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Nurseries and Baby Gear
What not to get?
I am looking at the list of things to register for and/ or buy for our baby girl but I wonder how much of it is actually necessary? I don't want to sound like an old crank, but we have some space limitations and exactly how many bouncers, johnny jump ups, exerwheels, etc does one baby need? This is my first go around and we want to be prepared, but still- there are over 300 items on the recommended list!
Looking for advice from moms who have been there, done that, should have brought it back to the store for more diapers.
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Re: What not to get?
Hi and congrats to you! I completely know how it feels to be overwhelmed with all this baby stuff. I literally registered for everything that was displayed in the stores. Here are some things that I did get but end up returning...
Bottle Warmer - My LO was content with room temp water. But I usually warmed up the bottle by putting it in a cup of hot water.
Wipes Warmer
Steam Sterilizer - Boiled or cleaned the bottles in the dishwasher
Breast Pump - Rented from the hospital
Must Haves: Swing, Bumbo, Play mat and magical Seahorse
wipe warmer
bottle warmer (I warmed up the milk in the bottle sitting in a pot of hot water or even in the microwave, cautiously)
sterilizer (I boiled my bottles, nipples and pacifiers)
Konstantino
Maximo
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every must have list will be different, but our must haves were the boppy (for nusing and she slept there for the first month or so - with supervision!), the bjorn (bought it off craig's list), the swing, the bouncer, eventually, the jumparoo (bought it off craig's list).
Oh and the glider and gliding ottoman - we still use it at least 2ce a day!
Yeah, it is a lot and it takes up way too much space, but it is only for a year or so
Our Twin Baby + a Big Girl Blog
And with the delivery trifecra of one twin vaginal, one c-section with general anesthesia for twin B, Spencer and Sidney joined us at 35 weeks exactly on June 18.
Agreed with PP...no bottle warmer, wipe warmer or sterilizer! Of course these are small things in comparison to the big baby gear!!! The problem is you just never know what the baby will love/hate. Some babies live and breath their swings, but DD hated hers. But who knows, this next one might LOVE it!
I would say that you don't need BOTH the exersaucer and the jumper...one or the other would do just fine. We had both b/c we had two floors so we just put one on each.
My items I could not have lived without: tiny love playmat, tiny love mobile, fisher price rainforest crib soother, bouncer and travel swing.
Wastes of my time: bottle wamer, sterilizer, wipe warmer, shopping cart cover, burp clothes (cloth diapers and/or flannel receiving blankets worked fine), video monitor, any babyproofing gear other than gates and outlet covers.
Hope that helps and good luck! Keep in mind those 300 items usually include a million little things!
what works for one may not work for others. for me the bumbo and play mat were a complete waste. i also hate diaper genies!!!!
i loved my swing, and bouncy seat, exersaucer or jumperoo.
I agree with other folks ...
Must haves:
Waste of money:
Everyone is different. For example, the bottle warmer was a HUGE benefit for us for a few months. My baby slept in a cosleeper, so when I got up in the middle of the night I took her bottle out of the cooler beside my bed, warmed it in the warmer on my nightstand, pulled her to me and fed her, and put her back and went back to sleep. Not having to get up, walk downstairs to the microwave, and come back was priceless. And our gas water heater takes forever to get water hot, so I'd be standing there for at least 5-10 minutes while the baby was crying trying to warm the bottle.
I didn't use a wipe warmer, but I can understand why you would. If you live in a cold area, the wipes can get cold at night, and if you use them at night, they can wake up the baby. I live in Florida where it doesn't get cold and there were still times that the shocking wetness/coolness of the wipes would startle her into waking up more, and then it was harder to get her back to sleep.
I also can't imagine not having a video monitor, it's a lifesaver for us. I also couldn't have lived without the cosleeper, Rainforest Fisher Price bouncer (because it's interactive, unlike most of them), and the baby crack machine.
Things that I bought and didn't use: The Diaper Champ, the Seahorse, the Boppy, bottle sterilizer, any sort of freezing storage for breastmilk (try as I might, couldn't produce enough BM for storing), and the Little Lamb infant seat. She also never liked the jumperoo, but she LOVED the exersaucer, so it depends on your baby. I would wait to buy stuff like that.
We went pretty minimalist with the baby stuff - no bumbo, exersaucer, jumperoo, bouncer, wipes warmer, diaper genie, sterilizer/warmer. I do like the tinylove playmat (got it off Craigslist for $10) and wish I had bought it a little earlier since I think she would have liked looking at it.
Things that I highly reccomend:
- baby carrier (we love the Moby and Ergo)
- bassinet/cradle/moses basket (mobile place to have baby sleep or lay near you that you can take around the house). I guess a bouncer seat could have done this as well, but we don't have that.
