Ok, mamas, we need your help! What are the 'must haves' for baby raisin'? What did you buy that you totally did not need? What brands are safest? What stuff makes your life easier?? Comment away, chicas!!
Good swaddle blankets! We really like the thermal ones. Normal receiving blankets seem to be too small for a good swaddle. I'll see what else I can think of...
Thia, you know that I love me some baby products. :) Here's the link to my favorite baby things http://carpenterscorner.blogspot.com/2009/03/few-of-my-favorite-things-baby-edition.html
Since then I have a few more favorites: * Mustela baby wash - this stuff smells soooo good! * Britax carseats - they are expensive, but so easy to install and have really high safety ratings. I figure that they are in their "convertible carseat" for so long that the investment is worth it. Clayton was in his from the time that he was 9 months until last month (almost 4 1/2 years old). Babies R Us will let you use 2 coupons, as long as they aren't the same ones. So, we used the 15% off of a carseat and the 15% off of any baby product. We saved like $75 that way. * The snack trap - keeps Cheerios from spilling everywhere.
I'm sooo excited for you. Babies are SO MUCH fun! I only wish that you lived close enough for me to pop over daily and snuggle with your newborn. Is it weird that I already have baby fever?!?!
Must haves: - Kiddopotamus Swaddle Me Blankets (I like cotton for the summer and they're stretchier, fleece for the winter.) -Chicco infant car seat. High safety rating, comfortable, and won't sit on top of carts so you aren't tempted to. Huge safety no-no. Also the stroller that comes with it is great. (Britax makes a great convertible car seat when they're older but I don't like a newborn in those. Personal choice there.) -Freddie the Firefly by Lamaze. Best infant toy ever! It has black and white designs on the back, colorful on the front. Lots of little things to grab and chew...not to big for their little hands. It crinkles, it squeaks, there isn't anything this toy doesn't do. lol -A great diaper bag. Seriously...look at a lot of them wear them around the store...find one that is comfortable for you. -A good play gym where there are a lot of toys and they don't hang too far away from the baby. Baby Einstein makes a great one. -Mesh/breathable bumper for the crib. Keeps their hands and feet from getting caught, but won't increase the risk of SIDS like a regular bumper. -Get an exersaucer AND a Jumperoo...they're different. Gabriel enjoys both and they both use different muscles. - Changing table & changing pad. I don't care what anyone tells you. Your back will be killing you if you try to do it on the floor all of the time. -If you don't want a video monitor (I wouldn't otherwise you will be staring at the monitor all night and won't get a wink of sleep), and you don't want an Angelcare monitor (these go off easily and make you worry unnecessarily usually) get a Sony Baby Call Baby Monitor - 900MHZ. It has a setting where it turns on when the baby makes noise so you don't have to listen to that annoying buzzing sound when they're sound asleep. - Small packages of different brands of diapers. Find one that you like, and don't skip out on generic. Our favorites are Target Brand Up & Ups. Right now we get a box of 96 for $12. :) That's a great deal, and we don't have leaks. If you decide to cloth diaper...BumGenius 3.0's are the way to go. -Receiving blankets -A big package of Gerber cloth diapers for burp cloths, and some bibs. -A good daily care/medical care kit. -Swing -Bouncer
Things you don't need: -Diaper wipe and bottle warmers...if you formula feed. No reason to get the baby used to everything being really warm. You'll always end up in a situation where you can't warm something at some point and they'll cry or refuse a bottle. Gabriel doesn't mind having his diaper changed with cold wipes, and loves his room temp. or chilled bottle. :) Wipe warmers also tend to dry out wipes faster. -Sleep sacks...wait until he's older for these. - Shoes...they're pointless. They get kicked off, fall off, pulled off. They're cute but are bad for their feet anyway. -Sippy cups. Use the bottle and head straight to straw cups. -A seperate high chair. Instead...We love our Fisher-Price Space Saver. It's a high chair that sits on a regular chair at the table. It also converts to your booster seat for a toddler. - Sleep positioner.
Kiddopotumus Swaddle Me's--the plain colored ones for some reason are more stretchy even though they are the same brand, they work better.
Miracle Blanket for when they are a little older and start busting out of the swaddles!
Summer Handheld Digital Monitor--WONDERFUL!! You can easily check to see that everything is okay when they are crying or not and keeps you from feeling like you have to tiptoe in their room and check on them.
Ooooh...and a Boppy. Must have a Boppy. Great for feeding and now we use it as a cushion while he's practicing sitting up. Previous poster mentioned Miracle Blanket for when they start busting out of the swaddle. We just graduated him to no Swaddle and he did fine. Although I'm sure that's not the case for every baby. :)
A few of our faves are: - Boppy: Awesome for breastfeeding and worked great to prop him up when he was learning to sit up as well. And now it's a pillow to play with too!
-OxyClean Stain Remover: This stuff is awesome! I haven't met a stain it didn't get out. And trust me, babies have some interesting colors end up on their clothes :)
-Shopping cart/highchair cover: I'm a germ freak and don't like Joshua to sit in high chairs or in shopping carts that are disgusting. Surf the web for a bit and you can find some ADORABLE patterns for the same prize as the generic ones in the store.
-Floor Playgym: It will entertain him for months...I mean literally months! Get one that has hanging toys and toys on the mat so they have motivation to get moving.
-Radio/CD Player: I bought a pretty cheap one from Target and got a couple lullaby CDs that we play everynight. Once he got tired of the swaddleme the music worked wonders to help him stay asleep.
-Baby Bargains Book: Great information on all different brands of all types of baby gear. Go to amazon and get one for cheap! It was my bible the first two trimesters of pregnancy!!
