My baby will be coming home soon - advice?

jenifairies

Layla's making great progress. She's been bottling all her feedings for the past week. They're holding on to her a bit longer because her weight gain has leveled off recently (she's 4#12oz), and she also has vocal cord paralysis and they want to just keep her in the NICU a bit longer to monitor her.

Anyway, to my point. Any baby products you found were must haves? Bottles that are similar to the ones in the NICU?

She will be coming home on oxygen as far as we know. We're supposed to sit down with her neo early this week and discuss discharge and I will hopefully find out for sure what we're dealing with.

beyoga

Congratulations on her pending discharge!  I found my FP Rock & Sleep and an infant carrier (Moby, Beco, whatever) to be invaluable.  Oh AND without a doubt, get online an order a Nosefrida from Amazon.  Best suction and easiest on baby.

jacque_z

Congratulations!  We couldn't have lived without the FP Little Lamb Swing, Dr. Brown's bottles and some really tight swaddlers.  I'm thinking it was the miracle blanket maybe?  I hope her transition home goes smoothly.  Good luck! 

kck329

So glad she's doing well!

On bottles--ask your NICU if you can bring in a few to try with her. We tried several brands and ended up using the Dr Browns with the preemie nipple. 

Other things we loved at first have already been mentioned--baby carrier (we loved the Moby when she was tiny), rock n play, swaddling blankets (we used A+A), and sleeping gowns for easy night time changes.  Oh and also a white noise machine--they get used to all the noises in the NICU so your house seems too quite to them at first.

There is a "discharge and life at home" tab on the blog as well-you might want to check that out when you have time. 

katie4253

Congrats! 

We loved:

• - Rock-n-Play sleeper
• - One piece sleepers (we liked snaps)
• - A&A blankets
• - Burp Cloths
• - Snug-a-bunny swing
• - Ventaire bottles (playtex)

I think that is it.  We didn't need much.  He came home at 4lbs and didn't fit into his cloth diapers for awhile, so we just used pampers preemie and newborn. 

 

soontobeka

So glad she is doing so well and will be home soon! Our must-haves were Dr. Brown's bottles and for B a "swaddle me". Cam hated to be swaddled when she came home.

HJOHNSTON411

That's great news! Discharge time is so exciting! 

We started using Dr. Brown's preemie bottles and nipples.  The speech pathologist recommended them to all patients in the NICU, and they worked very well for us.

I LOVE my Medela steam sanitize bags.  My primary nurse handed me a huge stack when we left (they are something ridiculous like $8 each).  I'm still stocked eight months later!  They are super easy to stuff full of bottles (which, if you use Dr. Browns, you will really appreciate with the 10,000 parts ha) and pacifiers, breast pump parts etc.  Sanitizes in 1.5 minutes:)

If you pump, get the Medela hands free pumping bra.  I loved that thing like you wouldn't believe.  It just made pumping a lot less miserable to be able to surf the net or have a snack.  

As for various baby items - I would definitely get the RNP as almost all preemie Moms will tell you.  I got mine too late, and by then LO was a tummy sleeper, so nothing would work.  But all the ladies here swear by them, and the new Snugabunny version of it is super cute and seems more supportive.

I think the A & A blankets are fantastic. Great for swaddling, for covering if you nurse, etc.   Halo sleepsacks make life very easy, too!   Buy a Nosefrieda for sure, and I think having a swing is a must. Oh, and since it's winter, I'd run a cool mist humidifier at night as a habit.

Hope that helps!   

HJOHNSTON411

Oh, forgot two things: 

White noise machine for sure!  We love our Sleep Sheep, although I wish it had a longer time setting (max is 45 minutes) because one of us has to run in there to restart it, if we're still awake and making noise.

I liked a mix of gowns and snap one pieces for night time.  A lot of people like the zippers, but I personally hate them. The zippers get all bent and wonky, and I had this strange obsession/anxiety about the zipper being uncomfortable and pressing into his neck.   

HEmery

What's going on with her vocal cord paralysis? How did they know? What do they do about it?

frogchic295

beyoga:

Congratulations on her pending discharge!  I found my FP Rock & Sleep and an infant carrier (Moby, Beco, whatever) to be invaluable.  Oh AND without a doubt, get online an order a Nosefrida from Amazon.  Best suction and easiest on baby.

this! congratulations on the homecoming!

lemen99

My biggest rec by far is the Rock N Play sleeper.  I had 2 preemies and the rest of the stuff varied.

Deblondie1

I second everything mentioned and just wanted to say congratulations! How wonderful to be almost home

AlwaysSunny925

We just came home so everything is still new and fresh.

Ditto the Rock n play sleeper, of course diapers, wipes, vaseline.  Saline spray and nasal aspirator.  A lot of birp cloths.  Dr Brown bottles.  Humidifier.  Some sort of music player or white noise machine.