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HELP! 1st time mom on bed rest needs help w/ registry

Please help!

I'm on medical bed rest, and I am not due for another 3 months. I hadn't started my registry yet and as a first time mom, I am feeling completely overwhelmed since I can't go to the stores and see the products.  Not to mention I have never been a mom before!  AHHH!

 

Questions:

Anyone with children find it helpful to have:

  1. An Activity Mat
  2. Pack and Play
  3. Diaper stacker - necessary or nice to have or useless?

Do people still use diaper pails or diaper genies?  Or do you use the regular trash?

 Any advice you have would be appreciated! Help!!  Smile

Re: HELP! 1st time mom on bed rest needs help w/ registry

  • 1. Yes. We used ours a lot. 2. Yes. We used ours a LOT. When he was an infant in our living room, then when we traveled, and then also in a nanny share. Some of this depends on your lifestyle, but ours got used. 3. We still use ours. Small bedroom made it necessary!

    we used the diaper champ for close to 2 years. But it eventually started to smell on it's own, so now we just use the trash. As an infant and there were a lot more diapers, I liked having it.
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  • imageaboehman1:


    Anyone with children find it helpful to have:

    1. An Activity Mat No, I used an exercauser a lot more, once he was old enough. 
    2. Pack and Play Yes, but I kept it out at my parents (where we go about every other weekend) and took it on trips.  I never used it around the house. 
    3. Diaper stacker - necessary or nice to have or useless? Useless

    Do people still use diaper pails or diaper genies?  Or do you use the regular trash? I've always used a trashcan dedicated to diapers and emptied regularly.  I've rarely had any sort of smell.  

     Any advice you have would be appreciated! Help!!  Smile

     
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  • 1.  Loved our activity mat... I still need to get one for DD and I hate that I don't have it yet.

    2.  We used our pack n play only for travel and staying/sleeping at family/friends.  We use it enough that for us having one in necessary.

    3.  I use them, but DS/DD's rooms are small and it keeps enough diapers in the room at one time for me to not keep having to get them out of the closets downstairs.

    I swore I would never use another diaper Champ/Genie again, but we caved and bought the Munchkin Arm and Hammer pail for DD and love it.  It contains the smell better than any other diaper can we've used (maybe it is the baking soda??) 

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  •  

    1. An Activity Mat :  Loved it.  We used our Fisher Price Little Buttons one up until 7 months old.  I added additional hanging toys to it which she loved
    2. Pack and Play:  This is where DD slept until last month in the Newborn Napper in the deluxe Graco models.  This is a must have.  The newborn napper is such a cozy little pod and she slept great there beside our bed.  It made it easy for me to reach her- we were breastfeeding in the beginning and I had a C/S scar so reaching over was difficult. 
    3. Diaper stacker - necessary or nice to have or useless?  Stacker is useless.  I bought a wipe holder/diaper organizer that I had on the dresser and a JJ Cole Diaper holder with handle to keep with us in the bedroom or living room. 
    4. Diaper Genie:  I like mine.  I have Diaper Genie II which uses the refills. I know that a lot of people prefer the ones where you can use your own bags.  I think they control the stink much better- especially now with the solid food poos.

    Don't worry about not being able to go to the store and look at products.  I was overwhelmed and ended up doing most of my registries from home online where I could comparision price items by store and look at reviews.  Another vote for the Baby Bargains book.  It is fantastic for helping you weed out the best brands and useless items.  Good luck! 

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  • Thank you for the advice!  I really appreciate all of the help! Big Smile
  • imageaboehman1:


     

    Questions:

    Anyone with children find it helpful to have:

    1. An Activity Mat- she plays daily in her baby einstein ocean wonder gym.
    2. Pack and Play- we used it 1 time, when we stayed in a hotel for a family reunion. Glad it was a gift.
    3. Diaper stacker - necessary or nice to have or useless? we use it cuz we have it and it matches her bedding set.  theres a space on our changing table where we stack diapers as well.

    Do people still use diaper pails or diaper genies?  Or do you use the regular trash? We have the genie. It does it's job.