7 comments:
Good swaddle blankets! We really like the thermal ones. Normal receiving blankets seem to be too small for a good swaddle. I'll see what else I can think of...
Thia, you know that I love me some baby products. :) Here's the link to my favorite baby things
http://carpenterscorner.blogspot.com/2009/03/few-of-my-favorite-things-baby-edition.html
Since then I have a few more favorites:
* Mustela baby wash - this stuff smells soooo good!
* Britax carseats - they are expensive, but so easy to install and have really high safety ratings. I figure that they are in their "convertible carseat" for so long that the investment is worth it. Clayton was in his from the time that he was 9 months until last month (almost 4 1/2 years old). Babies R Us will let you use 2 coupons, as long as they aren't the same ones. So, we used the 15% off of a carseat and the 15% off of any baby product. We saved like $75 that way.
* The snack trap - keeps Cheerios from spilling everywhere.
I'm sooo excited for you. Babies are SO MUCH fun! I only wish that you lived close enough for me to pop over daily and snuggle with your newborn. Is it weird that I already have baby fever?!?!
Love you!
Must haves:
- Kiddopotamus Swaddle Me Blankets (I like cotton for the summer and they're stretchier, fleece for the winter.)
-Chicco infant car seat. High safety rating, comfortable, and won't sit on top of carts so you aren't tempted to. Huge safety no-no. Also the stroller that comes with it is great. (Britax makes a great convertible car seat when they're older but I don't like a newborn in those. Personal choice there.)
-Freddie the Firefly by Lamaze. Best infant toy ever! It has black and white designs on the back, colorful on the front. Lots of little things to grab and chew...not to big for their little hands. It crinkles, it squeaks, there isn't anything this toy doesn't do. lol
-A great diaper bag. Seriously...look at a lot of them wear them around the store...find one that is comfortable for you.
-A good play gym where there are a lot of toys and they don't hang too far away from the baby. Baby Einstein makes a great one.
-Mesh/breathable bumper for the crib. Keeps their hands and feet from getting caught, but won't increase the risk of SIDS like a regular bumper.
-Get an exersaucer AND a Jumperoo...they're different. Gabriel enjoys both and they both use different muscles.
- Changing table & changing pad. I don't care what anyone tells you. Your back will be killing you if you try to do it on the floor all of the time.
-If you don't want a video monitor (I wouldn't otherwise you will be staring at the monitor all night and won't get a wink of sleep), and you don't want an Angelcare monitor (these go off easily and make you worry unnecessarily usually) get a Sony Baby Call Baby Monitor - 900MHZ. It has a setting where it turns on when the baby makes noise so you don't have to listen to that annoying buzzing sound when they're sound asleep.
- Small packages of different brands of diapers. Find one that you like, and don't skip out on generic. Our favorites are Target Brand Up & Ups. Right now we get a box of 96 for $12. :) That's a great deal, and we don't have leaks. If you decide to cloth diaper...BumGenius 3.0's are the way to go.
-Receiving blankets
-A big package of Gerber cloth diapers for burp cloths, and some bibs.
-A good daily care/medical care kit.
-Swing
-Bouncer
Things you don't need:
-Diaper wipe and bottle warmers...if you formula feed. No reason to get the baby used to everything being really warm. You'll always end up in a situation where you can't warm something at some point and they'll cry or refuse a bottle. Gabriel doesn't mind having his diaper changed with cold wipes, and loves his room temp. or chilled bottle. :) Wipe warmers also tend to dry out wipes faster.
-Sleep sacks...wait until he's older for these.
- Shoes...they're pointless. They get kicked off, fall off, pulled off. They're cute but are bad for their feet anyway.
-Sippy cups. Use the bottle and head straight to straw cups.
-A seperate high chair. Instead...We love our Fisher-Price Space Saver. It's a high chair that sits on a regular chair at the table. It also converts to your booster seat for a toddler.
- Sleep positioner.
HTH! There's more but I need to stop myself. lol
Kiddopotumus Swaddle Me's--the plain colored ones for some reason are more stretchy even though they are the same brand, they work better.
Miracle Blanket for when they are a little older and start busting out of the swaddles!
Summer Handheld Digital Monitor--WONDERFUL!! You can easily check to see that everything is okay when they are crying or not and keeps you from feeling like you have to tiptoe in their room and check on them.
Babywise book
Those are my must haves :)
Ooooh...and a Boppy. Must have a Boppy. Great for feeding and now we use it as a cushion while he's practicing sitting up.
Previous poster mentioned Miracle Blanket for when they start busting out of the swaddle. We just graduated him to no Swaddle and he did fine. Although I'm sure that's not the case for every baby. :)
What a baby needs most is lots of love from his Mommy and Daddy... his Grandma,Pops and Grandpa Dean.
Love G-ma ;0)
A few of our faves are:
- Boppy: Awesome for breastfeeding and worked great to prop him up when he was learning to sit up as well. And now it's a pillow to play with too!
-OxyClean Stain Remover: This stuff is awesome! I haven't met a stain it didn't get out. And trust me, babies have some interesting colors end up on their clothes :)
-Shopping cart/highchair cover: I'm a germ freak and don't like Joshua to sit in high chairs or in shopping carts that are disgusting. Surf the web for a bit and you can find some ADORABLE patterns for the same prize as the generic ones in the store.
-Floor Playgym: It will entertain him for months...I mean literally months! Get one that has hanging toys and toys on the mat so they have motivation to get moving.
-Radio/CD Player: I bought a pretty cheap one from Target and got a couple lullaby CDs that we play everynight. Once he got tired of the swaddleme the music worked wonders to help him stay asleep.
-Baby Bargains Book: Great information on all different brands of all types of baby gear. Go to amazon and get one for cheap! It was my bible the first two trimesters of pregnancy!!
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