I have a gear question. We didn't want to spend the money on a separate bassinet for the first few weeks (months?), but thought about going the route of a PnP that has the bassinet attachment. I'm not sure if they're similar or not. What are your thoughts? What did you do/would you do it again?
We never used the bassinet attachment but just used the PnP with the raised floor for DD1s firsf sleeping arrangement next to our bed. I will totally use the PnP again, it worked nicely.
For the babies that weren't introduced to bottles until later, I'm guessing you probably tried a bunch of different kinds? DD had a bad latch bc of my letdown/oversupply so we didn't introduce her to bottles until she was closer to 2 months old. We had the Dr Brown's bottles and the Playtex ones because those were the ones we wanted to use and she wouldn't have anything to do with either. We tried the Tommee Tippee and she took those just fine. DS had a wonderful latch from the beginning but we still didn't introduce bottles until 5 weeks and he took them just fine and didn't seem to be picky. But in general DS has always been much more mellow.
I think a lot of it comes down to your baby. There are people in the BF group I'm in that intro bottles early and others do it late and some of the babies are just picky about what bottles they will accept.
I think the best advice for planning to BF is just to have some good resources lined up so that if you encounter any issues (latch, supply, bottles, etc) you know where to go for help immediately. It's impossible to be prepared for everything you might encounter.
I have a gear question. We didn't want to spend the money on a separate bassinet for the first few weeks (months?), but thought about going the route of a PnP that has the bassinet attachment. I'm not sure if they're similar or not. What are your thoughts? What did you do/would you do it again?
This is what we did for our son and it worked out well.
We have two sleeping beauties in heaven. Jack gained his wings on 09/02/2016. Kali gained her wings on 07/28/2015. They will be forever missed.
@imalwaysme79 we used the P&P. We had the bassinet attachment but ended up just raising the bottom and used it like that. Both our kids did it that way, for purchasing purpose it just made more sense for us to just have the pack and play and not buy a separate bassinet.
I used the regular PnP with a raised bottom from day 1! They make travel ones that are smaller if you'd prefer one of those. We kept one in the living room because DD would only sleep laying flat.
@NiceyMeany I'm planning on doing our hospital tour and classes sometime during the 2nd trimester. I know I'll be too damn tired to do anything during 3rd tri.
Regarding BF, from what I've seen with my sisters, BF would take FOREVER because the milk doesn't come out fast enough. So my sisters would sit their for 30-45 minutes with the baby latched on. And one time, my one sister fed the baby with a bottle and he was done in like 10 minutes! When I saw that, that's when I decided I would exclusively pump and bottle feed the breastmilk. So does everyone's milk take forever or is it different for everyone? Anyone have milk that comes out fast?
It only starts out with long sessions because they have to work really hard to get the milk. The older they get the more efficient at it they get and it takes way less time at each nursing session.
I only pumped if we were going to leave DS with my parents for a bit or I would be out for a period of time. I found pumping to take WAY longer then actually bfing the baby because the babe is WAY more efficient then the pump.
I suppose if I was an exclusive pumper (major props to those Mama's, seriously!) it would have got better and I would have got more milk at each pump session.
With DD I used the PNP with the bottom raised for the first 2 weeks and after that she wouldn't tolerate it for anything. DS never liked it. Even when they were a little bit older I couldn't get them to stay in it without crying. It didn't matter if they had drinks or toys or food they just did not like that thing. It was probably the biggest waste of money out of anything for us. On the plus side, since it was practically brand new I was able to get a decent amount for it at a consignment sale.
I have a gear question. We didn't want to spend the money on a separate bassinet for the first few weeks (months?), but thought about going the route of a PnP that has the bassinet attachment. I'm not sure if they're similar or not. What are your thoughts? What did you do/would you do it again?
Thanks for asking this-- we had the same question!
I have a gear question. We didn't want to spend the money on a separate bassinet for the first few weeks (months?), but thought about going the route of a PnP that has the bassinet attachment. I'm not sure if they're similar or not. What are your thoughts? What did you do/would you do it again?
Thanks for asking this-- we had the same question!