     

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  • 1. Activity mat was usued regularly in our house

    2. We still use our pack n play. If Jay spends the night at someone else's house or needs to nap somewhere else we usually take our PNP. He uses it when he sleeps in our room also. And it is nice to be able to put him in it once in a while if I need to get something done. I feel like it is safer than our crib. (Long story with that one.)

    3. I say don't bother with a diaper stacker. But we have a cute little basket on our changing table that has diapers wipes etc in it.

    Don't forget a swing or bouncer or activity center. We also LOVED our rock in play. It was AMAZING!!! You may also want a nasal aspirator. (Sorry if my spelling is terrible.)

  • imageaboehman1:

     

    Questions:

    Anyone with children find it helpful to have:

    1. An Activity Mat-we used it a lot.   It transported easily when we went to someone's house.  
    2. Pack and Play love the PNP.   We have a 2 story house and kids' rooms are on the 2nd floor and ours is on the 1st.   Both kids slept in the PNP in the small computer room next to our bedroom for the 1st few months.   It has a changing table on it so we have somewhere to change baby downstairs.   Once baby moved upstairs, we kept PNP set up for downstairs changing area and short naps if we were too lazy to carry baby upstairs.  
    3. Diaper stacker - necessary or nice to have or useless?didn't have one...no need for it.   Had large closet and space in changing table to store diapers.

    Do people still use diaper pails or diaper genies?  Or do you use the regular trash?pee diapers go in the regular garbage(straight in the kitchen one if we are downstairs or thrown in the wastebasket in baby's room if upstairs..wastebasket is emptied daily)   Poop diapers go right out to the outside trash can.  It is 2 steps from our back door.  

     Any advice you have would be appreciated! Help!!  Smile

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  • Yes to the first two. 

    To organize the diapers I got this instead and still use it.  It's about $15 by a a brand called Prince Lion Heart

     

    image 

  • Wow - thank you everyone for all of the advice!  I have found it very helpful!
  • I'm on bedrest too.  I did both of my registries online.  The most problematic thing was that many online items aren't in the stores or at least my local ones. 

    1) I don't have any kids yet either but my sister gave me an extra activity mat she didn't use.  I plan on using it for tummy time.  2) I wanted badly, registered for and got a pack and play.  We're going to set it up in the living room for her and take it on vcations and camping trips as her portable bed.  3) I only have a diaper stacker on the pack and play.  We had a changing table with shelves underneath I'll use to store diapers.  4) I registered for and got 2 diaper genies.  We'll use both at home or send one to grandma's house who's babysitting. 

    My advice is just register for it if you think you'll use it.  If you don't it's not the end of the world; you can pass it along to someone else who can.  And remember you don't get everything you register for anyway. 

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    1. An Activity Mat
    2. Pack and Play
    3. Diaper stacker - necessary or nice to have or useless?

    Do people still use diaper pails or diaper genies?  Or do you use the regular trash?

    I'm expecting my first baby too!  Registering was sooo overwhelming.  There's so many choices!  I'm not on bed rest but I do like to research and read reviews on line before heading to the store to see products in person.

    1. I'm not registering for one, but I plan to buy one on Cragslist.  The ones I've seen in the store range from $35-50+ and I'd rather have my guests spend the money on necessities.  I've seen mats on CL for less than $20 and once it's washed it will be as good as new.  Besides, the baby will only use it for a few months.

    2. We registered for a Pack and Play to use at Nanna and Pappa's house and for camping (we camp a lot!).  I'm not sure how much it will get used at home since the nursery is almost in the center of the house.

    3.  The crib set we've picked out comes with a diaper stacker but I'm not sure how much we'll use it.

    I'm not a fan of the diaper genie or other systems.  Many people who have them take the trash out less and I think it's gross to have dirty diapers in the house for more than a day or two.  We'll be using cloth so a diaper pail isn't much of an issue (soiled diapers will be washed every day or every other day).  If we were using disposables I'd probably just use a simple pail or trash can and take the dirty diapers out daily, with all super stinky ones going out immediately.

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