Quantities of stuff? - advice from STM

dawnangela79 · June 2014

I just had my shower, and now have about 100 baby blankets! I got so many Aden & Anais blankets, which are so nice, but seriously I feel like we have way too many blankets and feel like returning a bunch of them to get other stuff we didn't get at our shower. I'm just wondering how many blankets do you think you 'need' or how many you actually use.

What about bottles and other pumping supplies, pacifiers, crib sheets, are you stock piling a months worth of diapers and other such necessities. How much of this stuff do you need??

BeachM · June 2014

A lot of this depends on how much laundry you want to do. I had 3 crib sheets and 2 mattress pads for DS and it was fine because he rarely peed through his diaper. I had a ton of pacis because he was an addict but I didn't start out with that many initially. You never know which ones they'll like.

sarahg8r · June 2014

I'm a FTM, so I can't comment as to how many you should have. Just wanted to share how, surprisingly, I didn't get ONE blanket or swaddler at my shower last weekend! So I'm interested to see how many I should buy. I went ahead and ordered one four pack of A&As this week, and I planned to pick up a couple of the easy swaddles when I return the extra PNP we got to Target.

I did manage to get 5 tubes of diaper cream though!

blushingbride_08 · June 2014

I used about 1 every couple days and had 1 heavy one for going out. I would return then for cloth diapers which can be used as burp cloths (super absorbent). I also used then in my nursing bra instead of nursing pads when I was in the house. For now I would just get a store credit and use it when you decide what you need later.

shevaCC · June 2014

I had 4-5 A&A blankets and another 10+ other blankets which was more than enough. I could've gotten by with 3 A&A blankets since we did laundry so often early on anyway. I liked having different types of blankets for different purposes (flannel, fleece, quilts, knitted, etc.) but certainly didn't "need" as many as we ended up with.

lizztheo · June 2014

I had way too many blankets and we probably didn't even use half (we favored the aden+anis and had 5 of those which was plenty). 3 crib sheets, 2 mattress protectors, three boppy covers, two or three changing pad covers and get as many waterproof pads as you can. Those are what we used the most for tummy/naked time/back up changing pad cover and had maybe 7 of those and we should definitely stock up on more. As for other things, it's hard to judge how many you will need until you actually have the kid and even the things I mentioned depends on how often you will be doing laundry.

Laura5533 · June 2014

Are changing pad covers necessary? Seems like it might be easier to just wipe of the plastic covering that comes on the pad?

shevaCC · June 2014

@Laura5533, I don't know that they're "necessary" but I found it easier to throw the cover in the wash and put a new cover on than to find something to wipe it down with. I would feel the need to wipe it down almost every use if there were no cover versus just changing it every few days or as needed at first. They're also nicer to look at IMO, but that may not be a consideration for you.

ungraceful13 · June 2014

I kept 4 A&A blankets, like 4 Swaddle me's, 3 sheets, 2 mattress pads, like 2-3 pacis once we found one she liked, like 6 bottles for feeding and 6 for pumping, more cloth diapers than I can count, and a large box of disposables at a time in the beginning. I always stockpile a box of wipes from Target though.

pmpkn219 · June 2014

I would lean towards 4 pack A+A, about the same flannel or thicker material. Maybe 3-4 swaddleme, wearable blanket/sleep sack things (in cotton and fleece) per size. Keep all handmade/sentimental blankets/quilts.

We had 3 crib sheets and 2 changing pad covers. I also feel burp cloths are useless, although mine rarely spat up. We used Gerber cloth diapers (the 100% cotton prefolds) for burping, changing on a table/ottoman/sofa wherever,umm lots of other purposes I've forgot! Still use the Gerbers for pee accident clean ups, etc. My mom still has ours from the 80s, as dust cloths!!

Jolaine83 · June 2014

It really depends on the baby. We had probably 12 receiving blankets that we first used to swaddle DS, then once he proved to be a spit-up machine, those became the burp clothes. He would projectile vomit everywhere and those would cover more of us than any traditional burp cloth. We then got the same amount for DD, swaddled her in them for 2 weeks before we realized she did better without being swaddled and barely used them after that because she never was much of a spit-up baby.

Paci wise, we always bought a pack of soothies, since they start those in the hospital if you are okay with pacis. Then we'd introduce nuks later since those were easier to use with the paci strap thingys. I'm also going to get a wubbanub this time around.

Crib sheets - you could get by with 3-4 easily. I layered to make it easy to change at night when needed. Basically, the waterproof mattress cover, a sheet, one of those mattress pads, another sheet and then another pad on top to have the baby sleep on. Then, even on a horrible night of multiple spit-ups or blowouts, we didn't to do more than strip the one layer off and throw it in the basket to be washed.

Bottles - depends on the baby again, but we have, I think, six of the smaller size and six of the 9 oz size for later. We used Avent bottles and didn't have any issue with bottle rejection, but I know others do.

We plan on not buying any diapers ahead of time. I planned to buy at least a box but DH said he'd just wait and see how big the baby was a birth, then pick up a box or two to get us by until we could get an amazon order shipped to us. We use the ship and save amazon prime to save money. Size is important because not all babies come home in newborn size diapers AND you'll come home with a few days worth from the hospital to get you through. But we do plan on buying several of the largest boxes of up and up wipes since we know we'll use them.

Oh, and I don't use a changing table or changing pad. I had one for DD and never used it at all. It was ten times easier to change her in the crib on the crib pad and simply take that layer off if she leaked out. The crib was always higher than the changing pad during that stage when I was still recovering. By the time we moved it down a level, I'd moved to changing her on the floor on a blanket.

KittyMisha · June 2014

Laura5533 said:
Are changing pad covers necessary? Seems like it might be easier to just wipe of the plastic covering that comes on the pad?

When DD was a newborn she was a master of saving pee/poo until we took her diaper off, and she could fire her poo a good 6 inches. The nice changing pad covers were useless, because we had to change them with nearly every diaper, but the bare pad was too cold and she freaked out if we set her straight on that. Our compromise was to lay a receiving blanket over the bare pad and then just toss it in the wash if it got soiled. Way more cost effective to keep 16 receiving blankets on hand than 16 changing pad covers.

Once DD was eating a lot of solids and her poop got more regular/predictable we switched to the nice covers. We had 3 total and that was fine.

Kmclark2008 · June 2014

When DS was a newborn we had him in the travel pack n play (or the swing) and we will do the same with this baby. We used standard size pillow cases for sheets on the pnp, just slid the pad right in- had 2 pillowcases. The swing always had a receiving blanket in it under him, and he was a spitter, so we had probably 10 of those. I used them for burp cloths too, since the actual burp cloths were a joke.. We used the summer swaddle blankets and had 3-4. Changing pad covers, only had one.. I usually just threw a quilt over the changing pad if it was being washed.

This time I bought zip up swaddlers.. DS was only 4 weeks old when he started breaking out of the Velcro ones. I bought 2, because who knows if she will like being swaddled.. I can always pick up more. A friend gave me 2 bags of a mix of receiving blankets, gerber cloth diapers, fleece blankets etc so I didn't buy any except a package of a&a's. Also I need to pick up some Carter's bibs because they save outfits from puke and drool.. I had at least 15 of those at any given time for DS. Diapers I just picked up a box of swaddlers sensitive and we will have to see if they work.

Unfortunately it's trial and error. I made a lot of shopping trips that first week with DS.

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Quantities of stuff? - advice from STM

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