- some kind of breastfeeding pillow and some kind of breast pump, if you plan to breastfeed, which I also highly reccoment
- large flannel or receiving blankets - they act as swaddlers, sun/wind protection, burp clothes, drool wipes - essentially a good multi-purpose tool
- PJ's that don't require snapping during middle of the night diaper changes (mainly for the newborn stage when you change at every feeding) - we liked the gown type, or just a kimono shirt and heavy swaddle blanket
Just personal preference for us. I didn't feel like I would need to peek in on her so frequently that a video monitor was necessary. The few people I do know that got them found them distracting and they ended up packing them away b/c they were constantly compelled to check on their child for no real reason. I don't even use the audio monitor when I'm sleeping. If DD fussed I heard her without the use of the monitor. The only time we use the audio monitor is if she's napping/sleeping and we're out in the backyard or in the basement.
This is what I usually tell people:
1) choose a bouncer OR a swing... only get both if you find a good deal on both... you just need one or the other to put baby when you need to pee/stir the soup/shower, etc. I'd go with a bouncer seat.
2) skip the playmat. You can do tummy time with them laying on a blanket, or them laying on their back and you rattling toys over them. Again, if you can find a cheap one, great... but the ones I'm seeing lately for $70 or $80? Ridiculous.
3) High chair/exersaucer/jumperoo are all things for later. If you don't have room to keep them around, then don't register for them... I don't know your EDD but I had plenty of time after DD was born for us to buy those things or for people to buy them for her. I think we got her high chair and exersaucer around 5 months. Pick one or the other for the jumperoo or exersaucer--you don't need both.
Thank you:) I love advice from people that have been there:)
You're very welcome!
Another thought... we got a a video monitor (mainly because I am deaf so the sound ones are moot point for me) but that we live in a 3 floor townhouse. There might be time where I want to be in the patio or garage for crafts while baby is napping. But the video monitor is not for everyone as some pp point out. It really depends on your lifestyle and house setup.
My musts:
Boppy, cloth diapers (as burp rags), nursing supplies (pads-lots, nipple cream and a few bras (bigger than what you currently wear), vibrating seat (dd will not sleep in anything else right now), soothie pacifiers, a good baby blanket (I suggest Nordstrom baby blanket-it is magic when I swaddle dd in it she instantly calms down)
My skip it list:
bottle warmer-if you start off with cold milk they'll never know the difference (dd loves cold breastmilk out of her bottle and switches to warm milk when we nurse just fine), pnp (I hope eventually she comes to like this but right now she hates it)
you should never thaw it in a microwave to begin with.
put it in a cup of/or run it under hot water to thaw. Or, thaw it in the refrigerator over night & then just heat it (again, in a cup of hot water or under hot water, but NEVER in a microwave)
this. Never put any bottles in the microwave, especially breastmilk.
FWIW - I have heated bottles in the microwave. There are a lot of people who say NEVER to do it but there are a lot of people who do it. One of the main problems is it creates hot spots and if you don't shake it up well enough it could be too hot. I always heated it JUST enough to take the chill out (like 10 seconds on 50% power when she was being fussy otherwise she was fine with cold bottles out of the fridge) and made sure to shake it up really well. And I never heated it with the nipple on. I've never had to deal with thawing breastmilk, though so I don't have advice for you on that. My sister usually would take the night's worth out of the freezer and put them in the fridge in the AM to thaw throughout the day and then either give her children the cold milk or run it under hot water.
The problem with running it under hot water is that a. not everyone has water that gets hot quickly, mine takes 2 minutes at least, and b. it takes at least 3-4 minutes to warm it up enough to make it room temperature, especially a bigger bottle. When I have a baby who is screaming and kicking her reflux into high gear, standing at the sink for 5+ minutes isn't going to happen.
We use the microwave on 50% power too just for 15 seconds and then shake really well. It's just common sense really. Even that 15 seconds of baby screaming is brutal.
Also it's not true that all babies will take a cold bottle if you start early. If that was true no one would have a problem. We tried cold bottles first and Allie wouldn't take them, she still won't.
When I had LO#1, we got very little of all the "stuff" I bought a high chair at six months, and an exercauser then too. We had a bouncy chair that converted to a rocking chair that DD lived in. BEST PURCHASE EVER! We also got the basic jolly jumper and survived without a diaper genie, wipe warmer or bottle warmer. We never had a bumbo or breast feeding pillow either, and we both survived. I did get a breast feeding pillow for second LO, and it was nice to have, i did make a year of breast feeding without it.
The monitor totally depends on your house set up. At the time, we lived in a two storey town house, so the monitor was nice. We had a basic one, no video, and actually ended up no using after about six months. I found I could hear LO well enough without it. We never used it with LO#2 at all. I did however buy one for this go around, cuz with the other two being older, I imagine we will be outside in the yard or in the front riding bikes and this way i can hear LO#3.
If space is an issue, i would say hold off on stuff, and if you need it, get it then. You won't need EVERYTHING that first week LO gets home. And it gives ya something to do too, to get out of the house. I would start with the bare basics again, and then you can always add something as you go, rather than have it sit in your closet and you say why the heck did i buy it in the first place!
HTH