We used our PnP in our room for a month with the bottom raised up. I never used the bassinet attachment. After 4 weeks in our room we moved him into his crib. We moved him due to no one sleeping well with him grunting ans squeaking all night lol not because he didn't like the PnP. I'm thinking this time we will prob do the same.
Thanks to those who responded. We want to introduce the crib as early as we can, but I know that's not realistic at the very beginning. I figured we were going to end up getting a PnP anyway and I like how it will be able to serve multiple purposes for the first few years.
@silvercamaro77 I think the bottle thing is totally a crap shoot between babies. Like I know people with multiples that did it the same way with both and one took a bottle just fine and the other went through dozens. Some babies are just divas.
@silvercamaro77 I think the bottle thing is totally a crap shoot between babies. Like I know people with multiples that did it the same way with both and one took a bottle just fine and the other went through dozens. Some babies are just divas.
Agreed. My son took pumped bottles of all brands the first few months. then he didn't have one for a few weeks and suddenly refused all bottles until recently when we started breast weaning him at 22 months.
For the babies that weren't introduced to bottles until later, I'm guessing you probably tried a bunch of different kinds? DD had a bad latch bc of my letdown/oversupply so we didn't introduce her to bottles until she was closer to 2 months old. We had the Dr Brown's bottles and the Playtex ones because those were the ones we wanted to use and she wouldn't have anything to do with either. We tried the Tommee Tippee and she took those just fine. DS had a wonderful latch from the beginning but we still didn't introduce bottles until 5 weeks and he took them just fine and didn't seem to be picky. But in general DS has always been much more mellow.
I think a lot of it comes down to your baby. There are people in the BF group I'm in that intro bottles early and others do it late and some of the babies are just picky about what bottles they will accept.
I think the best advice for planning to BF is just to have some good resources lined up so that if you encounter any issues (latch, supply, bottles, etc) you know where to go for help immediately. It's impossible to be prepared for everything you might encounter.
This is what terrifies me. Both for cloth diapering and bottles (there are probably more, but these two in particular stand out). There seem to be a billion different brands and options and I really don't want to buy 2 of everything "just in case", but am terrified of those first few weeks and not having the right stuff/enough stuff to get through.
I have a gear question. We didn't want to spend the money on a separate bassinet for the first few weeks (months?), but thought about going the route of a PnP that has the bassinet attachment. I'm not sure if they're similar or not. What are your thoughts? What did you do/would you do it again?
We never used the bassinet attachment but just used the PnP with the raised floor for DD1s firsf sleeping arrangement next to our bed. I will totally use the PnP again, it worked nicely.
Also, spend the money on a PnP mattress. They come with a horrible padded plywood. We got a mattress and it was a world of difference.
We used an in bed cosleeper and then went straight to the crib. I never had a PNP with either kid. They either napped in the swing with me in the room or in their crib.
Kind of running with the PNP conversation, for those that had your baby sleeping in the room at any point and not in your actual bed, what did you use? I'll take brand names and links if possible.
Trying to to figure out what we want to do this time. Anyone have experience with the halo bassinet? Worth it? Something better out there?
DD hated the pack n play when she was an infant. She slept in the Rock and play for probably her first 3-4 weeks then we started transitioning her to the crib in her own room.
She hdoes sleep in the pack n play now on trips - I second getting a mattress because that makes a huge difference.
We haven't used it yet, but Chicco has a bassinet that we bought and are hoping will work. It looked the most sturdiest for the best price. To me, the majority of bassinets were to wobbly for me to be comfortable with baby being in them.
We have two sleeping beauties in heaven. Jack gained his wings on 09/02/2016. Kali gained her wings on 07/28/2015. They will be forever missed.
We used the PNP with the bassinet in our room for the first month or so (I really don't remember how long) but I actually am looking into a cosleeper like the Halo this time. I think it would be great to have the baby within reach for all those nighttime feedings...
I twas loaned many sleeping things. We tried a cradle, the PnP with newborn sleeper and a bassinet before getting a fisher price rock n play. The RnP was a miracle worker. But there's a catch - I will never recommend the RnP without also telling you that both my pedi and the interwebs do not recommend using it for sleeping. So, there's both sides of the coin. FWIW, I will be using it again if this baby objects to laying flat as a newborn.
