Kiddie Consumerism: How to combat baby product marketing

Anyone who is a parent knows that little bundle of joy comes with a big bushel of baby paraphernalia to buy. Some of it is necessary... some of it...

The baby merchandise business is booming. According to one report, the global baby care products market was worth about $52 billion Canadian dollars in 2012. In three years -- it's expected to reach more than $72 billion Canadian dollars.

For one mother, the endless cycle of buying became too much. Just over a year ago, UK-based writer Hattie Garlick made what became a very public promise.

On her blog, Free Our Kids, she vowed not to buy anything new for her then 2-year-old son Johnny for one year. Almost overnight, the blog had a following in the thousands and an online movement was born.

• Hattie Garlick is now a mother of two children and she was in London, England.

• Susan Gregory Thomas is a mother of 3 children aged between 4 and 13 years of age. She is the author of the book Buy Buy Baby: How Consumer Culture Manipulates Parents and Harms Young Minds. Susan Gregory Thomas was in Philadelphia.

What has been your experience? Have you been swept up in kiddie consumerism? Is a full-out no-buying approach too extreme? Let us know.

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This segment was produced by The Current's Dawna Dingwall and Sujata Berry.