by Michelle Stein posted in Parenting

When I was pregnant with my first child, I was so grateful for all of the baby gear and adorable clothing we received at our baby shower. I was most excited about the big-ticket items -- like the breast pump from my baby registry my father gifted me, the car seat/stroller travel system and glider-rocker from my mom, and the crib with a matching dresser from my in-laws.
But burp cloths" Not so much.
As it turned out, I'm glad someone at my shower thought to gift us so many of these. Because my baby turned out to be spit-up machine (and an epically drooly boy, to boot.)
One expecting mama in the BabyCenter Community seems to share my pre-baby "meh" attitude about these essential spit-up catchers. "At previous showers I've been to, everyone gave lots of baby clothes. At my shower, everyone decided not to be like everyone else, so they gave me practical things like diapers and wipes -- and burp cloths!!!" she wrote on a thread in the BabyCenter Community. "Don't get me wrong -- I actually got a ton of useful stuff and I am very thankful. Plus there are several different sizes of diapers, and you can never have too many wipes. It just makes me laugh when I think of my 15 burp cloths."

As seasoned parents in this thread pointed out, 15 burp cloths probably isn't a ridiculous amount after all. That's because -- other than the obvious one of soaking up spit-up -- there are a plethora of uses for them,...