Consider buying big-ticket items in the order “borrow, buy used, buy new” — don’t buy them all at once. Buy a new mattress; check a used child car seat before use.

No extra money is needed; the amount saved is usually in the thousands of yuan. The hard part is resisting the urge to buy everything at once.

Strollers, cribs, swaddles, and toys are all used for a short time, and the used market has far more supply than demand. Used goods have 3 safety lines. The 1st is the car seat. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says a seat that has been in a moderate or severe crash must be replaced and never used again. All 5 conditions must be met before a crash counts as minor and the seat can stay in use. The 5 are: the car could be driven away on its own, the door nearest the seat was not damaged, no one in the car was injured, the airbag did not deploy, and no damage can be seen on the seat. A used seat can be used only after you confirm 5 things. The 5 are: it has not been in a crash worse than minor, the label shows the date of manufacture and the model, it has not been recalled, the parts are complete, and the instructions are still there. The date of manufacture and the model are how you check recalls and whether the seat is too old. The 2nd is the mattress. A Scottish study compared infants who died suddenly with healthy infants of the same age, and looked back at which mattress each slept on. Usually sleeping on a mattress another child had used carried a higher risk of sudden infant death syndrome (odds ratio OR 3.07, 95% CI 1.51–6.22). When the mattress came from another home the figure was 4.78. When it came from the same home it was 1.64, and the latter difference was not statistically significant. The authors say the evidence is not yet enough to judge whether the mattress itself caused it. The 3rd is the crib. From June (6) 28, 2011, the United States has enforced a new mandatory crib standard, and a used crib has to meet it too. The old style, with 1 side rail that drops, was phased out. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission says an old crib has to be taken apart and broken in the test before anyone knows whether it complies, so it gives no way to check it yourself. From November (11) 2007 to April (4) 2010, the United States reported 147 deaths linked to standard-size cribs. Of those, 35 were a problem in the crib's structure, and 18 were a failure of a rail that could be dropped. Loose screws caused at least 10 deaths. US law lists inclined infant sleepers as banned goods, no matter which year they were made, and that was written into the regulations in 2023 (United States, United Kingdom).

省钱部分为作者经验，无直接文献；US NHTSA. Car Seat Use After a Crash. https://www.nhtsa.gov/car-seats-and-booster-seats/car-seat-use-after-crash；US NHTSA. Used Car Seat Safety Checklist. https://www.nhtsa.gov/car-seats-and-booster-seats/used-car-seat-safety-checklist；Tappin D, Brooke H, Ecob R, Gibson A (2002). Used infant mattresses and sudden infant death syndrome in Scotland: case-control study. BMJ, 325(7371), 1007. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.325.7371.1007；Blair P, Fleming P, Smith I (1997). Case-control study of sudden infant death syndrome in Scotland. Income level or bed sharing would confound any effect of previous use of mattress. BMJ, 315(7111), 812. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.315.7111.812a；US Consumer Product Safety Commission (2010). Safety Standards for Full-Size Baby Cribs and Non-Full-Size Baby Cribs; Final Rule. Federal Register 2010-32178. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2010/12/28/2010-32178/safety-standards-for-full-size-baby-cribs-and-non-full-size-baby-cribs-final-rule；US Consumer Product Safety Commission (2023). Ban of Inclined Sleepers for Infants. Federal Register 2023-17350. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2023/08/16/2023-17350/ban-of-inclined-sleepers-for-infants；冲动消费见第 5 节

The evidence grade remains C because the savings side lacks literature. All three safety boundaries have sources, but from the US and UK. No specific official Chinese guidance on used cribs or car seats was found. The mattress study has been challenged: a 1997 letter argued household income and bed-sharing could confound the second-hand mattress association. For car seats, see Section 1, item 10. For infant sleep position and bedding, see item 1 of this section (sleeping on the back). The book neither endorses nor rejects postpartum care centers, early-education courses or infant swimming facilities. All are large optional expenses, so apply Section 5's 24-hour cooling-off period.