Ask a STM week of September 10

disneybaby84

FTMs asking STMs any and all questions!

thechickendance

Registry questions, since I should probably start one of those... Where did you register, pros and cons?  What did you register for/receive but never use?  Registering for clothing, yay or nay?  Thanks!!

disneybaby84

@thechickendance modern technology has improved baby registries tremendously. I used www.babylist.com  which allows you to combine several stores onto one website.  Amazon will give you a free gift box after you or someone spends I think $25. If you register for clothes, choose a variety of sizes. 

etnyah

@thechickendance I’m already building my Amazon registry! Main reason is that you get a 15% discount on everything that hasn’t been purchased a couple months before your due date. So yeah, I’m adding a bunch of clothes in there too. Discounts don’t hurt!

mommin135

@thechickendance I’ve been wondering these questions as well! My mom has been my main source of baby gear info and things have changed ....slightly since she last registered lol 

AshleySparkle720

I always registered at amazon and target!

sjnsjnsjn

I did Amazon and Buy Buy Baby with my first kid.   I thought BBB was great because returns were easy and did not require mailing back, and man there were a lot of things we registered for that then, after he came, we decided the $ could be better used on something else and it was easy to do that there.  Amazon does have that completion discount thing but nothing I wanted to use it for (like the pricy stroller no one bought us ) was in the terms of that deal, unfortunately.

As for clothes, my thought is not so necessary for the registry, except for swaddles and swaddle sleep sacks, which you do need a lot at the start.  People buy you so many clothes anyways and hopefully you have someone giving you hand me downs, which mostly is how my son has been clothed these past two years!

allthingsgo

I highly recommend checking out the website lucieslist.com. It really helped me figure out what I wanted to put on my registries and what I could do without. I registered with Buy buy baby and amazon but babylist sounds great! 

I personally only registered for a few specific clothing items like hats, booties, socks. These usually have a larger range of size (like 0-6 months) and didn’t matter if I got a few extras of. I registered for maybe one multipack of onesies. I avoiding registering for any more clothes bc people tend to love picking out baby clothes and therefore buy a lot on their own (which is what happened haha). 

sjnsjnsjn

Oh yeah, second Lucie's List! And also the book Baby Bargains which is insanely amazing with detailed reviews of EVERY category of thing.

okayestmom12

Back in my day, we had a BRU registry. Since that’s a thing of the past, I’d opt for BabyList.com. 

I have an Amazon one going but since this is our third, it’s really just so I can capitalize on the 15% completion discount. 

As as far as when to do it, you can start one whenever and keep it private. Then add to it and edit to your hearts content. Then when you want to share it, you can change your settings. 

ksd20

I looked through some of the older threads/posts since I'm sure this has already been brought up but didn't see it anywhere. What's the take on cloth diapers?  Yay, nay. What style or brands?  New or used? How many?  I've been reading and looking around and it's pretty overwhelming

becks_726

@ksdelong20 I'm pretty sure there's a product spotlight thread for diapers and cloth diapers were touched upon. (Sorry if I'm totally making that up!) 

ksd20

@becks_726 thanks, I'll keep looking. I can't find a search option on my tablet either, might be a mobile issue. 

becks_726

@ksdelong20 totally possible, the app is shite. Let me see if I can find it for you

ksd20

@becks_726 i found it but thanks again!!

becks_726

@ksdelong20, I saw you posted in it just as I was trying to figure out if I could l link it for you. I'm going to be attempting CDs so I look forward to responses. 

disneybaby84

As far as specific items on your registry, some of it is personal preferences and nursery/ home set up. Someone above mentioned sleep sacks. One thing I didn’t realize, pediatricians recommend no blankets until 1 year of age, so that means if your child is a sleep sack child, a lot of different sizes of sleep sacks according to tneir growth spurts. My son seemed to have a growth spurt to the next size at the worst times, then ofcourse there is the thick winter ones and the light weight summer ones. One thing I love is having a lamp with a soft light for those middle of the night wake ups. In my mind a must is a glider or rocker. Buy a mattress protector that matches your crib mattress. Way too many old ladies gave me too many baby blankets. Put toys and books on your registry, they will hit that age before you know it.

sjnsjnsjn

Ok, here's a question for TTMs-plus:  when this child is born, I'll have a tall and strapping 2.5 son. We didn't plan to try for a second when I had my first at 40, and didn't get a convertible to double stroller.  
Does anyone have experience getting a double with this particular kid age situation?  I'm looking at the kinds that have a standing thing on the back for my DS, but he's still gonna be fairly little and sometimes need to lounge and snack, amiright?  With true doubles, I like the narrowness of a tandem, because I live in a city, but I hear that's not great when your toddler is tall, and a lot of the weight limits seem insufficient. Help!  Thoughts?  

notthecheat

@disneybaby84 +1 to the million (useless) blankets from little old ladies  I mean they weren't totally useless because she did use them after 1 and before then only under direct supervision. But yeah.

