold as a set with almost every Indian cot, which does not make them safe.

Instead: nothing. That is the whole recommendation.

4. A wipe warmer

For most of India, for most of the year, this solves a problem that does not exist. Room-temperature wipes in Chennai in May are not cold.

Instead: if you are in Delhi in January and it genuinely matters, hold the wipe in your hand for ten seconds.

5. Newborn-size clothes in bulk

The single most common mistake, and the most expensive one. Newborn size fits for a few weeks. Plenty of Indian babies are born big enough to skip it entirely, and you will not know which until the baby arrives.

Instead: six to eight bodysuits in 0–3 months, and buy more in 3–6 month size once you can see how big your baby actually is.

6. A carton of newborn nappies

Same reasoning. A newborn uses about ten a day, so a carton feels sensible, but many babies are into size S within two or three weeks and you cannot return an opened carton.

Instead: one pack. Buy the next size when you need it, not before.

7. A sit-in baby walker

Paediatric bodies have been asking for these to be banned since 2001, and the injury figures are the reason — mostly falls down stairs, in homes where the stairs were not gated because the baby could not yet walk.

They also do not help a baby learn to walk, which is the thing they are sold for.

Instead: a push walker or a stationary activity centre. We went through the evidence in the baby walker guide.

8. Most of what is in a "newborn gift set"

The typical set is a shampoo, a lotion, a powder, an oil, a soap and a cream. A newborn needs one cleanser and one oil. The powder you can skip entirely — it is a comfort product, not a medical one, and no paediatric guideline asks you to use it.

There is a second problem with buying the set rather than the item: the front of the pack and the ingredient list often disagree. We documented that in our label audit.

Instead: one soap or cleanser and one bottle of oil. Which ones depends on your baby's skin.

The things to buy second-hand instead

Not everything on this list is a waste. Some of it is just a waste at full price, because it gets outgrown long before it wears out.

Item	Buy new or used?	Why
Cot	Used is fine	Check it is firm and the slats are close together
Pram or stroller	Used is fine	Outgrown in two years, barely worn
Bath tub	Used is fine	Used for about a year
High chair	Used is fine	Wipes clean
Clothes	Take every hand-me-down offered	Worn a handful of times
Car seat	NEW only	You cannot see whether it has been in a crash
Mattress	NEW only	Firmness degrades, and firmness is the safety feature
Teats and bottles	NEW only	Hygiene

We did the maths on renting the big items rather than buying in rent vs buy baby gear.

What this adds up to

A changing table, a cot bumper set, a wipe warmer, a sit-in walker, a bulk order of newborn clothes, a carton of newborn nappies and a gift set comes to somewhere between ₹10,000 and ₹15,000 in most Indian shops.

That is roughly three months of nappies, which is a thing you will definitely use.

The rule behind all of it

Buy the things you will need in the first fortnight. Wait on everything else until you have met your baby.

A fortnight in, you will know whether they hate the bath, whether they sleep only on you, whether their skin reacts to anything. Then you buy the right version instead of the popular one, and you buy it in the size they are actually in.

Questions parents ask

What should I not buy for a newborn baby?

Shoes, a changing table, a cot bumper, a wipe warmer, newborn-size clothes in bulk, a carton of newborn nappies, a sit-in walker, and most gift sets. None of these are used much in an Indian home.

Do newborns need shoes?

No. Feet develop by gripping the floor and a sole prevents that. Socks with grip are enough until your child is walking confidently outdoors.

Are cot bumpers safe?

No. They are a suffocation risk for a baby who cannot reliably lift or turn their head, and safe-sleep guidance is consistent that a cot should contain a firm mattress, a fitted sheet and nothing else. They are sold with most cots anyway.

Is baby powder necessary?

No. It is a comfort product and no paediatric guideline asks you to use it. If you do use it, keep it away from the baby's face, because the concern was always about breathing in loose powder.

What baby things can I buy second-hand in India?

Cot, pram, bath tub, high chair and clothes — all fine used. Buy a car seat, a mattress and anything that goes in a baby's mouth new.

How much should I spend before the baby arrives?

Around ₹6,000 to ₹9,000 covers the genuine essentials, and less if you accept hand-me-down clothes. The recurring costs start after that and are much bigger than the one-off ones.

So what DO you need? Fifteen things, with quantities, in our newborn shopping list for India — or download the printable checklist, which has the do-not-buy list on page two.

More: baby skincare, and what is actually in it, the baby walker evidence, rent vs buy baby gear, our label audit, and the first year hub.

NavParent is part of the Amazon Associates Programme. If you buy through a link here we may earn a small commission, at no cost to you. On this page we are mostly telling you not to buy things, which should tell you how much that influences us.