For the pediatrician - I went based on a recommendation and a few months in a realized I hated the practice. I stressed for a bit after that and then I switched. I've been super happy with the new practice so my advice is - pick who you pick, but don't hesitate if you want to switch.
Thanks to those who responded. We want to introduce the crib as early as we can, but I know that's not realistic at the very beginning. I figured we were going to end up getting a PnP anyway and I like how it will be able to serve multiple purposes for the first few years.
We had a PNP because I wanted DD near us. She refused to sleep well in it. When she was about 2 and 1/2 weeks old, we figured out she liked her crib WAY better. So she pretty much slept in her crib from then on. I wish she would've stayed with us but kids definitely have a mind of their own & know what they want/like.
BFP #1: DD born on 08.25.12
BFP #2: 09/08/15 miscarried at 6w
BFP #3: DD2 born on 02.07.17
Thanks to those who responded. We want to introduce the crib as early as we can, but I know that's not realistic at the very beginning. I figured we were going to end up getting a PnP anyway and I like how it will be able to serve multiple purposes for the first few years.
I was paranoid about my first getting too used to her initial sleeping arrangements (rock and play in our bedroom). As @ohstars it isn't really a suggested sleeping arrangement but literally was the only way my daughter would sleep the first few weeks.
we started transitioning her to the crib at the 3-4 week mark. She was a great sleeper early on, only waking up 1-2 times at night. We started with one nap a day and then started putting her in the crib for her first stretch of sleep at night, then after she woke up she would come back to the rock and play. As her crib stretches got longer, we started putting her back in the crib all night. She was fully in the crib by 6 weeks. I really enjoyed having my "space" back as I felt like night time was the one time that a baby wasn't constantly attached to me.
For a pediatrician: Only 1 of our 4 local pediatric offices services the 1 local hospital we have. With DD I didn't have recommendations from anyone to go on and decided to just try the Dr that services the hospital since that's who would see her there anyway. After the 2nd appointment we changed offices because we disliked the practice so much. Changing offices was not at all a big deal for us, we just made an appt with the new practice we wanted to try and gave the other office permission to transfer records. In some areas it might be a bigger deal if there's only 1 super in-demand office, but it's not something I would stress about too much (although as a FTM I was pretty freaked out about not knowing anything about the different offices.)
So, can I ask another, unrelated question? I was initially thinking that I would be able to leave school on maternity leave in February and not go back until September, but it's looking more and more like I'm going to need to go back for just a couple of weeks (probably 3 weeks) in June. I really, REALLY do not want to pay for day care all summer when I don't intend to use it. Anyone have any idea how I might go about getting temporary childcare for those few weeks in June, without having to commit to an entire summer? Teachers, any suggestions about dealing with summer daycare options?
@NiceyMeany Some daycare centres do a daily rate for people who don't need permanent full time care. You would be able to use it for the 3 weeks without being committed longer. You could also try a home daycare provider who might be willing to offer the same. I know of several centres in my area who offer this, their daily rates are higher than if you signed up for full time care. I would call a few and check. (Unless this is unheard of in your area-things can be so different)
@NiceyMeany maybe look on care.com for someone looking for short term or day to day or ask around for somewhere that has drop in daycare. If you know anyone with a college student home for the summer they may be interested in a short term gig to pick up cash.
@NiceyMeany, I have had luck with care.com too. You might even ask other teachers in your building if anyone has a college student that could do it. You could always then have them do other babysitting during the summer or after for evenings, etc.
Are the days in June with students? I can't remember what you do, but if it's more administrative stuff, could you bring the baby with you?
Married - 7/29/06 Ben and Maggie - 4/10/09 Mia - 6/16/11 Surprise! due 2/23/17
@NiceyMeany your timing is perfect for a college student. Any student whose main summer job is at a camp will have the same gap. I'd try advertising on local colleges' job boards, and I bet you'll get some great applicants.
One caveat is that it may be pricey. In my area, a college student of the caliber I would trust will probably want $15/hour, though I'm in the northeast so take that with a grain of salt.