I registered at Target in 2013. It was pretty solid since they have a variety of things that were cheap enough but still decent. Plus, everyone has a target near them. And I received some gift cards for target I could use for anything in the store. I registered for a small number of clothes in sizes up through 6 months, just because people are definitely gonna get clothes so you may as well give them suggestions. But if you register for too many, then the necessary "boring" stuff might get overshadowed/ignored. I got clothes both on my registry and not (which I kind of expected) but I got some other stuff too. 

etnyah

Omg I have two old ladies working on baby blankets for me right now. One quilted and one knit  

etnyah

I think I might take one of the blankets and hang it up on the wall over the crib though. Since I live in an earthquake prone place I’d rather not have something hard (read: framed) that can fall in to the crib and hurt the baby. So yeah, baby blankets don’t have to be entirely useless!

lifeofboggs

That’s actually a really good idea @grebretso

okayestmom12

@sjnsjnsjn - when this guy is born, my middle will be almost 4 but I still need a spot to strap him down. I’m going to get a City Select Lux w/ the bench seat. I had a typical sit-n-stand stroller when my middle was first born and I hated how bulky and hard to steer it was. I figure if I go this route, it can easily become a single when (if?) we need to stop strapping my middle child down. 

sjnsjnsjn

@okayestmom12- Interesting, thanks! I'll check that one out.

lzzfrancisco

What do you do when you are by yourself after grocery shopping in the summer, and the vehicle is hot AF, plus you have a 4 yo and an infant, and a basket full of groceries. And no remote start! Im panicking about the weirdest shit!

BourbonBiscuits

Related to @izzfrancisco’s question: who do you put in the car first? First groceries, then infant, then big kid, then put the cart away, then turn on the car? Or just always park by the cart return? Or exclusively use click list?

megpants209

The grocery store/Target order of operations is something I spend too much time thinking about. I always think park by cart return, put in kid, then stuff, then return cart. This is compounded because I have pretty bad parking lot anxiety so I have to be able to come up with a plan. 

sjnsjnsjn

@megpants209- That is also my usual order of operations with my one kiddo. 

AshleySparkle720

Kids get in first. My 3 year old can climb in her own seat so I'd click baby into base while she climbed in. I turn on the car then put in groceries.

disneybaby84

So when my son was an infant and it was a hot summer, I would start the car, turn on the air conditioning, put infant in car, then load groceries.

okayestmom12

When it’s hot, I start the car, get the big to go in (I usually open the side that my youngest is in and she climbs in and over to her side - she can buckle herself, which is a beautiful thing!), then put the little in, then do groceries, then return cart. I always park next to a cart return for this reason. 

lzzfrancisco

First, I'll start by saying I've been training my 3.5yo to climb in and buckle herself, I highly recommend it! Second, aren't y'all terrified someone will just jump in your front seat with the car running and the kids buckled in? If it's not hot I luck my daughter in when I'm loading and returning cart, but it's Texas so that's only 3 months out of the year .

megpants209

@lzzfrancisco that’s EXACTLY my worry! And my parking lot fear is because I was attacked in a parking lot years ago and I suspect they were trying to carjack me... soooo I’m sure this will send me to crazy town when baby is here. 

conchispita

@megpants209 that’s scary! I put DD in the car first, but rarely go to the store with her and without DH. It goes faster when one person is with the kid and the other is shopping. When we get to the car I’ll get in with her and DH puts the groceries and cart away.

BourbonBiscuits

@izzfrancisco that’s my fear too! I usually unload groceries, bring DS with me to take the cart back, buckle him in, then turn the car on last

sjnsjnsjn

@BourbonBiscuits- I do it that way too if the cart thing is not right nearby.  Also if I only have a few bags and they have shoulder straps, I just carry my kid and shoulder the bags and ditch the cart at the door. Those days will be over with two kids!

becks_726

Oh god, one more thing to worry about!

disneybaby84

Now to make life easier, for those of you FTMs, what I have done, is put baby in baby carrier while I shop in the store. Only when baby is 6 month or so, are they able to sit in a grocery cart. My son used to do great falling asleep in the baby carrier and I would leisurely shop in the store.

sjnsjnsjn

@disneybaby84- Agreed. Life was easier when I could wear my son.

thechickendance

My second (and more ridiculous) question for the week... Will there come a time when I cannot reach my feet to tie my shoes?

etnyah

Lol @thechickendance, I recently bought a new pair of boots and decided to go with chelsea boots over lace up boots for that exact reason.