Nothing is Permanent
This rings true for raising a baby and for all the “stuff” they come with. While the days are looong with a new little one, the months are short and phases seem to fly by. As it relates to your space, a piece of baby gear that is essential one month becomes completely unnecessary the next. In a small space there is no time to waste and nowhere to stash (suddenly) useless accessories.
I have found the best way to deal with this is Craigslist. Craigslist is where you can find the baby accessories that you may love for a few months and give you precious minutes of peace and conversely it’s where you can quickly rid your small space of anything that is causing clutter.
Over the past year we have purchased and re-sold the following items (quickly):
jolly jumper (giant monstrosity that I would buy all over again as it provides up to 15 mins of peace in one go!)
bumboo chair (1 month of help with sitting up)
playmat
While I believe in buying less and focusing on thoughtful quality purchases in any space, in the first year of parenting sometimes you need to have the large ugly object that allows you a few moments of peace or the ability to unload the dishwasher ;).