@Partyof6? It's about 2 weeks with students. But I wouldn't even be able to bring the kid in on admin days because babies are not allowed in our building during business hours unless they're with a student's parent. They're really strict about it because so many of our students have kids of their own.
@NiceyMeany my center let me take my daughter out for summer vacations without being charged and still held her spot. So if it's somewhere you plan to go the following school year, you can probably find a place willing to do that!
My mom did babysitting at home on the side, she wasn't licensed or anything but had 5 kids of her own, and plenty of practice. If you had a family friend or maybe someone you trust might be able to recommend a person they trust, it might be easier to look into that for just a few weeks. Or even your own extended family, I babysat for about 8 months, for a cousin of my husbad, (a newborn). You have a long time to ask around and watch people interact with kids. The cousin of my husband watched me like a hawk with my own son who was only 1 year old when she had hers, and had told me she liked how I handled situations with my son. I felt kind of weird knowing that she had been secretly watching me but she felt safe and comfortable that way. Maybe a family member or friend will be a good temporary option for you @NiceyMeany
Think I'm grasping for straws here but anyone out there have a wildbird sling? I'm crushing on them pretty hard but I was hoping to hear from someone with actual experience.
@NiceyMeany re: daycare providers, you'll just have to call around about summer policies. DS was with an in-home provider for 3 years and we never paid for summers, just had to pay her like a week of summer vacay.
@NiceyMeany definitely check with your fellow teachers about daycare. While I am not a teacher, most of my teacher friends use in home daycare providers that offer their services exclusively to teachers, so they also have their summers to spend with their own kids while not in school.
If I ever decided to do the daycare thing hat is totally the route I would go. Get in with the teachers!
Re: Ask a STM 8/10
I think a lot of it comes down to your baby. There are people in the BF group I'm in that intro bottles early and others do it late and some of the babies are just picky about what bottles they will accept.
I think the best advice for planning to BF is just to have some good resources lined up so that if you encounter any issues (latch, supply, bottles, etc) you know where to go for help immediately. It's impossible to be prepared for everything you might encounter.
Jack gained his wings on 09/02/2016.
Kali gained her wings on 07/28/2015.
They will be forever missed.
I only pumped if we were going to leave DS with my parents for a bit or I would be out for a period of time. I found pumping to take WAY longer then actually bfing the baby because the babe is WAY more efficient then the pump.
I suppose if I was an exclusive pumper (major props to those Mama's, seriously!) it would have got better and I would have got more milk at each pump session.
Me: 37 - H: 39
TTC#1: 01/2016
BFP: 06/18/2016 - EDD: 02/20/2017 - Born: 01/27/2017
We got a mattress and it was a world of difference.
Trying to to figure out what we want to do this time. Anyone have experience with the halo bassinet? Worth it? Something better out there?
She hdoes sleep in the pack n play now on trips - I second getting a mattress because that makes a huge difference.
Jack gained his wings on 09/02/2016.
Kali gained her wings on 07/28/2015.
They will be forever missed.
or maybe the PNP can go right up next to the bed and accomplish the same end, if slightly less convenient.
For the pediatrician - I went based on a recommendation and a few months in a realized I hated the practice. I stressed for a bit after that and then I switched. I've been super happy with the new practice so my advice is - pick who you pick, but don't hesitate if you want to switch.
we started transitioning her to the crib at the 3-4 week mark. She was a great sleeper early on, only waking up 1-2 times at night. We started with one nap a day and then started putting her in the crib for her first stretch of sleep at night, then after she woke up she would come back to the rock and play. As her crib stretches got longer, we started putting her back in the crib all night. She was fully in the crib by 6 weeks. I really enjoyed having my "space" back as I felt like night time was the one time that a baby wasn't constantly attached to me.
Are the days in June with students? I can't remember what you do, but if it's more administrative stuff, could you bring the baby with you?
Ben and Maggie - 4/10/09
Mia - 6/16/11
Surprise! due 2/23/17
One caveat is that it may be pricey. In my area, a college student of the caliber I would trust will probably want $15/hour, though I'm in the northeast so take that with a grain of salt.
Edit to add tag
If I ever decided to do the daycare thing hat is totally the route I would go. Get in with the teachers!